All those colors you see across the top represent different stitches. I have my favorites, and a while back I wanted to do some mending with some of those stitches. That’s when I discovered that I couldn’t. Not to worry, the same thing had happened years earlier and a fabric store had fixed it by giving the machine a good oiling.

So we took the machine, all 40 pounds of it, back to that store, which had changed hands in the meantime. Weeks later, I got a phone call that they couldn’t fix the machine. They couldn’t even figure out how to get into its core. This Swedish-made machine, made by Husqvarna of chain saw fame, is one sturdy thing and it isn’t meant to be oiled by the home user. So I guess it wasn’t evident how to get into it.

So we brought it home and it took my handy husband five minutes to have it apart. He oiled it thoroughly but it still didn’t work. Over about a week, he spent a few minutes now and then testing to see if it worked, saying what a good machine it was, and finding more places to oil.  And he got it to the point where I could sew a straight stitch forward and backward. Progress!

I knew from my online research that a lot of people have old Vikings, model 6460, that only do that, and they use them quite happily. Kelly thought maybe I would be satisfied with his success. But no, I really wanted to do three-step zig zag and some of the fancier stitches. I said in any case we would keep this machine for heavy-duty sewing, as its low gear is phenomenal, but I had read online that people had oiled their machines and that had been all it took to get everything working. And indeed that had been our experience about 10 years ago. Of course, in the meantime we had lived in Mexico for five years and the sewing machine had languished in a storage unit in the heat and the cold of Colorado.

I thought I might have to buy a new machine and even looked at some online. But we both love to save money and besides this machine ought to be fixable! So we examined exactly where the cams go into the machine and where the bottleneck might be. Behind that solid red metal Kelly spotted an area of moving parts that was all gummed up. He oiled that area…

AND now the machine works! Hooray! Now I just have to get the momentum up to tackle my mending pile…

This article came from: How to Repair a Very Old Sewing Machine at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

Here are some of the uses of baking soda for cleaning:

I’ve long used baking soda and white vinegar to keep my kitchen and bathroom drains clear and fresh smelling. I just put a teaspoon or less of baking soda into the drain and then pour in about a tablespoon of vinegar. I must admit that I am the kind of cook who rarely measures anything, and the same is true for these proportions, so feel free to experiment to find what works best in your sinks. Start small, though — the combination of baking soda and vinegar causes an active fizzling and bubbling!

In fact, that bubbling process is how you can tell if the box of baking soda you’ve had around forever is still good. Just follow the directions above. Your soda is still good if it bubbles away merrily.

Speaking of drains, if your drain is clogged, you can try using a lot more baking soda. One recipe is to pour a cup of baking soda down the drain, then a cup of vinegar. Wait a few minutes, or longer, and then run the hot water tap and see if you have cleared the drain. It could take overnight.

Another well-known use of baking soda is to keep an open box in the refrigerator to neutralize odors. Because baking soda cuts smells, it can also be put in the bottom tray of an oven-type electric toaster, to reduce burnt smells. Another smell-removing cleaning tip is to put baking soda into bottles or jars that milk has left a smell in.

Baking soda is an abrasive, milder than commercial cleansers. For scrubbing out the sink, bathtub, or shower stall, for getting gunk off the outside of my toaster, and projects of that sort, I find it very useful. Using a rag or sponge, pour some baking soda onto it and then add a little water, just enough to form a paste. Then scrub! You can also mix up the paste in a small cup or bowl and then throw out what you haven’t used by the end of that cleaning session. I keep a small container of baking soda handy by the sink, in a closed jar so that the baking soda doesn’t cake. You can also use a salt shaker, as you will probably go through that much baking soda before it gets caked up.

Pots and pans that have something burned on the bottom call for sterner measures. I may just reach for my rarely-used commercial cleanser (Bon Ami is my favorite), but the baking soda cleaning method is to shake baking soda all over the burned stuff and then let the pot sit overnight. You can also add a little water and baking soda to the pot, bring it to a boil, and then let it sit.

For stained marble, a paste of baking soda and white vinegar can be effective. For washing windows, put some baking soda on a wet rag or sponge.

