Discovering Mosquito Repellent Plant - Pokok Halau Nyamuk (Citrosa Geranium)

Sungai Buloh is famous for plant nurseries. As that is our neighborhood, Grace and I decided to pay some of these nurseries a visit. There are many plants and scrubs that we have never seen before. Browsing through rows of these plants is good for an education in nature study. 

We purchase a couple of flowering plants but one of the most interesting one is the mosquito repellent plant known in the Malay language as 'Pokok Halau Nyamuk'. We ask the nursery owner whether this really works and she vows that it does. The Malays have used such plants in their kampongs to get rid of mosquitoes.

We took a whiff of the leaves and true enough, there is a rich fragrance similar to the scent of citronella and a little fresh lemon combined. 

'Pokok Halau Nyamuk' is known as Citrosa Geranium - a hybrid of Chinese Citronella grass and a scented African Geranium. It is about 2 feet (61 cm) tall and has large beautifully configured leaves. The flowers are pink but we have not seen those on our plant yet. It has to be grown in dry area and does not like too much water. Our Citrosa plant has been affected by too much water and is dropping its leaves. 

We have placed our plant in the porch at the back of the house. We have also plucked off some stems of leaves and planted in small pots on our window sill in the kitchen. Amazingly, these stems are growing well. The leaves remain green for weeks. We believe that we have less mosquitoes than before.

We have learned much about our Pokok Halau Nyamuk from the internet. The next stage is to multiplying the number of Citrosa Geraniums in our house., Here are some ideas from the internet (that we have cut and paste) to show you how you can grow and multiply your own mosquito repellent plant:

• Step 1
  
  
  Pelargonium Citrosa, or Citrosa Geraniums, can be started using stem cuttings quite easily. Start with a robust "mother plant" and snip branches off as they become long. This trimming also helps shape the plant. Un-shaped, they can grow as large as four feet high and wide. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Step 2
  
  
  To start plants from cuttings, snip the ends of branches and strip all but the end leaves off. You should have two or three nodules (where you pulled off leaves) on your stems. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Step 3
  
  
  Dust the ends of the stems with rooting hormone and plant them in peat pots filled with a sterile, light planting medium. Keep the soil moist but not wet to avoid mildew.
  
  
  
  
  
• Step 4
  
  
  After about a week to get a good start (developing roots is hard work!), move your plants to a sunny window until after the last frost. I put my Citrosa in an east window. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Step 5
  
  
  Put baby Citrosa out after the last frost in your area. Don't bother with fertilizer for this robust plant but make sure it's planted in a good garden soil or potting mixture. Be sure to pinch frequently for bushiness. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Step 6
  
  
  Choose a few healthy plants with lots of branches to keep over the winter. Pot them up. Then bring them in and treat them like houseplants. Fertilize lightly in late winter and make sure they get plenty of light. Water when the surface of the soil gets dry to the touch. Don't over water. Trim leggy branches back to encourage bushiness.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Source:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2237718_propogate-mosquito-plants.html

Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, 
feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. 
You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

Kitchen Wizard

My friend's husband is always telling her that housekeeping would be a snap if only she would organize her time better.

Recently he had a chance to put his theory into practice while his wife was away. When I popped in one evening to see how he was managing, he crowed, "I made a cake, frosted it, washed the kitchen windows, cleaned all the cupboards, scrubbed the kitchen floor, walls and ceiling and even had a bath."

I was about to concede that perhaps he was a better manager than his wife, when he added sheepishly, "When I was making the chocolate frosting, I forgot to turn off the mixer before taking the beaters out of the bowl, so I had to do all the rest."

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Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

Wipe Out Cockroaches From Your Home

By Bert Kang

In Malaysia, cockroaches are the most common pests. It is not uncommon to find them in most kitchens and so they are the first pests that we need to deal with. The way to prevent the cockroaches from visiting your home is to make it roach-unfriendly. If the cockroaches do not like the environment, they will not stay. Here are what we use to prevent cockroaches from building their homes in our home.

Peppercorn Sachets

Cockroaches do not like hot spicy stuffs. With that in mind, we sew little sachets made of porous netting materials and filled them with peppercorns. We place these in the dark corners of our kitchen cupboards and bedroom wardrobes.

Bay Leaves

Cockroaches somehow do not like bay leaves. As you know, dried bay leaves are available as condiments and sold in grocery stores or supermarkets. You can sew sachets with silk or porous netted materials and place them in corners, just like the way you would place with the sachets of peppercorns. You may also use whole leaves and scatter them in the cabinets and cupboards.

