Time to be Frugal

For Baby M's birthday, I decided that since she really doesn't care about new toys or anything, we'd save ourselves a bit of money and I'd buy her something (if I found it) at a garage sale. Well, I found it! Blocks! Lots and lots of blocks. Mega blocks and some... other ones... they look like giant Lego's. They came in a nice container as well. Total cost for all the blocks in the photo below (and the blue container you can see in the back) was $7. We'll be saving the 'smaller' ones for another time.

Anyway, since I got these from garage sales, I didn't want to just give them to her the way they were. Some looked quite grimy. So... I took to washing them.

I've read where people have put them in a pillowcase in the washer, or dishwasher, or whatever, but I read on the site that this could potentially damage either the blocks or the appliance and was not really recommended. So, I filled one sink with sudsy water, and another with vinegar water (since the vinegar is a natural disinfectant and cleaning agent).

One and a half hours later, the blocks were all scrubbed, soaked in the vinegar for a while, thoroughly rinsed, and placed on towels to dry.

Now for her to enjoy them! :)

Oh, and the vinegar water? I didn't wash it down the sink right away... no... instead I used it to wash the sink first! Made it nice and shiny (made sure to rinse it all off though because it is acidic). Clean blocks and clean sink... what more could a girl ask for (except not having to do it herself, ha ha).