Baking soda also has a variety of uses in keeping your body clean too. But enough! This article is about baking soda for cleaning around the house.

This article came from: Baking Soda for Cleaning Your House at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

Here are three routes you can go:

1. Homemade Shampoo
2. Selecting a commercial shampoo which ranks well for its contents
3. Giving up shampooing altogether. Really!

I’ll discuss each one in turn.

Homemade Shampoo

Googling “homemade shampoo” gave me enough ideas to keep me busy for weeks! In a nutshell, many of the recipes are based on using castile soap. It is available in various scents or (I hope) plain, and comes as liquid, flakes or bars.

So what is castile soap?

It is not a brand name, but a category of soaps that use vegetable oils rather than animal ones. Traditionally it only made with olive oil, not surprising since the name comes from the Castile region of  Spain, where they have been growing olive oil for centuries. Nowadays, it may also be sold with coconut or other vegetable oils in it, though ideally for no more than 20% of the total.

Dr. Bronner soaps are probably the best-known Castile soaps. Here’s an image  of the one I plan to try, as I like almond scents and think my husband will be okay with it too.. he doesn’t like flowery smells on his body. Click on the image to read about it at Amazon:

You can also read about all the Dr. Bronner products at drbronner.com and chances are your local health food store has several. I will report back later on how we like this as a shampoo.

Evaluating Commercial Shampoos

Goodguide.com rates many shampoos for their contents — that link takes you right to the shampoo page. The top three are Nurture My Body, Burt’s Bees Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar, and Suave Moisturizing Shampoo — I might have even been able to find some of these in the grocery store! There are links to Amazon from Goodguide, and buying through those links is a good way to support their research. (Whenever you see links to Amazon around the web, including my site, the webmasters usually earn a small percentage of sales.)

Life without Shampoo

There is a movement to do without shampoo but this does not mean you will look like a greasy-haired nerd! Here is one article on the no ‘poo approach, as it is sometimes called. Unfortunate phrase to my mind as it makes me think of another bodily process instead of the cute abbreviation for “no shampoo” it is meant to be… but an interesting idea, whatever you call it! This article has a lot of comments from readers who have done it.

This article came from: Researching Chemical-Free Shampoo at SimpleGreenLiving.com..

Here’s an artistic composting toilet from Emma Holister of http://www.art-margin.com/ — I can’t completely agree about compost toilets not smelling, having had two of them that did now and then smell… but they were not this kind.

Also, perhaps because I’ve lived in third world countries, or maybe I’m just more fussy than Emma, but I would not personally use humanure on veggies. Fruit trees, yes… I just like a little more distance from that compost!

These are small points, though. I completely agree with her comments about the need for such toilets worldwide.

For larger images, just click on any one of these pictures. —Zana

Here is our latest compost toilet.  We’d have liked a different colour from white for the bucket, but as it was the only type we could find, we did the best we could.

Design Emma Holister

Construction David Roure

A few facts to remember about compost toilets:

1) They do not smell!!  The organic cover material such as sawdust or dead leaves blocks all odours completely to the point where you can have your ravishing, state of the art toilet in the comfort of your bedroom and be done with long treks to the bathroom during the night.

2) By no longer using flush toilets you save about forty litres per person per day and become significantly more independent from the costly, wasteful and polluting water grid.  Say goodbye forever to costly plumbing, toxic sewage and septic tanks.

3) You show your friends and family that people in rich countries are capable of taking responsibility for the environment by sharing knowledge that will resolve the most serious problems in poor countries ravaged by epidemics caused by lack of adequate sanitation.  This type of toilet is the solution to the world wide problem of water pollution and water scarcity.

4) By applying the simple composting methods taught in ‘The Humanure Handbook’ by Joe Jenkins you can produce your own top quality compost to use either on your own vegetable garden or to sell to local compost dealers.

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This is quite a worthwhile book! I’ve read it a couple of times.  click on the image to find out more at Amazon. — Zana

This article came from: A Simple, Elegant Composting Toilet at SimpleGreenLiving.com..