Make Your Own Disposable Cleaning Wipes

Save Money by Making Your Own Disposable Cleaning Wipes
By: Monique Kilgore

I love disposable disinfectant wipes! No, that is an understatement. I'm obsessed with disposable cleaning wipes! Not only are they quick, easy and convenient to use, but they really come in handy when you want to sanitize around the house without getting out the spray bottle and rag.

I use to stock up on Lysol and Clorox wipes every time they were on sale, which still ended up costing me a lot. They usually run about $4 for a case of 50-70 wipes.

Imagine my joy when I discovered a way to make my own, better quality disinfectant wipes for a fraction of the cost. Not only that, but I could create any kind of cleaning wipe that I desired. I made up batches of wipes using Pledge cleaner to create dusting wipes and used Windex cleaner to make my own window wipes. I even created all-natural, green wipes to use in my baby's nursery.

Here is the exact recipe that I use to make homemade disposable wipes.

Homemade Cleaning Wipes Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 roll of extra strong paper towels (Bounty)
2-3 cups of your favorite cleaner (be sure to use a cleaner that doesn't require rinsing afterwards)
An air-tight storage container
Knife
Cutting board

DIRECTIONS

1. Using the knife, cut the paper towel roll in half
2.) Place the roll inside of the container. (save the other half for a refill later)
3.) Pour cleaning solution all over paper towels
4.) Close the container and shake it up a bit so that the cleaning solution is absorbed
5.) Remove the cardboard tubing from the inside of the roll. (It should come out easily if the towels are wet enough)

The cleaning wipes are now ready to use!

To watch a step-by-step video of me making these homemade cleaning wipes from start to finish visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnYIEUrBXAQ

Monique Kilgore is the owner and operator of the website Yes Divas Can Cook. http://yesdivascancook.com A fun, girly website designed to get young women motivated to cook & create from scratch! Featuring easy, 5-star, tried and true recipes, cooking tips, videos and much more!

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Free Recipes

Why Pay for Recipes When You Get Them Online for Free?
By:Stephanie Manley

With so many recipe web sits online, why should you pay for recipes?  The Internet really gives you a great resource of many different web sites.  There is a great variety of web sites out there.  Some sites are run by food companies such as Kraft foods, Barilla Pasta, and Land O'Lakes. Other sites are run by magazines like Martha Steward, Women's Day, Family Circle, and many others.  There are other websites that are simply collections of recipes.

Many companies such as Kraft foods build websites so you will use their ingredients in the food that you make.  On Kraft's website you can find so many recipes for things made with cheese: casseroles, appetizers, breads, pizzas, and so much more.  Other sites such as Barilla Pasta feature recipes that are specialize in pasta. Land of Lakes features recipes that contain butter: cookies, sauces, breads, a variety of desserts, and so much more.   If you buy a particular brand of food, chances are that there is a web site to compliment what you just bought. 

Many magazines offer free recipes online.  Bon Appetit, Gourmet Magazine offers tons of recipes from current magazines as well as the past.  Other magazines such as Woman's Day, and Family Circle offer so many free recipes.  So if you can think of a magazine you enjoy, chances are there is a web site to match. 

Another terrific type of recipe web site are simply ones that are collections of recipes.  Allrecipes.com features many recipes from its viewers, people just like you.  SOAR recipe archive has been around since around 1995 and is a non profit web site that features thousands of recipes from many different categories.  Be sure to use your favorite search engine to find recipe collections based upon pies, cakes, Jewish, French, and just about any other sorts of recipes you can think of. 

You can easily see that there are many different free recipes available online.  There is really no need in purchasing recipes when there is a great variety that is available for you.  There are literally thousands of recipes and cooking web sites that are waiting for you to explore them.

Web Sites Mentioned

Major food companies http://www.kraft.com [http://www.barillaus.com/index.aspx] http://www.landolakes.com/

Magazines with recipes http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/ - Features recipes from Gourmet and Bon Apetit Magazines http://www.womansday.com http://www.familycircle.com

Other Recipe Websites http://www.recipesource.com/ http://www.allrecipes.com

Stephanei Manley is  the editor for   CopyKat recipes - you have tried it in the restaurant, now make it at home. http://www.copykat.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Pay-for-Recipes-When-You-Get-Them-Online-for-Free?&id=456383] Why Pay for Recipes When You Get Them Online for Free?

