• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Blog
    • Subscribe
    • Welcome!
  • About
    • ADW Manifesto
    • Work With Me
      • Read
  • Shop
    • My Account
    • Cart
    • Checkout

The Domestic Wildflower

Handmade Food & Craft Tutorials for Beginners

  • Courses
    • Free Canning Basics
    • Everything Canning Course
    • Steam Canning Workshop
    • Free Homemade Cocktail Mixers
    • Wildflower Mixology
    • Crochet Basket Workshop
  • Can & Preserve
    • Never Canned?
    • Steam Canner Equipment Bundle
    • Shrubs Course
  • Sew
  • Cook
  • Craft
    • Crochet Step-by-Step Guides
      • Crochet Basket
      • Giant Yarn Throw
      • Thick & Thin Throw
  • Living
    • Creativity Challenge
    • Clean
    • Kids
  • Rentals

Living

DIY Home Renovation

December 18, 2020 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

Rental House Before and After

Want to see how we bought a house that needed some love and renovated it into a furnished rental? This is the blog post that shares all the before and after photos, the products we used, the steps we took, and lots of money saving ideas along the way. Welcome to our rental house renovation! 

We bought the little rental house in December of 2019. It happened to be such fantastic timing because my husband was able to take 2 months off of work to do a lot of the work himself. He’s not a contractor but a lineman who builds power lines. Nearly 20 years ago, he worked in the construction trade. I have no real renovation experience. I mention this to share our level of expertise before starting this project. It was a little more than the average bear but not a lot. 

When assessing all the things that needed to be done, we considered what we could do ourselves, learn via YouTube, asking friends in the construction industry, and what we were willing and able to pay to be done. The budget we had in mind was to keep the costs of renovation under twenty thousand dollars. We were able to stay under this number, thank goodness. 

If you want to check out the listing, see it here!

Lot & Location 

We found a place that was a small size (1000 sq feet) in a great location- Main Street of our little town. It is surrounded by the neighbor’s backyards, making it feel private as well as centrally located. We own the driveway (rather than having an easement) which was really important to us. 

Flooring

Before: along two sides of the house the flooring was painted and worn OSB. The center was wood (not hardwood, but wood) flooring that needed sanding and refinishing. The best choice for a rental and for our budget was vinyl waterproof click in laminate flooring. I really wanted wood, of course, but it would have cost twice as much to make new wood line up and match the existing wood. 

Waterproof vinyl flooring was installed after they leveled a few uneven places. The cost was about $6000 for the flooring and installation. This is usually where people comment that “you can install it yourself!” And that’s true. We probably could have. My husband had a limited amount of time off work and we had to decide which projects he could do quickly himself versus who we could pay to do a job quickly. In hindsight, we’d still have a pro install it, as it took 2 days I think, and they had the tricky job of leveling some really uneven parts. The result is a waterproof, beautiful floor that’s cohesive throughout the house and it’s super easy to clean. I stained the wooden threshold that goes between the living and kitchen to match the black tones of the flooring.

Bathroom Vanity

The bathroom needed a vanity. We got this one at Lowe’s and the tiny size was most critical.

Attic crawl space

The crawl space was insulated with old feed sacks and cardboard, and had to be cleaned out before the re wiring project (more on that later). My husband and I drug filthy newspaper, cardboard, and feed sacks out of the crawl spaces and tossed them out the upstairs window. We vacuumed up decades of filth and prepared the space for my husband and our electrician to spend a lot of time in there re-wiring the whole house. 

Electrical

 My husband and our electrician (life-long family friends) did all new wiring, re-wired what needed to be re-wired, and updated all outlets. They put in several new light fixtures. There was no ground and now all outlets are up to date. They were able to work together (they were such a great team!) to get a ton done that made the electrical safer and better. Now there’s a switch at the bottom and top of the stairs, for example, to light the stairway, and a porch light off the kitchen, etc.  

Laundry Nook 

A carpenter friend of my husband’s tore out the doorway of the pantry to create a laundry nook where we put a small capacity GE washer dryer pair on Sears Outlet. Getting a dinged up set from the outlet offset the cost of the small size. Delivery took nearly a month but for the price it seems worth it.  A great tip I got from a customer service helper was to buy items that you need to match or correspond from the same outlet. Buying from different outlet stores in different cities created multiple problems but getting the set from the same store assured they’d match, arrive the same time, etc. 

Washer and dryer were about $1200 total and my husband’s friend wouldn’t let us pay him for his work but it was a few hours of work for him to rip out the wall. 

As I write this, we’ve had about 2 months worth of renters in the space and I just had the current renter share that the dryer belt broke. This makes me unsure as to the value of going to an outlet. I have our private repair man planned to fix it asap but at this time, the jury is out on if the outlet was worth it. 

