Small Home, Big Hospitality If there is one thing that is difficult to change in life, it is the size of your house. You can rearrange your home layout and use vertical storage space. You can work your butt off and save enough money to afford a bigger house. Beyond those resolutions, you might just have to live in serenity with your small space. Lisa-Jo Baker exemplifies how friends and family taught her that her small home can host a crowd when she lets go. Visit Surprised by Motherhood Posted by → December 11, 2014 at 8:00 PM under News and Events
Use Cloves for More than Baking Cloves smell beautiful because they are powerful herbs. Whenever something smells amazing, you bet you will be able to find surprising uses for it online. At Premeditated Leftovers, Katie Femia has listed 10 ways to use cloves around the house, from home remedies to housekeeping hacks. You can almost smell it from here. Posted by → December 11, 2014 at 5:00 PM under News and Events
Do it Yourself Natural Remedies to Fight the Cold/Flu Season The cold and flu season is no fun, but by being prepared well in advance, you can take some of the potential sting out of the winter months. Your first stop should be to opt for healthy food and up your intake of fruits and vegetables. In addition to opting for a healthy diet, getting enough sleep is a must if you want to avoid catching “whatever is going around” during the winter. Foods such as fast food, processed foods and foods loaded with sugar all put your immune system under considerable stress. This means that even the very best cold and flu fighting kit won’t do you much if you continue to tax your system by eating the wrong kinds of food and not getting enough rest. If you feel as though you are coming down with something, your first stop should be to stop what you are doing and get extra sleep! That stated, let’s look at the different cold and flu fighters you should have on hand this winter. Magical Garlic Magical garlic. Is that an overstatement? Not really, as garlic is nothing short of amazing. If there were a contest for Mankind’s Greatest Food Friend then garlic would have to be in the running for the Gold Medal. What makes garlic so impressive? Garlic is simultaneously a strong anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anticancer, and most importantly for the cold and flu season, garlic is a strong anti-viral. The list of reasons to incorporate garlic into your diet is indeed long. Additionally, the complexity of garlic is nothing short of astonishing. Chopped garlic, cut garlic that has been allowed to sit 15-20 minutes after being cooked, raw garlic and cooked garlic all have different health boosting properties. Yes, garlic is amazing, and it is a food you should eat year round to help ward off infections, alignments and inflammation. Like garlic, onions also have health boosting properties. Onions are also loaded with anti-inflammatory properties and are loaded with antioxidants. Versatile Ginger Ginger is another cold and flu superstar. One of the easiest ways to consume ginger is through ginger tea. Most people don’t realize that ginger is, in fact, very nutritious and loaded with vitamins and minerals. This is one reason to consider consuming fresh ginger year round. In short, ginger boosts the immune system, thanks to its antibacterial properties. Some studies have even have gone so far as to conclude that ginger may have anti-mutagenic properties. Ginger can be consumed either in its raw form, cooked or in teas. Cayenne Pepper Spices are another important way to keep colds and flu at bay. Numerous spices, in addition to ginger, can be used to help you decrease the chances of developing a cold or flu. At the top of the list is cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper can help open up the mucous membranes and much more. Due to the fact that cayenne pepper contains capsaicin, it causes an increase in blood circulation throughout the body. Spice Things Up with Thyme and Sage Thyme is another interesting option, as it contains large amounts of thymol. Thymol is an antiseptic used in mouthwash. Teas made with thyme are also used to help fight coughs and bronchitis. A fourth spice to consider is sage. While it is true that sage can overwhelm many foods with its taste, there is no doubting sage’s ability to help boost immunity. Sage has been shown to help fight respiratory ailments and infections and intriguing may even boost brain performance. A team at Bristol University concluded that sage extracts could be used to boost overall cognitive performance. Soothing Honey Honey has long been known for its ability to soothe the throat. Honey also has antibacterial and antiviral properties. So if you are looking for a very tasty way to fight off a cold or flu, then a spoon of honey could be the answer. When buying honey, it is very important to realize that there are counterfeit products on the market, so be sure to buy your honey from a reputable source. A mix of honey, ginger and lemon can do wonders to help tackle many of the symptoms of a cold or flu. Here is a simple, fast and effective recipe for a cold and flu fighter: http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Cold-Flu-Remedy/. Making Elderberry Syrup When it comes to beating back a nasty cold or flu, elderberry has earned high marks. For centuries, people have been using elderberries as a way to treat the flu, boost respiratory health and more. Elderberry is available in tea form as well as elderberry syrup. Elderberry syrup is believed to have substantial