Urban Blog

 
If you’re just beginning to get more conscientious with your money, you may be able to break some spending habits that you have had. Saving money can get hard eventually, but the changes Christine Tolhurst outlines are the best place to start before doing more labor-intensive things like couponing.
 
Meditate on the list at Premeditated Leftovers
 

 
Cleaning chemicals deserve your attention and knowledge if you want to use them safely and effectively. Heather Solos takes chemicals seriously, and she has written an article for Home Ec 101 containing everything you could want to know about hydrogen peroxide bleach for housekeeping purposes.
 
Click because learning does not stop at home.
 

 
Simple living has been a trend for long enough that we are realizing that following prescribed rules will only make it complicated. But if I have to find my own way to simplicity, how do I do it? And how come every time I try, I fall on my face? Thankfully, Marta Goerzen has some methods and tips for finding your own path.
 
Shalom, Mama.
 

 
This is important. It’s about protecting your kitchen from fire. Grease fires behave differently than other fires because grease is a liquid. You know you’re supposed to smother it with a powder instead of splashing it around the kitchen with water, right? That’s the first rule.
 
Get the rest at Household Management 101.
 

 
It’s important to save money anywhere you can, right? Maybe not. Clipping coupons can cost time in which you could be getting other valuable work done. In other words, it might cost money in lost work. Thankfully, we can now use our technology to click coupons or touch them on our phones. Jillee explains how to use phone and web apps to save money on groceries.
 
Click on many Good Things.
 

 
So you’re living a simpler life lately, perhaps saving energy and money at home, maybe socializing face to face a bit more. If you aren’t doing any of the things above, don’t fret. If you’re going to change to a simpler lifestyle, you can only succeed if you make your own rules.
 
Mandi Ehman elaborates on the Art of Simple
 

Let’s get inventive with paper clips. The wiry little things are more than paper clips when you would rather use your existing belongings in more than one way than buy a new device every time you have to do something. Katie Femia has a list of frugal hacks using paperclips.
 
See Premeditated Leftovers
 

 
Cleaners are chemicals, whether they are safe, natural, or toxic. This means you can look pretty well anywhere to find a chemical that will clean something. Food contains a range of chemicals. That’s why some of them taste so good. For a starter list of foods that can clean different parts of your house, visit Katherine Martinko on TreeHugger.
 
Click and your house will taste good.
 

 
Click for a reader question at Home Ec 101 in which Heather reveals a hidden culprit for clothes fading early: hard water. Up to a point, using more detergent will help, but get your water tested for hardness to see if you need to invest in a water softener for your home. Heather has the details on what kind of water hardness is too much, plus other kinds of problems it may cause.
 
This post is important to the life span of your washer.
 

 
Frugal living means giving up expensive things to enrich your life in ways that money can’t buy. But which spending habits to give up is a decision for each individual or household to make. Nina Nelson is explaining three expenses that are too important to remove from her life.
 
Learn the Art of Simple