Sharing is Caring, Especially When It Comes to Cleaning

All Natural Hair Highlights

Lemons | Flat Rate Carpet BlogIf you’re looking to spice up your hairstyle without spending a ton at the salon, then do some at home highlights with all natural ingredients. With just a few ingredients from the kitchen, you’ll have a hot new look in no time.

For beautifully lightened locks lemon juice is the way to go. Mix ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice with ¾ cup water. Spray the mixture lightly onto your hair before going out into the sun. Make sure that you don’t get lemon juice on your skin or scalp, as it will cause you to burn and blister, however it’s totally safe for your hair. Leave the lemon juice on your hair for at least two hours, and make sure that you get plenty of sun. When you’re done condition your hair very well to avoid major drying.

If your hair is already dry, and you want lovely light locks without turning your head into a broom, use olive oil to lighten your hair. By combing copious amounts of olive oil into your hair and spending an hour in the sun, you’ll have naturally lightened hair that’s also soft and silky. Results aren’t as instant as with lemon, so use olive oil in your hair at least three times a week until you get the shade that you’re looking for.

Brunettes can lighten up their hair easily with a bit of chamomile tea. Make a big pot of chamomile tea and let it cool down to room temperature. Rinse your hair with the tea until it’s totally soaked in, and then hang out in the sun for at least half an hour. Unlike lemon juice or olive oil, chamomile tea is the least noticeable treatment, and it’s super easy on your hair. Use chamomile tea treatments every other day until you get the highlights you love.

No need to buy expensive products or soak your hair in damaging peroxide. Lighten your hair naturally with these three common kitchen items, and get a gorgeous summer look – naturally!

How to Clean a Cutting Board

Keeping a clean cutting board is one of the most important steps to kitchen safety. Kitchen counters have a smooth surface that’s easy to clean, but cutting boards have lots of tiny places for germs to hide.

To keep a cutting board clean, you need to do more than just rinse it with a little bit of soap. Fortunately, white vinegar is a great disinfectant and is much safer than using chlorine bleach.

Just mix a little bit of white vinegar with water, and generously cover the cutting board in the mixture. Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes before rinsing the board and washing with soap and water.

Raw meat has lots of bacteria that can make your family sick, that’s why it’s a good idea to have a separate cutting board for meat. Unlike cutting boards that are only used for vegetables, meat cutting boards need to be sanitized after every use.

The same mixture of white vinegar and water will work to sanitize a meat cutting board, but make sure you also sanitize the counter area around where you’ve been cutting meat. Any invisible splatter could spread salmonella or e-coli.

A little extra effort to sanitize and clean your cutting boards will keep your family safe and your kitchen clean.

 

Decorate Environmentally With Bamboo Rugs

Thick, warm area rugs are a wonderful addition to the home. However, a fine area rug can be very expensive, and not always what you are looking for. Bamboo rugs are made from, surprise, bamboo, which is totally renewable!

These woven mats look totally different than a standard rug, because of the way the bamboo is woven. Bamboo is a grass which grows up to 10 feet a year, and new growth starts the minute the stem is cut!

Not only are bamboo rugs good for the environment, but they are wonderful for allergy sufferers. Regular area rugs can capture dirt beneath the surface, and need to be cleaned regularly. On the other hand, bamboo rugs have nowhere for dust and dirt to hide so they are easy to clean.

Bamboo rugs are very sturdy, and add an interesting touch to any room. If you’re looking for something environmentally friendly, new and interesting, then it’s time to look to bamboo.

When Good Vegetables Go Bad

Reducing our carbon footprint is about more than switching to reusable shopping bag, it’s about trying to reduce waste in every corner of our life. Just last week I bought a beautiful bunch of celery for a snack, stuffed it in my fridge and totally forgot about it. In just a few days my beautiful celery turned into a sad, wilted mess.

Celery is a wonder food in many ways. With only 18 calories per serving it is the perfect snack food. Whether eaten alone, or dipped in peanut butter or dressing, this veggie supplies a satisfying crunch.

So instead of tossing my wilted celery in the trash, I cut off the bottom of the bunch and stuck it in a glass of water like a sad bouquet. Just a few hours later my afternoon snack was revived!

For a fun project with celery, add all natural, organic food coloring to a class of water. Cut the bottom off a bunch of celery (it doesn’t have to be wilted) and put in the water over night. Wake up to a wonderful surprise!

Cleaning up Christmas, Pine Needle Pick Up

Still enjoying the beauty of a live Christmas tree? Although there are so many benefits to having a live tree, clean up can be a nightmare. Using a regular vacuum to pick up pine needles doesn’t always work, and can cause some serious damage to your vacuum cleaner.

Instead of clogging up your vacuum cleaner this year, just follow these simple tips and taking down that tree will be easier than ever.

Sweep up the majority of the mess with a broom and dust pan. The remaining needles can usually be removed with a large lint roller. You can also wrap duct tape around your hand with the sticky part facing out. It might take some time, and a lot of duct tape, but it’s easier than picking up each needle one by one.

Baking soda is the perfect solution to getting up any remaining needles that are stuck to your carpet with sap. Sprinkle on the baking soda, and wait 10 minutes before picking up the sticky needles.

Although the clean up of a live tree is quite a hassle, the pleasure it brings during the Christmas season is worth all the effort. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.