We also paid a plumber to plumb the nook as it was only a pantry before and had no plumbing. That was $600.

Upstairs

At first we weren’t sure if we’d refinish the upstairs at all. The floor was wood but kind of a disaster in terms of there were holes, it was majorly uneven, there was the book nook that had been kind of badly dry walled by someone in the past but never finished, and it felt initially like it would be easier to leave it unfinished. Indeed, it would have been easier. Of course, we decided to “just do it” and finish the whole space so it added 300 sq feet to the house and has been one of the best decisions of the whole project. We are so glad we did it; even though I didn’t know if we’d remain married after trying to do the drywall together lol. 

Drywall 

Initially I thought I wanted the shiplap that existed to remain but a wise man (our electrician) pointed out how drafty, dusty, spidery, and impractical that would be. My husband dry walled the whole upstairs (300 square feet) with my help and this was the worst part. The attic ceiling was tricky, it’s heavy, awkward, and my husband is a perfectionist which makes for beautiful finish work but also for very slow work. I then got a five minute tutorial from my husband’s uncle who is a drywall guy and I had to tape and texture the whole dang thing. This was also the worst part because I’m honestly not that good at it and I hated it with all my heart. At the end we decided we just won’t rent to sheetrockers. It isn’t perfect and that’s okay because the price of labor was free and it’s so dramatically better than it was before. My husband had to rebuild one window wall with OSB which took a great amount of time (see note about him being a terrible perfectionist above). Sheet rocking the stairwell was also terrible (!!!) My husband tore the stair treads off (after they’d been painted of course) to get the drywall hidden and it looks very nice.

Approximate cost to drywall the upstairs: $12 a sheet, and as this was at a stressful time of the project I don’t know how much we ultimately spent. I paid more in effort and patience than I’d like to in the future. I’m not the accountant in the family- that’s my sister. 

It was a few hundred bucks, took a week maybe, and I’m glad it is over 🙂 If we got another rental and we needed to save money, I’d probably do it again because we know how but I’d dread it. One tip I can say is those Sheetrock gloves were totally worth it; they made holding the Sheetrock for my husband so much easier; that stuff is so slippery! 

Chimney in the Floor

We found the original brick chimney in the floor of the upstairs. It was weirdly closed off from extending to the bottom floor in the small bedroom closet- it was encased in wood (closet ceiling and upstairs flooring) rather than removed and I thought it was worth trying to remove the bricks. This was something I’d work on while waiting on Ruben to need my help, waiting on paint to dry, etc. I used a hammer to gently tap the bricks loose and haul them outside. In hindsight, took a lot of time and I guess I’ll use those rad old bricks somewhere. 

Stair Railing

We had a local auto body shop fabricate a railing for around the top of the stairs. I think the original was little more than painted 2x4s. It’s beautiful, hell for stout, and was money well spent.  Approximate cost: $900

Door knobs

Some of the existing doors had knobs, some not, and most needed to be replaced. We found the cheapest knobs that could be locked at Van Dyke’s Restorers and they were $100 each. Our contractor friend (so many of them!) informed Ruben that either we spend $100 on the handles or $200 on all new doors that come with handles. It was a difficult job because I couldn’t do it, Ruben was back to work by the time we found these knobs, and we ultimately paid our contractor friend to finish all the things that weren’t done when Ruben went back to work and he was amazing. It took him minutes to do what we would have squabled about for hours. 

Windows – 16 windows- double pane vinyl 

Our window guy Craig Hubbard (you’re not going to find a window guy with a better sense of humor I can guarantee) said that replacing old windows is like getting your teeth whitened and straightened and I think that’s a fantastic metaphor. The windows in the house were single pane double hung windows that had no screens and many were upside down so they’d smash your finger when you tried to open them and some were painted shut. We love the new windows and were so glad it was an easy fix. The cost was about $6000 for the windows and installation and we would do this again in a heartbeat. 

Want to see what happened to the 16 old windows? My brother in law built my sister a beautiful greenhouse with them. 

The Weird Upstairs Window

It extends 5 inches BELOW the floor line. I couldn’t tell you why it does, but our window guy explained the cheapest and best thing to do was to replace the window rather than try to build more wall. I think he was right. 

The Book Nook

This nook is probably 5 feet 6 inches at the peak and we kicked around lots of fun ideas for this space including putting a hammock in there. However, when my mother in law gifted me her used, tan leather loveseat and it fit like a glove in front of the weird window, making it safer and blocking the window trim that could only look moderately normal since the window goes BELOW the floor, it became the Book Nook. I got a shelf at the thrift store, painted it a light grey (it was a veneered Walmart style cheap bookshelf) and filled it with a rainbow of Reader’s Digests. There’s a throw blanket and pillows and it’s perfect now. 

