Good Morning Friends:
I have been working on some new ideas for cleaning and have found the information I'm about to write here to be very valuable.
My mother was an excellent housekeeper. In her older years she had some one come do the work for her but to her specifications. Her house always looked organized and clean. The only thing I noticed was amount of different cleaning products. She had ten or twelve different cleaning products to clean every different surface in her home. It occurred to me that perhaps we could use only four basic ingredients to conquer the same tasks, so I went on a mission. Here's what I have found.
1. Vinegar is more useful than we estimate
2. Hydrogen Peroxide is great for blood
3. Soap and water clean most everything
4. Ammonia is the single best grease cutter and crud cutter on the planet
If you use these four basic ingredients you have an arsenal of cleaning power for only a few dollars and they do every job you can imagine. Here's what I mean.
Vinegar can be used as a disinfectant, grease cutter, drain de-clogger, window cleaner, and laundry aide. I use vinegar for all these things but find it most useful as my fabric softener. I love the way it works. It measures the same as my downy but costs a fraction to use. No my clothes do not smell like vinegar. Next is peroxide. This lil' wonder removes so many stains I can't begin to name them all. I heard from my mom that is cleans out blood. So I got my feminine stained panties from the wash and went to work on the blood with straight peroxide. I let it sit in a wash tub with a little on the stain, then rubbed and viola! Wash as usual and gone! I also use it in place of the oxide cleaner for the laundry and found peroxide to work just as well. I buy it in large bottles at a buying club to save on money. It also will whiten yellowed whites if washed the dried in the sun. I no longer use bleach unless its really tough. It is also good to rinse your mouth with after brushing. Use a little peroxide mixed with water to kill all the germs in your mouth, but DO NOT SWALLOW! Peroxides could be lethal.
Soap and water obviously clean what we already know, however, rinsing is the most important part. If you do not thoroughly rinse the soap you will see the dirt reappear. Make certain you have rinsed till no bubbles can be seen, and wring out if possible. Never use it on a carpet because the stain will show again where you scrubbed. Instead on carpets use vinegar.
Ammonia is awful smelling but, with a little tolerance you can cut tough grease in the kitchen in no time. Also use it on windows cut with water 10 - 1. I also use it to clean my gold jewelry and gemstones. I mix half water and half ammonia in a small plastic cup and swish. No more dirt and they gleam too!
I have many more cleaning solutions. Share this information with your friends and email me if you need help getting a spot out. I may have a solution you never thought of.
Peace,
Suzanne Richards
Suztheadvicelady@gmail.com
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
My responsibility to ME
I have been over this and over this in my thoughts. Many times over the years I have had to make tough choices to maintain my balance in life. To create a happy and joyful life for myself ad my family. I have the ability to conduct my life the way I believe is right for me. No one else but me has this ability. I choose how and with whom I spend my time. The places I have chosen to work are all good or great companies. If the energy there changes and it I am no longer fulfilled I can move on.
On Sunday I went to work at my store in Howell. I am a cashier in Home Depot. As soon as the store opened I had customers. Some had large dollar bills with which to pay. I requested change from our bookkeeping and made change. As the morning progressed, I encountered several customer who made small purchases and paid with a $100 bill or a $50 bill. Not uncommon. One of those customers who made a small purchase and paid with a $100 bill I gave change to in the amount of $80 or so dollars, which was comprised of 1 $50 and 1 $20 and 1 $10, I thank him for shopping and he leaves. After many hours working and near the end of my shift my manager tells me that the customer called the store and stated that I gave him a "phony"(counterfeit) $50 bill. He further states that "he knew it was phony when I gave it to him. I tested it with my money tester and it is certainly phony." The store policy is Customers First. My manager questioned me about it, checked my register drawer, and then walked away. My shift ended and went home. The store manager assured me that I was not in any trouble at all but that the store policy was to please the customer and side with him. Still feeling very upset and concerned that I had been targeted I went home and tried to get it off my mind. I returned to work on Tuesday of this week and was placed at a register near the one I was at on Sunday. at around 10:30 am a customer comes to my register, I greet him, he has about $28 in items to purchase, hands me a $50 bill and says, "You gave this to me the other day, so now I am giving it back to you." My beliefs are confirmed. He is targeting me. There had been an arrest of a man in my county near this store who passed a counterfeit $50 to a taxi driver and was arrested for it.
