Jenn Tries...

I'm so excited to finally be writing about this because since June (what is that like 5 months now?), I've been trying different ways to clean my cookie sheets. And well I've come to two different conclusions. Either my cookie sheets are too far gone and I should just buy new ones or all these magic cleaners, don't really work. And the more I tried different mixtures, the more I started to believe that both were true. The Project Deep Clean Cookie Sheets! Best Cleaning Solution From Clean & Scentsible Results All right so here's how bad my cookie sheets was And after trying vinegar and baking soda (and even heating the vinegar first), oven cleaner (Don't do it. I'm pretty sure this is why cookies sheets rust easily now) and steel wool scrubs, this was as clean as I could get it. As you can see I was able to clean most of the middle, but corners remained black or mostly black. And by this point I was worn out and didn...

I really enjoyed that for all my October Try Mes! I tried out cleaners. And for the most part I really enjoyed trying them. So I thought I would continue along this trend and try out more cleaning products during November. First up is a magic cleaner. (which makes promise that you just spray it on, let it sit and then wipe with a damp rag and everything will just wipe off. The Project Test Of Magic Spray Instructions from this photo (And yes I'm still tracking down who created this image) Results So where do I begin on this. Oh yes I forgot to check the amount of liquid my bottle would hold before I tried doubling the recipe. (And for the record I reused a Green Works spray bottle from work. And I find that if you are trying to get into going green, but don't want to make it yourself, it is a solid product and you should use it.) So in the process of dumping some of it out and adding water, I may have messed up my ratio while dong so. So with that ...

I actually saw this idea a while ago. And I saved it and I went along with my life. At the time I had no reason to try homemade good gone or anything to try it on. But as I've started learning how to really upcycle and how to start looking at things for a way to upcycle them.  And that's when I started looking at all the containers my food comes in differently. Especially the jelly jars. Normally jelly comes in a glass jar and it really is a perfect size to store whatever little things you need to store in them. (I went with my coconut oil face scrub). The only issue is that you can rip the labels off, but there is still that stubborn glue strip that remains.  So I was happy when I rediscovered this idea and I knew it would be a great way to try to get rid of that pesky glue strip once and for all. The Project Test Out Homemade Goo Gone instructions from this picture: (Photo from The Repo Woman and if you click the link you can find recipes for all sor...

Well September is quickly coming to an end; so before that happens I wanted to share one more way that I tried coconut oil for. For this last project I went back to the bathroom. I mentioned that after I crocheted my reusable face pads, that I needed to find a good face wash to go with them.  I don't know if I mentioned it or not there, but I tried using Neutrogena  and I found that it dried out my face. So I knew I needed something. And I loved my coconut oil shave scrub so much that I decided maybe coconut oil was the answer I was looking for. I guess I shouldn't have surprised at the results on Pinterest, but I was. There are a whole lot of options.  So as tempting as it was to try a bunch out, I decided maybe it was best if I kept it simple and just try out one (which turned into two after it was all said and done). The Project Try Out Coconut Oil Face Scrubs recipes from  Frugal Farm Wife   and  Mother's Niche Results ...

Here we are part two of my different ways to use coconut oil series. (I'm not sure how many we'll end up with because there are so many great ways to incorporate coconut oil into your life). When I originally started thinking about trying different ways to use coconut oil, I wasn't quite sure I would make it out of the bathroom in September.  There are just so many uses that I want to try out, that I had to pick my favorites. So I decided to go back to an idea my mom shared with me months ago. That if you add coconut oil to your coffee its supposed to even out the caffeine buzz. And well I'm not sure how it happened, some time after I had Lion and went back to work, I started having really bad crashed from my morning coffee. (I think it happened because Lion never adjusted to the time change and was up by 6am throughout the winter. And sometimes after working late nights I had to get up with him. So I depended a little too heavily on the caffeine and it just wreck...

So as I mentioned on Thursday, I didn't want to just sell you coconut oil. I wanted to prove that coconut oil is a really useful product that you can use for almost anything. First up I stumbled up while trying to solve my razor burn problems. You see  I've been using my soap pouch for about two months now (Mike on the other hand can't be bothered to even try it!) and I love using it. And I think it definitely saves my bar soap.  However, since I've switched over I haven't be able to get a good lather on my legs, so that when I shave I end up with razor burn. (I stopped using shaving cream a while ago. I just found with the loufa and soap that it lathered my legs enough that I didn't need to spend money on shaving cream) I thought about going back to buying shaving cream, but I realized I had some coconut oil laying around. So I turned to Pinterest to see if there were any coconut oil shaving cream recipes.  Project: Try out Coconut Oil Shaving Cream...

For every Try Me! Tuesday post this month I've tried out bubble recipes. And today is no different. (I figured to end summer, I would try out a bunch of summer fun ideas). And well I wanted to try out giant bubbles, but I don't have the proper wand to make that happen. (I'll save that for next summer or whenever we need some more bubble fun) Instead I was intrigued by the idea of unpoppable bubbles. Bubbles are such a flimsy thing. So i really wanted to know if I could make them slightly unpoppable.  I mean there's no way they wouldn't pop eventually, but I wanted to see if I could delay popping for a while. And I wanted to see if it was possible with common household ingredients. Project See if the following recipes will make unpoppable bubbles and which (if either) makes better and stronger bubbles Recipe #1 Recipe #2 (I couldn't find the actual website for either, but if you just search unpoppable bubbles  on Pinterest, they are both ...

Summer here in Florida is still kicking (despite school aged kids returning to school this week), so this week I decided to try some more bubble fun. After last Tuesdays failure at making homemade bubbles, I decided to try something a little easier (and hopefully would have more success!).  You know if you search bubble fun on Pinterest, a whole lot of ideas pop up. Starting with homemade bubbles recipes to tools to blow bubbles with to making giant bubbles. But the idea that caught my eye the most was making bubble snakes. It looks so easy to make and the amount of bubbles made would be fun for Blue and Lion to play with. I knew that this was the best project to try next! Experiment Make Bubble Snakes instructions from  She Knows Results This project is fairly simple to put everything together. The hardest part is taking off the bottom of the bottle, which is easily solved by making your first cut with a razor blade and then using scissors to cut...

Bubble bubble toil in trouble... All right I'm no witch and I'm not really casting a spell. Blue has just discovered how much fun bubbles are, both to blow and to chase down and sometimes he tries both at once. This often leads to a lot of spilled bubble solution. And then I have to buy more bubbles solution (or rather my mom just brings him more bubble whenever she visits). I don't mind buying bubbles (they are relatively cheap), but I wanted to know if it was something you could make at home (and save yourself a trip to the store). So I turned to my good ole' Pinterest to see what was needed. And to my surprise there are a couple different variety of homemade bubble recipes. So I found the top three most popular recipes (all with everyday household supplies!) and decided to put them to the test.   The Project Try out homemade bubble recipe to see if they work and which one works best Experiment #1: Sugar Bubbles Recipe from:  The A...