Garlic Powder

You can buy Garlic Powder from grocery stores or supermarkets. Sprinkle this powder in the pathways where cockroaches tend to use. Sprinkle this in dark corners in the kitchen or store rooms and all the cockroaches will avoid your home. You can also put these in cloth sachets and place them in appropriate places.

Fresh Cucumbers

Strangely, cockroaches do not like the odor emitted by fresh cucumber. Slice a cucumber and place the slices in small dishes. Place these dishes around the place that tend to be full of cockroaches. Change the cucumber once every two days. This may not be the most ideal cockroach repellent but when you are out of other natural repellents, cucumber will keep all these dirty critters at bay.

Chilli Spray

If you discovered the holes or gaps where cockroaches tend to us as their entrances, you can seal these locations by spraying them with a specially concocted Chilli Spray. A simple way is to purchase chilli powder from a local grocery store and dissolve 2 tablespoons of this in hot water. Leave this solution to cool. Fill a pump spray bottle (those that you use to spray water on clothes or plants will suffice) with this spicy solution. Spray at the holes or gaps that you suspect are entrances for the cockroaches.

If you cannot find chilli powder, you can use Tabasco Sauce instead. We have not tried using the Malaysian chilli sauce because we are not sure what all the different ingredients might do. We are afraid that instead of repelling the cockroaches, this local chilli sauce may attract other creatures. Tobasco Sauce, on the other hand, is a better repellent because it is made of red pepper and vinegar.

Just a word of caution. Before you spray your magic fiery concoction, be sure that no wind is blowing your way. Because if that happened, then you will most probably be the first to be terminated before any cockroaches get repelled. You got my drift?

Cedar Wood Oil

This is a more expensive Cockroach repellent. Apart from its lovely fragrant, Cedar Wood Oil is also anti-bacterial and a natural fungicide. The type of Cedar Wood Oil available is usually sold as essential oil. Add 3 to 4 drops of Cedar Wood essential oil on 20 to 30 fluffy little wads of cotton and scatter them in places that you suspect your unwelcome guests may make their residence. Put some in the cabinets under the sink, in the cabinets in the bathrooms too.

Blend a teaspoon of Cedar Wood essential oil with a glass of olive oil and use it to wipe on your door and window frames. You can add a little vinegar to this concoction and then put the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray lavishly in suspected areas such as kitchen, garage and garbage bin area. If you are able to purchase Neem oil, add it to your concoction. This natural oil is from India and it works wonder in preventing cockroaches and other insects from invading your home.

Mint Oil

You can create your own insect spray by using Mint Oil. You can buy Mint Oil from supermarkets or organic stores. Apart from cockroaches, Mint Oil works amazingly well against a variety of home and even garden pests. We learn that it is very effective against wasp colonies too.

Dish-washing Liquid Detergent

Create a cockroach spray by mixing two cups of water with two tablespoons of liquid dish-washing liquid detergent. Shake this mixture thoroughly and fill a spray bottle with it. When you spot a cockroach, just spray at it. Bam! This mixture will kill the invader almost immediately. You also use this solution as a repellent by spraying it on corners and cracks. Cockroaches do not like the odor and will avoid passing through the sprayed areas.

Moth Balls

My mother uses moth balls extensively. She buys hundreds of them and throws them everywhere. Cockroaches hate the smell of moth balls and so thus the moths. Guess that is why they are known as 'moth' balls.

Use lavishly for the cabinet below the kitchen sink. This will not only keep the cockroaches away but also keep the cabinet smelling fresh. Drop some of these balls behind your stoves and also in shoe racks and other confined dark places. Store room and garage aretwo of the places you may want to scatter moth balls in all the dark corners.


Avoid placing them near to places where you hang your salted fish or other dry foods. Moth balls are not good for you and so if at all possible use natural ingredients such as the spicy spray or peppercorn sachets.


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Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to Grace or me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

Homemade Shampoo and Conditioner

By Elizabeth Seward, Planet Green

Oh, shampoo and conditioner. They keep our hair clean and smelling great. While we all love being clean, shampoos and conditioners aren’t totally innocent products. Most of them are filled with chemicals that aren’t any good for our planet. Since they get washed down our drains, these are important things to think about! On top of that, the containers they come in are typically plastic. Sure, we can always recycle plastic, but isn’t it better to reduce the production of plastic in the areas that we can? I think so.

