Tried and True on Pinterest

Welcome to Saturday! Even though we have another small bought of colder weather headed our way....along with some of our famous Kansas "breezy" (translated means gale force winds) conditions, it still feels like spring might just be close at hand.

In case you are wondering about the tantrum and pity party I spoke of the other day....well I decided to use my powers of pity for good and I channeled all my "poor me" energy into cleaning. I did a two day marathon cleaning and by last night around 7, I had no energy left to tantrum or party (pity or otherwise). The fact is that my house is REALLY clean which was actually a mental boost and the non-stop clean-a-thon left me too exhausted to do anything but fall in bed and go to sleep. So...currently the pity problem remains unchanged, but rather than handle it in a non-productive way, I chose to put it all in God's hands and clean. Hmmm....perhaps I should take note of this for next time.....'cause there will ALWAYS be a next time.

Well....quite honestly, I had every intention of talking politics today. I have had some things on certain issues of late just about ready to burst the seams of my brain, but truthfully.....today I just can't bring myself to the negativity which my political posts often cause inside of me. Add that to the fact that I am mentally trying to prepare for tomorrows blog (do you like that little teaser????) and I just wasn't up for it today. Trust me though...it is coming. Maybe next week after the surgery and all.

If not politics.....what then? I know that it hasn't been that long ago when I was singing the praises of Pinterest. Well today I thought I would tell you a little about what that sight has taught me. First of all....there is a meme going around that says something like, "Pinterest is just electronic hoarding." From what I have seen....this isn't far off the mark. In fact...if not for Pinterest, it is quite clear to me that I would likely be on an upcoming Hoarders episode. I currently have 96 boards and 5,551 pins. For those of you lost at this point.....a board is something you create virtually much like you would create a physical file. You name the board and then each time you see something either on Pinterest or most anywhere on the internet that falls under that board topic....you pin it to the board. For instance....if you name a board Food, then recipes that look good or you would like to try would likely be pinned to that board. The 96 boards I have are quite detailed and some are even sub categories of a main topic. As I said.....Pinterest either shines a glaring light on my propensity to hoard or it casts a rather favorable light on my new found organizational skills. I prefer to go with the latter.

Something that Pinterest has done for me personally has been to give me simple and effective ideas on everything from cooking to organizing. It has also made me realize that really there is no recipe or project that can't be found on the internet and most with very detailed instructions. Going back to Pinterest though.....I am sure like thousands of other people, it is one thing to see something cool or interesting and decide to pin it, but a whole other thing carrying it out. I will see a recipe and think, "Wow....I have to try that, but I wonder if it is as good as it looks?" The same goes with craft and organization ideas. Do they really work? I especially wonder when they have cheesy comments under the picture like "We tried this tonight. You will throw out all other recipes," or "My husband is begging for this meal for the third night in a row." They just sound a little too good to be true.

I decided with my Pinterest hoard, that before I pinned more....I needed to try some of what I had already hoarded. My one issue is that unlike all these other smart hoar.....errr....pinners, I keep forgetting to take pictures of my befores and afters of my finished meals and projects. Sigh....someday perhaps I will get it all together, but until then....please bare with me. At any rate...most things that I have tried off Pinterest have been successful and I have been very pleased with the outcome...so I thought I would share them with you....minus the pictures.

Lets start with ORGANIZATION! If you know me at all...you know that my greatest enemy has been holding onto things both physically and emotionally and because of this...clutter. Once I was finally into the mindset that things are just that....things, then it was easy to start throwing and giving away things. After the purging....then comes the organizing of what is left. This is where Pinterest came in and here is what I learned and did:

* Buy clear shoebox size containers with lids. Our Dillons stores regularly have them 10 for $10 or the Dollar Tree has them. These boxes have a million and one uses. Because they are see through you can easily see what you are storing. I have used them for storing:
shoes
tools
craft supplies
spices
craft projects by the project
pictures
scrap booking supplies
misc. bills and papers
The list could go on and on and I am sure I have only just broken the ice on uses for them. I will always keep several around as I am always finding new ways to use them.

* Dollar Tree. Unlike Dollar General or some of the other places with "Dollar" in their name...Dollar Tree is actually the real deal and everything inside their walls is a dollar. One lady pinned 100 storage ideas that you can find at Dollar Tree. We have a Dollar Tree in the next town over but I simply never went in. After reading her pin which was attached to a blog...I decided I had to go in. They change out their merchandise frequently, but they really do have amazing things. I have bought tons of small baskets to organize drawers, bigger colorful baskets to hold toys and many other neat things that I simply didn't know Dollar Tree carried. Because of Dollar Tree...my house is a thousand times more organized and this is a very good thing.