cold and flu stopping power. The bottom line is that elderberry syrup is pretty expensive, but you can make your own. If you would like to see a step-by-step process for making elderberry syrup, then check out this pretty detailed link http://wellnessmama.com/1888/elderberry-syrup/ You’ll notice that the very first step is to cook the elderberries. Elderberries should never be consumed raw. They must be cooked or are otherwise toxic. There is also a clever recipe for making Flu Busting Gummy Bears, which is a great option if you have children. This recipe also features elderberry syrup as a main ingredient and uses coconut oil. Coconut oil is also often sited for its ability to fight the flu and shorten the length of the flu. http://wellnessmama.com/4599/flu-busting-gummy-bears/. Fire Cider Packs a Punch! Sometimes the best move when you already have a cold or flu is to break out the big guns and go for a little fire. In this case the “fire” is in the form of Fire Cider. Spices, such as ginger, have long been known for their ability to fight cold and flu symptoms. This Fire Cider recipe is pretty powerful stuff as it combines spicy ginger root with even spicier horseradish root, crushed garlic, jalapeno peppers and more into a seriously hot cider. Ingredients (from Mommypotamus) ½ cup peeled and shredded/diced ginger root ½ cup peeled and shredded/diced horseradish root ½ cup peeled and diced turmeric OR 1/4 cup additional ginger and 1/4 cup additional horseradish ½ cup white onion, chopped ¼ cup minced or crushed garlic cloves 2 organic jalapeno peppers, chopped Zest and juice from 2 organic lemons Raw apple cider vinegar Raw, organic honey to taste Click this link to see the full recipe http://www.mommypotamus.com/fire-cider-recipe/. The time to prepare for cold and flu season is when you are not under the weather. Once your cold or flu has taken over fighting the effects of the cold and flu are, of course, all the rougher. By keeping these foods and items on hand you’ll be ready for a cold or flu when it strikes! Posted by → December 10, 2014 at 11:13 PM under Home Living Tips
Holiday Shopping with Simple Living in Mind The Art of Simple’s 2014 Simple Holiday Gift Guide is exhaustive. It contains dozens of gifts for every age group in the family. The goal of the gifts include ethical production, DIY household management, and efficient use of space. But first visit Tsh’s introduction to the guide for a simple gifting tip of universal application. I’m impressed. Posted by → December 10, 2014 at 8:00 AM under News and Events
DIY Holiday Decor from Everywhere When Ashley Phipps is not making beautiful things, she is crawling the web for beautiful ideas. That’s why she has rounded up 10 of her favorite holiday decor projects of the year from different blogs. From simple and adorable to fun and gorgeous, these projects will make your home smile. Find them all at Simply Designing Posted by → December 09, 2014 at 5:00 PM under News and Events
Try These Solutions to Laundry Problems How many laundry issues does Jillee tackle in this article? Ten. How many tips does she pack in? Dozens. Jillee asked her Facebook followers for their tried and true resolutions to laundry problems, and compiled them into a post of their favorite methods. There has got to be something you haven’t tried in here. Click to solve everything. Posted by → December 09, 2014 at 8:00 AM under News and Events
Methane Generator Addresses a Kenyan Waste Problem Here is another methane generator post that solves a more pressing problem than messy dog parks. Guess what a Human Waste Bioreactor is. It’s a system that puts the tank under an outhouse to work. The waste may not be clean, but the methane gas that rises out of it is. Leroy Mwasaru and four friends invented the reactor to solve sanitary and fuel problems at their school, Maseno School in Kenya. It keeps waste out of community water sources and provides a safer alternative to firewood. For the rest of the story with diagrams and pictures of the building process, visit the Sparked Innovation blog. Thanks goes to Inhabitat’s Charley Cameron for the news. Posted by → December 08, 2014 at 6:50 PM under News and Events
All-Around Habits to Keep a Cleaner Home Cleaning articles that go into detail about particular projects are great. However, lists of good habits to get into around your whole house can improve your family’s overall health without making you feel like you’ve added much to your workload. Clean Mama has a list to get you started and ends by pointing out a few easily-cleaned items to consider when you’re ready for a home improvement project. Just take it one new habit at a time. Posted by → December 08, 2014 at 5:00 PM under News and Events
Buff Out Car Scratches Yourself + Giveaway Ends Tonight! Keeping things beautiful includes your car, but it doesn’t have to involve relying on expensive services to fix something like a scratch in your paint job. Many of us would rather leave the scratch there. However, Ashley Phipps has started using the DIY method of fixing car scratches. Read this one today if you want to enter her raffle for a HomeRight Ionic Clean with a polisher. It’s surprisingly simple. Posted by → December 08, 2014 at 8:00 AM under News and Events
