In my continuing quest to organize stuff in our home, I had pushed cable organization to the top of the list. Both my husband and I have a couple of laptops, not mention various video game systems each with its own set of cables. I was tired of not being able to find the correct cable when I needed it, or resorting to a dusty game of twister when something blew behind the TV and spending an hour trying to find the right cord, before I could troubleshoot the problem. These ideas helped us, and maybe they’ll help you too!

image from unpluggd

“Hey babe? Have you seen an aluminum foil ball about yea big?” I gestured with my hands as my husband looked at me blankly and shook his head.

“Where was the last place you had it?”

“Oh, it was in the dryer. Have you seen it?”

eyebrow raise. blank stare. smirk.

“Uh..no.”

Sexy is pretty much used to my crazy household experiments, so nothing really phases him anymore. Now, obviously,

I am really scared of the ingredients in things like Liquid Plumbr and Liquid Snake and some of those hardware store chemicals out there. Almost all of them contain sodium hydroxide (a.k.a.-lye) which is highly toxic if it comes in contact with your skin, hair, eyes or breathing passages. Not to mention what it does to the environment once it’s out of the house, it basically kills all kinds of wildlife in its path and alters the ph balance of rivers and streams.. Some of the chemicals always come back up into the sink or tub and inevitably make it’s way on to our skin or into the air of the bathroom. Not.taking.that.chance.

For everyday sink, tub and shower clogs we do the following at the House of Brown:

I love binder clips!  They’re cheap, come in all kinds of sizes. and can be used for EVERYTHING! I was just noticing the other day just how many ways we use them around the house. There are a million and one uses for these things, but here are 12 of my favorite…

1. Holding snack bags closed
2. holding the ends of my twists when I’m styling my hair
3. Keeping a towel on my shoulders when I henna my hair
4. Cord keeper
5. Put at the end of the toothpaste tube so we get out every last drop
6. Holding photos
7. Hold hair accessories together when traveling
8. Clothespin
9. Keeping index cards organized
10. DIY money clip
11. Book mark
12. Keeping my ID/Train pass handy

Lifehacker even showed a video of a guy who made an iPhone dock out of binder clips check it out…

I get busy. Sexy and I are BOTH busy. And sometimes the dinner dishes don’t get done till the next morning. (We’re human, it happens.)Last week I picked up my cast iron skillet which had been left in the sink from the day before and the sink looked like this…

eeewwwww.....

Now I know what most of you are thinking… there’s no way those “natural” cleaners she’s always talking about are gonna REALLY clean THAT!

Think again my friend

The night before I go on a trip, I check the weather for the destination’s forecast, and plan my outfits for the whole week. I narrow down my footwear to what I’m going to wear on the plane, a pair of sneakers, 1 pair of heels, and a 1 pair of black flats. I decide what size suitcase and what carry on to bring, and what will go into each. I stay up late planning, and prepping, and funneling various oils, creams and conditioners into travel-size containers with the precision of a chemist. I try to get cash and packets of oatmeal ahead of time, so I won’t have to deal with the high prices of food and $5 ATM fees at the terminal, and I reserve a parking space near the airport. This process usually works out pretty well, and I get to my destination ready to relax or work or whatever. Pretty savvy right?

BUT…

For some reason, getting up, working out, and getting out of the house and to the office by 9am on a daily basis completely eludes me. I don’t hear the alarm, nothing that I want to wear (or can fit comfortably) is clean, I can never find at least one of my shoes, my phone isn’t charged, I forget to feed the cat, (who in protest, has thrown-up on my yoga mat). Sexy is ALWAYS telling me to slow down after hearing me yelp out in pain from accidentally slamming one of my appendages into a stationary object. I walked halfway to the subway once when I realized that I still had 3 twists in a roller in the back of my head, I forgot my earrings, and the alarm company was calling me because the alarm was going off because I’d left my keys in the door and it had swung open.

Then it dawned on me.

Why not approach every (week)day as if I had to be on a plane, leaving at 9am? Hmmm. With some modifications, this just might work.

So here’s my top 10 list of how to get through the week a bit smoother. I have tried this and it actually works!

Thrifty Jinxy posted this tip this week, and it’s right up my alley! Several of you have also commented that you do the same thing. Just mix Baking Soda and vinegar and voila! Clear Drains! For the details, click here.

