CasaSugar

How-To: Ten Garden Uses For White Vinegar

CasaSugar — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:30:11 -0700

Now that you know the household uses for white vinegar, I thought you might like to know how you can expand its use to your garden. As you may remember, white vinegar is an eco-friendly product, and it's also cheap: You can buy a gallon of white vinegar for less than $3.

The word "vinegar" is from the French term vin aigre, meaning "sour wine." White vinegar is made from allowing a distilled alcohol, like white wine, vodka, or gin, to oxidize. This changes the chemical components of the alcohol, making it more sour, but also more useful.

To find out how you can use white vinegar in your garden, read more.

Pesky raspberry leave stains on your palms? Banish berry stains by rubbing your hands with white distilled vinegar.
Make sure your hummingbirds avoid toxic cleansers in their nectar by cleaning feeders with white distilled vinegar.
Rust on your tools or spigots? Soak them overnight in white vinegar to loosen and get rid of rust.
Dingy plastic patio furniture gets cleaner with a solution of one tablespoon white distilled vinegar to one gallon of water.
Hate slugs as much as I do? Say sayonara by spraying them with one part water and one part white distilled vinegar.
Azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and gardenias are all acid-loving plants. Add a cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water, and water them generously every month or so.
If you have weeds or grass in cracks in your sidewalks and steps, pour white vinegar in the cracks to get rid of the greenery.
If your terracotta pots have white mineral bits on them, soak the pots for an hour or two in a sink filled with half white vinegar and half water.
Make your cut flowers last longer by adding two tablespoons of white vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar to each vase. Fill with water, and enjoy.
Stop the ants from marching in by pouring white distilled vinegar on their paths, as well as in ant hills.

Do you have other garden uses for white vinegar? Tell me about them by commenting below!
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Nice and New: Mrs. Meyer's Basil Collection

CasaSugar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:30:00 -0700

Mrs. Meyer's has just released a new collection of basil-scented aromatherapeutic household cleaners, including shower cleaner, window spray, automatic dishwashing liquid, scent diffusers, bar soap, and toilet bowl cleaner. Prices range from $4.99 to $34.99. What could be sweeter than having a house that smells as fresh as your garden? Mrs. Meyer's is known for its environmentally friendly cleaning products, which gives them bonus points in my book. I'm a big basil fan so these products are right up my alley; how about you?

Steal of the Day: Mrs. Meyers Gingerbread Products

CasaSugar — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:31:08 -0800

TeamSugar member Sweetnlow tipped me off to this great deal on Mrs. Meyers gingerbread products (50 percent off all gingerbread products). The Gingerbread Holiday Clean-Up Kit ($7.49 marked down from $14.99) includes smaller sizes of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day cleaners including 8 ounces each of room freshener, liquid dish soap, countertop spray, and all-purpose cleaner. The Gingerbread Hand Care Set ($4.99, marked down from $9.99) includes 8 ounces each of creamy gingerbread liquid hand soap and soothing gingerbread hand lotion with aloe vera.

Snap up these steals while supplies last!

Casa Shops: Thymes Home Cleaning Products

CasaSugar — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 06:00:29 -0700

Here at Casa, we love Method, but that doesn't mean there isn't room in our hearts for a few other natural home product lines. Take Minneapolis-based company Thymes, for example. With cleaners and dishwashing liquids in scents like apricot quince, mandarin coriander, lavender bergamot, and kumquat lime, these yummy scents will leave your home smelling fruity fresh. And while it might not make your cleaning time any shorter, it will make it a little more enjoyable to the senses.

Thymes ships internet orders the same day they are received, and the site has a convenient store locator, too: Just plug in your zip code and you'll find out if Thymes products are available in a boutique in your city.

Giveaway of the Week! method Home Care Gift Basket

CasaSugar — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:39:55 -0700

Thanks to our generous friends over at method, we're hosting a series of sweet giveaways. Every week for four weeks, one lucky CasaSugar reader will win a set of method eco-friendly and non-toxic cleaning products. Congratulations to VMars, who won last week's prize of a method Personal Care Gift Basket!

For week No. 3, we're offering a fabulous Home Care Gift Basket worth $52. The set features a selection of method's classic home cleaning products, including:

1 Omop Starter Kit
1 All-Purpose Cleaning Spray
1 Pack of All-Purpose Cleaning Wipes
1 Dish Soap
1 Daily Shower Spray
1 Tub + Tile Spray

To enter this week's giveaway, simply leave a comment in the comments section below by 5 p.m. PDT / 8 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 7. We'll announce the winner next Monday, Sept. 10, when we post the final method giveaway. Please, only ONE comment per person; duplicate comments will be discarded. You must be a TeamSugar member to comment, so if you're not a member, please register here. For the rules and regulations, click here.

Nice and New: Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Baby Products

CasaSugar — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:27:48 -0700

The Sugar girls are big fans of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day house cleaning products. Not only is the packaging totally cute, but the products also smell great, and they're made from natural ingredients whenever possible. The solutions themselves are environmentally friendly and biodegradable, and all of the packages are recyclable.