The answer? Try making your own shampoo and conditioner! You’ll save money and use more natural ingredients. And isn’t it better to know exactly what you’re using on your body?

Here’s a basic recipe for shampoo. Feel free to alter the recipe to make it work the best for your hair type.

You need:
1 empty bottle
3 cups of soap flakes (which you can get almost anywhere)
Water
Essential Oil of Lavender
Essential Oil of Rosemary

Directions:
Mix the soap flakes with the water and then add 4 drops of each oil.

For conditioner, the ingredients are probably already in your house.

You need:
1 empty bottle
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon of baby oil
Water

Directions:
Mix the above ingredients together and you’re good to go!

This post was inspired by Hollywood Green.

Planet Green is the multi-platform media destination devoted to the environment and dedicated to helping people understand how humans impact the planet and how to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. Its two robust websites, planetgreen.com and TreeHugger.com, offer original, inspiring, and entertaining content related to how we can evolve to live a better, brighter future. Planet Green is a division of Discovery Communications.

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Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

White Wine Vinegar As Cleaner and Disinfectant

White wine vinegar can be found in most kitchens.They are very useful in helping you disinfect and clean. The other cheaper option is white distilled vinegar. Here are some ideas that you may like to use:

Effective Disinfectant

Vinegar is a natural disinfectant and it will reduce bacteria levels if it is being used to wipe kitchen top. It is also ideal in removing lime and mineral build-up around faucets and sinks. As diluted ascetic acid, it will serve as a great substitute for ammonia-based cleaners. Even though malt vinegar does the same thing, you may want to avoid using it. Unless you want your kitchen and house to smell sourish.

Ideal Glass Cleaner

Pour 2 to 3 tablespoons of vinegar into 3 liters of warm water. This solution will work just as well as any commercial glass cleaner. After cleaning the windows, use crumpled newspapers to dry. You can use a lighter solution to clean stained wine glasses or dirty vases. Use a soft towel to wipe dry. You will be surprise at the sparkling results.

Ideal Oven Cleaner

Dampen your cleaning cloth with a vinegar-and-water solution to clean both your microwave and conventional ovens. To remove odors from the microwave oven, microwave some lemon slices in a bowl of water for a couple of minutes.

Fungus Removal

One part of vinegar with one portion of baking powder can do magic in removing mildew and mold. Place the solution on the affected areas and leave for one or two hours. If the affected is more severely infected, then you may have to repeat the procedure a few times. Leave the solution on for a longer period before rinsing off with water.

Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

How To Get Rid of Stale Smell from Thermos Flask

Beverages tend to taste really bad if they were being filled and come out of thermos flask that has not been used for a while. The reason is because the trapped air in the confined thermos or vacuum flasks can become stale when they have not been used for a while. In Malaysia, it will be advisable to check if any insects have made their nests in the uncovered flasks. So, before you fill your thermos flask, be sure to get rid of the insects and also the stale smell.

So, what is the trick to freshen your stale-smelling thermos flask? Dump a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar into your stale thermos flask. Close the cover and shake thoroughly. Then rinse these ingredients off with fresh running water. Smell the flask. It should smell fresh. If not, repeat the process and this time, a little longer.

Another secret technique to freshen your thermos flask is filling it with two teaspoons of baking soda. Pour in boiling water and close the cover. Leave it to alone for at least 8 hours. This means that you can perform this procedure before you leave for your work and when you return, the flask should be ready with its newfound freshness. Be sure to rinse out the thermos flask with dish-washing detergent and water.

Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

How To Pick Tiny Shards of Broken Glass

If you have broken a glass, use a piece of thick bread to pick up the tiny shards of glass from the table top or hard floor. Never use a kitchen cleaning cloth. You may accidentally cut yourself when next time you use the cloth.

Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

Fresh Smelling Kitchen

Kitchen is a lovely place for us women. Whether we cook a lot or not, we prefer to have a fresh-smelling kitchen. Fresh smell does not come from masking bad smell but removing it. 

Therefore, the right thing to do every evening is to get rid of the garbage before it fills to half a bin. Of course, give your hubby the privilege of clearing the garbage bin. Men love to do such macho chores. The other macho chore is to get him to mow the lawn. Hah, so much about men. Back to our kitchens!

Now if you and your dear hubby have to go for a short holiday to the hills, you will want your kitchen to remain fresh smelling. You don't to come back to stale murky stench. At least you don't have to rush and open the kitchen windows immediately just because you can't stand the smell.

