Homemade Savings

Ants!

2012-07-21T13:52:00.002-07:00

Our part of the country has been suffering from ant issues. We had a mild winter and a dry summer, so the ants are coming in. I prefer not to use bug sprays when we don't have to, especially with a little crawler around the house. Here are a few things we are using to keep the ants out.

Borax:
This wouldn't be good at all for little ones to get, but we use it outside our front and back doors. Borax destroys the digestive system of the ant. It has worked really well at keeping the ants out and killing the mound. Generally when we put this right outside our door, we see dead ants right around it.

Vinegar based cleaners:
Ants hate the smell of vinegar, so using vinegar as part of cleaning solutions helps. Check out my homemade cleaning solution post for a recipe.

Cinnamon sticks and/or cloves:
Ants don't like the smell of cinnamon sticks and cloves, so I put either (or both) at any cracks or places at the doors where ants tend to come in. I've literally seen ants stop and go back to avoid a cinnamon stick.

Soap and warm water:
I've been told that ants rely on a scent trail to know where to go. If you wash away their trail, they won't know to come back in. I regularly mop our floors with a mix of vinegar, baking soda, dawn dish liquid and hot water. This has been really effective as well.

I hope this helps anyone else who is having problems with ants. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them. Anything to get rid of ants!

Fresh from the Garden

2012-07-14T14:52:00.005-07:00

We love fresh produce. We aren't able to have a garden where we are right now, but this year we've been blessed by the abundance of other people's gardens. We've been given green beans, apples, cucumbers and blackberries. We also found a great clearance type price on some strawberries. As a result, I've been having fun making pickles and preserves and some cute mini apple pies. Right now our canned goods include: bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, strawberry preserves, blackberry preserves, apple sauce and cranberry sauce. I try to keep canning supplies on hand so that when I find a good deal or get handed some great fruits/vegetables, I can get them canned pretty easily. Here are a couple of the recipes I've used recently.

Mini Apple Pies
I got this idea from Pinterest. I used apples from my friend's garden. I cut up the apples and combined them with a little lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon. I would give you measurements had I measured, but I didn't. I just took the apples she gave and then added what seemed like enough sugar and cinnamon and then tasted and adjusted to taste. I personally hate making pie crust. Maybe some day I'll get over that, but with an 8 month old and being 6 months pregnant, I give myself a pass and I buy pie crust. I had one on hand left from a taco pie recipe I made earlier in the week.

I used a round cookie cutter to cut circles and put them in a greased muffin pan. I then cut out little hearts from the crust also. Once the apple mix had cooked down, I spooned it into the muffin tins, topped with the hearts, and baked at 425 for about 15 minutes. I took these to a birthday party and they were gone pretty quickly, so I'm thinking they were liked :)

Strawberry Preserves

My husband loves strawberry preserves, but they are so expensive to buy. Whenever I find a really good price on strawberries, I make a new batch of preserves. Here's my recipe:

32 ounces of strawberries hulled and mashed with a potato masher

4 T lemon juice

1 49 g pack of powdered pectin

1 T butter

7 c sugar

Combine strawberries, lemon juice, pectin and butter and bring to a rolling boil.

Add the sugar.

Bring to a rolling boil for about a minute

Turn off and remove foam if you have any on top

Ladle into jars, seal and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Note: If you're new to canning, please read up on how to properly sanitize your jars. It's really important to keep everything sterile and at the right temperatures. There are a lot of great resources with this information, so I'm not going to rehash it on this blog, but please check it out.

I tried a new recipe for blackberry preserves, but I haven't tasted them yet, so I'm not going to post on here until I know if they turned out.

Do you have any great recipes for canning or for using fresh produce?

Update on Cleaning Supplies

2012-06-02T09:12:00.004-07:00

I promised an update on my cleaning supplies, so here we go:

The all purpose cleaner I made works great! I will definitely keep using this. It cleans grease and grime and even cleaned my mirrors without leaving streaks. This one is a winner.

The furniture polish works well. The combination of smells between the lemon juice and tea tree oil is a little strange, but I don't necessarily think it smells bad. You could omit the tea tree oil, but would have to make it fresh when you need it because the tea tree oil works to preserve it. I'm not sure how long the mix will last, but it's still good so far.

The dishwashing detergent worked, but did leave the dishes a bit spotty. Though I know store bought detergent can do the same.

