If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I love and use Pinterest frequently. I’m not an every day pinner (for time reasons only), but the pins that I do pin are pinned for a reason (“pin” 4 times in one sentence. Yeah!). Over the years, I’ve tried many things I’ve seen on there, so I thought I’d review some of the wins and fails I’ve encountered. I’ve linked up the related pins in case you want to check them out yourselves.   Just know that these are the pins that I decided to try, that happened to work for me (or not).  I’m in no way an expert on these topics.  These were just my personal experiences, so I thought I’d share.  With that said, in no particular order….

Wins:

1. Cleaning the microwave by cooking diluted vinegar. I LOVE this. It makes cleaning the microwave almost a pleasure. Almost.

2. Keeping the shower clean with dawn dish soap + vinegar in a dish scrubber. This works so well. It keeps our glass shower door streak-free and gorgeous with minimal time spent.   I literally just keep the scrubber in the shower and wipe down the glass and rinse before I get out of the shower each day.  It takes one minute, tops!  The same mixture makes my sinks sparkle, as well.

3. Vinegar to kill weeds. Kills ’em dead. Just don’t get it close to any vegetation you want to keep. I mainly use it for the weeds that come up in the cracks in our driveway or walkway.

4. Cleaning glass with hydrogen peroxide. I just screw a spray nozzle right into the bottle of peroxide (it loses it’s effectiveness when exposed to light, so keeping it in its original container is best). You’ll never see a more streak-free mirror… Just let it dry thoroughly before you judge. At first it looks streaky, then it fades.

5. Using chalk to remove grease stains from clothing. Check out this post for more details on that experience (which may or may not have involved a seductive butter container and weird, completely random doodles).

6. Recipes!!! Holy RECIPES!!! I have my “Food Glorious Food To Try” board which are the recipes I’ve got on reserve for a rainy day. Then, once I’ve tried a recipe, I move it to my “Recipe Box: Tried and True” board along with commentary for how it turned out and any recipe modifications made. This way, I can always go back and have all the details I need, right there at my fingertips.

7. Using tape to more easily determine placement of wall hangings. I demonstrated this technique in this post, but have used it many times since. It totally removes the guesswork and measuring needed to hang tricky objects.

8. Using upside-down command hooks to hang door wreaths from inside.  This idea was carried out when I hung our frame wreath.   The wreath was up for a good 10 months before I removed it and this hanging system worked perfectly the entire time.

9. Hemming jeans easily and undetectably.  This is one of my favorites!!  It’s a simple process and you seriously CANT TELL.  It looks like the jeans were born that way.  I just do this by hand… No machine needed.

10. ….

(Why, yes. I totally censored this cake with a sweet feathered hat. This blog is nothing if not random.)

I made a similar version of this cake for Joey. If you’re having a not-so-stellar “attitude week”, cake + apology makes everything better. He thought this was hilarious. (P.S. This link contains the uncensored cake.  You’ve been warned)

Fails:

1: Using a pumice stone to remove fabric pilling off clothes. It really just made my shirt look worse.

2. Layering glitter nail polish between red for a neat iridescent color. Mine turned out looking like a lumpy red mess. I wish I would’ve taken a picture. It would’ve made a great “Nailed It!”. Maybe I just used the wrong stuff.

3. ANY of the hair style tutorials I’ve tried… Apparently, I possess ZERO hair coordination.

4. Using baking soda on my face for microdermabrasion. It left a gritty film that seemed to take a while to go away. I’ve since deleted the pin from my board, but here’s a link to the pin if you wanna check it out.

So, definitely more wins than losses (unless I’m blocking them from my memory. Which I might be. I’m sneaky like that.).  Aside from this list, I’ve acquired infinite amounts of inspiration by scrolling through the eye-candy world of Pinterest.  In home decor, fashion, organizing techniques… you name it.  Plus, if I’m working on a DIY project and get stumped, it’s my go-to reference for tutorials and advice.     In any case, I’ve definitely picked up some good tips by utilizing Pinterest and will continue to share my experiences as I have them.

So, have you guys tried anything that you’d like to share?   What wins and fails have you experienced?