One trick that works all the time is to cut one lemon and leave the two pieces on the kitchen table. Walla! When you come back, you have a nice-smelling kitchen. Simple, isn't it?

Till next time!

Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

How To Get Rid Of Bad Smells On Your Hands

When cutting onions or cleaning fish, our hands can take on the odor and it is difficult to get rid of. No amount of hand soap can remove the smell. It will be worse if you are expecting guests in your home. Imagine having to shake their hands with your smelly ones. Here are some simple techniques that you can use to help you overcome the odor on your hands.

Stainless Steel Items

Gathering from the people with kitchen wisdom, I have discovered that stainless steel utensils have a way in removing smells and odors caused by garlic, onions or even fish. When you wash your hands, just rub them on a stainless steel object while water runs over your hands. 

In some countries, shops carry stainless steel soaps. The so-called 'soap' is just a chunk of stainless steel that shaped like a bar of soap. A stainless steel butter knife or spoon is just as effective. I don't know why stainless steel can remove the smell. Maybe some of the readers with scientific ideas can write and inform me. It may have to do with some chemical reactions so much so that the molecules in the stainless steel reacts with the smell. 

Ground Coffee Beans

Some perfume stores provide ground coffee beans to remove the scents from the hands of the customers, after they have tested the perfume samples. Keep some ground coffee beans in the chiller. You can use them whenever you need to remove some serious odors. Rub your hands with the ground coffee beans and then rinse with soap and water.

Lemons and Limes

After you have squeezed the lemon or lime and use the juice for cooking or drinking, you can still use the skins. There is enough juice left in the skins to make an effective odor remover.  Use the skin to rub over your hands and rinse off. The smell of garlic, onion or fish will be gone.

Salt

A tablespoon of table salt can work wonder on your smelly hand. Put a little water or dish washing fluid and work the table salt into a paste. Then use the paste to rub in between your fingers and other parts of the hands. The salt will not only take away the smell but also exfoliate your skins and making your skin softer.

Baking Powder

Put two tablespoons of baking powder into a glass of water and stir. Soak your smelly hands, one by one, for half-a-minute. This simple approach should remove garlic, onion or fish odors.

Tomato Juice

In some countries, people use tomato juice to remove stench caused by skunks. When you do not have other odor-removing items, you may want to try tomato juice.

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Lessons of a Househusband

By Rholan Wong

Daily life had pulled an unexpected turn at the Wong household. Like an increasing number of men, I found myself, unexpectedly, without a job. Well, that’s not exactly right. Actually, while my wife, Debbie, spent her days as a social worker, I suddenly had two jobs: part-time freelance writer and full-time househusband for Derek, our 4-year-old son.

Let’s just cut to the chase: This stay-at-home fathering business is difficult stuff! Whenever Debbie or other women used to mention how hard it is to be a housewife, I would always nod my head in sympathy and mouth politically correct statements. But what I really was thinking was, Aw, c’mon. You should have a real job like mine, with unreasonable deadlines, repetitive tasks and tyrannical bosses. What I didn't know was:

1. It’s the toughest job you’ll ever have. Now I know that no deadline is as inflexible as a child’s cry for breakfast, lunch or dinner; that the cooking—to say nothing of cleaning and washing—must be done over and over and over; and that a child can be the most demanding tyrant of all.

I never realized how much work it takes to keep a house running. The first few weeks at home, I was amazed that shopping, cooking and cleaning up for three meals could take the whole day. However, the household chores have been the easy part. The heavier burden—by far—has been entertaining, educating and disciplining my son.

Part of that burden is that I can never let my attention wane. I always have to keep up with a boy who has unlocked the mystery of perpetual motion. At any given moment he may be about to eat a spider or throw a book through a window.

Even harder is the emotional toll. I incessantly feel that I’m not doing enough for Derek. Yes, I may be giving him the right things to eat, but am I giving him the educational stimulation he needs? Is he watching too much TV? Am I giving him enough opportunities to play outside? Are his playtimes fostering an active imagination and developing his motor skills? Am I giving him enough time with other kids so that he’s learning social skills? Will those friends be a good or bad influence?

And much more crucial than always looking out for Derek is having to look at myself. I am to examine everything I do around him, because he is also studying me and will surely mirror my slightest misbehavior. For instance, I was a TV sports addict until I heard Derek say he couldn’t talk to me because he would miss one of his cartoons.

Dealing with all these physical and emotional burdens takes a lot of time, which brings me to my next lesson:

2. “Quality Time” is a myth. If I want a relationship with Derek, I have to put in the hours. If I don’t, I miss out on my son’s life. One example: While I was still at my old job, I came home late on Friday night after a week with especially long hours.