I'm also using a disinfectant since everything goes in my son's mouth. It's made with 4 tablespoons of vinegar, 3 cups of hot water and a couple drops of tea tree oil. This is great for cleaning his plastic toys. This is on my agenda for today!

Let me know if anyone else has tried any of these or found any other combinations that work well!

Cleaning Supplies

2012-05-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of replacing all our cleaning supplies with supplies I can make myself. I'm trying to do this for a couple of reasons. First, I hate spending a lot on cleaning supplies particularly when I can make them for less. Second, it lets me be sure exactly what is in what I'm using. This is particularly important since I'm pregnant. I suppose this really started when my I was pregnant with my son and needed to clean the oven. Finding that baking soda worked really well encouraged me to see what else I could replace. Here is a list of what I've made/ am making. I will follow up once I've used all of these a few times to let you know if I'm satisfied with them. These are not my recipes. I've found them from numerous sites online. Pinterest has been a useful source as well.

The essential oils are just my preference for smell. Use of specific essential oils like the ones listed below help preserve the cleaner so that it can be stored. They also provide a nice odor.

The citric acid listed in the dishwasher detergent is also a preservative that can be found in the canning section at grocery stores. The brand I'm familiar with is in a small green shaker kind of bottle. If you can't find citric acid, you can use unsweetened lemonade powder because it contains the same citric acid.

Fabric Refresher: 1 cup water, 1/4 c vinegar, 1 T rubbing alcohol, 1/2 T baking soda, lavender essential oil

All-Purpose Cleaner: 1/2 c. vinegar, 1/4 c. baking soda, 1/2 gal water, tea tree oil

Furniture polish: vinegar, 1 c. olive oil and 1/2 c lemon juice, tea tree oil

Dishwasher detergent: 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup citric acid (or unsweeten lemonade), 1/2 cup kosher salt & use 1 T per load; vinegar to rinse dispenser

Disinfectant: 4 Tbls vinegar, 3 cups hot water, tea tree oil

Do you have any recipes for homemade cleaners that work well for you? If so, please share them in the comments!

Contentment

2012-05-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." Philippians 4:11
"But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." 1 Timothy 6:8
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

I love looking forward to things. One look at my calendar would show you this. I have marked how many more weeks until my baby will be born. How many weeks old my son is. I count down how many more weeks (ish) until my husband returns home from this deployment. Not just the big things though; I look forward to weekends and play dates and family visits. I look forward to the next milestone in my son's life. I've always been one to look forward.

And then as I pray and study, I find the Lord pushing me to contentment. Some of the verses listed above speak of financial contentment, but that isn't really where I struggle. I've never been concerned about having things. I'm thankful that the Lord provides what we need. I don't care too much for things. I'd rather wash my clothes on a washboard than with a washing machine (though sometimes a washing machine is quite the lifesaver). I'd rather make things from scratch than purchase it for more. No, the type of contentment I struggle with is being content in the moment.

My need for learning contentment is in enjoying the moment instead of planning for the next. It is enjoying watching my son rock back and forth on his hands and knees instead of hoping he'll start crawling. It's enjoying the cuddles and night time feedings instead of hoping that eventually he will sleep through the night. For me it's enjoying the conversations my husband and I have rather than spending too much time wishing he was already home.

It isn't that planning ahead is a bad thing. The woman in Proverbs 31 obviously plans ahead because she ensures her family has warm clothes for the winter. She buys land that she knows will be profitable in the future. So, it isn't that planning is bad. With all that will be coming up in the next few months for me, planning is required. I have a birthday party to plan for my son, a welcome home party for my amazing husband, plus planning for keeping everything running after the baby is born. No, contentment isn't about not planning. Contentment is about being thankful for this moment. It's being thankful for what God is doing in my life today. James reminds us "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." (James 4:14). Life is short and each day is a gift from God.

So may God teach me contentment in today because today is a gift and tomorrow is not promised.

Kitchen Staples

2012-03-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

I’ve been visiting with my parents and offered to cook some while there. Looking through their cabinets made me think about how we each have our own kitchen staples. You know, those items that we never want to run out of. Here are some of my kitchen staples:

Olive oil – I prefer cooking with olive oil unless it’s a recipe that requires a high smoke point oil (like roasting a chicken; olive oil would be terrible for that). It is also great for home remedies as I mentioned in yesterdays post.

