Ways To Make Going Back To School Easy

Saying good-bye to lazy summer days an hello to structured school days can be hard to do. Here are a few ways of making going back to school easier for you and your children:

~*~ Set Realistic Goals With Your Children: This is a perfect time to involve your children in thinking about goals and objectives for the upcoming year. What worked well for them last year and which routines were helpful? What do they want to accomplish this year? How about being more efficient with homework by taking an half an hour television or Internet surfing break after finishing two hours of their assignments?

~*~ Organize School And Activity Schedules: Back to school planning allows you to get back into a routine. Buy a calender or make one with your kids. Write in all the activities that your children are involved in. This will help you to figure out how to organize each school day and weekend activities.

~*~ Transition Back To Healthier Eating and Sleeping Habits: With summer barbeques and late night trips to the ice cream shops, summer eating schedules usually vary from the school year. Now is a good time to get back on track with healthy choices for school lunches and snacks. Don't forget to explore tha many optiions for breakfast. Take at least a week to slowly shift your children's sleep schedule back to meet their needs.

A Quick and Easy Way To Remove Mold

Baking Soda is well known as a natural and safe household cleaner. Baking soda can also be used to kill mold in your home. Unlike other mold killers which contain harsh chemicals, baking soda is mild and harmless to your family and pets.

Besides killing mold, baking soda also deodorizes, so it can get rid of the smell mold leaves in your home. Baking soda also absorbs moisture to keep mold away. Vinegar is sometimes used along with baking soda when cleaning up a mold problem since vinegar kills different species of mold than baking soda.

*To kill mold, add 1/4 tablespoonof baking soda to a spray bottle containing water.

*Shake the bottle to dissolve the baking soda into the water.

*Spray the moldy area with the baking soda and water solution.

*Use a sponge or scrubbing brush and scrub the mold.

*Rinse the surface with water to remove any residual mold.

*Spray the area again and let the surface dry. This will kill any left over mold and prevent mold from returning.

You can also use a cloth instead of a spray bottle. Just soak the cloth in water, add 1/4 tablespoon baking soda to it, and scrub the moldy area. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

Green Your Pet!

Creating a healthy and enviromental home and lifestyle for you and your pet is an invaluable way to show your animal that you love and care for him or her. Here are some ways pet owners can help reduce their animal friends' exposure to dangerous chemicals and potential disease:

~*~ Go organic and choose pet food that is free of BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin. Avoid feeding your pet any foods that contain artificial sweetners, onions, chocolate, yeast, nuts, coffee and spoiled items.

~*~ Leave your shoes at the door. By wearing our shoes indoors we expose our pets to petrol, pesticides, herbicides, lead and other chemicals that we track into our homes from outside.

~*~ By pulling weeds from your lawn with your own hands and refraining from pesticide and herbicide use, you are preventing your pets from ingesting nasty chemicals that can cause nervous system problems as well as cancer.

~*~ Make sure your pet's toys are chemical free. Many pet toys are also made from plastics that may contain unsafe chemicals.

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