The Happy Housewife™ :: Home Management - Where Martha Meets Real Life

Vanilla Body Butter

May 10, 2018 by Toni Anderson

If you haven’t tried using body butter yet, I highly recommend it. Body butter is a skin moisturizer that typically contains cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil or another vegetable-based oil. Body butter is thicker than lotions or creams and typically do not contain water.

I like to use body butter in the evening before I go to bed, since it stays on longer. Remember to apply the body butter when your skin is damp, since it contains no water. Do not use body body on your face, since it can clog pores.

This easy to make vanilla body butter smells amazing and makes a great gift. Remember to store in the fridge if your home is warmer than 75 degrees.

Body Butter Ingredients

3/4 cup cocoa butter
3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vitamin e oil
10 drops therapeutic grade vanilla essential oil

Directions

Measure and combine your cocoa butter and your coconut oil in a large glass measuring bowl.

Heat mixture in the microwave until melted. This should take about 90 seconds depending on the power level of your microwave.

If you do not have a microwave, you can melt in a small saucepan slowly over low heat.

Stir in your vitamin e oil and essential oil.

Place liquid body butter mixture in the fridge until it forms into a solid.

Use a hand mixer to whip your body butter for several minutes and place in an airtight container.

Remember to store the mixture in the fridge in the summer or if your house is warmer than 75 degrees.

DIY vanilla body butter with essential oils

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How to Get Slime Out of Carpet

March 7, 2018 by Toni Anderson

If you have children, you need to know how to get slime out of carpet. Even if it hasn’t happened yet, I can assure you, it will. Perhaps it won’t be carpet, but it will be your couch, drapes or favorite shirt.

SLIME.

You are a horrible, evil, crafty concoction that my kids discovered on the internet. There is a large part of me that wishes slime had never, ever been invented. (I mean who really wants to drive around town looking for a gallon container of Elmer’s glue!)

There is another part of me that loves slime because it manages to keep Cora busy for hours with no requests for the Kindle, television or the computer.

However a few months ago I had to BAN SLIME FROM MY HOME. Yes, I realize I’m not winning mother of the year, but my girls had taken the slime into their bedroom and managed to get it all over their carpet.

I’m not talking about a few small spots that could be ignored or chalked to up the nail polish spill of 2016 or sharpie-gate 2015. I’m talking about basketball sized globs of slime in my less than 3 year old carpet.

(note: there was significantly more slime on the carpet, however I didn’t think to take pictures until they were halfway through removing slime)

It was so bad that I ended up buying this pink rug to cover their carpet. (This is a catalogue picture- their room has never been this clean.)

Recently, my daughter told me she thought vinegar would get slime out of carpet. Since the carpet was ruined anyway I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let them try to get slime out of the carpet. If the slime stains disappeared that would be awesome.

If not, we still have the pink rug to cover the slime stains and who doesn’t love the smell of vinegar?? 🙂

Now, there is a small catch to this method. We used a “Spot Bot” type carpet cleaning machine to clean the carpet. You can clean slime out of carpet without a carpet cleaner, but I wanted to make sure we were able to suck up all the excess water/vinegar from the carpet.

(because I was kidding about loving the smell of vinegar)

This is the carpet spot cleaner that we have, because two years ago I lost my mind and decided to get a puppy, but I digress.

But there are cheaper options like this Hoover Spot Scrubber.

In my opinion if you have children, pets, or messy friends – you need a spot remover machine. I cannot believe I waited so long to purchase one.

Random photo of girl (and carpet slime culprit) and puppy (pee all over my carpet culprit). Aren’t they cute? It’s hard to stay mad at them when they are this adorable….

Okay back to the topic at hand, how to get slime out of carpet. This is what we did and it worked amazing! However the room did smell like vinegar for a few days.

How to get slime out of carpet

Pour white vinegar over the stained/slime covered area.
Let vinegar soak in the carpet for 3-5 minutes.
Scrub stained area with a scrub brush or a carpet scrubber.
The stain should start to disappear.
Once the stain has been scrubbed out, spray the area with a light mist of water.
Then sop up or vacuum up the excess liquid with the spot scrubber.

How to get slime out of carpet without a spot scrubber

Pour white vinegar over the stained/slime covered area.
Let vinegar soak in the carpet for 3-5 minutes.
Scrub stained area with a scrub brush, toothbrush, or clean rag.
The slime should start to disappear.
Once the stain has been scrubbed out, spray the area with a light mist of water.
Then sop up the excess liquid with clean rags or paper towels.

It is important to make sure that the carpet is nearly dry when you are finished removing the slime. After we got all the slime out of the carpet I did run a fan in the room for a few days to make sure everything was dry and to help get rid of the vinegar smell.

You will be happy to know that slime is no longer banned from my home, however it is required to never leave the kitchen. So far, so good.

This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

Age Appropriate Chores for Kids

February 28, 2018 by Toni Anderson

For years I’ve talked about the importance of age appropriate chores for kids on this site. It took me a while to realize that I couldn’t do it all and I needed my kids to pick up after themselves and help out a little.