Baking soda – Besides a baking necessity, baking soda cleans tough grease off the stove and from inside the oven. I think that entire blogs could be (and probably are) dedicated to the endless uses of baking soda.

Yeast – I make my own bread, so yeast is important to keep on hand.

Flour: All purpose, whole wheat, bread and cake – Yes, I keep an assortment of types of flour because they all have important purposes. Whole wheat and bread flour are both important for most of my bread recipes. All purpose flour is important for making sauces and gravies, and cake flour. Well, you never know when you need to bake a cake.

Coconut oil – It gives a sort of tropical flavor to dishes. It also has a lot of household purposes.

Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning – I put Italian seasoning in a lot of dishes. I just like it.

Honey – I use honey instead of sugar or to cut down the amount of sugar used in some of my bread recipes and sauces.

Vinegar – This is another food that has many uses in the kitchen as well as the rest of the house.

Shortening – Some recipes just require good old fashioned shortening. It’s just the way it is.

Sugar – Sugar is needed to activate the yeast.

1 can of super cheap spaghetti sauce – So, I realize this seems weird, but I always keep a can on hand. If I need to make a quick spaghetti, I start with the cheap canned sauce and add tons of stuff to it to make it taste like it isn’t super cheap canned spaghetti sauce. It’s an inexpensive base for making really yummy sauce.

So those are some of my pantry staples. What about you? What do you always have in your pantry that you wouldn’t want to run out of?

Home Remedies

2012-03-12T03:36:00.000-07:00

I love home remedies as long as they actually work. I’m always looking for good, natural ways to treat issues. Recently, with the constant weather changes in my area, my sinuses have been really upset. My son is also in the middle of teething, so my mind has certainly been on treating these issues. So here are a few home remedies that I’ve found work for me and my family. They may be ones you already use, but perhaps there will be a new idea in the mix.

Ear Aches:

A couple drops of olive oil in the ear relieves earaches for me. I’ve used this with my son also and it seemed to work for him as well.

I know some people who use a little hydrogen peroxide, and they say that works as well.

Congestion:

I realize this is probably obvious, but steam works amazingly well. For adults, a pot of water heating on the stove works great. When my son was congested, we spent a lot of time sitting in the bathroom with the hot water on steaming up the room.

Saline drops are great as well. These are sold, but are also really easy to make. It’s just ¼ teaspoon salt mixed in 1 cup of warm water.

Teething:

A little bit of olive oil on your finger and rubbed into the gums seems to help with the teething pain.

My son has no interest in teething toys. He really just wants to chew on fabric and hands. He’s pretty impartial; any hand or piece of fabric will do. With that being the case, gum massages seem to help most.

Diaper rash:

I love certain commercial all natural diaper ointments, but have also found that coconut oil works great. If you aren’t familiar with coconut oil, check it out. It has a lot of uses along with being good for cooking.

I hope at least one of these is a new idea for you. Hoping your weather has been calmer than ours!

3 Uses for Left Over Pieces of Soap

2012-03-09T01:55:00.000-08:00

If you use bars of soap, you may, like us, end up with those little pieces of the bar left over. Did you know those little pieces are actually quite useful? Here are three ideas for those pieces.

1. You can make those pieces into a new bar of soap.

Just save up the little pieces until you have enough to make a new bar. I keep a plastic bag in my bathroom drawer. When I see a little piece left on the soap dish, I move it to the bag. Once I’ve collected enough pieces, I put them in a glass microwave safe measuring cup, add a little water and microwave. I do 30 seconds at a time and check and stir. Once the soap is fairly well melted, I pour it into one of those travel snap close soap dishes and put it in the refrigerator to cool. Once it’s hardened back, I pop it out of the mold and viola! You have a usable bar of soap. I make melt and pour soaps, which are certainly much prettier than the lumpy bar of soap produced from the store bought bars of soap, but it serves its purpose.

2. You can also make liquid soap out of your left over soap pieces.

To make liquid soap, collect enough to make about 1 whole bar of soap (if they almost fill the travel type snap closed soap dish, you have enough) and grate them using a cheese grater. Mix the grated pieces in a glass microwave safe dish or measuring cup along with 3 cups of hot water. Microwave at 30 second increments until it is completely melted. Once all the pieces are melted, let it cool and then pour into a container to store and use.

