It’s surprising to me that others are also interested in my old-fashioned, simpler ways of doing things obsession and now I am not so embarrassed to share my tips. You know many people think a not so old girl sharing these discoveries/ tips is a strange thing but I am really into all this simple living stuff and I am glad you are too!

So here are a few more of my favorite bits of old fashioned know how & do it yourself remedies. Feel free to share your own in what ever way suits you or to stumble me or link to your favorite tip. Enjoy!

Want to stop smoking? I am not a smoker but my mom is and she reads this… I did find a old-fashioned recipe that is said to help you curb the urge to light up. You just drink it down with your morning tea/ coffee or juice and you will have decreased desire to smoke.

Here is the recipe: Mix 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tarter, 1/2 teaspoon of rochelle salts (from pharmacy). Or you can simply obtain some Ginseng root and chew it in the morning/ swallow the juice to curb your cravings.

Alright ladies, many of you have tried those facial masks that you apply, allow to dry and the peel off right? They remove dead skin cells, black heads and tons of other junk but are costly and sometimes hard to find so why not make you own facial mask that peels off? Also, If you enjoyed peeling dried glue off your hands as a kid this mask is for you.

All you need is 1/2 cup of apple juice, 1 packet of unflavored gelatin and a drop of essential rose oil (or another oil of your choice). Heat up the apple juice (try using a double boiler if you can, keeps the mixture from burning) and mix in the gelatin. Remove from heat when the gelatin is dissolved and allow to cool. When mixture is almost set (begins to firm) add the essential oil, mix and then apply to your face. The mask will dry, then you can peel it from your face or you can scare little kiddies with your gelatin cover shiny face. Finish by rinsing your face with warm water to remove all excess mask that you couldn’t peel off and you are done!

I have this strange spot on the carpet in my bedroom that I need to spot clean. I have tried those spray on, foamy carpet cleaning solutions and it seems they just make the stain spread. I found a recipe for a non-soapy carpet cleaning solution that only uses stuff you already have in your home!

All you need is 1 cup of white vinegar (don’t worry about the vinegary smell folks!) and 1 quart of “denatured alcohol” (or cheap vodka or rubbing alcohol). You just mix the vinegar and alcohol and then sprinkle drops of it onto the carpet or sponge it onto the bad spots. Next rinse very lightly with cool water, allow carpet to dry- soak up excess moisture with towel and then vacuum.

By the way, I love the vinegar microwave recipe I posted on sunday! All you need is one or two cups of white wine vinegar, a bowl and your nasty microwave oven. Place the uncovered bowl containing the vinegar into your microwave and turn it on full power for 5 minutes (or more if your microwave is extra nasty). When the microwave turns off simply use a dry dish towel to wipe the greasy mess off the top and sides of the microwave oven. I repeated this process twice casue mine was super dirty but it worked great! No elbow grease needed to clean the dang thing and then I poured the vinegar down the garbage disposal to keep it disinfected.

If you like this post consider reading some of these other do it yourself remedies that have been posted:
Homemade Cold Relief
Find the miracle products in your home that will clean and save you money.
Remove sweat/ perspiration stains naturally!
Alternative Hair Removal Recipe (sugaring)

The post Old-Fashioned Know How- Do it yourself remedies part 2 appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

In earlier posts I talked about how to make simple yet helpful cleaning solutions with products you already have in your home. You can remove stains, disinfect, whiten your teeth and much more without buying expensive specialized products.

In the next few weeks we are moving out of our current place and into an new one. This means massive amounts of cleaning and fixing will occur and I am trying to find simpler ways of doing this.

My first old-fashioned know how concoction I want to share with you is homemade spackle- hole patcher for your walls . Everyone hangs photos in their home, but when you move and your landlord expects you to patch the nail holes don’t go buy a product, make it yourself- from scratch! All you need is table salt, cornstarch and cold tap water. It doesn’t get easier than that folks! Mix 2 tablespoons of table salt and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a small bowl then slowly add 5 teaspoons of water to the mixture- it should for a paste. If it’s too runny the mixture wont work… Now just fill the holes with your mixture, allow it to dry and then sand rough spots down. If you want you can go over the spot with a wet sponge to remove the dust from sanding.

