(Photo Source)

If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, then you know I am a lover of all things frugal. I am also a very detail-oriented person with perfectionist tendencies…

What do you get when you combine those traits? The potential for an annoyingly-ultra-frugal-crazy-person. (Just ask my hubby)

When I first started my journey as full-time homemaker and stay-at-home-mom, I was obsessed with frugality. It absolutely fascinated me, because for the first time in my life, I actually had the time to put some effort into managing my home. We had been followers of Dave Ramsey ever since we first got married, and I was estactic that I could finally stay home and work towards saving money.

I read every book and blog I could find on the topic, and happily dove into the world of pinching pennies and saving money everywhere I could.

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Nourished Living Network’s Progressive Valentine’s Day Dinner continues today with breakfast! I’m sharing my Soaked Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy. KerryAnn at Cooking Traditional Foods has Chocolate Crepes and Chocolate Grain-Free Donuts and Jessica from Delicious Obsessions offers her Fruit and Nut Granola with Chia and Coconut. Adrienne at Whole New Mom has Baked Oatmeal and Lea from Nourishing Treasures has High-Protein Pancakes and Carrot Cake Muffins. Last but not least, Kelly from The Nourishing Home has Baked French Toast Casserole. Tomorrow the carnival will continue with appetizers and soups.

Our deck set: A repainted yard sale table and various mismatched chairs.

Ok, first things first.

I’m far from being one of those super-cool decorating bloggers.

I’m not good at “staging” my home, and my picture-taking skills leave a lot to be desired.

However, I had so much fun showing you the chicken wire frame I made, that I wanted to share a few more of my other simple homestead decorating ideas.

When I first got married, I was under the impression that “home decor” had to come from a “home decor store.”

Not true!

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Exhibit A: Toddler Finger Smudges

I struggle with having clean screens.

Not the window-kind. (I struggle with simply HAVING those… Thanks to a dog who is petrified of thunderstorms…)

But rather the computer and TV variety.

My house is dusty. I think it’s a side affect of living in a windy climate. (And also probably from pretty much NEVER dusting.)

And, living on a “farm” equals lots of flies in the summer. Which equals flies in my house, no matter how many hours I spend with a swatter in my hand.

The worst part about flies? They poop. Oh yes they do. And fly poop annoys me (much more than dust does).

So this is a very round-about way to say my laptop and TV screens are generally filthy and covered in dust and fly poop. Sorry to be so blunt.

I know you can buy the fancy screen cleaners at the store, but who wants to do that when a DIY solution is so incredibly easy (not to mention cheap!)? Here ya go:

Homemade Computer/TV Screen Cleaner

• 1 part plain white vinegar
• 1 part distilled water (make sure you use distilled only!)
• A clean, lint-free cloth. (I like using old, worn-out t-shirts from my rag collection)

Mix the vinegar and water. Store in a labeled container (I use an small canning jar). A spray bottle would also work.

When you are ready to clean your screens, spray a soft, lint-free cloth with the solution, OR dip the cloth into the jar.

DO NOT spray the solution directly on your screen, as it can drip down into places it shouldn’t go.

Gently, wipe the screen with the damp cloth. It may take more than one application, depending on how dirty things are.

Enjoy your shiny clean screen for as long as you can before the flies land on it again or the kiddos attempt more finger art.

Homemade Laptop Cleaner

A Few Notes:

1. A 1/2 cup of vinegar and a 1/2 cup of distilled water is a good amount to start with.
2. You can store this as long as you need to.
3. Why distilled water? Distilled water is free from minerals which leave smudgy water spots on your screens. If you wash your screens with tap water, you’ll probably end up with a dirtier screen than what you started with.
4. I use this on our flat screen TV and my laptop. I’ve had no trouble with it. However, please use it at your own risk with your own equipment.
5. If you have a black kitchen appliances (like me), this solution is a great way to shine them up. (Because of our hard water, wiping things down with regular soapy water leaves lots of spots).

Enjoy those sparkly screens!

This post was shared at: Frugal Friday, Better Mom Monday, Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Handmade Tuesdays, Teach Me Tuesdays, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Women Living Well, WFMW, Healthy 2Day Wednesdays, Our Simple Farm, Simple Lives Thursday, Homemaker’s Challenge, Hearts 4 Home, Proverbs 31 Linkup

If you enter my home during any of the wet/snowy/muddy months in Wyoming, you will be instantly greeted by this:

“What is that?” you may ask?

THAT, my friends, is what it looks like when I.GIVE.UP.

Combine multiple trips to the barnyard each day, with a toddler who LOVES her mud boots, and three crazy, muddy dogs, and you get perpetual dried (or wet) mud puddles on my mudroom floor.
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It’s all-things-homemaking this month at The Prairie Homestead!

We are talking about ways to make our homes more welcoming, relaxing, and cozy. Decor is a simple, yet very important way we can create atmosphere in our homes.

To some busy folks, it might seem silly to spend time thinking about what to put on the walls of your home. After all, a house can still serve it’s purpose, even if the walls are bare. Right?

Well, I beg to differ. Life is too short to live in an uncomfortable space. You definitely don’t need your house to look like it came out of the pages of a magazine, but I think it’s vitally important to surround yourself with things that make you relaxed and happy.

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