May 4 | Household Tips, Links Worth Sharing
Here are this week’s interesting links I found on my travels around the web! Enjoy and have a great weekend!
I just wanted to end this post with a reminder about the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle sale that I mentioned earlier this week. It ends tonight at 11:59pm EST. After that, you will never see this amazing package again! The individual books will still be available for purchase, but you won’t find them at 95% off!
I’ve really been enjoying reading a couple of the Organizing books (10 steps to Organized Paper) and a couple of the books intended to help with our wardrobes! I’ve found some delicious recipes that I intend on adding to our menus in each of the cookbooks. All in all, I can’t get over the value and resources that this bundle provides!
May 1 | Household Tips, Easy DIY
I’m back with another homemade cleaning product! This time it’s the recipe for my natural all-purpose cleaner. I use this stuff for everything. The counters, the bathrooms and even the walls!
Here’s what you need:
- 2 tsp Borax natural detergent – Find this at your local grocery store in the laundry aisle
- 3 Tbsp Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap – Choose your favourite scent
- 4 Tbsp White Vinegar – a natural disinfectant! I always buy the club size because I like to have it on hand for its many uses.
- Distilled Water (or boiled water)
- 16oz spray bottle
Mix the borax, white vinegar and a little bit of hot water in a spray bottle. (Must be hot water to incorporate the borax.) Add the Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap, then swirl the bottle to mix. Once it’s all mixed, add the rest of the water to fill up to 16oz. It will be slightly white and opaque.
May 1 | Household Tips, Useful information
As you may know, the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle Sale is on sale until May 4. It’s an amazing package because the resources included are so helpful! And you really can’t beat the price, 97 ebooks for only $29.97!
I thought I’d address one small detail you may be wondering about. What exactly are you going to do with 97 new ebooks? That’s a lot of books! If you’re anything like me, you probably already own other ebooks, making your collection pretty substantial.
In an attempt to actually read the ebooks I purchase, I’ve found it mandatory to have them organized.
Here’s how I organize my ebooks:
- First of all, as soon as I receive the email to download the ebook(s), I do just that. I download the book(s) right away.
- Once it’s downloaded, I sort each book by category on my computer.
- To do this, I created a folder with the library’s title (eBooks), then I created a folder for each category within the ebook library. Here’s a screenshot for an example:
- In each category I’ve created, I’ll find all the ebooks I own relating to that topic. As an example, here are some of the ebooks I have in my In the Kitchen category:
- Create as many subcategories as you want. In my “Homemaking” folder, for example, I have subfolders for “Cleaning” and “Organizing.”
- I also created a folder called “Not Needed.” These are ebooks that may have been part of a package, but they don’t fit into my life at this particular moment. I may keep them for future use, or I may gift them to someone who can use them. (This is only allowed as long as I don’t keep a copy for myself.)
- Be sure to store duplicate copies of your ebooks on other electronic devices. Computers crash unfortunately, so it’s important to store your ebooks (or other important files) in more than one place. Some options are: your spouse’s computer, a jump drive, or a file hosting website like Google Drive or Dropbox. In the case of ebooks, you may also print each book to store in binders, if you like.
How do you keep your eBook library organized?
Apr 30 | Easy DIY, Household Tips
Lately I’ve been posting quite a few sales featuring some great ebooks written mostly by fellow bloggers, including the amazing Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle! eBooks are becoming quite popular in case you haven’t noticed. 🙂 For those of you that may be scratching your head about the word “ebook”, here’s the definition from Wikipedia:
An electronic book (variously, e-book,eBook, ebook, digital book, or even e-edition) is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices.
While real, hard copy books are still my favourite, there are quite a few reasons why I like ebooks:
- They’re available instantly
Sometimes I just want a book right away. I don’t want to wait for it to arrive in the mail or have time to get to a bookstore. Or, by the time my turn comes for a book I request from the library, it’s not applicable to me anymore! - They’re cheaper
eBooks are almost always cheaper then a hard copy book, and I don’t have to pay for shipping! - They’re great for traveling
No need to bring along several heavy books on vacation! I also like the fact that I always have a selection of books to read if I’m waiting for an appointment. - They’re almost clutter free
Aside from the device you use to read them (computer, smartphone, eReader) there’s no clutter involved in owning ebooks! You can have an entire library of books in your bag! - They’re a way to support fellow bloggers
When I purchase an ebook from a blogger, I know that my money is going directly to them to help them run their sites and support their families.
How exactly do you read an eBook if you don’t have an eReader?
Most ebooks that I purchase are in PDF format. I really like this format because it allows me to read the books in several different ways. Here are the options:
- On my computer
This is my currently my favourite way because I don’t have an eReader and it allows me to quickly reference a book because I’m “always” on my computer. You can read any PDF on a computer, but if you prefer to read them using a Kindle app, you can download a free Kindle app for any device here, including your computer. - Print them outI’ve never actually done this with an entire book, but in the case of an eCookbook, I’ve printed out individual recipes once we’ve enjoyed the recipe a couple of times. I put these printed pages into my recipe binder, but if you print an entire ebook, you could put each book into it’s own three ring binder. Or, you could put several different ebooks into one binder if they’re of the same topic.
- Get them bound
If you really enjoy having a hard copy, you may want to head to your local office supply store to have your ebooks bound! This actually might be cheaper then printing them out yourself. - Read on a Smartphone
As I mentioned above, Amazon has several free Kindle apps for you to download making it possible to read ebooks on your smartphone (or tablet, or computer). I have an iPhone so quite often I like to read while I’m waiting in the checkout line or at an appointment. You can also send several different formats, including PDF, to your Kindle app via Send to Kindle.
Tomorrow, I’m going to tell you how I organize all the eBooks I own since I’m starting to have quite the library!
Do you read eBooks? Do you have an eReader, or do you read your them in a different way?