Paint 

I bet we painted 10+ gallons of PNG Paint (our lumber yard brand) Snowbank White in this 1000 square foot house. I try to do projects in a way that feels less overwhelming and for some reason going one or two gallons at a time felt more achievable than getting giant 5 gallon buckets. I started in the linen closet room because it was the smallest and felt the least overwhelming. Deciding on the white was easy; it’s the color my dear friend Emily helped me choose for my living, bath, and kitchen in our home. It’s a bright white and we did semi-gloss so it is easy to clean. 

I agonized over the decision of the paint color of the beadboard paneling in the kitchen and tested several colors and decided on Nightwatch (a dark green) and I love it. It really fits the mountain feel of the house and used it on the stair tread, and in the linen closet room beadboard. When I showed my brother the stairs, he immediately said they looked like my godmother’s signature paint color and he was absolutely right. It’s a perfect Julie green 🙂 Each gallon of paint was interior semi gloss and was about $35. It was a part of the project that I could do by myself, fairly well, and it had a huge impact for not a ton of money. 

What they say is true: using good quality paint and brushes/rollers MATTERS. It makes a mediocre painter seem much better. My most important advice I could share is this: To paint faster, paint more slowly. This was a lesson it took me a long time to learn but it’s the Gospel truth. You get DONE much sooner by going slowly and doing a better job. I painted every surface- the inside of the closets (floor and ceiling, even) kitchen cupboards, and essentially every other surface you can think of. Painting the inside of the cabinets and drawers seemed silly at first but it makes them feel fresh and clean (and indeed, easier to clean later) and I feel like painting the inside of cupboards and cabinets is an often-skipped step. Paint them! For the kitchen cabinets my mother in law helped me (her whole family has so many really good painters, she and Ruben’s grandma helped!) and we left the doors on the cabinets- they are in good condition but my husband Ruben was worried about taking the doors off and on and how well they’d go back together as they fairly old and not the highest quality. I’m so glad we did this- I gave my mother in law a tiny brush and she painted around all the hinges and we did the whole set of cabinets in a few days. 

Front Door

It was a standard white before and I wanted it to pop a little more. I painted it Nightwatch green and considered getting a copper kickplate for the bottom but felt like they were pretty expensive for something that’s only pretty. Maybe someday! 

I also painted the strip of linoleum left over in the door threshold with black enamel which I had leftover from some project. It’s super hard and shiny and it might look kinda funky but it definitely was better than the random linoleum strip that was there. I did this for the kitchen door threshold as well.

Light fixture painting

Several light fixtures were dated so we primed and painted them black. This was a cheap, easy fix that was something I could do while other paint was drying, while we were deciding on all the other “big” issues like flooring,  without much money at all being spent at all. I spray primed and painted several for probably $10. 

Magnetic stove shelf: I got this shelf from this Etsy shop and it was such a good buy. It’s perfectly sized for the tiny space and gives a space for a spoon and the salt and pepper when cooking. 

Garbage disposal 

This was a small thing but I was glad to add to the kitchen. We got a Waste King with a colossal capacity (I didn’t realize exactly how big it was until it arrived). 

Bathroom sink and vanity: this was a little over $100 from The Home Depot. My husband picked it out on a whim and because of the tiny size it had to be, there wasn’t much to choose from. It’s a perfect size and the brushed nickel fixture matches the curtain rod. 

L shaped shower curtain rod

$100 from Build.com – excellent customer service and this was the correct size for our existing tub and shower. 

  • Rental House Before and After

Furnishings

I may write a separate post about how I’m listing this rental but the short version is it is a furnished rental. This is where I got the furnishings. 

Sheets: Costco

Mattresses: Linenspa brand- Amazon

Pillows: Costco 

Beds (upstairs and large bedroom) Wayfair

Light fixtures in kitchen, stairwell, small bedroom: Wayfair 

Small bedroom twin bed: Family bed painted by Pioneer Autobody 

Duvets, throw blankets, kitchen towels, shower curtains, blender, : all used from Poshmark. I set a limit of $15 on most items and didn’t spend over that. I love Poshmark because they have an offer feature that’s easy for the buyer and not annoying for the seller. I just offered (keeping in mind the fixed $7 shipping) and if the seller didn’t accept, I moved to the next item in the search. Search is super easy on Poshmark and made it so easy to find what I wanted. If you want to join Poshmark, sign up with my code JENNY_GOMES to get $10 off your first order. It’s my favorite way to get used things online.

Curtains: JCPenney linen-look blackout – I have these in my living room and love them. 

Green leather loveseat: Yard sale $75 totally worth it 

Tan leather loveseat upstairs in the book nook: gifted from my MIL

Short dresser upstairs: thrifted and refinished $40 

Sheer curtains for living room: thrifted $2 a panel. Guys. My local thrift store is the BEST and I bet yours is too. SHOP THRIFT STORES. There’s GOOD stuff there. It was my FIRST place to go for any furnishing. It doesn’t hurt to ask if they have a light fixture of a specific size, or a table of X dimensions. I got so many things there and gave them new life with a thorough vacuuming and a little stain. I also got the curtain rings there too.