In the house we are renting they provided a microwave in addition to all the other appliances. We have the bad habit of microwaving stuff without covering it first.. Bad news, I know. Obviously we need to clean the microwave before we move and I thought it would be fun to use this simple and easy Microwave Oven Cleaner.

All you need to do is get a microwave safe bowl, add 1 1/3 cups of water and 3 tablespoons of baking soda. Put the uncovered bowl inside the microwave and run it on high for 3-5 minuites. After the 3-5 minutes is up carefully remove the bowl- It’s going to be extremely hot! and wipe the inside of the microwave with a paper towel or dish rag.

The water and baking soda will steam and cover the interior walls of the microwave then you just wipe the excess liquid and the microwave oven is clean! You can also substitute 3 tablespoons of lemon juice in place of the baking soda or you can simply microwave a bowl filled with 2 cups of white vinegar. They all will work to remove the mess that accumulates inside your microwave.

Do you have a remedy you want to share? I would love to hear them.. I am expecially looking for a way to repair/ remedy a burnt wood counter top…

If you like this post consider reading some of these other do it yourself remedies that have been posted:
Homemade Cold Relief
Find the miracle products in your home that will clean and save you money.
Remove sweat/ perspiration stains naturally!
Alternative Hair Removal Recipe (sugaring)

The post Old-Fashioned Know How- Do it yourself remedies appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

I thought it would be beneficial to offer some truly relevant and helpful information for you from writers all over the blogosphere! This is the goal of my naturally and simply living blog carnival. You can find submission info and more at the end of this post. Now I would like to present to you the 1st edition of the Naturally and simply living blog carnival:

It’s January and before you know it spring will be here! If you have a green thumb and will be gardening in 2008 you should consider composting! Food scraps can be recycled via composting and can make all the difference in your garden! Over at Hedgewizard’s Diary you can learn How to Make a Simple Worm Bin from Free Materials, worm composting is a great way to get great gardening soil and it will reduce the amount of stuff that goes to the dump!

Did you know one of the most common new years resolutions is to “loose weight” or “get in shape”? Every year people set out to make a physical change but hey forget that diet and nutrition is the way to positively impact your body! If you are looking for ways to make a physical change you need to take a look at your nutrition! A fascinating article called 5 of the greatest foods for your health can get you started thinking about your diet and nutrition so you can indeed become healthier and look better! If you are ready for a radical change in diet you can also look into a vegan lifestyle or you can pledge to stay raw if that suits you! Getting healthy is all about what you choose to put into your body so if you resolve to look better you have to feed your body better first!

Pledge to live a more fulfilling life in 2008 by getting back to what really matters in your life, but first you need to know what really matters most to you. An intriguing article posted by Edith reminds us of how fleeting life is in the article If Today Was the Last Day of My Life. Spending every day relishing in the present is a great resolution for many in 2008.

Others wish to get closer to nature or to stop and smell the flowers more as described in the article How We Can Find Healing in Nature. Too often we get wrapped up in the day to day obligations and we forget to enjoy the present. This can often make us unhappy and it can have a detrimental effect on our quality of life so start off the new year with a new lease on life!

Focus on the simple aspects of your life that bring you joy and make time for them! Treat your body kindly as it is your vessel in this life. Eat healthy and take time for yourself, you need to make the best of this life you have as you never know how long you will have!

That concludes this edition of naturally and simply living using. Would you be interested in posting an edition of this carnival on your blog? We need carnival hosts and relevant submissions, it’s a great way to build traffic for your own blog! Please visit our carnival submission form to submit your articles and post a comment below if you would like to host this carnival in the future!

The post Naturally and simply living- 1st edition appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

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If you are writer that feels your article would be beneficial to my readers you can submit your on topic article by visiting the appropriate submission page for the particular category. If you are looking to draw readers to your own site that is related to these posts you may consider hosting one of these compilation articles on your own blog. If you are interested please let me know and I’ll arrange it!

The post Write for a blog carnival or read what others have written. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.