A Clean Home Challenge: Crock Pot Cleaning

I love my crock pot. I use it often! Several times a week I prepare something fantastic in my beloved crock pot. With a new baby I don't know how I would manage to prepare dinner without it. The last time I put my favorite small appliance to use I realized the interior was looking pretty funky and I made a note to clean it.


Now, how does one go about cleaning a crock pot? I saw a lot of suggestions online, from using a general cleaner, to using oxi clean, brillo pads and so on. I thought there had to be a less expensive way to maintain my crock pot so I kept searching. Someone suggested using a baking soda paste and I was anxious to try it. I had a box of baking soda in my pantry and the idea of cleaning without a harsh chemical really appealed to me.

This is what my crock pot looked like before I cleaned it.


I made a paste of 3 tablespoons of baking soda to 1 teaspoon of water.


                     Then I rubbed the paste into the base of the crock pot.

               Let this sit for about 20 minutes, then use a damp rag to wipe the baking soda off.




The baking soda scrubbed much of the dingy baked on mess out of the crock pot easily.

While the crock pot wasn't restored to its brand new splendor, it sure looked a lot better!



If you have very stubborn stains after the baking soda scrub you can apply dish soap to the stubborn baked on spots and let it set overnight. The dish soap will break up the baked on residue and will wipe off easily with a damp towel. My crock pot wasn't that bad so I didn't require this last step, but I feel confident it would work because If I have a baked on mess on any dishes this is the method I use. 

If your crock pot needs a good cleaning, this method will work well for you and it will only cost you pennies.
How do you keep your crock pot clean?

Recycled Heart Shaped Crayons

Over the years my husband and I have created a bucket of crayons. When we find them around the house (which is inevitable when you have little kids and encourage them to create) we toss them into a plastic pail. One day last week I got the pail out and turned to get the cardboard we were going to draw on. My cute little boy giggled and dumped roughly 300 broken crayons on the floor...


Okay. That is just insane. Why is there a pail with that many broken crayons in it? Who wants to use a tiny little crayon? But... I hate to throw away something I can use in another way. Of course, I thought... I could make candles, use the crayons to color the wax, blah blah blah. I don't have time to make hand poured candles. I also don't want to invest a ton of money into reusing broken crayons. So scratch that idea.


The pail went back to the normal spot and I moved on.

A few days later I saw silicone molds at WalMart in heart shapes. I found $3 and some change to be a better investment and a way to use the broken crayons.

I went home and decided oh this is such a super easy idea! Even I can do this without running into a snag!

So I grabbed the pail of crayon mess and thought I would slip the sleeve of the crayon right off and be in business.

Not so, I quickly found out as I was digging at the paper, getting wax under my nails and rethinking the entire thing. What a pain in the butt! {Mr}Adam, darling husband, came to the rescue. He kindly used his pocket knife and helped me to cut the paper so it was easy to peel off.






 After the paper was removed I broke the crayon (if it wasn't already broken) in half.




 I filled the silicon molds to the brim with broken crayons. I went for general color mixture. (All shades of red mixed together, all green, etc.)


 After about 7 minutes in a 350 degree oven they were completely melted.

I could have added a few more broken crayons to make a thicker heart crayon or taken a few away for thinner ones. I liked the ones I made as is.

I allowed the melted crayons to cool completely in the silicon molds. Getting them out of the molds was as easy as could be.



Since this was one project I know I can handle and repeat without any issue I decided to give all 30 that I made to {Mr} Adam, husband extraordinaire, for the classroom Valentines Party.

After my husband stepped in and helped me with the crayon sleeve this project was really easy and fun too. I am planning to find other silicone molds and try different designs.

On a side note, I had 2 odd shaped ice cube trays. One was an ocean them, one an ice tube type. I decided to try these out too.

While it did work, I found the silicone option to be easier. With the ice cube trays I found I had to give them a light spray of cooking spray stuff. Then I had to wipe down the recycled crayons after removing them from the mold to make sure they weren't greasy. (For my time and effort I prefer the silicon trays).

I realize this would have been perfect for a Valentines Day post, but it is really a perfect after Valentines Day craft because you can probably get the silicone molds super cheap on clearance now.

The next batch I make I think I will add one color that is off in each one. I am thinking one blue in a group of green. One red in a group of pink and so on to make the colors unique and fun.

This is the end result.



They were pretty cute and I was thrilled that I made this with next to no drama.

Until next time,
Sweet Silly Sara













Tell Me About It Tuesday #6

tell me about it





Welcome to Tell Me About It Tuesday and Thank you to our hosts                                                             
  

                                                                   Sweet Silly Sara

                                                          
   Woman of Many Roles

Woman of Many Roles






The most popular links from last weeks party was:

How to Make an XO Band Bracelet by Kids Activities Blog.


April's favorite was:
Double Chocolate Brownies by Pretty Scraps

Jacqui's favorite was:

Tiramisu Cheesecake by Live a Sweet Life

                                                             Sara's favorite was


                                  Home Brewed: DIY Vanilla Extract by eightymphmom

Starting this week we have something new to bring to the table for all of you awesome, inspiring chicks that link up with us every week!

Every post linked up will be visited and pinned to our Tell Me About It Tuesday pinterest board. Yay!


Thanks to everyone that linked up at last week's party!

We welcome you to link up your posts! Feel free to share anything except giveaways, etsy shops or anything you are selling.  Please visit a few links and show some love to your fellow bloggers.

Please note by linking up you give the hostesses permission to use your post in round ups and we may feature you or share your post via social media.