Archive for March, 2008

March 28, 2008 | Company news

Over at Natural Moms Talk Radio I’ve been interviewed! I haven’t been able to get up the nerve to actually listen to it yet. Go over, listen (but not too closely!) and then come back and tell me it’s wonderful - maybe if enough people wax poetic about it I’ll actually be able to make myself listen to it!

Outdoors, Being Green

Here at Broomhuggers we love to find new ways to use things that would normally get thrown away! Kathy just wrote a great post on what to do with your left over bacon grease to dispose of it and a reader asked if you could use bacon grease to make seed balls for the birds. Asked and answered!!!

Recipe #1 (more…)

March 26, 2008 | Kitchen, Being Green, Cleaning tips

I can’t take credit for this one. I pulled it straight out of National Geographic’s Green Guide this week. Call me lazy, but that’s what happens when you’re 38.5 weeks pregnant…

The question was, what’s the best way to dispose of bacon or other kitchen grease? Raleigh, NC has had a serious problem with sewage backups, due in large part to people pouring grease (more…)

March 25, 2008 | Allergies, Health

I am not one for taking a lot of medication if it’s not extreme circumstances. I don’t like the side effects and the “medicine head” feeling. Unfortunately, I also suffer from pretty bad seasonal allergies! Since I can’t just pop a few decongestants (mostly because I would never wake up!) I’ve just dealt with the congestion and runny nose. Until two nights ago when my husband suggested I try THESE…

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March 24, 2008 | Food & drink, Shopping

Walking the grocery aisles can be very overwhelming when you are trying to make healthy eating choices. There are twenty different varieties of the same thing and that can make you want to fall to the floor and scream “I just wanted some bread!”.

Being something most of us consume everyday, bread is a great way to get your daily recommended amount of whole grains. Last year the USDA recommended (more…)

March 19, 2008 | Organizing, Lifestyle

In one way or another I believe there is a small amount of perfectionism in all of us. For me it’s more like a HUGE amount of perfectionism and I think it’s time for me to Get Buttoned Up!
I’m pretty sure this company has been a fly on my wall! They seem to have the perfect product for everybody. (more…)

March 15, 2008 | Allergies, asthma, Health

There are certain plants this time of year that we all want to avoid - the yellow pollinators, and other things that cause asthma and allergy flare-ups. But there are other plants that will actually improve indoor air quality. And when the EPA tells us that indoor air tends to be 5-100 times more toxic than outdoor air, improving air quality indoors suddenly becomes a very big deal. So, if you want some plants that’ll help your home (or office or cubicle…), try one of these: (more…)

March 13, 2008 | Cleaning tips

I have white fabric lamp shades on the lamps in most rooms of my home. When the lamps are on they show more dust than my grandfather’s apartment. My feather duster doesn’t do a good enough job on them, and who really wants to pull out the big, cumbersome vacuum attachment every time they see some dust on a shade?

Favorite tool?  A lint roller! It does the job quick and easy, and it’s small for easy storage. I’m all over that. Alternatively, masking tape or duct tape wrapped around your hand (sticky side out of course) would work in a pinch; but the lint roller is much easier. And it won’t break the bank. I promise.

March 12, 2008 | Organizing, Shopping, Lifestyle

I’m afraid I can’t take credit for this one. It’s my aunt’s idea, related to me by my mother. As it turns out, they’re some pretty smart ladies. The dilemma? Coordinating everything in the room when you’re redecorating, and making it accessible - to take with you to the fabric store, the paint store, etc… (more…)

March 11, 2008 | Kids clean, Cleaning products

Q. Could you please tell me what I could use to sanitize my twins’ sippy cups when they drop them on the floor of the store (something portable so we can finish our trip) & to “try” and sanitize the shopping cart handles?

A. I’ve got 3 suggestions for you. The first is that according to Parenting magazine, parents don’t need to be so vigilant about what falls on the floor. Apparently there’s something to that 5-second rule. Of course, I’d throw that advice out the window in certain places - public restrooms (ew!), malls, etc… General dirt won’t hurt anyone, and it’s actually been found to increase endorphins. It’s the germs you can’t see that you need to be concerned with.

Now, to actually answer the question. One of my favorites is Clean Well. They have a line of hand sanitizers and soaps that are non-toxic, kill 99.9% of germs, are alcohol-free and biodegradable, smell nice, and leave your hands soft. You should be able to find a supply at your local Target.

Lastly, a travel-sized bottle of Listerine (or presumably any other mouthwash) will kill germs equally well. Of course, you lose the environmental friendliness, and many of them contain alcohol. But in a pinch, a bit of Listerine will kill any germs your child’s paci, bottle, or sippy may have gathered from the floor. It’s cost-effective and easy enough to use. You could even put some in a small spray bottle to keep in the diaper bag. (And now for the shocking reveal: I use mouthwash or toothpaste to clean my kids’ things when I’m upstairs and too lazy to go downstairs. I don’t want to use regular soap on anything that might find its way to their mouth, so if dish soap isn’t handy, I go for toothpaste or mouthwash.) I don’t know if toothpaste would be as effective as mouthwash, but Listerine was originally used (in the 19th century) as a multi-purpose disinfectant for surgical purposes. The active ingredients are 4 oils: thymol, menthol, eucalyptol and methyl salicylate. Do rinse well though, because a baby wouldn’t be so happy to get a paci back in his mouth if it tasted like Listerine, and frankly, Listerine isn’t meant to be ingested anyhow.