Cheaper, Greener, Cleaner: Ceiling to Floor Savings - Softcover

Wootton, Carolyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1462066879 ISBN 13: 9781462066872

Verlag: iUniverse, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

For too long we've been led to believe there are only two choices when it comes to cleaning our homes: either spend an arm and a leg on "green" products, or pollute our homes and the environment with noxious chemicals. No longer! Cheaper, Greener, Cleaner: Ceiling to Floor Savings shatters this myth with easy-to-follow recipes for inexpensive, homemade cleaners that will allow you to save money while going green. Spend pennies, not dollars, for your cleaning and laundry needs. Do away with mystery ingredients with unpronounceable names. No more guessing what's really in your cleaning and laundry products. Everything you need to create cheaper, greener cleaning products is already in your kitchen or can be found easily at your local store. If you can make a cake mix, you will have no problem following the step-by-step recipes pro-vided. It really is that simple. Cheaper, Greener, Cleaner: Ceiling to Floor Savings will show you how to clean your twenty-first century home at a nineteenth-century price!

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Cheaper Greener Cleaner

Ceiling to Floor SavingsBy Carolyn Wootton Dena Wootton

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Carolyn Wootton and Dena Wootton
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-6687-2

Contents

Preface.......................................................................xiAcknowledgements..............................................................xvIntroduction..................................................................xixChapter 1 Trash or Treasure?..................................................1Chapter 2 Extreme Savings In the Laundry Room.................................55Chapter 3 Super Simple Quick General Cleaning.................................112Chapter 4 I Can't Believe it's So Easy Floors and Carpets.....................163Chapter 5 Quick and Convenient Make It Yourself...............................191Chapter 6 Green and Clean in the Bathroom.....................................233Chapter 7 A Little Drop Will Do Ya' Essential Oils............................266Chapter 8 Cleef's Notes.......................................................283Chapter 9 A Treasured Legacy..................................................373Conclusion....................................................................383About the Authors.............................................................385Bibliography..................................................................387

Chapter One

Trash or Treasure?

"One woman's trash is another woman's treasure," has been stated many times in different ways regarding a variety of topics. Many lost treasures have been found because others have realized their importance, or looked for the unseen value. The earliest crediting we can find referring to "One person's trash is another's treasure," dates back at least to 1916 where this axiom appeared in the book, Speaking of Home: Being Essays of a Contented Woman, written by Lillian Hart Tryon. What a profound statement this is for us because what we found in one's trash was certainly our treasure.

My very wise and generous mother-in-law, Ida Marianne Cowie Wootton, had kept all that she had of family members from the past. She had in her possession numerous items for over sixty years but alas the time came when she needed to reduce the items from her home. Many family members wanted an antique trunk, but no one seemed to want to go through the contents which she had saved. It was the general consensus to throw the loose papers and such into the trash. She was determined to save her valued treasure of unknown worth. Determined not to allow family members to throw away the contents, she cleverly placed the items into boxes and placed our name upon them.

Shortly after the family members left with their chosen items, we received a phone call telling us of the boxes we were given. Now some might think we were on the short end, this would depend on what or where one places value.

When the boxes were received, it was a bit of a shock as the boxes were opened for it did indeed look as though it was just trash. Knowing Mom, there had to be a reason she loved and cherished these crumbled and tattered paper pages and scraps for all these years. To our great delight, we uncovered treasures that others could not behold. We found many items inside the box which we will be donating to the historical society. Certainly we found treasure instead of the trash which was perceived by others!

There were numerous recipes for food, home remedies, health tonics, and cleaning items on scraps of paper along with valuable information. We found bank receipts, signatures from my husband's late grandfather and grandmother, stock certificates, grocery lists, business journal, pictures of great grandparents never before seen, and numerous handwritten original poems no one knew existed. These were written by his grandmother, Ada Dilworth Tracey Wootton, whom he never had the privilege to meet. She passed away before she could impart her wisdom, talents, and gifts to her family.

These poems gave us so much insight into this great woman and her earthly trials. We learned of her heartache as she said goodbye to two of her young children that were taken in death. We read about her life, the trials, tribulations, and her complete devotion to her husband. Through her poems she gave a bittersweet experience to our family for never having the opportunity to know her. Somehow we needed to do something to acquaint her to her family.

We learned that one of her poems was published in an anthology of poetry for the 1939 World's Fair. We also found an issue of "Peterson's Ladies National Magazine" dated August 1882, that belonged to her mother. This was a great discovery. My daughter and granddaughters were delighted to look upon a magazine similar to what they had read about in the "Little House" series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Considering her life during the Great Depression, we studied each scrap of paper that held wisdom and insight into this woman's life. So many pieces began to fit into place much as working on large a puzzle. Her writings were found on anything she could use to write on. We presumed that paper was a choice commodity during this time. We even found that she used straight pens to put pieces of paper together to continue with her poem versus when she seemed to have run out of paper. She must have been very resourceful and yes, completely frugal.

Our family talked about these grandmothers, and we wanted somehow to bring to life the grandmother we only knew by name, her poems and items in the boxes. We carefully transcribed her poems with the chance to know more about her and to help us make her life come alive for us using the vehicle of her writings to explore her life.

When finished with the poems, we discovered a nearby outdoor museum with a historically accurate farm-house from the 1890s. On a family outing we went to try to get a glimpse of her life. As we walked about the home, we talked about this grandmother and how she lived and cooked and so forth. This was originally planned for the grandchildren, but we quickly became lost in our own thoughts of her life. As we explored the house, to our surprise, we found some of our grandmother's cleaning ingredients on the pantry shelves. We became intrigued and began to diligently study her ingredients. We wondered how well these cleaning items worked.

We decided to try Grandmother Ada's ingredients. We didn't know what to expect. We thought nothing could compare to what we have available today. All the products with their fancy containers supposedly cleaned far better than anything ever before, or so we thought. To our amazement, we had marvelous results! Indeed we had discovered a great treasure among the many pieces of paper.

Not only did we get our clothes and house clean, our chemically triggered health concerns were reduced. Could there be something to this? The serious research started, many hours spent learning about Grandmother Ada's ingredients.

Our thoughts then took us to those of our own grandmothers and the many fond memories we had of times spent with them. The path down memory lane took us back to many happy visits to our grandparents' farm. We found ourselves smiling and crying at the same time when a new memory flooded the minds and filled hearts with emotions. Although from differing backgrounds and geographical regions, we found so many similarities between these women, during the same span of time during the Great Depression. The more we delved into the boxes, the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1462066879
• ISBN 13: 9781462066872
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 436
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland