The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Hemming

Lifestyle

For most of my life, I have been considered vertically challenged. Now, I LOVE my height, but I am always needing to hem my pants. It can get old real fast. So, I have the lazy way to hem pants. This makes the process so much easier, and it takes less than 10 minutes.

Here is the perfect example of pants that are WAY too long. So, we are going to fix them.

This whole process is three steps, and so simple. I used a sewing machine, but you could also do the sewing by hand. Here we go:

Step One: Put on pants INSIDE out. Pin just above where you want the pants to sit. Be extremely careful when removing the pans with pins in them. You do not want to accidentally stab yourself (definitely speaking from experience here)

Step Two: Sew around the bottom edge.

Step Three (Optional): For skinny jeans, you will need to take in the sides to get that perfect slim pant leg. Once again, put the pants on inside out. This time pin along the outer edge. Careful when removing.

Then you are DONE! So easy.

I hope this helps you, and makes your life A TON easier.

Love, Liv

Refrigerator Pickles

Recipes

Who does not love fresh pickles? My husband and I love anything pickled. Seriously anything. A few weeks ago, we were craving those salty, crunchy, delicious bites. So, I have a recipe for you all that requires NO sugar, fresh dill, or crazy ingredients.

For this recipe, I used dill seed, not dill weed. They are definitely not the same thing. Dill seed are the little seed of the plant. While, dill weed, are the leaves of the plant. Dill weed goes great in potato salad, and dill seed is great for this recipe. It is not too hard to find dill seed in your local grocery store. Next year, I plan on drying the heads of dill, and making my own dill seed and sill weed. Stay tuned for the journey.

Refrigerator Pickles

1 large cucumber
1 and 1/2 cups water
1 cup vinegar
1 tbsp dill seed
2 1/4 tsp pickling spices
4 cloves of garlic
2 dried chilies (or 1 and 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes)
2 tbsp salt

This is probably one of my easiest recipes yet.

Bring vinegar and water to a boil.
Add salt, dill seeds, and pickling spices.
Place garlic, cucumber, chilies into a jar.
Pour liquid into the jar. Mix.
Shake jar once per day.
Let sit at least 3 days. For the best flavor wait at least 7 days.

I hope you find this recipe delicious as we do. Let me know how your batch turns out!

Love, Liv

Zero-Waste Moving

Lifestyle

Wow. Summer this year seemed to fly past. Among all the craziness of summer winding down, my husband and I spontaneously moved. We did not plan on moving this quickly, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Long story short, we wanted to move with as little environmental impact as possible. At first this seemed like an impossible task, but with a little persistence, it was manageable. Here are some of the tips and tricks we learned:

1.) Reuse bins and boxes. We asked to borrow several friends moving bins. We also reached out to local stores to get a few extra boxes. They were free, and the stores were happy to give them to us. Pro-tip: use your suit cases to move books. Books are heavy, and the suit case makes them easier to move.

2.) Unload as you go. Now, this might seem like common sense, but I have always packed everything up and moved in one day. This time around, my husband and I did not have that option. Instead, we would pack up as many bins that would fit in our vehicles, take them to the new place, unload, and repeat the next day. In the long run, it required less moving materials. Plus, our new place is right down the road from where we work; so, we did not add any extra fuel emissions.

3.) Get creative with packing material. You don’t need bubble wrap, or other packing material. YOU ALREADY HAVE IT! Put down the bubble wrap. Now, step away. Use your sweatshirts, other clothing items, towels, scarves, really anything fabric, to pack away valuables. I found, we could fit 3 plates per 1 sweatshirt. We used blankets to wrap small decorations. Use sham covers to move your extra blankets and pillow cases. Get creative. You already have all the packing material you need. Plus the stuff you have is free.

4.) Pack lunches/snacks. Bring a box with a few plates, eating utensils, and a way to wash your dishes in one of the first boxes you unpack. This way, you have all you need to eat at your new place Plus, packing your own food helps you save money during the process, and cuts down on your waste. BRING YOUR REUSABLE WATER BOTTLE. That is just a pro-tip for life.

5.) Donate. Donate. Donate. Nothing makes you feel more like a hoarder than trying to downsize. Have a “donate box” in every room. Get yo’ self that tax deduction! Pro-tip: get some friends together and organize a clothing swap. You can bring your old, unwanted clothes, and get new-to-you stuff for free! Donate the unwanted items after the event.

BONUS TIP: Save ripped, old jeans to make a rug for your new home. That will be featured in one of my up coming blogs. So, stay tuned.

Anyways, I hope this was helpful, and your moving is quick and painless.

Love, Liv

DIY Dishwasher Detergent

Lifestyle

I like to eat off clean plates, I mean who doesn’t? Unfortunately, many of the cleaners we put in our dishwasher are more toxic than the stuck on food we are trying to remove. So, if you want a non-toxic alternative to your dishwasher detergent, give these a try.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. Baking Soda
1/2 c. Washing Soda
1/4 c. Citric Acid
3 tbsp. Vinegar
10 drops On Guard Essential Oil.

Combine all ingredients, and press into an ice cube tray. Leave dry for 24 hours. I add a cup of vinegar into every load to help boost the cleaning power.

I really wanted to see how strong these pods are, and to see if they really work. So, one night I decided not to rinse my plates (do not do this at home), and let the food dry on them overnight. Gross, I know, but I do gross things so you don’t have to. I was shocked on how well these worked! After running the dishwasher.

All. Of. The. Plates. Were. CLEAN.

After the first wash! WHAT?! Not only do these work better than any dishwashing detergent I have ever used, they are cheaper, easy to make, and best of all, non toxic.

Let me know how yours turn out!

Love, Liv