This brings me back to my first statement. While I trust the managers word that I am not being accused of laundering counterfeit money, I am responsible for what happens at my register. I have security measures in place and take care to be accurate in my transactions. However, I no longer feel confident that this will not happen again with this customer. I have been un easy since his return on Tuesday and called out sick yesterday. So I am taking charge of my future. I have the ability to request a to be moved to another area in the store, or I can leave and find a new job, or I can just ignore all that has happened and continue on as usual. I no longer feel confident, I no longer feel secure. I have decided to resign. No one will be happy with my choice but I. Most will be upset that I am taking this stance. Experience within this retail industry has shown me what happens to cashiers who mishandle their money till. I could be fired if the store feels I am a risk. I do not want anyone to mar my outstanding customer service history nor will I allow it to unfold to see if this will happen. For me, I see that my spirit has been hurt not only by this customer but others.
I am the only one who is responsible for my happiness. You are the only one who is responsible for your happiness.
Peace
Suz
On Sunday I went to work at my store in Howell. I am a cashier in Home Depot. As soon as the store opened I had customers. Some had large dollar bills with which to pay. I requested change from our bookkeeping and made change. As the morning progressed, I encountered several customer who made small purchases and paid with a $100 bill or a $50 bill. Not uncommon. One of those customers who made a small purchase and paid with a $100 bill I gave change to in the amount of $80 or so dollars, which was comprised of 1 $50 and 1 $20 and 1 $10, I thank him for shopping and he leaves. After many hours working and near the end of my shift my manager tells me that the customer called the store and stated that I gave him a "phony"(counterfeit) $50 bill. He further states that "he knew it was phony when I gave it to him. I tested it with my money tester and it is certainly phony." The store policy is Customers First. My manager questioned me about it, checked my register drawer, and then walked away. My shift ended and went home. The store manager assured me that I was not in any trouble at all but that the store policy was to please the customer and side with him. Still feeling very upset and concerned that I had been targeted I went home and tried to get it off my mind. I returned to work on Tuesday of this week and was placed at a register near the one I was at on Sunday. at around 10:30 am a customer comes to my register, I greet him, he has about $28 in items to purchase, hands me a $50 bill and says, "You gave this to me the other day, so now I am giving it back to you." My beliefs are confirmed. He is targeting me. There had been an arrest of a man in my county near this store who passed a counterfeit $50 to a taxi driver and was arrested for it.
This brings me back to my first statement. While I trust the managers word that I am not being accused of laundering counterfeit money, I am responsible for what happens at my register. I have security measures in place and take care to be accurate in my transactions. However, I no longer feel confident that this will not happen again with this customer. I have been un easy since his return on Tuesday and called out sick yesterday. So I am taking charge of my future. I have the ability to request a to be moved to another area in the store, or I can leave and find a new job, or I can just ignore all that has happened and continue on as usual. I no longer feel confident, I no longer feel secure. I have decided to resign. No one will be happy with my choice but I. Most will be upset that I am taking this stance. Experience within this retail industry has shown me what happens to cashiers who mishandle their money till. I could be fired if the store feels I am a risk. I do not want anyone to mar my outstanding customer service history nor will I allow it to unfold to see if this will happen. For me, I see that my spirit has been hurt not only by this customer but others.
I am the only one who is responsible for my happiness. You are the only one who is responsible for your happiness.
Peace
Suz
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Garden Delight
Morning All:
I am still working on my garden. I have learned that too many plants are no good. I have no room for the flats I bought. I gave 24 plants to my neighborhood friends and they loved my generosity. So glad to have such great friends in the neighborhood. A true blessing. I am certain God placed me in this house so I could have good happy life with my family here in Howell. Now to change one or two more significant things in my life. Then I will truly be fulfilled.
I have now planted lima and butternut squash seeds in small pots to see if they will flourish. Its been rainy and cloudy so I am hoping that this will aid in their growth. I am going to plant nothing but edibles this year. I have one or two hanging flower baskets and that is it. Alll my window boxes will be filled with edibles like lettuce and strawberries.