Derek greeted me at the front door with a detailed account of what he and his mom had done that day. As he told me about the four different places they had gone to and what they had seen, I realized that I did not know my son had developed the sophisticated abilities to remember and relate personal experiences.

More time has given me not just a chance to catch up on the facts of Derek’s growth, but it’s also given me a deeper, richer relationship with my son. 

Derek intentionally misbehaved at a church picnic, and I punished him. In the past, such discipline meant I got at least a few hours—and possibly a half-day—of the cold-shoulder treatment. This time, after about five minutes, he walked up to me, plopped down on my lap and freely laid his head back on my chest.

I wondered what had opened Derek’s heart to me. I hadn’t been giving him more presents, as our reduced income eliminated most trips to the toy store. Truth is, I had changed my behavior in only one way: more time with him at home.

Looking back now, I realize I bought into the notion that the quality of my time with Derek could make up for the quantity. However, I made no such assumption in other areas of my life. When I went out to dinner with Debbie, I made sure we could linger at the restaurant as long as we wanted. When I wanted to become a better jazz pianist, I practiced more. And I never told my boss that I would leave work early because the morning had given me enough “quality time.”

Of course, spending more time with Derek leaves less time for other parts of my life, but I don’t mind it at all because:

3. Being a househusband is worth it. One of the most demanding jobs in the world is also one of the most rewarding. I’ve always loved my son, but he has thrown me hopelessly, uncontrollably, head-over-heels in love with him.

Unfortunately, my time at home ended. My family needed the extra money and security that a steady job provides, and I genuinely enjoyed my career. 

But for as long as my period of unemployment lasted, I was thankful to God for turning the heart of this father toward his son and giving me more time to play catch with my boy, push him on the swing, read to him, take him to the doctor when he’s sick, and pray with him during the day.

Yes, it is hard for a man to be a stay-at-home parent, especially in a society where it goes against the grain. But I wouldn’t have traded this experience for anything.

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Source of article: http://newmanmag.com/e-magazine/091009/story2.php

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Hi, if you have any great Household tips and ideas, feel free to write to me at koolgrace7000@gmail.com. You can also submit your ideas here onsite. Thanks a million and stay kool!

Plan Your Major Cleaning Day

You have to clean and I have to clean. Instead of working ourselves to death, we can clean by bite sizes. Most new homemakers find cleaning the whole house very intimidating. The truth of the matter is that you should have no fear. When you draw up a timetable, suddenly all the chores become manageable.

The key is to allocate one or two tasks a day. Not three or four because that will give you 'work-phobia'. Instead of loving your home, you will start to become afraid of it. A home becomes the source of nasty cleaning experiences.

Here are some of the daily cleaning jobs

1. Toilets and bathrooms- clean the toilet bowls and wipe the bathroom sinks

2. Keep the kitchen clean by wiping the surfaces. Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight. That will be a sure way to attract unwelcome pests such as cockroaches and mice.

3. Sweep non-carpeted areas and keep them free of dust and trash.

Here are some of the weekly cleaning jobs

1. Vacuuming and  dusting are to be done once a week. 

2. You do not need to do all these in one day but spread them out to different days. You may clean the bedrooms on a weekday and the larger living room and dining room on the weekend.

Step-by-Step

1. Solicit the help of your family members

2. Schedule the cleaning time - specify a duration so that the people who are helping you can plan their day too

3. Make a timetable or work schedule

4. Create job assignments if you have more than one family member to help you

5. Handle one or two projects a day

6. Be sure to prepare all cleaning tools and agents beforehand

7. Check whether the vacuum cleaner is emptied of the previous load of rubbish

Before you go to work in the morning, you can get a few simple cleaning chores done. Then you return home in the evening, you will have a clean home waiting for you. Kool eh?

Ten-Minute Cleaning

Most of us are busy people. Whether we have full-time jobs outside or are home-makers, there is always a shortage of time. 

Take a few minutes to tidy up the rooms. Take a used plastic grocery bag and collect all the stray items so that you can later put them in their proper places. 

Empty the wastepaper baskets and trash bins by putting all the contents in another used plastic bag. Avoid using brand-new trash bag if you have used plastic bags to use.


Gather cups and mugs to the kitchen and be sure to wipe the stains off the table. You may place the cups and mugs in the sink to be washed later. 

The house will immediately look tidy, nice and clean.