Homemade Household cleaners

Homemade Household cleaners from natural items around the house

Vinyl floors can be cleaned with 1/2 cup of white vinegar to 1 gallon of warm water. Wood floors should be damp mopped with a mild liquid soap.

Use mineral oil and a damp cloth as a furniture polish. To remove mildew, scrubarea with baking soda if stubborn use TSP, a cleaning agent found in home improvement stores like Home Depot.

To make your own oven cleaner mix 2 tbsp of baking soda or TSP in 1 gallon of warm water and scrub with a very fine steel wool pad, use gloves when using this mixture.

Use 2-3 cups spray bottle with 1/2 tsp. of liquid soap, 3 tbsp of white vinegar and two cups of water to create a window cleaning agent. If the windows are very dirty, add liquid soap.

To clean toilet bowl use 2-3 alka seltzer tablets and wait 20 minutes then use stiff brush to remove calcium/rust stains. To remove hard water deposits; pour white vinegar or citric acid bowl cleaner into toilet and leave it to sit overnight before scrubbing. To remove ring around toilet, use dry pumice stone moisten with water and lightly rub along the stain. Pumice stones work on bath tubs too; to remove water rust stains, rub lightly, it will renew these items without glazing them.

These tips are from a book titled Grandmother's Kitchen Wisdom 10th anniversary edition.

 

Veggies growing this winter in Ocala

This winter has been the warmest on record, usuaully vegetables that don't grow during the fall season are still growing in my garden.

Including hot peppers, kumquats,  and green peas.

Find these still growing, although a lot smaller in size than normal.

Home made heating pad out of a cotton sock

Make a heating pad out of a cotton sock

When my mom had physical therapy for her chronic osteoarthritis condition, the physical therapist that had her do simple exercises gave us a great tip of making a home made heating pad. Instead of purchasing heating patches that are disposable, take a single cotton sock and fill it with uncooked rice about 3/4 filled; then tie the end of the sock. Place the cotton filled sock into the microwave and heat for 30-40 seconds. This will keep the heat on the sock for about fifteen to twenty minutes, this can be applied on the sore area such as the back, the neck and the shoulders. This really helps to remove aches and pain and I use it til this day  after a day of gardening or home improvement chores. If you need more applications, then reheat in microwave as many times as necessary.

Home made remedies to restore wood furniture

Home made remedies to restore wood furniture

Remove water stains from wood furniture using white wax and olive oil, melt the wax in olive oil over low heat then rub the stain with the solution on a soft cloth. Hide scratches in dark wood by mixing 10 days of vinegar and four drops of iodine. First place vinegar in bowl and add iodine one drop at a time to match wood color, mix it then dab with cloth on the scratches. Wipe off quickly with soft cloth.

 

Keeping ants out of the screen porch

For years, the screen porch was used as a catch all and greenhouse for plants. I am starting to design a morroccan style room for the porch area to make it an extension of a small kitchen. The first step is to make the room ant and insect proof so I caulked the open cracks along the floor and the walls connected to the metal frame for the screen room with silicone caulking. On the screen door, I placed a self stick draft guard to keep drafts and small insects out. Every two weeks, I spray ortho pest control spray to get rid of ants. The room is now insect proof because the screen was repaired too. Morroccan room is on going project and this is the first step before painting. This is an ongoing project that will will take many blog entries.

Donate and recycle to keep out of landfills

"One man's trash is another person's treasure", if you have items that are no longer being used consider donating to charity or recycling items. 

Here are some places that accept donations and recyclables; even swap or trade them. Electronics, cell phones and old PC computers should have personal information erased from hard drive before recycling them to companies that take these such as Dell, Apple, and some retailers like Staples, Best Buy, and Radio Shack. Some charities like Goodwill and Collective good take cellphones, pdas and mp3 players. Sports equipment donate to schools, youth programs, salvation army, and goodwill or trade it in for new year. Recycle cds, dvds, video games at Best Buy. Greendisc is a company that recycles cd cases. Swap music with a company named Swap Tree; these companies can be found online.

Donate old toys at nearby hospitals, daycare centers, and charity shops. There are companies that trade used childrens clothing such as Tots swap store, swap baby goods, and Hand me downs. Books can be donated at libraries, schools, or sold online on half.com, amazon and eBay.com.

Shop Local in Ocala save Jobs

This economy has created high unemployment rates around the US and hit Ocala just as hard, with an average unemployment rate of 10%. A year ago it was 12%, so it's improving but not at the rate that it should be. 

Ocala has many small town qualities but offers urban amenities with great shopping, good restaurants, nice hotels and family friendly park attractions.  Ocala is the seasonal home of Celebrity John Travolta.  This is a beautiful picturesque town with lots of land between homes, unless it's 55+ community.  There are many affordable HOA community developments in and around Ocala such as Oak Run, Pine Run and Top of the World.  Ocala is twenty minutes from the Villages; it's about 2 hours away from Orlando and about 90 minutes from Tampa. 

In my opinion, as a resident of Ocala, the city has so much to offer, but has not really promoted itself to other states in the US and outside the country.  I am not a business consultant, but as a resident living along the HWY 200 corridor. I have seen many businesses come and go within months of opening.  There are many vacant storefronts in the Steeplechase Plaza and in the Friendship Center store sites. These properties have been vacant over two years. 

In my opinion I think that the local residents should develop ideas and send them to their local city boards or the Chamber of Commerce.  I have a few ideas on how jobs could be created in this area by the hotels in the Ocala area creating and offering eco-tourism packages and historic district tours that include shopping, transportation from large area airports, and local attractions in Ocala area.   This could help local economy greatly by getting more tourists to visit Ocala and other Marion county towns. 

Small local businesses in Ocala should have a web presence online to generate sales outside of Ocala.  There are many hosting websites that offer free and inexpensive websites for small businesses such as www.webs.com, and www.ecrater.com.
Start a blog to write about your products and news about your local business on www.blogspot.com or www.wordpress.com .


Social media is a great way to get free promotional advertising by tweeting latest deals. 

Ocala has a large senior community and is a great market for businesses that offer services and products for seniors.    

Keep jobs in Ocala by shopping at your small local business.
Walmart offers many items at one store location.  Small local businesses offer more inventory of a specific item or may offer customer service features.

Small business owners that are located near Walmart will find it difficult to get customers when the product that they sell is priced much lower at the superstore.  Mom and pop shops have to offer low priced products along with excellent customer service to compete with Walmart.