Dining table and chairs: Wayfair. I love their super specific search function. I could search for the exact size I wanted. It had to fit both under the window, or nestled into the wall, AND under the telephone nook. I searched our local thrift store and Facebook market and ended up spending $200 on the table plus the 4 chairs. Bonus, they look so sharp with the floors. They are really pretty I think. 

2 upholstered chairs: $40 total, painted with an exorbitant amount of fabric paint and wood stained with Varathane stain in Ebony. If I did this again, I’d search for another way to buy the paint than during a quarantine and via Amazon. I needed so much more paint than I realized. I think I needed nearly 10 bottles of 4 ounce paint. The result was not that soft, but fantastic looking black. It was less money and time than re-upholsterering and I love the way they look. 

2 wooden chairs: thrifted – $20 total -Sanded both, stained one with the same single can of Varathane Ebony stain. 

I can’t say enough about staining furniture rather than painting it. I’m a mediocre painter at best and I think that stain is SO much more forgiving than paint, has a dramatic effect easily, and is buildable (you can add or take away color as you go). I topped most of the things I stained black with clear polyurethane (I used a cheap foam brush) and just let it dry for several days. I especially loved how the black stain instantly made a ho-hum piece of furniture stand out. I also stained the threshold going from living to kitchen with the black to coordinate with the flooring better. 

Various end tables, bench by the doorway, the linen closet dresser: my good pal Hailey. She was moving and sold me a ton of things for next to nothing, God bless her. 

The sander I used for everything: a random orbital sander. Please note that I know nothing about wood working BUT I made $10 thrift store items look like $50 with this sander and $5 in stain. First use rough (80 grit) sandpaper, then fine (120) and stain. So easy! If you’re going to refinish great grandma’s priceless dining table, ask someone else. If you want to redo a yard sale score, do as I did. 

Cleaning supplies for the house including mop, kitchen and window cloths, etc: Norwex. It’s super high quality microfiber and I love it. 

The Side Yard

The front yard was in good shape and the back side yard was a total jungle. It was completely overgrown with blackberry vines. It felt vaguely creepy because you couldn’t see from one end to the other and and it was completely unusable. During my breaks from the drudgery that was drywall, I clipped every damn vine. I hauled them into piles and later, I asked a friend of my brother’s to rototill the side yard. The rototiller made it so smooth and perfect and deterred regrowth of the blackberry jungle for at least a bit. I really thought so long about a fantastic set of plants to include but in reality, the most sensible choice is grass. At this time, I haven’t planted any yet but hope to soon. 

As we don’t live right next door to the house nor do we have a yard of our own (lots of practical reasons why, but unusual I know!) we decided to hire a landscape pro to mow twice a month and I’m so, so glad we did. He does a great job, hasn’t been late or missed a day yet, and it takes a chore off my plate. 

Microwave cabinet

My husband’s cousin is an incredible custom cabinet builder and he built us a hickory microwave cabinet. This served as a beautiful addition to the kitchen, got the microwave off the counter, and serves as a hood over the cook stove. 

Linen Closet Room

There’s a weird little room adjacent to the master bedroom AND the bathroom that has a under-the-stairs cupboard in it (very Harry Potter) and we decided to use it as a linen closet. I put a great dresser (thanks, Hailey!) in there and I use it to store extra linens. If we had a huge budget/were going to live there ourselves, we would have removed the wall to the bathroom and made it one big bathroom or a Jack and Jill bathroom. But, we didn’t have a huge budget, and for now, it is just a linen closet. 

Linen Closet Floor

Days before the flooring was going to be installed, we discovered a soft spot in the linen closet floor. This was after the awful drywall and at the end of Ruben’s two month stint as a sometimes unwilling DIY guy and this small, not a big deal discovery almost sent the both of us over the edge. It took a day of work, some pressure treated wood, a handful of those small Snickers bars, and he fixed it. See, NOT a big deal! 🙂 

Conclusion

If you read this far, God bless you. This is easily the longest post I’ve ever written. I hope it was helpful in showing what we did ourselves, what we paid help to do, and how I did the parts I did myself. My lesson coming away from this 6 month project was to bite off what you can chew. Take small projects and do them first. Decide what you are willing to learn to do, and decide what’s way out of your comfort zone, but don’t be afraid to learn something new. Learning is how we grow and we often thing learning is just for kids. It isn’t. We need to learn too, whether we are 28 or 78. I’m naturally not a fan of risk, and buying an investment property was a risk, absolutely. Figuring out how to drywall was a risk. Spending money on furnishings was a risk. But now we have a gem of a house we are renting to great visitors, it’s doubled in value surely if not more (in part to Covid, and to our efforts), and if we wanted to live in it, we could! Drop your questions in the comments below, and let me know if there’s anything else I missed in this post!