Companion Gardening 102

How Does Companion Planting Help My Home Vegetable Garden Grow Better?
By Loretta Crowder

Companion planting in your home vegetable garden is based on the relationships between plants and organisms, as well as among various different plants. The attractant crops are the plants that attract beneficial insects that you want in the garden. These factors prey on pest insects and supplement their diet with the nectar and pollen of the attractant crops. On the other hand, repellent crops discourage pests. Marigolds, for example, exude a substance from their roots that repels eelworms (root-sucking nematodes). It is quite common to see home gardeners plant a border of marigolds around their vegetable garden to keep these pests away from precious edibles. Another excellent all-purpose pest repellent is garlic - grown in humus rich soil, garlic gives off sulfur compounds (what makes garlic smell) that will kill aphids and onion flies, just to name a couple of things.

Another important factor in companion planting includes allies (those that help adjacent plants by nourishing them). For example, legumes (peas or beans) fix nitrogen from the air, adding nutrition to the soil. When allies are planted with root vegetables (carrots, turnips, radishes, rutabagas and beets) the allies provide fertilizer to neighboring plants. (Sometimes better than our own neighbors right?) Plants that make good neighbors don't compete for space, sun, or nutrients. For example, inter-planting corn and lettuce maximizes the use of space in your home vegetable garden; the corn shields the lettuce from the sun's glare and the plants have no pests in common. Another one, basil can enhance the growth of any plant in close proximity.

All the elements of companion gardening are not complete without some mention of the plant enemies. Plant enemies are plants that may have a negative effect on other plants when grown in close proximity. Sometimes an enemy may be too aggressive, competing for the same sun and soil nutrients of a neighboring plant. A different type of plant may attract or be a host plant for a pest or disease that also affects the other plants you want to grow in your home vegetable garden. Some plants inhibit the growth of specific plants or all plants in general, such as black walnut trees and sunflowers. Another plant that often stunts the growth of other plants is fennel, but fennel attracts beneficial parasitic wasps and can be given space near your garden rather than inside your home vegetable garden.

With these facts in mind, you should be able to plan your home vegetable garden so that it will benefit from allies, attractant crops and repellent crops while avoiding plant enemies. Whether we want to admit it or not, pests come in all shapes and sizes, from microscopic size upwards. These pests can wreak havoc on a vegetable garden if these same pests are not controlled. Diseases, too, come in all sorts of guises - molds and mildews, wilts and blights, curls and burns. Depending on the disease, its manifestation and effects may be merely unsightly or at worst can destroy an entire vegetable garden. Insects - both good and bad-will vary from one garden to the next; each habitat is unique.

If you haven't tried companion gardening yet, do you plan on seeding your home vegetable garden with companion gardening in mind?

As an avid gardener in the Province of Saskatchewan, I highly recommend going to [http://www.ezyhomegardening.com].

You receive encouragement at that website, and you are shown it is possible to succeed in spite of the weather.

The blog posts are ongoing and a great source of information. What you thought was impossible is not really impossible!

Check it out today!

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Does-Companion-Planting-Help-My-Home-Vegetable-Garden-Grow-Better?&id=6919656] How Does Companion Planting Help My Home Vegetable Garden Grow Better?

Companion Gardening 101

Companion Planting - Natures Own Pesticide
By: Cynthia M Overfield

Before there were chemical and manufactured pesticides, early settlers used companion planting to keep away pests and to make their crops grow heartier. Farmers of old would plant squash, beans and corn together because they knew that these three crops were kept in balance because they gave each other nutrients.

Organic farmers and those who care about not polluting the Earth use this type of gardening method in lieu of chemicals and harsh fertilizers. Planting two or more crops together in some instances will allow nature to make its own pesticide protection and its own fertilizer.

What exactly is companion planting?

