Craft Ideas Using Flooring Remnants

•  Coffee Table

 If you are a crafty person, you can use the leftover wood or laminate flooring to make a coffee table, or just create a new top for the one that you already have. You simply apply picture frame molding on the table top, and then fill in the frame with the left over pieces of laminate or wood flooring.

•  Coasters 

By using left over laminate flooring, which you cut into squares and then glue cork on the bottom, you can create your own coaster set.

•  Doormat

 There are multiple ways to create your own doormat. Those who live in snowy areas, or where the family will get muddy shoes and boots from the rain, another idea is to create your own doormat that will work perfectly outside on in your mud room. Take the left over wood or laminate planks and build a pallet. The height of the pallet aka doormat will allow the air to circulate underneath the wet shoes and boots. You can place newspaper, or even a piece of remnant linoleum to catch the dripping water or snow as it melts away. 

Molding is often used when installing flooring. The trim that is left over can be used as decorative items, creating a panel look to your walls, as a chair rail, among many others. There are endless ideas as to what you can do with remnant flooring and molding along with other materials.

Energy saving in the home is not difficult. Laundry is certainly a necessity. This article is about how energy costs can be achieved with the task of doing laundry without breaking the family budget, and without a great deal of family sacrifice.

Due to the poor economy, we are all looking for ways to save money. Many of us watch as our utility bills soar, forcing us to cut back on heat and air conditioning.

These are some tips for saving energy doing laundy at home. One costly venture is that of the laundry.

Using the laundromat for laundry, even for a single person, can be a costly venture. In the long run, going to a laundromat will not be a money saver.   There is one reason to use the laundromat that will save money. 
 Heavy items such as washable area rugs, blankets, pillows should be done at the laundromat.  Most home washers hold about 18 pounds of wash. However, it is 18 pounds of wet wash, not dry.  

Once rugs, comforters, pillows become saturated with water, the weight is tremendous, too much for a household washer to have to deal with year after year.  Going to the laundromat with these items a few times a year, is much cheaper than having to replace your washer. 

Another reason, is that items like rugs, blankets, comforters, pillows, and the like, is that they need plenty of room to circulate in the washer which they can't do in a household washer, even if you only wash one item at a time, which will increase your energy costs for water and electric. 

There is one way to begin seeing energy saving at home. If it fits your budget, or if you are considering replacing your old laundry appliances. The average cost of high efficiency washers range from $500 – 1600. Most HE washers and dryers are front loading.

One of the money savers is the cost of water. Ahigh efficiency (HE) washer uses approximately 20 gallons less water, per load, than the traditional, older automatic washers do. An HE washer can save up to 70 percent of your energy costs, while getting your laundry even cleaner.  

Cold Vs Hot Water

Laundry, especially for a large family can drive up the cost of water and electricity with an electric washer. Only use hot water when absolutely necessary. Unless your laundry is extremely dirty, a cold wash is just fine. Of course, we have the warm wash on most washers. But, if you have ever felt the temperature, when using warm water, the water is cold. 

Believe it or not, one of the major energy saving at home tips involves the proper loading of your washer. Make sure the washer is filled, but not overstuffed.

Most washers have a small, medium and large load capacity. In most cases, it is not worth using the small load capacity because the cycle is just as long as those of the larger load, requiring the same amount of electricity as the larger loads.

The small load capacity does not allow for many pieces of clothing such as shirts, slacks, skirts or even linens. It is cheaper to wait until you have a larger load before you do your laundry. Otherwise, you are usually increasing the cost of electricity and water for these small loads.

Of course, those delicate washables, or clothing with colors that run, it is best use the small load setting, unless you have enough of these articles, where you can wait until you can use the larger load capacities.

Another reason to not overstuff is that the clothing will not have enough room to be moved about, in the washer, by the agitator, therefore, they will not come out clean. 

The Missing Socks

There is nothing more frustrating than losing a mate to a brand new pair of socks, or many mates to socks. There is a solution to the mystery of the missing sock. More than likely, the washer has been overstuffed. The missing socks have been pushed out and over the washtub leaving them between the metal and washtub. These missing socks will eventually get into the inner workings of your washer and destroy it, causing an expensive replacement of repair of your washer.

You can save on the cost of clothing, linens, rugs and other items by allowing them to dry naturally. 

The natural drying method will add life to your items, rather than take away from it as dryers do.


Dryer Sheets


The fabric softener, dryer sheets are a waste of money in the long run.  For 


-The fresh smell does not last long enough to make it worth the cost.


-Static

Items dried in the dryer often come out full of static.  Here are some tips and how to remove static while using the dryer naturally 

Get rid of those dryer sheets, static, pet hair, dry clothes faster and still have them smell good without chemicals.