3. You can make dish detergent.

For dish detergent, grate the pieces of soap until you have ¼ cup. Melt the pieces into 2 cups of water either in the microwave or on the stove top. Once it’s melted, allow it to cool then add one teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice. I have found that the detergent using lemon juice doesn’t last quite as long as when it is made with vinegar.

So before you throw out your left over pieces of soap, think about saving them for an easy weekend project.

Roasted Chicken Part 4 Why it's worth it

2012-03-08T06:53:00.002-08:00

On day one, I gave some of the reasons why roasting a whole chicken is worth it. You get delicious chicken for a lower cost and can make really good chicken stock. Other than my inability to properly carve my chicken (this is definitely my husband’s job!), I really enjoy the whole process of making everything myself, and knowing that I’m feeding my family fresh foods that haven’t been processed. It also saves money.

If the chicken is not on sale (and you can usually find them on sale pretty regularly), it’s about 99 cents per pound in my supermarket. Here’s my cost break down for a 5 pound bird. These are estimates; I really haven’t weighted the pieces of my chicken.

2 chicken breasts (about 1 – 1 ½ pounds depending on the size) would be $1.99 per pound store bought (on sale at my local supermarket this week)

2-3 pounds of various chicken parts (legs, wings, thighs) would be $1.19 per pound store bought (same sale)

2 quarts of chicken stock (approximately) would be $2.69 for 26 ounces store bought

So roughly, the cost would be ($1.99 x 1.5) + ($1.19 x 3) + ($2.69 x 2) = $11.94 for the chicken breasts and other pieces and the chicken stock

If it’s not on sale the chicken would be $.99 x 5lb bird (but seriously, they’re always on sale!) + about $2 worth of vegetables = $6.95 (the chickens I got on sale for $.39 a pound would be a total cost of $3.95 with the vegetables)

So, buying a whole chicken and taking advantage of all of it allows you to get about $12 worth of product for about $7 or less. Besides being almost half the cost, the flavor of the chicken and the broth is so much better!

Maybe one weekend, you can roast a chicken and make some stock. You’ll have a delicious weekend meal of roasted chicken and be able to put together a casserole so you don’t have to worry about what’s for dinner for the first couple of week days.

Happy roasting!

Roasted Chicken Part 3 Chicken Stock

2012-03-07T05:40:00.003-08:00

This post is a continuation from the past two days talking about roasting a chicken. I usually roast a chicken for dinner and then the next day make stock and that night use part of my stock. Making chicken stock can be a bit time consuming, but it tastes so much better than store bought and you can add flavors you enjoy.

In my previous post, I said that after I get the meat off the carcass, I put the chicken bones in a container to save. When I get ready to make stock, take the bones (they’ll still have a little meat on them, which is great because that adds to the flavor of the stock) and put in a stock pot (or large pot that can hold a lot). When you got ready to roast the chicken, I told you to put the innards aside for later. Now is later. You definitely want to use the neck in the stock. Some people say the liver, heart and other assorted innards can make the stock bitter. I use them because I hate the idea of wasting them, but if it grosses you out you can throw them away. Add vegetables or pieces of vegetables. I generally add part of the onion that had been inside the chicken (the part we didn’t eat), the parts of carrots I had removed like the top and bottom and the peel when I take off the outer layer. The cob from the corn if I made some for pot pies or whatever other dish I used my chicken for.

Here’s the thing. If you read professionals about making stock, they’ll say use whole vegetables because you want lots of rich flavor. These are also the people who say not to use the gizzards. This is true and you should probably listen to them. My philosophy, however, is that I want to utilize everything so that I’m minimizing waste. That’s why I use the tops and ends of carrots and whatever else I had peeled off or cut away in cooking. Every time I make stock it tastes different because I never use the same ingredients twice. That said, using too many potatoes give it kind of a weird taste. Broccoli can also give it a strange taste, though I use a little if I’ve been cooking with it. My ideal stock would be the chicken bones with a little meat on them, the neck, carrots, celery, onion, a little salt and pepper, and some fresh thyme from my herb garden.

