Is This Cup Clean?!

We have a huge problem in the Douangphila household. My husband and child always seem to go through so many cups a day and I have a habit of finding random cups and tossing them in the dish washer, only to have my husband say, "Hey..what happened to my cup? I wasn't done drinking!" I don't know if other Mommas have the same problem, but I hate having dishes and cups just sitting around on tables and counters! Are they clean?! Are they dirty?! How long has this cup been sitting here? Anyway to solve this problem I came up with a solution that will help me keep my sanity, and save me some time from washing 89349299 cups a day.

Now everyone has an assigned place to put their cup, and if it's not on their coaster, it's going in the dishwasher. If you have more kids, you could use a longer board and add more names. I am hoping this solves our cup problem!

I just found an old piece of wood, well it was supposed to be a shelf to an old desk we have. It wasn't being used, so I re purposed it. I cut out our names in vinyl, I did Dad, Mom, and Lexi so it'd be easier for the toddler to learn her letters.

I marked a line on the board with white crayon so it'd be straight. It can easily be rubbed off later when you are done placing the vinyl on.

The coasters were found during the 90% off Christmas clearance sale and they were just .69 cents! They have a tree design on one side but when you flip them over it's just the plain wood grain pattern :)

I didn't glue down the coasters, but you always could. I wanted to be able to change it out to different ones later on. This was just a quick temporary solution so everything is easily changed out like the vinyl as well. If this idea works well for us, I'll make a better more permanent one, one that's with sealed wood, and our names will be painted on the wood as well. I'll keep you updated.

Cheers to HOPEFULLY doing less dishes :)

Tips for the home: Best Stain Remover

I've been living with a ugly stain on our carpet for quite some time now. Hubby accidently got some car oil on the carpet. I've tried pretty much everything to clean it out but nothing ever works..so I just gave up. Well after wondering Pinterest I came upon this recipe and gave it a try, what's it gonna hurt, plus you guys know me, I love me some baking soda!!

I mixed the ingredients in a small bowl. I just did one part dawn, 2 parts baking soda, and added enough peroxide so it was runny but still a paste.

Here's my evil stain!

I applied the mixture and used a little scrubber to work it into the carpet really good.
Here it is after i scrubbed it in.

See still wet.. Won't know if it worked or not till it's dry so I came back in 30 mins to scrub again with a little water so the carpet wouldn't feel sticky from the dawn? I don't know it makes sense to me lol.

Then I let it dry, came back in another 30 mins and..

(The shading is kinda weird on the carpet in these pics but it's because the sun has moved and it's a shadow from the bench that's why one side looks whiter than the other, but really in person you can not see that there was a stain ever there!)

It's still a little damp but you have no idea how amazing this is for me! I hated that stain like no other, and now it's gone. Miniboss spills all sorts of stuff and draws on the floor so I'm sooo glad to have this around for when I need it. If it can take out car oil I'm sure it can take out all of Miniboss's messes!!

Another great use for baking soda I must say :)

(edit: Now that it's been over a day, omggg the carpet spot is sooo clean that the areas around it look dirty now lol! Husbands says maybe I should do the entire floor lol.. It worked even better than I thought and maybe now I can get that white couch I've always wanted!)

Tips for the home: Snow Candles

Wanna know how I made my snow candles from yesterday?

Grab a bunch of empty mason jars and other various glasses.
Fill with EPSOM SALT.
Place tea light in middle.
Bury it a little in the salt.
Light and enjoy :)

Linking up to:
Weekend Wrapup Party @ Tatortots & Jello
{Our} Home for the Holidays! @ One Artsy Mama

Tips for the Home: Simple Fall Decor

Another mason jar decor idea. :) All you need are rocks, tea light candles, old mason jars, and a pumpkin or two. So simple, and would make such a cute center piece for thanksgiving. It would be even better if you could get your hands on some fall leaves and scatter them around the table as well.

Tips for the Home: Make your own Dish Detergent

I run the dishwasher everyday. it saves me so much time and I dont have dishes piling up in my sink. the only downside is that I go through a ton of dish detergent! I googled up some diy dish detergents and set out to make my own. The supplies cost me $12. thats about 48 loads of dishes I would get with our normal Cascade packs. As long as I get 48 loads out of this mix I'd be breaking even...so why not give it a try?

Ingredients:
1 box Pure baking soda
1 box Super washing soda
1 box Borax
1 Lemishine
24 packs of Lemonade Koolaid (or any sugar free lemonade or citrus acid)

(In my mix I used both packets of sugar free lemonade koolaid and a target brand sugar free lemonade mix..just because our store didn't have enough koolaid packets in stock)

All you do is mix all the ingredients (besides the Lemishine) together and its ready to use. You add a teaspoon of the Lemishine to the bottom of your dishwasher every wash. I've done 15 loads of dishes already and it works just as good as our old cascade did. I just fill up the Main wash with two table spoons of the powder mixture and close the lid and sometimes if the dishes are extra dirty I put a little into the prewash as well.

Other recipes online don't call for baking soda but I've been finding all uses for it so I figured why not?! lol

I found all the ingredients at Target and Walmart in the laundry aisle, you'd be surprised to find that homemade laundry soap has all the same ingredients as homemade dish detergent minus the Lemishine and lemonade koolaid. In place of those you add a grated bar of Zote soap! I have to try making that next..but I have 6 bottles of laundry detergent thanks to couponing to go through first!

Linking up to:
Tuesday Tutorials @ The Kurtz Corner

Baking Soda Love

Something new that I discovered lately is the many amazing uses of baking soda!

I put a bit in one of my antique glass jars, add essentials oils (to your preference), put holes in the lid of your jar, give a shake, and done. It makes the whole bathroom smell wonderful and gets rid of any weird smells... Plus it looks good too :)