Tips to Make Your Refrigerator More Efficient!

Pull the fridge forward an inch or two.

In many kitchens, refrigerators are pushed back as close to the wall as possible in order to save a few more inches of floor space. Those few inches are really expensive.
If your refrigerator is pushed back as far as possible, pulling it forward one inch can reduce the energy usage of the refrigerator by as much as 40%, and you’ll barely notice the difference in your floor usage.

Vacuum the Back: 

So much dust and dirt can get trapped behind your refrigerator (especially if you have pets) and this collects on the condenser coils. As that dust builds up, your refrigerator doesn't run as well as it used to. The condenser kicks on more often, because it has to work harder, it eats up more energy (costing you), and it wears out quicker (costing you). Once you've cleaned them off, the heat from your refrigerator will be able to be carried away without as much resistance, making your cycles run for a shorter period of time.

Check the Door Seal: 

Use a thin piece of paper or dollar bill to check whether your seal is losing air. Hold it up next to the closed refrigerator door and see if it flutters at all. The rubber or plastic door seal on your refrigerator can be easily replaced and although it might seem like a pain, it really is not. Refrigerators are expensive to replace and so is the food you want to keep fresh inside.

Cover Everything: 

Most foods in the fridge contain moisture. When left uncovered, foods will leach this moisture into the air and the compressor in your refrigerator will have to work twice as hard to remove it. (Plus, most foods will suck up smells of other foods and that is not something you would want)

Let Your Food Cool Before Putting it Away: 

Sometimes you make a big batch of soup and you're really tired. Sleep needs to happen ASAP, and you just don't want to wait up any longer. Sure, you can toss it in the fridge, but your refrigerator will have to pull double duty to cool it down. Try to let foods sit as long as possible before placing them in the fridge (not too long for bacteria to start growing)

Fill your empty milk or juice jugs with water, then stick ‘em in the freezer.

A freezer, whether it’s a deep freezer or a freezer housed in the same appliance as a refrigerator, functions best when it’s really full, as the cold items help keep other items cold and maintain the low temperature.
If you currently don't have enough food to fill up your freezer, fill it with water.
It’s simple. Take an empty milk jug (or juice jug), rinse it out, then fill it about 75% full with tap water. Stick that jug in the freezer and just leave it there. It’ll freeze, then it will help keep the temperature of your freezer low over the long haul, causing your freezer to kick on a bit less often to keep your items cool.

Stick a thermometer in your fridge.

The ideal temperature in your refrigerator holds pretty steady around 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit (3-5 C).
If you keep it below 37 degrees, you’re pushing up against the freezing point of water, which can affect food quality and burns a lot of extra energy. If you keep it above 40 degrees, it can affect food quality in a different way, leading towards spoilage. The range between the two is optimal – and it’s also optimal for refrigerator efficiency, since devices are designed to run in this range.
Get out a thermometer, put it in a glass of water, then put that cup in your refrigerator for 24 hours. Check the temperature afterward – that’s the true temperature of your fridge. Adjust upward and downward as needed – you might be surprised how much your temperature is off.
A freezer has a different optimum temperature – 0 to 5 F (-18 to -15 C). You can get this temperature by putting your thermometer between two frozen items for 24 hours.

Have you found any other ways to keep your fridge running efficiently? 

Feel free to comment and share :)

some of this information was sourced from "Trent at thesimpledollar" and "Sarah Trover at thekitchn"

Turn A Bar of Soap Into Liquid Hand Soap

So as promised, here is the amazing recipe for making your very own liquid soap!!

Also, with this recipe, you can use a bar soap until it completely finishes, instead of most of it melting away being soggy most of the time and then too hard to use, when it gets small.

My confession is, even though bar soaps are way cheaper than liquid soaps, I have always really hated bar soaps, they take a rather long time to use up and they are always such a sloppy mess and very unattractive....until one day, I had a brilliant idea :)

What if I can turn my bar soaps, into an awesome liquid hand soap :) ...and it so turns out it is possible!

My first attempt at this was with a Lifebuoy bar soap,
and it turned out really nice.

Here is the simple recipe below:

Ingredients:
For every 1oz (one ounce) of bar soap you need 16oz (16 ounces) of water.

So most bar soaps are approx 4oz.
For a 4oz bar of soap you will need (4x16=64oz) 64oz of water...that is a mighty lot of soap.  If you just want to try this out, cut the bar of soap in half (approx 2oz of soap) and use only 32oz of water.