Okay, so in the pot you have the chicken bones, the vegetables, the innards (whichever ones you’ve chosen to use) and add salt and pepper. Now you’re ready to add water. Put enough water in to completely cover the chicken and the vegetables. Turn the stove on to medium high heat and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat down and let it simmer. The longer it simmers the more rich the flavor will be. If the water starts getting low, you can add more but if you have enough to start with and don’t let the heat get too high, you probably won’t have to add more. I usually let mine simmer for at least 3 or 4 hours. If you did put the innards in, make sure they have completely boiled and are cooked so that the stock doesn’t have anything undercooked in it.

Once you’re satisfied with the stock, strain out all the solids so that you’re just left with your stock. You can always add more salt and pepper if needed. At this point you can use the pieces for compost or throw them away. You’ve definitely gotten your money’s worth out of the chicken!

I divide my stock into small containers and freeze what I won’t be using right away. By freezing it into 1 or 2 cup increments, you know how much you’re getting out when you need it. If you’re going to make chicken noodle soup, you will probably go ahead and use all your stock.

Roasted Chicken Part 2 The Rest of the Chicken

2012-03-06T02:49:00.001-08:00

This post is a continuation of the chicken I roasted in yesterday’s post. Today is about what to do with the rest of the chicken. So, after dinner while my husband is doing the dishes. (Yes, I have a really awesome husband who does the dishes), I start pulling the meat off the chicken bones. Don’t be afraid to really get in there and get as much meat as possible. I put the meat in one bowl and the carcass in another. It’s easier to get the meat off while the chicken is still warm. If you wait until the chicken is cold, you won’t get as much meat. The remaining meat gets used in an assortment of recipes. Some of my favorites are: chicken pot pies, chicken broccoli casserole, chicken noodle soup, or even chicken salad for lunches, really any recipe that doesn’t require the chicken to be carefully cut up. Of course, the number of people eating the roasted chicken and the size of the chicken will effect how much meat is left, but I always find that when I start getting it off the chicken, there’s more there than I would have thought.

Here’s a run down of a couple of my favorite recipes:

Chicken pot pies:
Pieces of chicken, some boiled carrots, corn, and potatoes (and whatever other vegetables you like in your chicken pot pies), a little chicken stock, salt and pepper and pie crust. The lack of precise measurements isn’t a reflection of me not wanting to share, it’s a reflection of me not measuring when I make these.
To make 4-6 individual pot pies, I usually use 2 potatoes, 3 or 4 carrots, and a couple ears of corn. I cut up the potatoes and carrots and boil them until they are cooked but not mushy. I boil the corn and then take it off the cob. Sometimes I add green peas if I'm in the mood. I put the vegetables in a bowl with the chicken and chicken stock. Don’t forget salt and pepper (I always forget salt and pepper in my pot pies) And then scoop it into the containers to be cooked on top of the pie crust. I really like crust on my pot pies, so I put a pie crust on the bottom, add the mix of chicken, vegetables and stock, and then add a pie crust to the top. You want enough stock to keep the pies moist while they bake. I have some glass bowls that we were given as a wedding gift that I usually make them in. They are pretty large, so I can make 4 pies using those.
I decided to try using disposable containers yesterday so that left over pies could be taken as lunches, warmed in an oven and then thrown away. I was able to make 6 this way. I'd like to find paper based disposable containers so that the pie could be microwaved instead, but I didn't see any of those. Bake it at 350 degrees until the top crust is browned. Usually about 15-20 minutes, but I check frequently because burned pie crust isn't yummy. Here are some pot pies I made for dinner last night. The crust is usually prettier, but I was a little short because of the extra pies I was able to make. They still tasted good though!

Chicken broccoli casserole:
Pieces of chicken, some steamed or boiled broccoli, cooked rice, a little chicken stock or cream of mushroom soup, salt and pepper and some shredded cheese (I usually add onion and sometimes whatever else I have around). You can also add some Italian seasoning if you want. I don’t measure with this recipe either. I usually use one bunch of broccoli and a couple bags of the 10 minute rice, one can of cream of mushroom soup or enough stock to keep everything really moist while it bakes. I love cheese, so I usually add 2 cups. Mix it all together and cook at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.

If you still have the onion from roasting the chicken, you could add it to either recipe or save it for your stock.

We usually get at least 2 or 3 days off either of these recipes. With the roasted chicken we ate the day before, we can eat or 3 or 4 days off a meat that at the very most cost me 99 cents a pound. I have gotten whole chickens for as low as 39 cents a pound.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll tell you how I make chicken stock.