Rental House Before and After

Filed Under: Clean, Craft, Living

Best Spring Blog Posts

March 3, 2020 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

These are the best homemade food & craft spring blog posts for baking, canning, cooking, and crafting. Read on for the best spring blog posts to inspire your spring!

The 7 Best Spring Blog Posts from The Domestic Wildflower

This post contains affiliate links.

Best Old Fashioned Banana Muffin Recipe

This recipe is based on one from the 1942 version of the Good Housekeeping Cook Book. It is originally titled, “Banana Tea Bread” but when I read the recipe, given to me by my Gram, I swapped out a few ingredients and decided muffins would serve my lunchbox-toting kindergartener better than bread that I would have to slice, wrap, etc. in the busy mornings before school.

Rhubarb Pineapple Balsamic Shrub

This post will share one of my favorite shrub recipes. It uses bold tasting balsamic vinegar with pineapple and rhubarb. It’s great on its own with sparkling water but with tequila, it is over the moon delicious. Read on for the recipe!

The Best Canning Jars

If you’re a new canner, you probably have no idea which jars would be the best and if you’re experienced, you know there’s so many to choose from and that it’s hard to know what really is the best canning jar. I’m here to share what works best for me, and what I’d do if I were you, and why.

The Best Canning Jars

How To Make Lilac Syrup

Lilacs are arguably the most lovely, fragrant, and iconic springtime flowers. This post will share how to make a simple syrup to add fragrance and flavor to the tea, cocktails, and more in short order. I will also explain why the syrup is NOT a pretty purple color. Here’s how to make Lilac Syrup!

Free Canning Basics Course

When I started canning, this was the part that caused me the most grief. A good cookbook is a helpful start, but there’s no way for it to SHOW you what happens when. There’s no shame in admitting that, hey, you don’t really cook all that often and having 3 pots going on the stove at once is kind of overwhelming. I am here to tell you (and explain, in detail in the course) that canning is WAY LESS COMPLICATED than cooking a big family dinner.

Free Canning Basics Course

Strawberry Jam Canning Recipe

This post will share a great recipe for strawberry jam that can be halved or doubled and can be pureed smooth or not. It is versatile and easy, fragrant, and fast. Enjoy and be sure to download the printable version of the recipe to have on hand! You’ll be making homemade strawberry jam for your family and friends in no time with this easy canning recipe.

Strawberry Jam Canning Recipe | The Domestic Wildflower

Giant Yarn Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern

You all may have noticed, I’m a huge fan of giant yarn, pun absolutely intended. I love it because it is unusual, warm, fast to work with, and easy to see errors you might have made. Love Fest Fibers has become my favorite domestic source of giant yarn and for good reason. They have a variety of large-scale yarns to choose from, in neutrals and dreamy colors, in both all natural and recycled plastic + natural material blends.

Canning for Party Favors

This post will share how to can favors for a bridal shower, wedding, baby shower, or other parties where you want to put love into jars and give the gift of something delicious.

Canning For Party Favors | Read how you can preserve jam, salsa, and other delicious treats easily for the guests at your next bridal shower, baby shower, or other party! Canning for party favors is genius- it saves time and money and is beautiful!

How To Make Shrubs Course

Shrubs aren’t just for gardens, they are no cook cocktail and mocktail mixers. Here’s the new & improved, free, shrubs email course.

How to Grow Microgreens in a Victorio Sprouter

This post will explain how to sprout microgreens easily on your countertop especially if you would like a steady supply of sprouts for eating on salad, sandwiches, eggs, and more. The sprouter that I use is forgetfulness-proof and helps you sprout more of your seeds, saving you money, and allows for you to have sprouts ready all the time, as opposed to one jar full ready, and then having to wait for another week to go by without any fresh spouts.

Filed Under: Living

Bite Toothpaste Bits Review

November 14, 2019 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

Curious about how Bite Toothpaste Bits work from a non-sponsored post? I tried them and this post will share what I love (and don’t love) about them and my final recommendation.

Bite Toothpaste Bits Review | An Honest Review of the zero waste toothpaste tablets

This post is NOT sponsored but if you make a purchase with Bite, I get a very small commission from their website. I wanted to try Bite for myself and this post is purely an honest review of their product. 

Bite Toothpaste Bits are a tablet style toothpaste that comes in a glass bottle with a metal lid (both are recyclable). They are the answer to the highly wasteful practice of using toothpaste in a non-recyclable plastic tube that unavoidably clogs landfills and oceans. 