It seems my husband has caught the gardening bug as well. He frequently helps me turn the dirt and does the heavier work for me. He stated "Im not a farmer" but still he helps. He also enjoys my babbling on about the things that are edible in our lawn and in the woods behind our house. I love his attentiveness. :)
Soon we will be in full summer mode. I would love to have a yard that was vacation getaway like. But spending the money on such a yard is not something I want to do. I am too frugal to do all that it takes to do the yard right. We are quite happy for now. I cannot wait for the veggie harvest. I am hopeful I can maintain it through the fall to harvest as much as possible.
Time to head off to work.
Blessings to all
I am still working on my garden. I have learned that too many plants are no good. I have no room for the flats I bought. I gave 24 plants to my neighborhood friends and they loved my generosity. So glad to have such great friends in the neighborhood. A true blessing. I am certain God placed me in this house so I could have good happy life with my family here in Howell. Now to change one or two more significant things in my life. Then I will truly be fulfilled.
I have now planted lima and butternut squash seeds in small pots to see if they will flourish. Its been rainy and cloudy so I am hoping that this will aid in their growth. I am going to plant nothing but edibles this year. I have one or two hanging flower baskets and that is it. Alll my window boxes will be filled with edibles like lettuce and strawberries.
It seems my husband has caught the gardening bug as well. He frequently helps me turn the dirt and does the heavier work for me. He stated "Im not a farmer" but still he helps. He also enjoys my babbling on about the things that are edible in our lawn and in the woods behind our house. I love his attentiveness. :)
Soon we will be in full summer mode. I would love to have a yard that was vacation getaway like. But spending the money on such a yard is not something I want to do. I am too frugal to do all that it takes to do the yard right. We are quite happy for now. I cannot wait for the veggie harvest. I am hopeful I can maintain it through the fall to harvest as much as possible.
Time to head off to work.
Blessings to all
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
New attempts to grow veggies
Good morning all,
I was wanting to let you know that I've started to grow a vegetable garden. This is the second time I've tried. The first time I tried the plants didn't thrive and I got a very small yield if any. So this time I've done things a little differently. I asked a friend who grows of fabulous vegetable garden organically and he gave me advice on what to do to prepare my soil. It was simple. I turned over the dirt, I added 10 -10-10 fertilizer that's easily obtained in any garden center, and planted my plants that I purchased from a local grower. So far I'm waiting to see what happened. I did have to wait until May because of the frost and cold winter, however I'm very excited to see what will happen . I want to try to grow my own vegetables set I can save money on my food bill. I've tried container gardening, but is too small of a yield and the containers get out of hand taking up all my patio space. This year I will plant only edible plants in my window boxes. I usually plant flowers exclusively, but I thought herbs and some small veggies would be just as pretty.
I'll keep you up dated.
Suz
I was wanting to let you know that I've started to grow a vegetable garden. This is the second time I've tried. The first time I tried the plants didn't thrive and I got a very small yield if any. So this time I've done things a little differently. I asked a friend who grows of fabulous vegetable garden organically and he gave me advice on what to do to prepare my soil. It was simple. I turned over the dirt, I added 10 -10-10 fertilizer that's easily obtained in any garden center, and planted my plants that I purchased from a local grower. So far I'm waiting to see what happened. I did have to wait until May because of the frost and cold winter, however I'm very excited to see what will happen . I want to try to grow my own vegetables set I can save money on my food bill. I've tried container gardening, but is too small of a yield and the containers get out of hand taking up all my patio space. This year I will plant only edible plants in my window boxes. I usually plant flowers exclusively, but I thought herbs and some small veggies would be just as pretty.
I'll keep you up dated.
Suz
Monday, May 5, 2014
Return from hibernation
Good morning! I haven't blogged in a very long time. It's been years since I've decided to blog. I went into a kind of hibernation if you will. I decided that I wasn't going to write, work, talk or do anything or say anything because I had been going through my own metamorphosis. The people I advise and the work that I had done in the past is now over. I am now retired from massage therapy. I no longer practice any of it due to the fact that I'm just changing. Very shortly after I married for the second time we had a very large financial downfall. This forced me to change. I love my new husband but the financial downturn was more than I could handle. So I kind of went into hibernation as I said before.
