Make Glass Jars Reusable

I keep a lot of used things to re-use them later. I hold onto all sorts of aluminum cans for gardening and office organization, old egg cartons are also used for seeds, bottle caps to make matching/memory games for my little guy and glass jars for various baking/kitchen goods.

Sometimes I find that glass jars keep the smell of what they were originally holding. Even though I wash them, sometimes by hand AND in the dishwasher, they still smell like pickles, salsa, or worse...green olives! (My husband loves green olives!)

So if you are also saving glass jars, here is a little trick to get rid of the smell. Baking Soda!
Clean your jar thoroughly and then put about 1/2 Tablespoon of baking soda in the jar. Put the lid back on and voila! No more smell!

Then you can put whatever you want into your little jar.

So far my glass jars contain baking powder, salt, candy, brown sugar, chocolate chips and raisins. They all taste like what is currently in the jar and not pickled.

Not-Quite-Spring Cleaning

I know it's not time to even think of Spring because Winter isn't even half over, but ever since I cleaned up all the Christmas decor, I have wanted to get down and get clean. So I started with my windows. I was just going to spray a little Windex and call it good but then I saw this...
Are you kidding me!? How could I have let the inside of my windows get that bad? Probably because my curtains are drawn so that the heat stays in. Once I saw this something had to be done to remedy the horrid situation. So, I put the Windex down, put on my yellow rubber gloves, grabbed my scrubby and washcloth, a bucket of warm water, and mildew/soap scum remover and went to work. Now I know why I don't clean my windows that often because it was gross!! After scrubbing one window I couldn't stop. I traveled from window to window to get it all clean. M was unhappy that I wasn't playing with him but I had a job to do.

So here is what my windows look like now. Sorry I got little too close and blurry with the camera but I wanted to see my reflection.
I was so inspired by the nice looking windows that I scrubbed out my fridge. It's not fair though because that will only stay clean for about a week (fingers crossed).

What is the first thing you clean when Spring Cleaning Season starts?