Urban Blog

 
Lauren Singer has been blogging on Trash is for Tossers since 2013. Now she is taking the next step in her conservation journey and launching a natural household products brand, Simply Co. Her first product? So Fresh & So Clean, a laundry detergent containing only three ingredients. She has reached her Kickstarter goal, which will allow her to expand beyond handmaking the detergent in her kitchen, to producing it for a truly influential number of consumers. Because of Singer’s launch, consumers will have more options for changing the world with their pocketbooks.
 
If you want to try some So Fresh & So Clean by February 2015, the Kickstarter project is still accepting pledges until the last week of November. At Kickstarter you can watch Singer’s video and try to learn the names of chemicals that don’t need to be in laundry detergent.
 
Thanks to Margaret Badore and TreeHugger for the news.
 

Have you been to SampleSource.com yet? They send you free stuff, you rate it, and of course sometimes it is housekeeping and laundry related. It looks like every time they receive a shipment of samples, they run out pretty fast. Speaking of fast, Freebies4Mom specializes in this kind of news, so you might want to keep an eye on them directly.
 
Click fast
 

 
Sixty-three? Why do you put in so much work, Jillee? I guess you get really excited about making and reusing things. Jillees advice is common sense when you read it but I doubt many people have thought of all these ideas regardless of how simple they are.
 
Gonna go count?
 

 
You’ve heard that baking soda and vinegar are good non-toxic cleaning agents. You’ve also heard of them going together in a lot of household projects, from fluffy baking to children’s science experiments.
 
This seems to have misled some people to believe they clean well after mixing. In fact, baking soda and vinegar usually clean better individually.
 
Baking soda is mildly abrasive, absorbs smells, and is chemically too basic for some microorganisms to survive an onslaught, including ugly-colored ones.
 
Vinegar is acidic. It kills tiny things. It evaporates quickly and shines glassy surfaces.
 
When you combine baking soda and vinegar, the bubbling chemical reaction might loosen up some dirt. But don’t count on the resulting mixture working after the bubbles are gone in a few minutes.
 
Those two chemicals are like opposites. The bubbling showed them neutralizing each other. Now they’re sodium acetate, too safe to even clean with.
 
So now that you have a better idea as to how to use baking soda and vinegar to clean surfaces, head to Live Renewed for a more detailed explanation. Then pick up chemically sound recipes for homemade cleaners.
 
Science!
 

 
You paid good money for your clothing so I can see why you’d want to take good care of them. Even if you prefer casual day wear, any garment can benefit from the careful cleaning tips that are posted on Froodee right now. It’s even more important if you pay for brand names.
 
Free advice here
 

 
Free e-books! Get them while they’re free! The Money Saving Mom Team has compiled a list of free new e-books on housekeeping, recipes, and education for children. They’re Kindle books, but these days you can run a Kindle app in your web browser.
 
Hurry and get the list.
 

 
There is a beauty in everything you can organize. A set of items like kitchen towels may seem unimportant. However, they are a part of your household, and they are yours. Coming to use them and finding them organized reminds you how much you value your home. And you can’t deny that it makes them more accessible, which is helpful for any item.
 
That’s why Clean Mama‘s post on organizing kitchen towels is worth reading. Plus, she makes another point: are you keeping too many?
 
Thanks for keeping us alert, Becky.
 

 
An organized closet can be a stylish one. Indeed, organizing the space opens up the possibility that you will actually be able to see the beauty of the items you choose to organize it with. Ashley Phipps has picked out five beautiful but ingenius products and it showing them at Inspired Home.
 
Glam and great
 

 
If you want to get inspired to craft, look no further than the bottom of your sweater drawer. That sweater you don’t wear anymore? Stop thinking of it as a sweater. From now on, it’s quality material.
 
Because sweaters are thick and textured, a crafter can adapt the fabric into new forms that don’t look flimsy. You can even create strong, scissor-friendly felt by machine-washing a wool sweater.
 
Since your mind may be coming up with too many ideas to choose one, Jillee at One Good Thing has narrowed the possibilities down to twenty seven, including a few of her own.
 
Can’t choose just one…
 

 
You get paid for your time. Maybe it’s time for you to start thinking in terms of time costing money. One Good Thing by Jillee has a whopping 40 suggestions of items and services to pay for that seem expensive, until you realize you could be either making more money or doing more valuable things with your time. The suggestions cover many different price points so you can decide which ones will save you and your family.
 
That’s a lot.