I was interested in trying them for myself because I try, one item at a time, to reduce the plastic I use in my life and also, the plastic my food comes in. It seems really strange that a product we put inside our mouth twice a day comes in a plastic tube and we (the average consumer) know very little about where that plastic comes from, how it’s made and what the long term consequences might be from that exposure. I’m no scientist and I’m not about to tell you that’s a reason for YOU to stop using toothpaste in a plastic tube, but I thought that if Bite was a good option for my family, I’d switch away from plastic tube toothpaste. 

Takeaway: Plastic tube toothpaste tubes aren’t recyclable and I wonder if in 25 years we will discover how foolish it was to consume foods that were packaged in plastic. 

What are Bite Toothpaste Bits?

Bite Toothpaste Bits are a tablet, so they are pre-measured. This proved to be a major plus with kids. What mother in the world LIKES the smears of toothpaste on the counter? In electric blue, no less? 

The tablets crumble in your mouth with a soft bite, and then you chew them just a little so that they start to foam in your mouth and then apply your wet toothbrush (I’m a fan of this wooden one) and brush normally. 

This has also been easy with kids and easy for me to get used to personally. The tablet form is also great for travel.

Do Bite Toothpaste Bits Work?

These little tablets foam up into a very dense, impressive foam in a quantity that honestly is PLENTY. If you needed more foam to brush your teeth I’d be surprised. 

My teeth feel very clean after use and I’ve tried the Mint, Charcoal, as well as the Limited Edition Autumn Spice flavors. 

My daughter struggled with cavities as a 4-5 year old so we are very careful about good brushing habits and I look at her teeth after every brush (she’s almost 8) to check and Bite Toothpaste Bits seem (to my untrained, non-dentist eye) to be working well. We’ve had one dental checkup since starting Bite and we had no cavities; That’s not proof of any kind of course, but certainly was encouraging that our toothbrushing routine as a whole is working. 

I’ve personally never had a cavity (good genetics from my mother and well water, she says) so I am hoping to continue my good fortune. 

How to Buy Bite Toothpaste Bits

You can purchase 2 ways. You can buy a smaller bottle that’s a one month supply, which is what I did to try out different flavors. If you want to refill that little bottle, you can’t currently order a refill pouch (a compostable paper mailer) which frankly is really dumb. So, I’ve had to order subsequent small bottles because at the time, I wasn’t ready to commit to a subscription. That means I ended up with extra little glass bottles. My kids used them to make potions so they weren’t wasted but it was an annoying feature. I want to be able to buy a plain old refill pouch! 

Alternatively, you can subscribe and get a larger bottle of 4 month supply for a single person. 

Some people love subscriptions but I really don’t like hasty commitment and I didn’t want to subscribe right away. It felt like getting married to the toothpaste too soon. 

My wish is that they had a smarter way of subscribing for a family. Now, you just subscribe for a 4 month supply for one person. This isn’t a drawback really, but a way they could improve. The refills come in a compostable mailer and you just refill the cute glass bottle. It’s honestly a great idea and I’m about to subscribe myself. You save almost 40% by subscribing, and both options take about a week to arrive. 

Bite Toothpaste Bits Review | An Honest Review of the zero waste toothpaste tablets

Do Bite Toothpaste Bits Taste Good?

Yes. Mint, Charcoal, and Autumn Spice are all good. I found Charcoal to be refreshing and not weird tasting (some charcoal products can have a weird taste), Mint is as it sounds- minty and good and not aggressively so, and Autumn Spice is a nice, mild cinnamon. 

Do Kids Like Bite Toothpaste Bits? 

My 7 year old daughter loves them and my 5 year old son isn’t sold; mostly, I think he still likes the electric blue sparkle toothpaste from the dentist and I’m ok with that. I’m waiting for him to want to do what big sister does. 

It is worth mentioning that the Bite Toothpaste Bits make incredible bubbles, the spit you create with them is really satisfying and foamy, and there’s a lot of, “Come look at this!” coming from the bathroom now that one kid is using the Bits. 

It’s also worth mentioning that the charcoal in particular leaves a significant foam-spit trail in the sink that rivals the electric sparkle blue when your kid can’t spit directly under the faucet, and it thus isn’t easily rinsed away. I always think, “Begin as you mean to go on” so if you don’t want to have those charcoal rivers stuck to your sink, then maybe opt for the white Mint variety from the start. 

Final Recommendation

I love Bite Toothpaste Bits, my daughter loves them, and I think my son will come around. My husband hasn’t tried them but he’s not one to try new things and I’m not about to browbeat him about it. I bet eventually they have more subscription options, and more plain old buying options for those commitment-phobes like me. I love that I’m not filling my trash can with plastic (we have a 1-2 bag of trash a week maximum and I’m working to shrink that) and I love that we aren’t using toothpaste that was sitting in plastic for who knows how long before it goes in our mouth. I think you’d love Bite Toothpaste Bits too! Try them and let me know what you think. 