After I realized that my kids were capable of doing chores at a very young age I implemented daily and weekly chores in our home. Vital to our success was assigning age appropriate chores to each child.

Reader Nikki asks….

Can you write posts about each age – what you have them do total? I am not naturally organized, so this would help me implement gradually.

I’ve always believed it has more to do with ability than age. Some of my children were ready to use the stove at eight or nine and others I’ve felt needed more time to mature. Only you know what your child is capable of doing when it comes to chores.

Remember to keep in mind your child’s age, ability, and maturity when assigning chores around the house. Most importantly, young children need supervision while doing age appropriate chores for two reasons. First, you want to make sure they are learning the correct way to do each chore and second you want to make sure they are not doing anything that could harm them or the house.

Finally, don’t mistake laziness for inability. I’ve found that the earlier you give your child age appropriate chores the more they can do at a younger age. Most children are very capable, you just need to motivate them.

I’m sharing with your our family’s chore list. Remember, because the two-year old can do the chores on the list doesn’t mean she does all the chores on the list. I use the list as a guide when it comes to assigning chores. Each child does one to two age appropriate chores each day depending on the size of the job.

Age Appropriate Chores for Kids

Toddler (ages 2 and 3)

Pick up/ put away toys
Unload the dishwasher (silverware, plastic cups, tupperware)
Dust with a feather duster or microfiber rag
Swiffer the floor
Put clothes in the dirty clothes hamper
Collect dirty clothes
Help get clothes from washer to dryer
Put clothes away
Make bed
Wipe cabinets
Wipe baseboards (soapy water)

Preschooler (ages 4-5)

Any toddler chores
Load the dishwasher
Vacuum couch/ chairs/ cushions
Take out recycling
Set table
Clear table
Wash dishes (with supervision)
Clean windows
Wipe out bathroom sinks (baby wipes work great for this chore!)
Match socks
Fold dish towels
Weed

Early Elementary (ages 6-8)

Any toddler and preschool chores
Meal prep (wash produce, find ingredients, simple cutting with butter knife)
Wipe bathroom sinks, counters, toilets
Hang out laundry
Sweep
Vacuum
Collect garbage
Get mail
Fold/hang laundry
Clean microwave
Rake leaves

Elementary (9-11)

Any previous chores
Make meals
Take garbage/ recycling to the curb
Wash/ dry clothes
Clean toilets
Mop floors
Vacuum out cars

Middle School (12-14)

Clean tub/ shower
Make full meals/ meal plan
Clean out fridge/ freezer
Mow yard
Wash car
Supervise younger children’s chores

High School (15-18)

By the time my children reach high school age I expect them to have the ability to do any chore around the house. While they don’t do everything I know they are capable in all areas of home management.

When a child becomes proficient at a chore it is time to pass that chore to a younger child. I take the lowest common denominator approach to chores in our house. This means the youngest child who is able to do the chore gets the job. When the child is learning their chores they are supervised by a sibling or a parent.

While our family isn’t perfect when it comes to chores, my kids are encouraged to work together to keep the house clean and organized.

My only regret is that I wish I would have given my kids age appropriate chores when they were younger. When I only had two young children it was easier to just do it all myself. Not anymore. Having kids that can help around the house keeps the house cleaner and frees up more time for fun activities as a family.

Finally, remember to keep it fun! Most little children WANT to help out around the house. Assigning small chores like the ones listed above allow your kids to feel like a contributing member of the family. Put on some fun music, sing a favorite song (we use to sing the Clean Up song from Barney) and work together to make it enjoyable for everyone in the family.

To download your free age appropriate chores for kids printable click on the button above. The chart will open in a new tab. Right click to save or print the chart.

A few of my favorite chore/ reward charts for kids

Melissa & Doug Deluxe Magnetic Responsibility Chart

Magnetic Dry Erase Rewards Chore Chart with Marker and Magnets

Reward Chart

This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

Makeup Brush Storage

February 14, 2018 by Linda

I have a small bathroom. I wanted a place to store my make-up brushes and still have easy access to them.

Using a leftover glass vase and some rocks I was able to put together this make-up brush storage in about 5 minutes.

My make-up brushes are right next to my sink and it is easy to find the right brush when I need it.

I used a short glass vase (about 4 inches tall). If you don’t have a vase use any container that is short and wide.

If you don’t have one, you can usually find them at Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn’s, or Amazon. However, if you aren’t in a hurry, I would recommend yard sales. I frequently see vases for less than a dollar.

I used decorative rocks in my vase. If you don’t have rocks you can use marbles or anything with a little weight to it. You want to make sure your brushes stay upright in the vase. Once again these can be purchased at any craft store or Amazon, or reused from an old fish tank. 🙂

Here are a few fun variations I found on Amazon (click on the image to see the rocks on Amazon). You will probably end up using only half of the rocks or marbles so this is a great project to do with a friend and split the cost.