Thursday, 7 February 2013

Life Hacks by Green Cleaning

Some everyday problems can be solved with forehead slapping ease. All it takes is an identified need, the ingenuity of a child, re-purposed items and a few simple tools. My dad is a fantastic problem solver and a re-user of objects. With a family of 10 to shelter, feed and support, he and my mum always had big ideas and limited resources.

My baby daughter was having a hard time breathing, we spent some time in her little tent with 
eucalyptus steaming in a bucket of boiling water. That helped a bit. Having looked at $35 asthma inhaler (puffer) spacers in the chemist, it struck me that they were the same shape as a water bottle. I McGuiver'd hubby's inhaler to a 600ml water bottle (with the bottom cut off) with some duct tape and held it in front of her face, it helped big time.

After a bit of a google investigation, I found some other references that people have been making home-made spacers since puffers were invented. Various objects such as toilet paper tubes, and card board boxes have been applied as spacers. 





The pinterest board; Life Hacks by Green Cleaning is a tribute to my parents life lessons of thinking outside the box. Some of these new applications for old things might get you out of a jam someday, as they did me.


Great minds think alike:
Homemade Asthma Nebulizer: A New Use for Recycled Water Bottles - Rod Moser, PA, PhD

(NOTE: Don't diagnose via Dr. Google and never give prescription medicine to anyone without first checking with a doctor or health hotline.)