So I was excited to read on Apartment Therapy Green that Mrs. Meyer's just launched a line of baby products in keeping with the brand's feel-good philosophy. The collection includes products for cleaning and pampering both the little ones and their surroundings, including hand lotion, laundry detergent, surface wipes, and sprays. To see my faves, click on the photos below.

method: Clean Your House in Style

FabSugar — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:34:13 -0700

Cleaning-products company method home burst onto the scene a few years ago with a beautiful bottle of dish soap designed by Karim Rashid. But lest you think Method is all about aesthetics, think again-the brand's environmentally friendly, non-toxic cleaning products actually work. The cleaning sprays, for instance, can remove soap scum with the best of them, but they'll leave your bathroom smelling like Bath & Body Works instead of bleach. Plus, Drugstore.com has a lot of their super-stylish stuff on sale right now; here's a look at some of my favorite Method products.

Dish Cubes Dishwasher Detergent, Pink Grapefruit, $5.19, available here.

Bathroom All Surface Cleaner, Cucumber Scent, $5.49, available here.

To see the rest, read more

Dryer Sheets, Fresh Air Fragrance, $5.99, available here

Hand Wash, Green Tea, $3.43, available here.

Wood for Good Clean + Polish + Protect, Almond Scent, $5.99, available here.

Do You Use Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products?

CasaSugar — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 04:20:18 -0700

Now that we've wrapped up our method giveaways of eco-friendly and non-toxic cleaning products, I'm wondering how many of you use similar earth-friendly products to keep your house shiny and scrubbed.

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How-To: Assemble A DIY Home Cleaning Kit

CasaSugar — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:15:44 -0700

Do you love to keep your house so fresh and so clean, but don't like to use lots of toxic cleaners to get your home sparkling? Good news - you can use the same natural ingredients that your great-great-grandparents used to get their homes clean. Considering that DIY natural cleaners are up to 1/10 the cost of conventional cleaners, you'll also be saving a lot of money. Best of all, these cleaners are safer to use around children and pets than conventional cleaners, and won't compromise your home's indoor air quality. Take a look to see what supplies you'll need for your home-cleaning toolkit. And stay tuned, because I'll be bringing you a bunch of cleaning "recipes" to use.

Supplies

Washing soda
Baking soda
White distilled vinegar
Apple cider vinegar
Borax
A good liquid soap or detergent
Tea tree oil
lemon juice
olive oil
essential oils (for scenting your cleaner)
Spray Bottles
Glass Jars
carrying kit/bucket

You can assemble these ingredients yourself. Take a look at my widget to get an idea of where to buy some of these products.

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Casa Verde: Natural House-Cleaning Hints

CasaSugar — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:36:55 -0700

I know that a lot of you, like me, are making the transition to eco-friendly cleaning products, since most over-the-counter cleaners are bad for both the environment and your health. Of course, there are a lot of great eco-friendly brands out there, but you can also clean your house with ordinary and non-toxic substances you probably already have lying around.

Thanks to Mallomar for pointing me to this list of natural household cleaning tips from holistic health guru Dr. Andrew Weil. I can't wait to try some of these; I especially love the idea of replacing my bleach-based mildew remover with grapefruit-seed oil. Check out the list and tell me if you've tried any of these when you read more

Baking soda: An all-purpose cleaner; especially effective on glass coffee pots and glassware; removes red-wine stains from carpeting. A paste (made with water) can shine stainless steel and silver; the paste can also remove tea stains from cups and saucers. Make a paste with a castille- or vegetable-based liquid soap and a drop of essential oil (tea tree or lavender) to clean sinks, countertops, toilets and tubs. Pour 1 cup down the sink to clear a clogged drain, followed by 3 cups of boiling water.
Boiling water: Use weekly to flush drains and avoid clogs.
Coarse salt: Cleans copper pans and scours cookware. Sprinkle salt on fresh spills in the oven, then wipe off. Sprinkle salt on rust stains and squeeze a lime or lemon over them, let sit for several hours and wipe off.
Essential oils: Mix lavender or tea tree essential oils with water and spray on kitchen or bathroom surfaces for an environmentally and people-friendly antibacterial spray.
Grapefruit-seed extract: Add a few drops to water in a spray bottle for an odorless way to kill mold and mildew.
Lemon juice: Use as a bleaching agent on clothing, and to remove grease from your stove and countertops. Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice to 10 drops of (real) lemon oil and a few drops of jojoba oil to clean and polish wood furniture.
Olive oil: Use to lubricate and polish wood furniture (three parts olive oil to one part vinegar; or two parts olive oil with one part lemon juice).
Potatoes: Halved potatoes can remove rust from baking pans or tinware - follow with a salt scrub or dip the potato in salt before scrubbing.
Tea tree oil: Can be added to vinegar/water solutions for its antibacterial properties. Use it to kill mold and mildew, and on kitchen and bathroom surfaces instead of chemical products. Add 50 drops to a bucket of water to clean countertops and tile floors.
Toothpaste (white, plain): Cleans silver; can remove water stains on wood furniture - dab on, allow it to dry and wipe off.
White vinegar: Cleans linoleum floors and glass (from windows to shower doors) when mixed with water and a little liquid soap (castille or vegetable). Cuts grease and removes stains; removes soap scum and cleans toilets (add a bit of baking soda if you like). Pour down drains once a week for antibacterial cleaning. Add to water in a spray bottle to kill mold and mildew.