All My July Favorites, Including A Shampoo That’s Great For Hard Water Issues

Happy weekend! There is nothing like trying to set up house in a new place to cause you to shop and discover a lot of new things. One pretty big adjustment that I knew I’d need to make was getting used to living with water that registers as “hard” water. In the metro Atlanta area and actually, I think it includes most, if not all of Georgia, we are blessed with fairly balanced water. I’ve never known anyone who had a water softener and didn’t even know what a water softener was until my son/DIL bought a house here in Ohio. I’ve been told by several plumbers, and others in this area, that the water in Dayton is great. Apparently, Dayton knows how to deal with the hard water issue. Unfortunately, in my community that’s just outside of Dayton, that is not the case. Everyone here has a water softener machine in their basement, and even with that, per my plumber, a ton of people still have terrible problems with their hot water heaters now lasting as long as they should. Being very aware of the water issues here, as soon as I moved in I had a plumber out to replace the whole house water filter I discovered in the basement. Per its label, it hadn’t been changed out since 2020 so it was way past due. Shortly after that, I discovered that the water softener wasn’t working properly. The salt inside the unit had hardened up completely, and the unit wasn’t even on. It took two plumbers over an hour to remove all that hardened salt and to get the softener working properly again.

Since I now own a home in a place that’s known for hard water, recently I purchased two shampoos that are supposed to help clear your hair of any issues that can arise from washing it in hard water. I’ve used Ion shampoo before whenever I felt I had some residual build-up on my hair from conditioners or shampoo, but I’ve been hearing really good things about Malibu Hard Water Wellness Shampoo, so decided to give it a try. I really like how it left my hair feeling and it didn’t dry it out. I don’t use it every single time I shampoo my hair, but I do use it about once a month just to make sure I don’t have any build-up on my hair from our hard water. It’s also good to use after swimming to help remove chlorine from the hair. Very much recommend either of these if you live in an area with hard water. You’ll find the Malibu Hard Water Wellness Shampoo here: Hard Water Wellness Shampoo. The Ion shampoo is available here: Ion Shampoo.

Two items I stocked up on this past month were Hope’s Perfect Glass and of course, my favorite cleaner. It has been a few years since I’ve used Hope’s glass cleaner and it is still excellent at cleaning windows. I haven’t tried it on mirrors, but it’s supposed to work well on those, too. I love how it cleans and doesn’t leave any streaks behind. You’ll find Hope’s Perfect Glass cleaner here: Perfect Glass. My favorite cleaner is available here: Super Cleaner. I just used it today to cut through some really thick grime on two hanging light fixtures in the kitchen. Can’t do without it!

I should probably do a whole post on my decision to go ahead and buy a washer and dryer for the Dollhouse. I’ll share the washer and dryer I purchased soon, but in the meantime, since I don’t put any of my clothes in the dryer (mostly only use the dryer for towels and bed linens) I needed a rack for hanging clothes when they are drying. I liked this one so much, I purchased a second one shortly after it arrived. That way I have plenty of space to hang all my clothes. I really like this foldable rack; it’s much sturdier than any clothes-drying racks I’ve ever had in the past. It doesn’t wobble and feels very stable. If you’re in need of a foldable drying rack for your clothes that don’t go in the dryer, you’ll find this one here: Foldable Laundry Rack.

I added this mat under the sink in the Dollhouse kitchen and I like how it looks and works so well, I’m going to buy one for the GA house as soon as I’m back there and can measure for the size I need. It has made the underside of the sink area look so much cleaner and organized. I wish I had known about these long ago! The size I needed here was 31″ x 22″ mat. If you could use one of these, they come in various colors and sizes, so be sure to measure the area under your sink before you order. You’ll find this mat in several colors/sizes here: Undersink Mat.

Have to mention the cute seagrass basket I ordered last month. It fits perfectly on the back of a toilet/tank and is a great way to keep TP on hand in a small bathroom. You’ll find this basket available here: Woven Seagrass Basket for Storing Toilet Paper in Small Bathrooms.

Love the battery storage organizer that I have back in Georgia, so I purchased one for the Dollhouse, too. It’s so much safer than having batteries rolling around in a drawer where they can touch each other and possibly start a fire. There have been cases where that happened when 9-volt batteries touched. Scary stuff. I really like this organizer and I like that it came with a tester that lets me check to see if a battery is still good. You’ll find this battery storage organizer here: Battery Organizer.

I’m so glad my favorite trash bags are back in stock now. I purchased two boxes, one for the kitchen and one that I keep downstairs in the laundry room area. I should probably purchase another box for the Butler’s pantry because I recently discovered there’s a built-in trash can in that room just like in the kitchen. These are by far my favorite 13-gallon trash bags because of how sturdy and solid they are. I’ve never had one leak or get punctured. Also, the handles at the top are awesome! They make it so easy to tie the bags off once they are full. You’ll find these awesome bags here: Favorite Trash Bags.

There have been a few additions/changes in the office over the past few days and I’ll be sharing those for Metamorphosis Monday. In the meantime, the desk I added recently has to make July’s Favorites list! This is one of the prettiest desks, if not the prettiest, that I’ve ever seen. I love all the great storage it offers and I’m crazy about its color which is a soft white. I really can’t recommend it enough—love, love, love it! You’ll find it available here: Beautiful White-Cream Desk.

I am still so amazed that I was able to find such a perfect rug for the office. My favorite color is green, but the wall color here in the office, and now THIS rug, have turned me into a serious lover of the color, blue! This all-wool rug feels and looks like a true quality rug in every way! I love how it was designed with a color scheme that incorporates several shades of blue, along with a bit of red, sage green, and yellow. All the colors work so beautifully together. This rug makes my heart sing every single time I notice it. I like it so much that I have been fighting the urge to order a second one to keep as a backup in case anything bad ever happens to this one. I can’t imagine what that would be, but I would be so upset if anything ever did happen to it. It’s just that beautiful! This rug comes in 5 different color schemes and in a bunch of different sizes here: Beautiful Blue Rug, Multi-color with Green, Red, and Yellow.

This lamp was a great find last month! I’m always keeping my eye out for big, beautiful lamps with traditional, fabric shades; they have become so hard to find these days!

This lamp is nice and big—27 inches tall, so it makes a beautiful statement in whatever room it graces. This lamp is available for a great price here: Blue and White Lamp.

I have really enjoyed these storage containers that I purchased last month. I love organizing and being organized, so these have worked out well inside my desk drawers.

I like how they are clear so I can see the interior color of each drawer through the container. That’s so much nicer than if they were a solid color. Love how they look! You’ll find these storage bins available here: 25-piece Clear Bins for Organization.

Hope you have an awesome weekend! I’m looking forward to sharing some wonderful changes I’ve made here in the office for Metamorphosis Monday!