Try Bite Toothpaste Bits today!

Want to try making your own waste-free toothpaste? I have a great tooth powder recipe here!

Homemade Tooth Powder Recipe to naturally clean your teeth!

Filed Under: Living

Best Fall Blog Posts

September 3, 2019 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

Fall is such a fun season, and I have a ton of wonderful recipes, tutorials, and projects to take you all the way to winter. Enjoy these best Fall Blog Posts!

This post contains affiliate links.

Applesauce Muffins

This recipe for applesauce muffins is is a great way to use a healthy ½ cup of your homemade applesauce (or store-bought if you haven’t learned how to make it from me yet!) into a portable snack.

Canning Pumpkin

I’m a big fan of doing things at home, making food for yourself, and generally believe homemade is best. There are a few situations where you cannot make something at home and one of those is canned pumpkin puree.

Canning Pumpkin | This post explains why canning pumpkin is not safe and why old cookbooks said you could. Great info in this post!

Felted Wool Dryer Balls

This post, featuring a guest post from my friend Amika will teach you how to make felted wool dryer balls at home and have you fighting static, wrinkles, and toxic dryer sheets like a superhero. Read on for the full felted dryer ball tutorial!

How to Make Felted Wool Dryer Balls for Homemade, Chemical Free Laundry! Read the post for the super clear tutorial!

Free Canning Basics Course

When I started canning, this was the part that caused me the most grief. A good cookbook is a helpful start, but there’s no way for it to SHOW you what happens when. There’s no shame in admitting that, hey, you don’t really cook all that often and having 3 pots going on the stove at once is kind of overwhelming. I am here to tell you (and explain, in detail in the course) that canning is WAY LESS COMPLICATED than cooking a big family dinner.

Free Canning Basics Course

How To Crochet in 15 Minutes

This post will show you how to crochet in 15 minutes. It will demonstrate how to make a slip knot, how to chain, and how to crochet a versatile, simple stitch. The best part? You don’t even need a hook. Read on for the tutorial, beginner, and you’ll be crocheting in no time!

Maple Whiskey Peaches

This post will show you step by step how to can peaches in vanilla syrup with a splash of whiskey. The resulting preserve can be eaten out of the jar plain, are perfect on top of a cheesecake, waffles, or ice cream, or are a flavorful alternative to plain ol’ peaches in a pie or crisp. Read on for the tutorial!

10 Easy to Grow Vegetables in Your Fall Garden

10 Easy to Grow Vegetables for your Fall Garden is a post that will help you decide what to plant for the easiest, best yield for a successful Fall garden. Read on for the list and for some helpful resources perfect for beginners!

10 Easy to Grow Vegetables for Your Fall Garden This post has tons of great tips for a successful and easy fall gardening experience!

Applesauce Canning Recipe

This post will share an easy homemade applesauce recipe that you can preserve in jars with the traditional water bath instructions OR the steam canning directions. I’ll also share my favorite jars for lunch box size portions of this healthy snack!

Kombucha for Beginners: 7 Easy Steps

This tutorial will explain how to make kombucha, what the heck a scoby is, and how to get yeasty now!

Kombucha for beginners

Learn How To Sew

This post will share my best recommendations for learning how to sew with the best expert advice I can round up for my readers. Sewing saves money, is creative, fun, and is much easier than people think. Learn how to sew below!

Learn How to Sew

20 Back to School Recipes

Back to school time means packing lunches, after school snacks, eating on the go, and getting back into the routine. This collection of recipes is perfect for back to school!

There you have it, my Best Fall Blog Posts! Which will you try first?

7 Best Fall Blog Posts from The Domestic Wildflower

Filed Under: Living

Best Summer Blog Posts

June 25, 2019 by Jenny Gomes 1 Comment

Summertime is fun time and these summer blog posts will take you from homemade crafts to the kitchen, to identifying wildflowers to the right way to cut off shorts, and to making delicious homemade drinks. Read on for the best summer blog posts!

7 Summer Blog Posts from The Domestic Wildflower | Homemade food & craft ideas and recipes to take you through summer!

Free Canning Basics Blog Post

When I started canning, this was the part that caused me the most grief. A good cookbook is a helpful start, but there’s no way for it to SHOW you what happens when. There’s no shame in admitting that, hey, you don’t really cook all that often and having 3 pots going on the stove at once is kind of overwhelming. Really, no shame from this girl. I am here to tell you (and explain, in detail in the course) that canning is WAY LESS COMPLICATED than cooking a big family dinner.

I always say that I’d rather can every single day than cook Thanksgiving dinner once. The basics course teaches you what is supposed to happen when and how to be efficient with your time at the stove.