Directions:

• Grate the soap, preferably on the smallest grating side of your grater.
• In a large pot, combine the soap flakes, and the correct amount of water. Turn on medium-low heat and stir until the soap dissolves. This happens fast, about a minute or two.
• Leave it alone to cool for at least 10-12 hours. It begins to cloud up after 3-4 hours.
• After it has cooled completely around 12 hours later it will harden and look like a very thick liquid soap.
• If the soap is harder than it should be you can take your hand held beaters and blend it. If after blending you find that the consistency is just a little bit too thick just add a little bit of water until the consistency is more like liquid soap.

Now after you have funnelled into your hand soap pump bottle/foaming soap dispenser bottle, you will need another large bottle to store the rest :)

WARNING: Depending on the kind of soap you use, may make the results vary a bit, simply because every soap will have different ingredients in it.

Some soaps have extra moisturizer in it making it harder to set firm.  No problem in that.  I tried it with a Dove bar of soap and it did not firm up like the Lifebuoy.  I just let it sit (maybe you can try using a bit less water) and after 24 hours I just poured into my pump bottle and used as normal.

Good Luck my ladies, and do let me know if you made it :)

Get Rid of your "Toxic" Home Cleaning products.

Hi friends, how is life?

I have been thinking about starting up a youtube channel, but things in my life are just so distorted at the moment. I will as soon as I get the chance, but in the mean time, I will continue blogging and sharing the interesting information I come across every day with you, my faithful audience :)

I wanted to write on a topic that many of us seem to overlook.

Nowadays the modern home is filled with toxic substances that are commercially designed to make our cleaning life easier. The cost of these chemically based products can be rather high, but they can eventually cause long term health concerns for your family.

Because of this…there is a growing number of ‘Natural’ ‘Non-toxic’ home cleaning products.

There are many inexpensive and easy ways that you can make your very own natural alternatives for cleaning your home, with ingredients that most of us already purchase.

Here is a list of these alternatives, and below is a little bonus recipe for your own simple natural Fabric Softener ;)

• Baking Soda - cleans, deodorizes, softens water, scours.

• Soap - unscented soap in liquid form, flakes, powders or bars is biodegradable and will clean just about anything. Avoid using soaps which contain petroleum distillates.

• Lemon - one of the strongest food-acids, effective against most household bacteria.

• Borax - (sodium borate) cleans, deodorizes, disinfects, softens water, cleans wallpaper, painted walls and floors.

• White Vinegar - cuts grease, removes mildew, odors, some stains and wax build-up.

• Washing Soda - or SAL Soda is sodium carbonate decahydrate, a mineral. Washing soda cuts grease, removes stains, softens water, cleans wall, tiles, sinks and tubs. Use care, as washing soda can irritate mucous membranes. Do not use on aluminum.

• Isopropyl Alcohol - is an excellent disinfectant. (It has been suggested to replace this with ethanol or 100 proof alcohol in solution with water. There is some indication that isopropyl alcohol buildup contributes to illness in the body. See http://drclark.ch/g)

• Cornstarch - can be used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs.

• Citrus Solvent - cleans paint brushes, oil and grease, some stains. (Citrus solvent may cause skin, lung or eye irritations for people with multiple chemical sensitivities.)

According to the Allergy and Environmental Health Association, both liquid and dryer sheet fabric softeners are “the most toxic product produced for daily household use.” Most of the popular brands of fabric softeners contain many neurotoxins (substances that are toxic to the brain and nervous system) and other types of toxins.

So, if you are considering giving up that commercial expensive fabric softener but you still want soft clothes, then here is a simple solution to ensure you do.

1. Add a 1/2 cup of baking soda to the water in your washing machine and let it dissolve prior to adding your clothes. This is my preferred method since the baking soda acts as a water softener and helps makes clothes super soft.

2. Adding a cup of white distilled vinegar to the wash water can also soften clothes but this method is not as effective as the baking soda technique.

3. Try to keep synthetic fabrics out of the dryer since they are the culprits when it comes to static. Natural fibers like cotton, bamboo, hemp, and linen are best dried on their own.

4. And, of course there are still more natural fabric softeners available in most health stores. I must admit, though, that I don’t find them necessary. I try to purchase clothing made of natural fibers as much as possible and find my clothes are soft regardless whether they go through the dryer (free of fabric softeners) or are hung to dry.

As you can see, there are plenty of options when you want soft clothes and to be free of toxins.

Stay Healthy...