How Often Do You Need to Replace Your Pillow? Most of us don’t give much thought to our pillows, which is no doubt a little odd. After all, we spend up to one-third of our lives with our faces and heads touching our pillows. Yet, somehow we forget about them. As it turns out, this is not a good thing. Some experts believe that you should replace your pillow every six months. The reason is that the longer you keep your pillow, the more problems can pop up. Sending that Old Pillow on its Way Old pillows are known to be a source of allergies and acne, but the problem can go even deeper. Oftentimes that old beloved pillow you just can’t seem to part with is loaded with harmful bacteria. Oil, sweat and bacteria from your body and dead skin cells all combine in your pillow, and that can be very problematic. Then there is the issue of dust mites that just love old pillows. Additionally, no pillow is indestructible. That means after years of use, your pillow will start to lose its shape and fluffiness. If you feel as though your old pillow isn’t providing you with enough head support anymore, you are probably right. An old pillow just doesn’t have the structural integrity to provide your neck and head with quality support. We don’t think about our pillows too often, but they take a pounding each and every night. Should you replace your old germ soaked pillow with a new one? The answer is a big, “Yes!” You may not feel that it is practical or economical to buy a new pillow every six months, but experts agree that should switch to a new pillow every two years at the latest. Taking Action Now that it is clear that you should replace your old pillows, what is the next step? There are plenty of pillow options on the market, but they are not all created equally. The good news is that everyone uses pillows. That means there are plenty of pillow manufacturers and plenty of options. The trick, of course, is to find a pillow that doesn’t just help you get a great night’s sleep, but is also a healthy and chemical free choice. The Advantages of Organic Wool If you are looking for a very healthy pillow option, it is tough to beat an organic wool pillow. Organic wool is not treated with any chemicals, which helps make it a very good choice for those with chemical sensitivities, allergy problems or for anyone just looking for a healthy pillow. Some organic wool pillows, such as Holy Lamb Organic pillows, not only use organic wool batting, but also have organic cotton covers. The benefits of wool bedding, in general, is quite impressive. Wool is, of course, all natural and sustainable, but it is also resistant to dust mites. Many people are also surprised to learn that wool has natural anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties. When all of these benefits combine with wool’s added ability to maintain its shape, you have a pretty great pillow that will be comfortable and durable. What if You Love Memory Foam? Many people have become addicted to space-age memory foam pillows and love the way that a memory foam can cradle the body. It is important to remember that memory foam pillows are essentially big balls of chemicals. But there are excellent, chemical free and safe pillow alternatives available. A natural latex pillow provides many of the benefits and general feel of a chemical based memory foam pillow. There are many options for natural latex pillows such as a wool wrapped pillow. This clever pillow option wraps a natural latex core with all natural wool for a one-two knockout punch that leaves most chemical memory foam users out in the cold. There are also natural latex pillows that come covered with organic pillowcases. Natural latex pillows are resistant to dust mites and mildew. Plus they are hypo allergenic and anti-microbial. If you are looking for a pillow that will resist the growth of bacteria, then the natural latex pillow is a winner. Keep Your Sleep Environment as Healthy as Possible Replacing your pillow preferably every six months and definitely within every two years is a must for maintaining a healthy sleep environment. Selecting the right replacement pillow is another key step in boosting the quality of your bedding. A wool pillow, latex-wool combination pillow or latex pillow can provide you with a wide range of benefits, such as being resistant to bacterial growth, dust mites and more. That stated, it is very important to remember that even the very best pillow needs the right support to stay clean and functional for as long of a period of time as possible. Pillow Maintenance Steps You Need to Know Your pillowcase is your first line of defense in keeping your pillow clean. If you want to reduce the amount of oil, bacteria and allergens from making their way into your pillow, then realize that there are many steps you can take. At the top of the list is placing a durable pillowcase on your pillow. Organic cotton pillowcases are a good choice as they are highly durable and free of chemicals. Consider placing a pillow protector underneath your pillowcase. Pillow protectors have received a good deal of attention for their ability to help allergy sufferers. They provide a secondary line of defense for your pillow. Once properly zipped, these protectors will help keep everything from dust mites to oil and bacteria off of your pillow. Best of all a pillow protector stands as a very inexpensive way to protect your investment in your pillow. Should you replace your pillow frequently? Yes, but you should also opt for a pillow that is as healthy as possible. A chemical free pillow is a worthwhile investment, but so are quality pillowcases and pillow protectors. Considering the amount of time that you spend sleeping with your pillow, doesn’t it only make sense that you create the best sleeping environment possible? Posted by → December 05, 2014 at 2:32 PM under Environment Home Living Tips
