As we’ve needed to, we have replaced some household items to move away from disposable or hard to maintain products and replaced them with items that are washable, longer lasting and more versatile. Along with that, we’ve made some other changes that I thought I’d share.
Disposable dusters to microfiber duster. I am one of those people that’s pretty allergic to dust. It really causes problems for me. While my husband can use a washable dust cloth, I can’t and only used the dusters with handles because of my allergies. We did find that we could wash them a couple of times before they fell apart, but this was hardly a good solution. At Ikea, we found a long-handled microfiber duster for just $2.99 that’s really awesome. It’s bendable and when it’s dirty, it just goes in the washer and comes out just perfect (like when we bought it) and ready for another round of dusting.- Quilts to Duvets (Comforters). I love the really nice patchwork quilts. But I found that just after a couple of years, regardless how much I spent on the quilt or how careful I was, the stitching started coming apart and I’d find myself spending almost as much time mending the quilt as using it. So, I replaced our quilt with a duvet (comforter) and cover. Again, Ikea has some comforters as low as $9.99 along with a good selection of duvet covers with matching pillow cases. I can wash the duvet cover and when the cover wears out or I want to change the look in my room, I can keep the duvet and get another cover.
- Throw pillows with removable covers. I don’t know why I didn’t make this move before, but we’ve covered all of our accent and throw pillows with zippered removable covers. They’re easy to keep clean, nice looking, and easy to coordinate in whatever room I want to use them in. I’ve purchased covers in a variety of fabrics and styles so you can go as casual or fancy as you want. Best of all, the covers really extend the life of the pillows.
- Furniture with removable cushion covers. We recently replaced our living room furniture because it was getting hard to maintain. After donating the old furniture to a local charity, we purchased an L-shaped sofa with removable cushion covers. While it was a larger purchase, I’m so glad we did this. We recently realized how much of a good move this was when we had a spill, removed the covers, took them to the earth-friendly dry cleaners and got them back as good as new. The other cool thing is that not only are the cushion covers removable, but the entire sofa can sport a new look with a new sofa cover (yes, from Ikea) if we wanted.
- Use natural or Shaklee cleaning products. To take care of water lime scale, we use lemon juice and as an abrasive cleaner or deodorizer, we use baking soda. For a multipurpose cleaner, we use Shaklee’s chemical free Basic H2 (organic cleaning concentrate is a non-toxic biodegradable, all-purpose cleaner). In different concentrations, this multipurpose cleaner can be used on everything from glass, to countertops, to our car. (Disclaimer: I am not a Shaklee distributor.)
If you’re looking to update or replace electronic gadgets, Lifehacker.com has a great article highlighting Five Easy Places to Recycle Your Old Gadgets and Computers that’s a must read.
