Materials Needed:

Make Your Own Rain Barrel | ThriftyFun.

via Make Your Own Rain Barrel | ThriftyFun.

• One 55-gallong or larger barrel
• Window screen
• Bungee cords
• Parts for an outdoor faucet
• Two o-rings
• Electrical nut
• Silicon caulking (optional)
• Plastic downspout (optional)
• Electric drill and an Exacto knife
• Small piece of garden hose
• Two concrete blocks

The total cost for this project is about $50 for materials (assuming you have the drill). This cost can be reduced considerably if you scour re-use centers or junkyards for used parts.

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Support the bee population. Toss one of these seed bombs into your garden. Soon, you’ll have a garden full of beneficial flowers that attract bees! Bee Love Seed Bomb ($10 at Amenity Home

via Best Green Products – iVillage.

Build Your Own Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine | The Good Human

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The Zoetrope is a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) made from materials commonly found at your local hardware store and a few easily purchased online, and Applied Sciences has made the decision to “open source” the turbine for everyone who wants … Continue reading →

Homemade Oven Cleaner Recipes : TipNut.com

Image via Wikipedia

Recipe #1

Baking Soda

Water

Dish Detergent

Directions:

Fill a spray bottle with water and spray oven generously.

Generously sprinkle baking soda over the water. Leave overnight.

The next day wipe out much of the baking soda and grime.

Soak a sponge in hot water, squeeze out excess water and scrub the inside of the oven with liquid dish detergent first drizzled over the sponge.

Recipe #2

Ammonia

Water

Baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200° then turn off oven.

In an ovenproof dish, fill with ammonia and set on middle rack of oven (about 1 to 2 cups of ammonia).

In another ovenproof dish, fill with boiling water and set on bottom rack of oven (2 cups).

Leave overnight.

The next morning, remove dishes and wipe down the oven with a hot wet sponge first drizzled with baking soda.

Recipe #3

3 tsp Borax

1/4 cup vinegar

1/8 cup liquid dish soap

2 cups hot water

Baking soda (do not add to mix)

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a spray bottle and shake to mix.

Spray mixture in oven generously.

Sprinkle generous amounts of baking soda on top.

Spray liquid mixture over the baking soda.

Leave overnight.

The next morning wipe out the cleaning mixture and wash the oven with hot soapy water.

Recipe #4

1 cup baking soda

1/3 cup table salt

Water

Directions:

Spray oven well with water.

Mix together the dry ingredients then sprinkle over the water.

Spray again with water.

Leave overnight. Wipe out the next morning and scrub oven with hot soapy water.

You can also use this homemade softscrub cleaner for the next day’s scrubbing after using one of the methods above.

via Homemade Oven Cleaner Recipes : TipNut.com.

Related Articles

• Homemade Laundry Detergent (housefuloflove.wordpress.com)
• Green Your Spring Cleaning (momanddaughtersspiritualjourney.wordpress.com)
• “Going Green” Uses For Baking Soda (cheeriosinmybra.wordpress.com)

Green Living Recycling | ThriftyFun

Donate Blankets To Vets Or Animal Shelters

You may be thinking about spring cleaning, and tossing towels and sheets that have seen better days. Take them to your local shelter. The staff and animals will be so grateful to have towels for after baths.

via Green Living > Recycling | ThriftyFun.

Food for Tomato Plants

Keep chopped banana skins your refrigerator or freezer until there is enough to fill a blender 2/3 of the way. Add a cup of water and blend to a slurry. Place slurry into a normal sized bucket (9 litre) and fill half-way with water.

Use Old Catalogs As Mulch

Everyone complains about catalogs and how they clutter up their mail boxes. I say bring them on! I use them as mulch under my trees and bushes. In a dry country such as Australia, water conservation is priority.

Vinegar as a Fabric Softener

Don’t waste money on fabric softener! Use white vinegar instead. White vinegar is the best fabric softener you can buy and it’s so cheap. Just add half a cup to your final rinse and your washing will come out lovely, soft, and free of any soap residue.

Sneaky Ways to Cut Your Fuel Bill

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    Many electronics continue to draw power after you turn them off. You’ll know because you’ll still see a glowing LED (light emitting diode) after you flip the switch. Your TV, cell phone charger, and printer are likely culprits. … Continue reading →

Making Planters from Plastic Trash Cans

When the city converted to robot trash and recycle pick-up, I had five extra 32 gallon Rubbermaid trash cans. I have limited space for gardening, so I cut the bottom half of the trash cans off, drilled three holes (about 3/4 inch) on the bottom of the sides for drainage. I am now growing veggies in the large containers I created.

Now I have five top halves left over. Two of them I have started two compost piles (with lids) at the back of my yard. I turn the compost by simply picking up the plastic trash can upper, setting it down next to the pile, and forking the compost into it. I can turn the pile regularly with ease.

If you want to dress them up, you or your artistic kids (or grand-kids) can use some of that new Krylon spray paint that sticks to plastic. Perhaps camouflage them to blend in with the background. Use your imagination.

By Cebtoo from San Antonio, TX

via Making Planters from Plastic Trash Cans.

How to Remove Winter Salt Stains – iVillage

 

 

Take Preventative Measures

“The first line of defense: you have to keep your leather items well waxed, basically waterproofing them,” says Jeff C. May, coauthor of Jeff May’s Healthy Home Tips. For shoes and outer garments, use beeswax, mink oil or the appropriate shielding agent before you hit the streets. For your home, try Scotchguard Upholstery Protector. To test your waterproofing job, put a drop of water on the material (it should bead up like it would on wax paper). Be sure to cover the entire surface of the material, particularly the point where your shoe or jacket will first contact the snow.

via How to Remove Winter Salt Stains – iVillage.

Become self-sufficient in firewood – Telegraph

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    Many of us with largish gardens are already using them for a supply of kindling and firewood for open fires and wood burners. But most gardeners could do a lot more to practise self-sufficiency in home-grown wood. With … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Green Your Home | LiveScience

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    You may not know it, but households across the globe are infested with vampires. Energy vampires, that is. Cleverly disguised as innocuous household appliances (psst, your television is one of them), their nasty pointed teeth plunge deep into … Continue reading →