Category Archives: Home Organization

Gum + Kids Doesn’t Have to = Disaster

February 13, 2011

I had a moment of panic today when my husband came home with my 5 year old in the middle of church with gum all over his clothes AND all over her brand new Christmas dress. Ok, maybe the word panic is a bit strong, but I was mad, because I had told my kids ‘NO MORE GUM!’ after my 7 year old spit out gum at church a few weeks ago and got it all over one of the  upholstered folding chairs in the overflow. I was fortunate at the time – or should I say I was blessed – to be able to get it all off.

This worked for a while, but today while I was home sick, my 13 year old

gave Bee a piece of gum again during the sacrament meeting. The result was gum all over a brand new dress, my husbands pants, and a fairly new white church shirt. The total of which to replace all of these would have been close to $100 dollars. For some people, that isn’t much, but for us that is a lot of money. Sure, I bought those clothes on sale, and I didn’t pay nearly that much, BUT those sales are not going on right now, and not having those clothes available for use would definitely be felt.

So, I went online and looked for ways to get gum off of clothes. Gasoline, Goo Gone, nail polish remover, and lighter fluid were not things I keep on hand, and besides I hesitate to use them on clothes since they are highly toxic and could possibly destroy the clothes anyway. One suggestion was to heat apple cider vinegar and then dip the gum in it and use a toothbrush to brush it off. What the heck! It was worth a shot.

The results were FANTASTIC! I LOVE apple cider vinegar. Now I LOVE it even more!

To remove gum from clothes, heat the apple cider vinegar, dip the cloth with the gum on it into the hot vinegar, and then brush it gently with a toothbrush. The gum sticks to the toothbrush, which will be ruined afterward, so use an old toothbrush that you are going to toss out anyway.  Also, the gum loosens from the cloth and can be picked off, or you can pick off a bigger piece of gum and dab it on the other gum bits and they will stick to the gum in your hand and leave the fabric unscathed.

So, that is my derailed disaster of the day 🙂 and I hope this story helps someone else avoid the unnecessary cost of replacing gummed up clothing.

Also posted in Family Life, Parenting – 3 Comments

Building a Homework Center

September 10, 2009

Over labor day weekend, I built a homework center for my kids. On Friday morning, after kicking my kids out the door on their way to school (they were running late because I had to spend 45 minutes looking for Zee’s shoes) I was looking at the pile of shoes (some with only 1/2 of the pair) on the floor by the door in the kitchen, with the fresh memory of backpacks strung here and there, books, papers, and jackets everywhere, and I thought “please God! There must be a better way!” and then I had a vision . . . well, more like a really great idea that popped into my head. I would build a homework center. Hey, it’s not an ark, but I still think it was inspiration.Homework Center

It has four cubbies, each with two hooks inside where they can hang their jackets. They can put their shoes on the bottom, and then there is another large hook right on the front, where they can hang their backpacks. On the top, I put a three drawer storage unit, where they can put school supplies and homework that needs to be checked off and signed by moi. Then, on the wall above it, I put a cork board, a white board and a large desk calendar. And, it matches all my other furniture, also made by yours truly. The only thing it needs now are engraved nameplates . . . well, we’ll see 🙂

Also posted in Family Life, Parenting – 1 Comment