If you’re trying to cut back on using paper towels, then using Handi Wipes, Microfiber cloths and Skoy cloths and even sponges are a good option. However, in the kitchen we all want to reduce germs right? So what I do is every couple of days or so I wet my sink sponge, or cloth or whatever I’ve been using to wipe off the counters and stick it in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. (The item being nuked MUST BE WET , trust me on this.) Then at the end of the week, any cloths or dishtowels get sprayed with Hydrogen peroxide and tossed in the washer. Simple, cheap and..(wait for it) Savvy!

I love finding new uses for things I already have!

I’m lucky enough to live in New York and have a sizeable kitchen, (no closet space though, I guess you can’t have everything right?), with a double sink to boot. So usually whatever is not going into the dishwasher gets washed and drained on the other side of the sink. But sometimes there are things that don’t fit, or I’m too tired to dry them, or they’re too fragile, or well, we’re being just plain lazy. That’s when I came up with the brilliant idea of using a pan and a cookie rack as a dishdrainer. It’s easy.

Just place a “10 x 15″ cooling rack inside of a 17″ x1 2″ baking sheet like this, and voila!

Your glasses, bowls, bottles and jars all drain quite nicely.

Those are some pretty wine goblets we got as wedding presents, (thanks Vikki and Terrel!)

What are some of your kitchen DIY ideas?

I love when I can find products with all natural ingredients, but I’m THRILLED when I can find them at a discount. Here’s the story…

My brother and I were visiting my mom and went to run some errands. He made me go to GameStop, so I retunred the favor and had him accompany me to Marshall’s. He was NOT happy about this believe me. (Apparently no self-respecting gamer would be caught dead in Marshalls). I was poking around the cookware section, looking for a small double-boiler for one of my various beauty experiments, when I saw a bottle of pure maple syrup. This wouldn’t have been strange, except for the fact, it was Pure Vermont Maple Syrup that usually goes for something like $12 at Whole Foods.

I flipped it over, and it was $6.00!

Huh?

I ran into the next aisle to determine if this was just a fluke and stopped in my tracks…

There before me, in Marshalls of all places, was an entire aisle of preserves, honey, cookies, crackers and oils of all shapes, sizes and fabulous containers. Now I had seen the cookies, and the crackers and the little Ghiardelli chocolates by the register, but THIS! Below are pics of my condiment shopping spree at Marshalls.

Marshalls loot

100% Pure Maple Syrup 12oz. for $6.00
24oz. of Mediterranean Kosher Sea Salt $3.00
34oz. of La Tourangelle Grapeseed Oil $8.50 (I’ve seen this stuff retail for $15.00!)
12oz. peach/mango preserves $2.50 (I LOVE to stir preserves into my greek yogurt, plus, it’s cheaper to buy the plain yogurt, rather than the fruit kind, besides, what do you think you’re stirring in there anyway? preserves!)
18oz. organic reduced sugar strawberry preserves 3.99 (way cheaper than the farmer’s market)
1 tin of English breakfast tea $2.99
8.47 oz of Hazelnut syrup. (This stuff tastes great in coffee, hot chocolate, even drizzled over granola, yogurt or pancakes YUM!)

PLUS I found a veggie cookbook for $5 and did you see those botles? I will keep every single bottle and tin in the bunch! I can reuse the Sea Salt container for my epsom salts in the bath, The grapeseed oil tin can hold olive oil instead of that huge can it comes in, I can keep my hair pins in the tea tin (it has a hinged lid), the hazelnut bottle I’ll use for infusing oil, and the jelly jars I’ll use for homade lotions, cream, bath salts, scrub or who knows what else?

I had enough restraint NOT to buy the organic raw honey, the organic scones mix, the truffle oil, the walnut oil, the lemon curd or the herbal tea sampler. And when I looked up, my brother was standing right next to me with a FULL cart, a bottle of maple syrup in his hand and was saying, “Marshalls?! This is so weird.” Not only did I find some GREAT stuff that I’ll use over and over, but none of it will end up in a landfill! Marshalls! Who knew?

Anybody else find some great discount stuff in random places? (TJ Maxx or IKEA perhaps?)

- Savvy