Free Canning Basics Course

How To Cut Off Shorts

There are a few tricks to making perfect cutoffs that I will share with you here. I hope the next time you wear the knees out of your favorites or score some secondhand jeans that are too short the way I just did, you can spend a few minutes cutting them off the right way to wear all summer long

Pickled Bread and Butter Jalapeños

This post will share a recipe for pickled bread and butter jalapeños and a few clever techniques for keeping your sweet and sour pickles crisp and delicious.

I don’t can a lot of pickles. I also don’t can much that is very spicy, either. As you learn more about canning and develop the set of recipes you enjoy making and your loved ones enjoy eating, you will too find that there are some foods you can over and over and others you don’t end up trying.

Sidewalk Paint

Not only is sidewalk paint an easy, fun, fast, creative, and inexpensive outdoor activity for kids, but it is actually a really pretty medium that is beautiful to play with for kids and grownups alike. Get to mixing, Wildflowers! This recipe will teach you how to make sidewalk paint and will end up in your regular summer rotation in no time.

2 Easy Salsa Recipes

Making homemade salsa is a great way to use up all of the extra tomatoes from your garden and store them for winter. Discover how to make these 2 Easy Salsa Canning Recipes for Beginners.

Raspberry Jam recipe

Raspberry jam is one of the fastest preserves a person could make. Canning has a terrible reputation as being time-consuming- this recipe proves that canning can be quick, easy, and is a simple extension of the cooking process. Raspberry jam is a delight to give as gifts, easy to pick at U-pick farms, and delicious preserved in mason jars. 

How to Identify Wildflowers

This post will share some of our favorite resources for identifying wildflowers in your area and includes both helpful apps and books that are sure to educate and inspire.

Tomato Sauce Recipe

Oh, canning tomatoes! Canning tomato sauce is one of the most satisfying tasks a home canner could ask for because of the versatility of tomato sauce. When people start preserving, they often make jam because it is fairly simple and of course delicious but I find the savory preserves, like this tomato sauce, are far more useful. I guess we just don’t make enough toast to feeling like my time making lots of jam would be worth it. Conversely, my family eats a lot of tomato sauce. Last season I canned over 100 pounds of tomatoes, grown in a friend’s garden a few ridges down the road, and only made it to late spring before running out. I am busy working up Romas, 12 pounds at a time, and sharing about it here and on my YouTube Channel and on Periscope. I’d love to have you follow along there if you’re inclined!

Free Shrub Making Course

Shrubs aren’t just for the garden. Shrubs are a no-cook, easy homemade cocktail or mocktail mixer that’s delicious and fun. This is the new & improved, free, shrubs email course that will help you master the ratio behind these fruit and vinegar syrups.

How to Hang Laundry on the Line

Not only is a clothesline full of wet laundry idyllic and romantic, but it is also frugal, sensible, and not much work at all. Hanging your clothes out to dry imparts them with a delicious fragrance that cannot be replicated nor poured from a bottle and it saves on the damage the high heat of a dryer causes (goodbye fried underwear elastic). Whether a washline conjures for you images of the country or of Mediterranean apartments high above the stone streets below, you can employ a few of these techniques to dry your clothes the old fashioned way.

Absolute Best Way to Get Started Canning

If you want to know the absolute best way to get started canning, this post will tell you the fastest, easiest, and best way. Read on for the tools, tips, and tricks from a busy mom who understands what it is like to not have enough hours in the day.

I hope you loved all these summer blog posts! Which are you going to try first?

7 Summer Blog Posts from The Domestic Wildflower | Homemade food & craft ideas and recipes to take you through summer!

Filed Under: Living

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

New Book Coming Soon: Love Into Jars!

Love Into Jars | Coming Soon!

Categories

Follow me here, there, & everywhere!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

Get 10 Free Recipes Now!

Footer

Start Canning Course

Start Canning Course | The Domestic Wildflower click to read this super helpful list of resources, tools, and gift ideas for the homemade and handmade enthusiast in your life!
This video course will invite you into my kitchen to watch me can a wide variety of recipes and use several beginner friendly techniques. It is the perfect course if you want to learn but have no idea where to start; even if you've never boiled a pot of water! Learn how you will know you are doing it right, safety best practices, simple recipes that are foolproof and guaranteed to impress, and skills to apply to any recipe.

Shrubology Ebook

Shrubology: Refreshing Homemade Fruit and Vinegar Syrups for Cocktails
Make easy, no-cook fruit & vinegar syrups for cocktails & mocktails! This ebook shares crowd pleasing recipes and simple to understand ratios so you can make a shrub on your countertop any time- without a recipe. Dive into these Prohibition Era drinks today!

Copyright

Copyright 2019
The Domestic Wildflower
www.thedomesticwildflower.com.
All content created by Jennifer Gomes unless otherwise noted.

Copyright © 2021 · Lifestyle Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in