6 House plant hacks that will keep your houseplants happy

This post is all about 6 houseplant hacks that will keep your houseplants happy and just make sense.

As you probably already know, I believe having houseplants is one of the most healing things you can do for yourself. Plus, they are excellent Feng Shui. There are countless benefits of plants in the home. If you haven’t seen my blog post about my Sunday houseplant ritual, well then you must read this asap. I’m a very proud and recently new houseplant addict.

It all started about a year ago when I went shopping at my favorite plant shop in Houston, Buchanan’s Native Plants in the Heights. Something came over me that December and I brought home three house plants that completely changed my life.

Since then, I have grown my little plant babies into full on mature, gorgeous plants and I absolutely adore them. My little one has even given each of them a name according to their plant personality. This one, he named her ‘love’ because we just looooove her. Her big, beautiful leaves are so rich and thick and she is constantly giving us new life which always brings such excitement.

I’ve had several friends and people in my community ask me for my house plant advice and to be honest, I have no idea what I am doing. However, I have tried a lot of different hacks that I’ve read about or seen on tiktok and thought I might share a few of the things that I find have really worked for me.

Here are 6 house plant hacks that will keep your houseplants happy and that just make sense:

1. I use orchid fertilizer. A woman who works with my uncle has the most incredible collection of orchids. I’ve seen her bring back orchids to life that I never could imagine. So, per her suggestion, I got this Orchid Food spray for my orchid that I was trying to keep alive. Honestly, it didn’t really work. However, I started to spray it on my plants for a little extra love and I swear it has helped them grow faster ever since I started using it. I just spray it every few weeks and they seem to love it.

2. I give them ‘sparkling’ treatment. I look at my plants like they are my pets, so I like to treat them to the same luxurious treatment as I would give any little house pet. Sparkling water is no exception. So, one day I found a half drunk can of sparkling water that was Romans and I didn’t want to waste it, so I poured the rest in one of my plants. Days later, I came across a Tik Tok that said plants love the potassium and other minerals found in most sparkling waters. And these minerals, when mixed with regular water can actually be growth promoters for your plants.

This article has some helpful hints when it comes to what sparkling water works best for plants and what doesn’t.

3. I keep my plants close together. Did you know that plants help each other grow and thrive. There are certain plant types that are more fast growing like a monstera or a pothos, their vibration and speedy growth energy can encourage other plants around them to grow faster, too.

So, because of that, I like to keep my plants close to each other and I also move them around different parts of the house often so they can get various amounts of sunlight.

4. I use moss poles to help them grow up. When a monstera plant grows, she grows quickly. I was noticing that my plants were starting to droop and grow in weird ways. So, I learned about using moss poles to help guide them to grow vertically which makes them happier plants. These specific moss poles come with this plant tape that helps you tie the plant to the pole so it will learn to climb the poll.

This has been a game changer for my two monsteras, I love the way they are learning to grow.

5. Spa days and words of affirmation. Okay, so I sometimes I make a special concoction for the days I want to clean my plants. I put banana peels in a jar of filtered water, add it to a spray bottle and spray that on the leaves before I wipe them down to remove dust.

I do not like to let my plant leaves have dust, its like not taking care of your hair. And as I wipe them down, I’m always saying words of affirmation to my plants. It sounds silly but I swear it works for me and my houseplants. ;) I like to treat them to little spa days every so often. They get their leaves sprayed, a full leaf massage and some loving words.

p.s. Here’s a little list of all the things I put together, that I specifically use to take care of my houseplants.

6. I propagate my plants. Almost every plant I have, I propagate. Meaning, when they have lots of growth, I trim their longest growth off and put in a container of water to have them grow new roots. I learned all about propagation on Tik Tok and in Hilton Carters book, Wild At Home. This book has literally taught me everything I know about caring for my houseplants and growing my collection.

Well, I hope this list of hacks helps you in your house plant journey. If you haven’t already, maybe this is your sign it is time to adopt some. Read here and here for more inspiration.

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5 things every child's room needs to keep them calm and confident

This post is all about 5 things every kids room need to keep them calm and confident.

I’d like to start this blog post off by saying, I am not a parenting expert by any means. But I do absolutely LOVE being a mom and I am incredibly mindful about raising a calm, confident and happy child. I don’t listen to every experts advice, I trust my intuition and feel out what works and what doesn’t and then make adjustments along the way.