Roasted Chicken Part 1 - Roasting the Chicken

2012-03-05T05:37:00.001-08:00

This week is going to be roasted chicken week on my blog. I started to write this post and then realized there’s far more than one entry can handle! So, here goes! Enjoy roasted chicken week :)

I really like being thrifty. My husband sometimes says I’m cheap, but we’ll say thrifty. I don’t mind adding a little extra “elbow grease” with something less expensive if it results in a product that is as good or even better than I could buy for more. I say even better with chicken in mind. At least in my area, whole chickens are always cheaper than buying the meat cut up. Our grocery stores also seem to have sales on whole chickens fairly often, and when they do, I stock up! My husband can tell when there was a sale on whole chickens because the freezer is full of them! So, is it really worth it to buy a whole chicken. Absolutely! Here’s why:

The meat is really juicy when cooked with the whole chicken. The first time I roasted a chicken and my husband and I started eating the chicken breasts, we couldn’t believe how good it tasted! So much better than when you have to cook them separately.

You really get a lot of meat from the whole chicken. It may require a bit of effort to get it off, but it’s totally worth it. When I roast a 4-ish pound chicken, we have enough meat for a week’s worth of meals.

The carcass can be used to make chicken stock. Yes, you can buy chicken stock, but homemade is so much better!

So, how do you roast a chicken? If you look online, you’ll find a lot of opinions. Here’s mine:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Look at the packaging to see how much the chicken weighs. This matters for cooking time! Unwrap the chicken and take the “innard” bag out of the chicken. If the chicken was frozen, you’ll want to make sure it is well defrosted before you try this or you will end up standing over the sink burning your hands with hot water stabbing at the center of the bird with a steak knife pulling out one piece at a time (That doesn’t sound like it happened to me, does it?) Save the innards for making stock. I just put them in a sealed bowl until I’m ready to make stock.

Put the chicken on a cast iron skillet and pour canola or vegetable oil over the top. You need a high smoke point oil like vegetable or canola, but if you prefer another that’s fine. I don’t think olive oil works well for this. You can also coat the bird in butter, but I really try to minimize my handling of it.

Salt and pepper the bird. You can also add any other seasonings you’d like. I sometimes put Italian seasoning on the outside.

Cut up an onion and stuff it inside the bird. It helps keep the bird really juicy and the onion ends up tasting awesome too! Whenever the chicken comes out of the oven, my husband always goes straight for the onion. If you don’t have an onion, you can use celery, but I like the onion better.

That’s it! Put the chicken in your preheated oven. It needs to cook 20 minutes + 20 minutes per pound. (So, if the chicken weighs 4 pounds it needs to cook 20 minutes + 20 x 4 = 100 minutes or 1 hour 40 minutes)

When the chicken comes out, test it with a meat thermometer. The internal temperature needs to have reached 160 degrees to be safe to eat!

A few safety things: I don’t wash my chicken because I really want to minimize the surfaces the raw chicken comes in contact with. This is also why I don’t use butter. With the oil, the chicken can just sit there and have it poured on. Also, make sure to thoroughly clean any surfaces the raw chicken touched! It needs to reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees to be thoroughly cooked, so do make sure it’s there.

My husband and I eat off the roast chicken and then after dinner, I take the remaining meat off the bones for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you what we do with the rest of the meat.

Cloth Diapers - Part 2 & Cloth wipes

2012-03-02T10:50:00.002-08:00

My son's afternoon nap seems like a great time to finish up my post on cloth diapers. One reason many people aren't interested in cloth diapers is dealing with dirty diapers. Visions of swishing diapers in the toilet may play in your head. Thankfully there is a wonderful invention called a diaper sprayer. It attaches to the toilet and works basically like a kitchen sink sprayer but is more powerful. They are easy to install and don't damage the plumbing (we were able to put one in at our apartment). You just spray the poo into the toilet and the diaper is ready to wash.

We also use cloth wipes. My son has very sensitive skin and if I use disposable wipes, I have to use the unscented hypoallergenic (expensive) kind or he develops diaper rash. With cloth wipes, I just wet them with warm water and store them in a wipes warmer. Some people use baby oil and a few drops of essential oils, but plain water has worked well for me so far! The same places that sell cloth diapers sell wipes though really any very soft fabric will do.

