Successes:
1. We have a small bench in our shower that I use to hold my pump bottles of shower gel and shampoo. It has been on its last leg (pardon the pun). The wood was splintering, and the screws were rusted out. With each pump of soap, I feared it was going to crumble into a pile. I've been keeping my eyes open for over a year for a suitable replacement. All of the choices were either very medical-equipment-ish, or were teak and expensive. And since our shower is not large, I was afraid any of the choices would crowd the floor space. Then last week I came across a small shower bench that looked more like a piece of modern furniture than a medical assist tool, and it was a pleasant $29. Most importantly, it had numerous good reviews as well.
2. Since I was switching out the shower bench, I thought I'd clean the shower while it was empty...but I had no shower cleaner. I found a recipe for homemade on Pinterest using equal parts vinegar and Dawn dishwashing liquid. I sprayed it all over the shower walls and floor and left it to sit awhile to loosen soap and mineral build up. I climbed in carefully (slippery stuff!) and used a scrub brush to go over surfaces and rinsed thoroughly. It worked quite well.
(In case you are wondering why you would need so much Dawn to clean the shower [I was] I read that the thickness of the Dawn makes the vinegar cling to the vertical surfaces longer so it can work.) I accidentally had purchased a large bottle of Dawn on sale when I already had one, so I had that and vinegar both on hand, and no moolah spent for a specialized cleaning product.
Now my plan is to make a homemade daily spray to keep it clean (recipe also found on Pinterest). The daily keep-it-clean spray uses water, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, a tiny bit of Dawn, and some dishwasher rinse agent. Recipe with exact measurements here.
3. Like a lot of the rest of the country, I stayed home due to the winter weather this week. I missed a day of work I had scheduled, but I didn't wreck my car or slip on the ice and break anything (South Texans do not know how to maneuver on ice!), either of which possibility would have been much more expensive than my missed day of wages.
4. I booked a day of work for next week.
5. There is a sad health development for two of my sisters. I told my third sister that I would accompany her to assist, which would have meant time away, plane tickets, and possibly boarding the dog. Today she called me to tell me that the other sisters' daughters had things well in hand and we weren't needed after all. Passing the torch. Children to be proud of.
Frugal From the Kitchen This Week:
Saturday: hash--sausage, onion, potato, cabbage
Sunday: Sunday family supper at Kasey's
Monday: *Chinese
Tuesday: Dublin Coddle
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: roast, dumplings, veg
Friday: Goulash
(*not-frugal takeout or dinner out)
That's good that you found a shower bench at a decent price. We're lucky, we have a built in one. But I generally shower in the summer and bubble bath in the winter.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found a bench you liked, and a good recipe to use for cleaning the shower, I will definitely check it out! Thank you for sharing and I hope that your weekend will be a blessed one!
ReplyDeleteYes, those teak benches are pricey! Can you send me a link to the one you found? I've tried the Dawn and vinegar mixture and it does work great. Sorry to hear about your sisters' health issues but glad to hear that their daughters have it in hand.
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