Gonna keep this month's blog post short and to the point. 
Life hack: grab a Sharpie and write on it

Say, what? Let me explain.
This little hack of writing the formula to the cleaning solution for our robot mopper came to mind when my husband expressed frustration with having to measure it out every time he filled the little reservoir for that machine. I have come across this idea in many scenarios and honestly felt a bit silly we hadn't implemented it sooner. I picked up an easy pour bottle with measuring marks already on the side then wrote the ratio of concentrated cleaner to water that the device required and voila! We fill this bottle every couple of months with no need to reference the original formula and refill the tank for each mop with ease. Now that robot mop is even more of a time saver!

This tip can apply to a variety of similar tasks, though. I often forget that not everything is precious and needs to remain fresh-from-the-box pristine and imagine I'm not alone in that odd way of thinking. Sometimes you just need to make your life easier and write on it. 

Really. I hate them. They are so tiny but so annoying they seem like they're 20x their size. We don't have central air in our 100+ year old apartment building and summer is just the worst for added pests and rotting fruit. Don't get me wrong, I love our apartment and I'll be sad to see the day when we move on from here but if there's one thing I'd change about it, it would be to have climate control. Since we don't have it I've gotten creative (and gone natural) with my pest solutions. 

My go-to, hands-down-best fruit fly catch solution is Apple Cider Vinegar and Dish Soap. That's it! About 4 tablespoons vinegar and a heavy dollop of dish soap and those flies are the pests of yesterday. I like to use some freebie shot glasses my husband brought home from a restaurant he worked at years ago but any little vessel you can spare works. The vinegar will evaporate over time but you can just keep refreshing it with a bit more vinegar and a drop of soap whenever it gets low. I like to accumulate my kills and dump the shot glasses at the end of the summer. Maybe that's a bit vindictive and morbid? But I'm pretty sure I'm not going to stop. Haha!

So there you have it. The first blog post for City Mouse Home. The plan is to mostly write about ways to care for you home with natural elements and other handy tips you might not know but I use in my own life. If this interests you, I hope to see you here again! Follow the shop on social media and sign up for the newsletter to know when the latest blog has dropped. Thanks for reading!