I prefer the cloth wipes also because of how I've always changed dirty diapers. Maybe you have the same technique: wipe as much into the diaper as possible then pile the dirty wipes into the diaper. With disposable diapers and disposable wipes this rolled up yuck goes in the trash. If both are cloth, they go to be sprayed off and then are ready to wash. If the diapers are cloth and the wipes are disposable...well...I end up washing disposable wipes or accidentally throwing them in the toilet.

Cloth wipes also save money and just get washed with the cloth diapers. I use fewer cloth wipes than disposable wipes because the cloth can be used on both sides and are more sturdy for cleaning up a mess. I don't get anything on my hands when I use cloth.

I hope this information helps if you're looking into cloth! Happy diapering :-)

Cloth Diapers

2012-03-02T07:02:00.001-08:00

My son on the changing table.

I love using cloth diapers. Now, these aren't the kind with safety pins and origami folding required. These are really easy to use and easy to clean. We decided to use cloth to save money. I also find the few times I use disposables for some reason that the extra trash created by the disposables is a nuisance. My son also does not have as much diaper rash with the cloth. There is a bit more up front cost involved because you have to buy enough diapers, but when you add up the cost of disposables versus the cost of cloth, cloth wins in my opinion. Here are some facts about the All In One diapers that we use.

We hang our diapers up to dry rather than putting them in the dryer. They can go in the dryer, but we want them to last as long as possible! If you're going to cloth diaper and plan to hang them to dry, figure it will take about 24 hours for them to fully dry.

The type of detergent matters. Of course this makes sense because the diapers are touching the most sensitive skin. There are lists online of safe detergents. I use my homemade detergent and have no problems!

The type of diaper ointment matters. If your baby does develop a diaper rash, the standard diaper ointment can't be used because it effects the absorbency of the diapers. All natural ointments can be used. They sell appropriate ointments at most grocery stores.

The all in ones come in snaps or hook in loop. I prefer the snaps because as my son gets bigger, the snaps will be harder for him to take off. Also, the snaps last longer! The advantage of the hook in loops is that you can get a more exact fit, but for me longevity is key.

We bought one size diapers. These fit from about 8 pounds to about 35 pounds. You just adjust either the snaps or the elastic depending upon the brand. My son was big enough at birth to fit in these, but we used disposables until his belly button nub fell off.

If the Lord allows us to have more children, we will be able to use the same diapers for them, so the savings will just increase if that's the case!

There's several other things I was going to say about why I love cloth diapers, but my son just woke up from his nap, so I've got to wrap this up! If you're interested in cloth and want more info, please feel free to contact me!

I'm not going to list the cost comparison because there are a lot of factors involved (what brand disposables you would use, how many cloth you want to buy based on how often you would wash, what brand you're using, etc)

Oven/Stove Cleaning

2011-11-14T07:31:00.001-08:00

I think baking soda is one of the greatest things ever. It is so versatile. Recently, I needed to clean my oven. Like spilled something in the bottom inducing smoke whenever I turned the oven on needed to clean it. In my current state (extremely pregnant) I know that I can't use many cleaning products because of their fumes. So, I started trying to find a safe way to clean the oven. Everything I read said just not to clean it while pregnant. Well, this would work if I didn't need to cook, but I 1) love to cook and 2) need to cook to eat. After much searching, I saw a passing reference to using baking soda for cleaning grime off of stove eye protectors and out of ovens. So, here's the deal, sprinkle baking soda along the inside of a cold oven. Spray with water until it's fairly moist. Let sit for a few hours then wipe it all out. It works great! You can also use this to clean dirt and rust stains off the eye protectors from the stove top. Best of all, there are no fumes! Some things say to use vinegar which does create a cool bubbling effect, but I prefer water. Water works just as well and it doesn't cost anything.

Cost breakdown:
Baking soda $0.58 for a pound (you won't use a pound cleaning the oven unless the oven is really, really, really dirty
Water free

Doesn't this make you want to clean your oven. :-)

Homemade Toothpaste

2011-11-13T12:22:00.002-08:00

Again a story. I have one of the strangest allergies. I am allergic to sodium lauryl sulfate, which is a key ingredient in most toothpastes and mouthwashes among other things. Because of this, I had to buy the expensive all natural toothpaste. I really hate spending more than I have to, so I started trying to figure out what really needs to be in toothpaste. I spoke with a dentist who told me that as long as there is fluoride in my water, it wouldn't hurt to not have fluoride in my toothpaste and that baking soda is as effective as anything else at cleaning teeth.