As we embarked on this huge financial downturn I realized that I wasn't going to give up the path that I was on, however, I was going to reroute my path until we were on steady financial ground. This "adversity" if you will, has forced me to realign my thinking. I've always been the typical New Jersey suburban woman who is of average income. I had an average car. I had an average amount of money in my bank account. All the things that you would typically see in a middle-class family with few worries about survival. I wanted to retire from massage therapy but it didn't know where I was going what would I do next. I knew I had enough income to get me by until I could figure out the next big thing in my life. So I did it. I retired. After I retired from massage therapy my husband revealed to me that his job prospects had fallen away and that there were no jobs in his field that were hiring at that time. I did not believe him when he told me jobs opened and then closed without even an interview for him, but as I look back now I see you was telling the truth. In order to support ourselves we had to remove money from a retirement account. As uncomfortable as it was to remove that money, I can see now that it was probably the best move that we could've made. There are many more details to this story, however, the point is he has another job, we still have that money from the retirement account, and the changes we made in our spending have bolstered us and taught us a lot.
Changing is good. When you learn to go with the flow and change, you become better. I've learned that as long as I go with the flow I'll be just fine. The moment I try to change the flow, whatever that means at that moment, I am then upset. It's not a matter of "if" adversity will come, it's a matter of when. And when it does arrive how will you handle it? That being said, adversity had arrived. I was scared to death but I put my faith in God, and head first I dove into changing my view of money.
Today, I am a self proclaimed frugalista. I teach what I have learned and love sharing my experiences with everyone who will listen. I have gone from Entrepreneur, to retiree, to retail store clerk. Sounds radical but it's true. I hope to not only share my experiences but to give others hope with the things that I've learned and with the mistakes I've made. I'm very comfortable in my place of change. I no longer worry about money, I no longer worry about my next meal as I did before.
Follow long as I post and feel free to comment (only positive though please) and we'll share our life and it's experiences ups and downs whatever together.
Suz
As we embarked on this huge financial downturn I realized that I wasn't going to give up the path that I was on, however, I was going to reroute my path until we were on steady financial ground. This "adversity" if you will, has forced me to realign my thinking. I've always been the typical New Jersey suburban woman who is of average income. I had an average car. I had an average amount of money in my bank account. All the things that you would typically see in a middle-class family with few worries about survival. I wanted to retire from massage therapy but it didn't know where I was going what would I do next. I knew I had enough income to get me by until I could figure out the next big thing in my life. So I did it. I retired. After I retired from massage therapy my husband revealed to me that his job prospects had fallen away and that there were no jobs in his field that were hiring at that time. I did not believe him when he told me jobs opened and then closed without even an interview for him, but as I look back now I see you was telling the truth. In order to support ourselves we had to remove money from a retirement account. As uncomfortable as it was to remove that money, I can see now that it was probably the best move that we could've made. There are many more details to this story, however, the point is he has another job, we still have that money from the retirement account, and the changes we made in our spending have bolstered us and taught us a lot.
Changing is good. When you learn to go with the flow and change, you become better. I've learned that as long as I go with the flow I'll be just fine. The moment I try to change the flow, whatever that means at that moment, I am then upset. It's not a matter of "if" adversity will come, it's a matter of when. And when it does arrive how will you handle it? That being said, adversity had arrived. I was scared to death but I put my faith in God, and head first I dove into changing my view of money.
Today, I am a self proclaimed frugalista. I teach what I have learned and love sharing my experiences with everyone who will listen. I have gone from Entrepreneur, to retiree, to retail store clerk. Sounds radical but it's true. I hope to not only share my experiences but to give others hope with the things that I've learned and with the mistakes I've made. I'm very comfortable in my place of change. I no longer worry about money, I no longer worry about my next meal as I did before.
Follow long as I post and feel free to comment (only positive though please) and we'll share our life and it's experiences ups and downs whatever together.
Suz
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