Companion planting is the practice of planting certain types of plants next to or around each other to discourage disease, pests and to help all the plants grow to their full potential. You can't just run out and start planting a menagerie of plants. You do have to study up a little bit. Knowing which plants use a lot of the soils nutrients and which plants need more water are all things you must take into consideration. You should never grow two plants together that deplete the soil or who need lots of water; they will just fight each other for their own share instead of balancing each other out.

My mother always put orange peels in her flower beds to keep the cats out. Farmers who grow hay may plant that crop for two years, and then plant a crop of oats so that the soil will get replenished with nutrients. Using companion planting works in the same way. You are letting Mother Nature make her own eco-system.

Companion Planting as a Pest Control

Many people like to companion plant to control pests. If you garden much then you will know that some bugs are necessary; bees for plant growth and worms for replenishing the soil, so you never want to harm the varmints that should be there.

You can plant marigolds throughout your flower gardens to control aphids. They look beautiful mixed in with other flowers and they naturally repel the bugs that eat the leaves. You could plant garlic around the same area as your rose bushes to keep the aphids away. Garlic planted around the borders of your potato beds will help keep the dreaded potato beetle from destroying your valuable crop.

You may be using chemical pesticides and fertilizers because you don't really know any other way to keep your gardens healthy and bug free. We have seen the studies of what these substances are doing to the planet and many caring people are starting to use our ancestor's old methods of pest and fertilizer control.

When you mix different types of plants together, you are not only helping the planet-you will be surprised at how beautiful your gardens will look when you learn how to do companion gardening correctly.

Cynthia writes a successful blog called Tulip Care Tips - Bulb Gardening For The Beginner. She loves sharing her gardening tips with others. Visit her website at: http://www.tulipcaretips.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Companion-Planting---Natures-Own-Pesticide&id=6898043] Companion Planting - Natures Own Pesticide

Father's Day Gift Ideas

Great Father's Day Gift Ideas
By:Phoenix Roberts

Father's Day gifts can be a tricky proposition. Fortunately, most men have similar basic needs and wants that don't change much, regardless of their age or situation. This Father's Day gift buying guide will help you figure out how to buy a Father's Day gift that will tell Dear Old Dad that you care -- specifically, that you care enough to think about what he would really like to receive on Father's Day.

Electronics -- Gifts for the Techno-Dad

GPS
Men don't like asking directions, so help Dad get where he's going with a global positioning system. A basic handheld GPS or mobile GPS unit displays coordinates over a map. Fancier GPS systems go from a simple dash-mount GPS navigation system to multi-component in-dash car audio-video units loaded with everything you want and a few things you may never figure out.

LCD TV
Most LCD televisions are called flat panel televisions because they are thin and light enough to hang on the wall like a painting. LCD technology has seen huge improvements in recent years and LCD TVs are becoming the most popular TV set. Big screens are fabulous, but not a necessity -- a 26-inch LCD TV is affordably priced and works in most rooms. For the serious movie or sports fan, a 32-inch to 42-inch wide-screen HDTV is a thing to be envied. If you have a very large TV room or just like your action life-size, go 52 inches or bigger!

Home Theater Audio
If Dad already has a widescreen TV, well, what's dazzling video without astounding audio? Pick out a home theater! For small rooms, a home-theater-in-a-box -- a package containing the amplifier, tuner and speakers -- is enough but not too much. For Dads who never shout, "Turn your stereo down!" go with surround sound speakers -- a multi-speaker system identified by number: 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1; the ".1" is the subwoofer (the deep notes); the other number is how many speakers are in the group. Spread them around the room and they'll reproduce theater-quality audio.

iPods & MP3 players
Dad probably grew up with "boomboxes" or "ghetto blasters," big radio-cassette tape players. Today's Dad still wants to listen to Elvis Presley or Johnny Cash or Rachmaninov (or maybe SheDaisy), but on pocket-sized iPods and MP3 players. iPods help keep distractions down while working. MP3 players make excellent companions driving or exercising. If music isn't Dad's thing, help keep the gray matter from getting stale with audio books.

Video game consoles and games
Lots of Dads grew up with video games then outgrew them. Now that they have children to game with, video games make brilliant Father's Day gift ideas. A new video game console can be a great way to get some one-on-one time with each child. It's also a way for Mom and Dad to keep an eye on the video games the kids are playing.

Sports -- Gifts for the Active Dad

Camping
Think you've run out of Father's Day ideas because Dad has a room full of electronics? Here's an idea: Turn them off! That's right, shut them down, throw the kids in the car and take to the great outdoors! What good is a Father's Day present that brings the whole world into your living room if you never get out and experience the real thing? Fishing gear gifts or camping gifts for Dad can be simple and economical, or you can buy enough camp gear for a crusade. (By the way, if Dad really isn't the Lewis and Clark type, Mom might still get him to pitch a family tent in the backyard, if she buys a cozy double sleeping bag to go with it!)

Golf
Whether Dad is a duffer or the local club pro, if the man likes his links, he needs something. (Don't buy him golf lessons unless he knows he needs them.) Fortunately, the great thing about golf gifts is the range -- not the driving, range, the price range! They start with useful, inexpensive gear like rangefinders and electronic scorecards, going all the way to a golf club set including the best handmade woods or latest high-tech irons.

Do the Q!
BBQ, that is. Barbecue may be America's most popular lawn sport, and like any great athlete, the right equipment is important in making the point spread. A classic charcoal grill or a new-style gas grill plus grill accessories are cooking essentials that abound in the home store. By the way, Dad will enjoy this even more with Father's Day baskets full of gourmet foods, tasty treats or other goodies!

Games
Dads work hard, so they appreciate Father's Day gifts that help them relax. "Poker night with the boys" is more common in late night reruns than most suburban homes, but it hasn't gone the way of the vinyl record yet. Poker is more than just a way to trade money; it is something to do with the hands while men talk about manly things. Dad doesn't gamble? Not a problem with the many indoor games on today's market. Board games include chess, backgammon or darts. For the bigger game room, a billiards table or billiards accessories. They are all gift ideas for Dads they will be grateful for every time they play.

Other gift ideas -- Gifts for the hard-to-buy-for Dad

Gear and gizmos work for most Dads, but not all. Personalized Father's Day gifts -- meaning gifts that reflect Dad's personality, not just something with his name or initials -- require thought. For Dads with other tastes, Father's Day can be an interesting challenge:

Superior style
Men's clothing and men's jewelry are great choices for the Dad who's serious about his appearance, but it can be tricky. Solid research for truly personal items means you avoid the ever-present Father's Day gift-giving risk -- getting something you like instead of something Dad likes. Some Dads always dress casual; some always dress for business; some like to mix it up. Whatever his taste, there are plenty of Father's Day gift ideas in the clothing store (especially in the designer section!). Likewise, the right men's jewelry, including fine men's watches, could be a Father's Day gift that really hits the mark; one he'll wear for life and could become a treasured family heirloom.

Academic advancement
For Father's Day ideas for the practical Dads whose business or profession demands they keep up with the latest advances, or for Dads who simply like a good tale well told, choose something from among the classics or latest releases in books, movies, music and videos.

"Back in my day..."
Is Dad waxing nostalgic? Is he always talking about "the way things were"? If so, maybe a retro-gift is the Father's Day gift he'll love. Get him a candlestick telephone, a collectible framed photo showing someone he admires, a collegiate souvenir or something else to remind him -- with a gentle smile -- that's he's getting on in years.

The Pro from Dover!
Is Dad a professional man? Most professionals still carry briefcases or attache cases and these do wear out eventually. Practical gifts are excellent Father's Day gift ideas for the practical man. Pick a prime-leather business case or some new luggage.

What's his size?

Getting the right size can be a tricky proposition. If you want to get personalized Father's Day gifts like clothes that really fit well, take a look at what Dad wears most often. Generally, this is what fits him best. If you can't measure the Man, measure the clothing.

What doesn't work on Father's Day?

A keychain -- unless it contains keys to a new car, leave this one at the auto parts counter.

"Oh, I don't really want anything." Yeah, right.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Great-Fathers-Day-Gift-Ideas&id=1155333] Great Father's Day Gift Ideas