The base is 2/3 cup baking soda and water to form a paste at whatever consistency you prefer. You can then add 1-2 teaspoons of flavoring to make it taste less like baking soda. I use a little bit of peppermint extract, which really doesn't provide much in way of flavor but does benefit the breath.

You can use peppermint essential oil, BUT some research has suggested that peppermint extract may cause bleeding during pregnancy. That was not a chance I was willing to take, so I don't use the essential oil. It would provide more flavor than the extract if that's not a concern for you. You can also use vanilla extract or whatever other flavor is preferable.

I store mine in a glass jar, but you can store it in whatever sealable container you prefer to keep it from drying out. It lasts quite a long time. Hint: moisten the toothbrush and then put some paste on the toothbrush. It will dissolve off the toothbrush if you pour water over the paste.

Cost breakdown:
Baking soda $0.58 for 1 lb (makes 3 recipes)
Peppermint extract (optional) $3.48 (makes 3 or 6 recipes depending on if you use 1 or 2 teaspoons)

Cost per recipe is $0.77 or $1.35. One recipe lasts me much longer than a tube of toothpaste by at least 2 or 3 times.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2011-11-13T12:07:00.002-08:00

A little bit of background about why I started making my own detergent. My husband is in the military, which means I wash uniforms. Military uniforms can only be washed in certain detergents, which tend to be the more expensive ones. Cheaper detergents use optical brighteners to make clothes look bright and clean without using as much of the more expensive soaps. The problem is that optical brighteners make clothes glow under black lights and night vision. Since it's a bad plan for military uniforms to glow in night vision, we are careful about what detergents we use. I hate spending more when I don't have to, so I started looking into making my detergent. I've been using it for a little less than a year and my clothes are clean and smell good, so it seems to me that it works. This recipe is based off of other recipes that I found through research along with experimenting to get a combination that works for me.

Ingredients:
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
(All of these things can be found on the laundry aisle in the grocery store)

Fels Naptha is a bar soap that is used to treat stains. The soap needs to be grated which can be done with a hand grater or a food processor.
Washing Soda and Borax are powders that are sometimes added to loads of laundry to produce cleaner clothes.

Grate the Fels Naptha and add it to 4 cups of hot water. Cook over medium to low heat until the soap is completely melted. Stir regularly to make sure it is melting evenly.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket halfway with hot water. Then add the melted soap, 1 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax. Stir until it is completely dissolved. Fill the bucket the rest of the way with water then stir, cover and let sit 8-12 hours.

Once you've let it set, it should be a loose gel. It will not be as thick as store bought detergent. Stir and then fill the containers you want your detergent in. You can use empty laundry detergent containers if you have them. I also use empty and rinsed gallon jugs. Fill the container halfway with detergent and the rest of the way with hot water.

The recipe produces 10 gallons of detergent. Personally, I like the smell of the laundry soap, but if you would prefer a different scent you can add 5 or 6 drops of essential oil per 1 gallon container. The detergent will separate as it sits, so you will need to shake it before each use.

Use 5/8 cup of detergent for a top loader and 1/4 cup of detergent for a front loader. (Hint: I use an old glass jar with a line drawn on it to designate 1/4 cup and 5/8 cup. You could also draw a line on the detergent bottle lid if the lid is large enough).

If you have really tough stains that don't seem to be coming out, you can add some oxi powdered cleaner to help boost, but I have not had a stain that I couldn't get out with just the regular detergent. If you have very hard or very soft water, the recipe may need to be altered for the water. We have hard water and this recipe works for us.

Cost break down (cost at my local grocery store):
1 bar Fels-Naptha $0.97
1 box Washing Soda $3.15
1 box Borax $3.36

1 bar of soap per recipe
7 recipes of washing soda per box .45
19 recipes of borax per box .18

If my math is correct, the cost per recipe is about $1.60, meaning $1.60 for 10 gallons of detergent. Or $0.16 for a gallon of detergent.

I hope this is useful for you and that my experimentation benefits you!

What's this about?

2011-11-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

So, I've decided to start blogging in order to share recipes that I find successful. I love making things from scratch especially if I can save money by doing so. I hope that you find this useful and that my experimentation and research benefits you!