* Under cabinet storage. My kitchen is 50 years old and 50 years ago...apparently people didn't have as much kitchen "stuff" as they do today. Storage has always been a pain...to the point that I have to have a designated pantry in another room. Pots and pans storage has always been a nightmare and I was about at my wits end with my kitchen. What didn't help is that I have always had a corner cabinet that was two tiered which was ackward at best. Then a year or so ago I had a pipe break behind the cabinet and it caused me to have to have the cabinet doors taken off and the shelf removed to repair the pipe. I never put the shelf back or the door on because it was my intention to put a lazy susan cabinet back there, but after all this time it had just become a huge space with no purpose. Then I saw a picture on Pinterest of almost the same cabinet configuration with all the pots and pans stored neatly underneath. They took a board and secured it the width of the longest part of the triangular space and then attached large hooks to the board. The pans with hook holes were hung and then the large stock pot type pans were arranged neatly on the floor of the cabinet. A large Dollar Tree container was also set inside the cabinet for lid storage. I knew this could work for me...and it did. I love it and instead of putting a cabinet door back on...I am making an easy access curtain which coordinates with my kitchen colors to go over the opening.

* Scarf and tie organization. Go to Dollar Tree and get shower curtain rings. Attach rings to the bottom of a hanger and then simply pull scarves or ties through the rings. They hang beautifully and take up no more space than any other piece of clothing in your closet.

* Purse hanging. Secure a slotted metal shelf holder to your wall. I did it in the back of my closet. The shelf holder I am referring to can be bought at Lowes fairly cheep. You usually use two with adjustable arms that jut out to hold a shelf. For my closet I put several adjustable arms into the slots of the holder and then hung my purses from it. Neat purses and neat closet.

CLEANING:

* Do you get those nasty mildew stains around your tub in the grout? Do you fight to get them out? Pinterest showed me the easiest way to get white grout with almost no work. Go to Sally's Beauty Supply and get the cotton that comes in long coils. It is usually used for perms. It costs about $3. Before you go to bed....take a small glass bowl of bleach and set it in your tub (this makes it easier not to get bleach on anything you don't want it on). Cut a coil of cotton that will fit the mildewed area. Saturate the cotton with the bleach and then lay it along the mildewed area. Mine happened to be the entire grout line around my tub. Now discard left over bleach and go to bed. By morning the cotton will be in the process of disintegrating. I took a small trash can and a paper towel and went around the grout line wiping off the cotton. My grout was bright white and according to the pinner that pinned this.....it will stay that way for months.

* Dirty grout on kitchen floor. My grout lines on my kitchen get horrible. No matter how I scrubbed they remained discolored. A pinner said to put baking soda in the grout line and then put white vinegar in a spray bottle and then spray the baking soda. It will immediately begin to bubble. Don't touch it until it is done bubbling, then take a small brush (got mine at Dollar Tree) and lightly scrub where the baking soda was. Afterwards....take a sponge and go over with warm water to remove any residue from the baking soda. The grout looks like new.

* Baking soda and vinegar: Speaking of this dynamic duo.....they have literally a thousand and one uses and in most cases work better than expensive cleaners. Have a clogged drain pour about half a small box of baking soda down the drain and then add add about a cup of white vinegar. It will begin to bubble. Leave it alone and let it do it's job. In about 30 minutes run hot water down the drain. It should be running clear.
Also use this duo on hard water stains in coffee pots.
Use it in the oven to clean burnt on messes. It works better than any oven cleaner.
Scour pots and pans with it. No need for SOS pads.
Soap scum on your tub.....let these two tackle it.
Again.....I know there are many more uses....and I intend to find them all. Best part....no chemical smells left from cleaners.

Well....these are just a few of the things I have tried and recommend whole heartedly and we didn't even get to the food. Sigh.....well more blog fodder for another day. I also plan on trying to make my own laundry soap and carpet cleaner. This should prove interesting...so stay tuned.

Have you tried something on Pinterest and want to share? I would love to hear about it. Also....is there something you want to know about on Pinterest but don't want to try yourself until you have an opinion behind it. Let me know and I will see if I can be your guinea pig.

So hear is hoping you have a wonderful Saturday and don't forget to come back tomorrow for Catholicism Through My Eyes. I guarantee it will be an interesting topic!