When I first bought my home, I knew that decorating Roman’s room was going to be very specific because I wanted him to be a big part of it and I wanted him to feel like his opinion and interests matter. In fact, when we were picking out the paint colors for our home, he was fully involved in the selection process.

Now, let me not act like he didn’t need some help. His first instinct was to paint his room bright red. So, I had to give him some parameters to work with but he made his selections all on his own and because of that I think he loves his room even more. With that being said, let’s dive into it…

5 things that every child’s room need to help keep them calm and confident.

1. A dedicated space for learning and creative work.

   This is something that I believe goes for every single human being. We all need a dedicated space for working. I encourage everyone to have a place to pay bills, plan your calendars, write thank you notes and work. It’s so important that we have a place that supports and encourages us to stay focused and on task.

   We set up his work space to feel like an office, just like mine. He wanted a clock and this cute little neon ‘rise and shine’ light to signal that he’s busy and working. I think a custom neon light would be a cute idea too.

   I opted for this two chair table set in white so that I could sit with him and play a game. It’s comfortable to sit in and was so easy to put together which I LOVE!

2. A toy organization system.

I want Roman to always be in the habit of understanding organization for himself. So this toy sorter has been so helpful in learning ‘cars go here’ , ‘legos go here’, ‘random things can go there’, etc has been a game changer. It helps us clean up the room in five minutes. I haven’t gotten around to actually labeling it yet but that’s on my list of things to do next.

I think when kids have a mess going on after playing with all of their toys it can feel overwhelming to them to have to pick it all up. When you have a home for each and every specific little thing, it makes for a more calm clean up session and his friends are always happy to help because it feels like a game for them.

The exact one I got is no longer available but I also like this toy sorter with a shelf on top, that would be ideal!

3. A chore chart.

Or something that helps them chart their progress. Ever since we started the chore chart, Roman gets so excited to accomplish his little tasks. We put things like brushing your teeth, cleaning up your toys, taking your vitamins, taking a bubble bath, reading a book, etc. All very simple to do things but we make it fun by adding a sense of reward and accomplishment to it. I think its so cute how he goes around telling people how he did his chores, really helping him boost his confidence. I think its also a really great reminder to get him in the habit of celebrating small wins.

This is the specific chore chart that we decided to use and we LOVE it. We got these awesome dry erase markers that have a little eraser on each marker, which makes it really easy and fun to use.

4. Their own personally selected wall decor.

As a mom and former interior designer, it is always kind of difficult for me to relinquish the decorating choices for the home. However, I have found that including Roman in his room decorating has been a really fun bonding experience for us. I always ask and encourage him to choose what he likes and show me his favorite things. I want to support him in expressing himself and have confidence expressing his interests without feeling the need to impress or please me.

One time we were shopping at a thrift shop and he spotted an ‘R’ letter and wanted to bring it home. From there we decided to go on a thrifting hunt to find all of the letters of his name. For him it was a game and scavenger hunt AND it made for really fun decor that he is proud to have collected.

I also am a huge believer in art therapy. When there are happy and fun images in a child's room, they are encouraged to be more imaginative. I have his artwork up all over the home to help inspire his creativity. I also allow him to select art for his walls. This is a collection of pieces that are special to him and I can tell how it has built his personal confidence.

5. A ton of fun books to read.

With as much as kids these days love screens, I think it’s so important to keep things all around his room that encourage my little one to actually read a book. Reading is calming and meditative for children. So, I like to have a variety of interactive and fun books available to grab and read. I also make a point to take him on afternoon trips to the bookstore so he can pick out his own and experience what books he is drawn to.

To prepare Roman for kindergarten I am starting to work with interactive readers like this LeapReader and he is also absolutely obsessed with this Marvel Me Reader he got last year for his birthday.

In order to keep all of his books, favorite photos and knick knacks together, I allow him to style his own bookshelf. I allow it to be messy and fun as long as it all fits on the bookcase. This particular white and gold bookshelf I love because it is modern and clean looking.

I hope this post was helpful for you, feel free to share with a friend it could help.

Love you, Ashlina

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I'll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you.