Tag Archives: DIY

Clean Microwaves

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 31 December, 2013 None comments

To all of you “old” folk who don’t go out anymore on New Years Eve let alone stay up till midnight, we have now become dear friends. I am on the same page as you and enjoy my sleep and a happy baby in the morning for going to bed on time. :) So happy new years eve and I hope you all have a safe holiday!

Now with that said:

We were welcomed home last night to our clean, cold house after being gone for 10 days. There is always a sweet comfort returning home even when you have had the best of times away. Your own bed, pillow, shower, and kitchen can be a place of sweet release.

Upon entering home, our house was a chilly 62 degrees. While the heat was rapidly rising to a balmy 71 degrees we began to settle in and find some snacks within our empty fridge. Cooper raced around the house in glorious bliss as he found all of his little toys scattered around yet left in the same spot he had placed them prior to leaving.

It was a bitter sweet moment coming home while we had enjoyed our 10 days at my parents house in Central Washington. It is always an escape from reality yet a busy time as well. I must say this Christmas was by far the best Christmas I believe we’ve had. Something about coming back to the meaning of what Christmas is all about, serving the homeless and poverty stricken Christmas dinner and spending time with family was exactly what made our Christmas in 2013 the best yet. This was the first year we took time our of our Christmas day to serve dinner at my parents church to those in need. It was the most humbling experience. The 135 plus families we served dinner to and donated gift, clothing and blankets to was exactly what created the best Christmas to date.

Anyway, after returning home last night, I think I forgot to mention that my husband had been sick all day with a nasty stomach bug. The unfortunate thing was we exposed the entire family to this nasty bug, had a 5 hour drive ahead of us with a sick man and a busy little baby with things to do and toys to play with. The rambunctious little man along with the sleepy giant in the passenger seat made the drive quiet long. Luckily we didn’t have to return by a particular time frame; we took our time and stopped now and again along the way.

This morning was our day of relaxation and hoping to gain as much sleep as possible to prevent any more sickies in the house. (IE my son and myself) I believe we helped accomplish this task when all three of us didn’t awake until 9:15 this morning…..New Years Eve. It was glorious. No alarm clock or baby waking us up. It was sweet bliss.

I headed to the kitchen feeling completely refreshed, coffee brewed and baby diaper changed. My husband allowed for my morning to be literally AMAZING! These little things blessed my day immensely; I was grateful. I scoured the fridge tossing out plenty of containers filled with food growing something unappetizing on it. There was quite the stench filling my kitchen sink disposal with this wretched aroma. I began deep cleaning my kitchen and fridge and was feeling so accomplished by this one room. I knew the remainder of the house needed a good wash down as well but it had to wait; one room at a time. I cleaned the cupboard faces, oven, stovetop and scrapped the edges to get any grim and grit away. I proceeded to clean cupboards and countertops until I felt completely satisfied. I ended my kitchen duties with cleaning the microwave. The microwave can be a daunting task as food debris cakes on allowing for deep finger scrubbing which no one enjoys. While I am always amazed at the task at hand, I always seem to put it off as long as possible. This one little tip I will share with you will change microwave cleaning for decades to come….. :)

Tip of the day: Spotless Microwave

In a shallow glass container add 1/2 cups water and 3-4 tablespoons of white vinegar. Heat in the microwave for 1:30 allowing the container to completely cool before removing.

Wipe away the grim and gunk with a washcloth.

The vinegar loosens up the food entirely allowing for a swift wipe away. It is incredible how well it works and how immaculate this appliance becomes.

No more scrubbing and ruined nails and finger tips. :)

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New years eve drink of choice: Lemon Ginger Yogi tea

Happy New Years Eve!!!

Cooking Spray

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 December, 2013 None comments

Homemade Pam or cooking spray is easier than snapping your fingers. Although snapping for some people is impossible so with great hope, this is really easy and quick. :)

Honestly I haven’t bought Pam in almost two years. I actually began getting a napkin wet with canola oil, coconut oil, EVOO and so forth. But due to the inconvenience of having to take the extra minute to get the napkin wet, I decided I would purchase my own “cooking” spray bottle and label it as “cooking spray.” How unique is that?

All you do is take 1 part lemon juice to 1 part EVOO. It will separate just as oil and water separate, simply shake before using. :) Easy huh? Even though it’s so simple I still want to share with you as it has no chemicals and your fingers will not get all oily.

One more thing to check off your list that is chemical free.

Couponing

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 11 December, 2013 None comments

I clip coupons often as I enjoy seeing the .55 be erased from the register. Something about knowing I am getting the best deal out there is satisfying to my soul. My husband calls me cheap and I would tend to agree. But lets clarify a bit more what “cheap” means. :) I buy quality not pricey. I don’t purchase the cheap end of many things as they will tend to wear out the following day. When it comes to food, I will match ingredients in the cheaper brands and if they are basically the same quality, why not? I don’t understand paying for brand on most food items. It simply doesn’t make sense. Some items such as HFCS can be the difference and in this tragic scenario I will gladly spend more money to avoid this cancerous ingredient. It’s not about the price, it’s about the quality and the deal.

www.coupons.com is a great free site that ships coupons on a daily basis to your email account. Your inbox can tend to be overloaded with emails but if you are willing to take the time to save the money it is worth the flooded inbox.

My advice after watching many coupon shows on TV as they are beyond fascinating that they can purchase $1000 grocery bills and only pay $1.72 for everything. This is beyond me and quite the accomplishment. The problem here is that you are purchasing many boxed goods, there is absolutely no produce to be had. Couponing should be exciting and adventourous but needs to be within limits. DO NOT travel to the store to purchase things you wouldn’t normally buy; don’t let a coupon persuade you into believing you are now in need of this item. You never ate it previously, so why would you now. Or ask yourself, “do I really need 5 boxes of stovetop stuffing?” Probably not, so lets be wise about our purchases. By buying things you typically wouldn’t without the coupon you are actually spending more money. They don’t tell you this tip because they want you to believe that you need 3 24 packs of top roman and 8 hamburger helpers. The key here is to purchase only what you enjoy and would purchase even if you didn’t have the exciting coupon.

The correct answer here is to make your shopping list first, than clip the coupons. The only time I tend to buy outside of my list is when I can stock up on toothpaste, Kleenex, razors and items such as these. Otherwise you will spend money on items you typically don’t need and end up wasting those precious dollar bills.