Small Successes

Danielle Bean says, "It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we do exactly that."

1) As I said in yesterday's thankful post...we've done 2 art projects this week. As much as the munchkins love to do art, I'm not always up for the messes that are also created, so art is usually pushed to the back burner. This week, they used watercolors on Monday & oil pastels on Tuesday.

2) I cut up two of the four little pumpkins my mom gave us, cooked them down, & pureed them for future recipes. While I had the puree out, I decided to make some spiced pumpkin bread. Topped w/ pumpkin ice cream & a bit of chocolate fudge Magic Shell, we had a DELICIOUS dessert after dinner.

3) I replenished several of our homemade cleaners & made up a new one also. I found a super easy recipe for dishwasher detergent at diy natural. It only takes two ingredients: washing soda & borax. You just use 1 T. of each in your dishwasher. (I mixed 1/2 c. of each in an airtight container & just used 2 T. of the mixture.) For a good rinse, it also says to add white vinegar to the rinsing agent hole.

Has your week been a good one? Celebrate your successes at Faith and Family Live.

How We Save Money Part Two...Including Recipes

In my last post, I detailed many of the ways our family saves money. Since then, I've thought of a few other things we do.

• We take advantage of our GREAT library system...not just for books, but also movies & CDs. We rarely pay for movie rentals at Blockbuster or other video stores & we rarely buy books, movies, or CDs. Any that we do purchase generally come from our birthday or Christmas gift money, so we're not tapping into our family accounts. This has been tough for me as I LOVE my books!
  
• I don't color my hair & at this point I really don't need to. Gray hairs didn't start to appear until after I turned 30. Only w/in the past few months have the grays started to become more visible, but still not enough to justify coloring my hair. If I follow the tradition on my mom's side of the family, I will have a nice head of white hair when I'm older...which looked great on my grandmother & her sisters. My mom's is starting to "head" (yes, pun intended!) that way also & looks great on her.
• When we use our printer, I print on the lowest setting unless it's an important document. This saves a lot of ink.
• We have not paid for haircuts for the six of us in almost three years! You can see my post from 2009 HERE about this. That post also explained why I rarely use shampoo anymore (which is another great savings for us).
  

Now for the recipes. I can't take credit for these recipes as I've collected them through various blogs, magazines, websites, etc. over the past few years.

LAUNDRY DETERGENT

1/2 bar Fels Naptha soap (grated)

8 c. water

Bring to a light boil for 5 minutes.

Add:

24 c. cold water

1/2 c. Borax

1/2 c. washing soda
Favorite essential oil - use your judgment on strength of scent
(I use sweet orange.)

Use 1/2 - 3/4 c. for full load of laundry. It becomes a thick gel as it sits, so I shake the bottle before each use. Store in air-tight container(s). It only takes about 20 minutes to make up a batch. The longest is grating the Fels Naptha.

Notes:
1) Most of the ingredients can be found in the laundry section of a grocery store, although ours has the Fels Naptha in the body soap aisle (not sure why!)

2) Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is different than baking soda.

3) I store mine in old (washed out) laundry detergent bottles & make 1/2 the recipe at a time. It fills about 3-50 oz. bottles & last about 2 months for our family of 6. Family usage will vary depending on the size of the family, amount of clothes that get dirtied, & any other factors.

4) The Fel Naptha has a very pleasant scent, but you can add any favorite essentials oils if desired. I started adding a sweet orange essential oil to ours.

5) I've been making detergent for about a year & have yet to buy more boxes of the washing soda & Borax. I still have over 1/2 left in each box. One box was $2.99 & the other was $3.99. (I can't remember which was which.) The Fels Naptha is about $1.50 & I've only had to buy three bars so far.

I don't have exact figures, but I have saved our family quite a lot in the last year. The cheapest I bought detergent was $2.99 for a 50 oz. bottle at Aldi & think they are now around $3.50.

********************

BABY WIPES
2 c. boiling water
2 T. baby bath
2 T. baby lotion
1/2 roll paper towels
(I've tried MANY brands over the years & my current favorite is Aldi's Boulder Ultra. They are the generic for Bounty, but in my opinion they're better.)

Boil water. Add baby bath & lotion, stirring until dissolved. This is where I separate the paper towels into individual sheets then cut them in half. (Choose a size paper towels can be used also to save this step.) Pour water over paper towels & store in airtight container.

********************

ALL PURPOSE DISINFECTING CLEANER
1/2 t. liquid dish soap
1 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. bleach or Borax
2 c. water

Combine ingredients in spray bottle. I add about 20 drops of Lemongrass essential oil. Use in kitchen, bathroom, etc. (A University of AZ study claims that this recipe will kill 99.9% of germs & bacteria.)

********************

WINDOW CLEANER
(I LOVE this cleaner! This recipe is actually for auto windshield washer fluid, but I think it works GREAT on our house windows & dries w/ NO streaks.)
9 c. water
1 c. isopropyl alcohol
1 T. liquid dish soap

Mix & store in plastic jug or spray bottle. Again, you can add an essential oil...I used Sweet Orange.

NOTE: Most people love white vinegar for windows, but in my opinion, this recipe works much better.

********************

DEODORANT SPRAY
All you need is isopropyl alcohol. Put it in a small spray bottle & use about 5-6 sprays under each arm in place of regular deodorant. If you want to soften the alcohol smell a bit, you can add essential oils. I use a combination of Lavender & Tea Tree oil (less of the Tea Tree oil because it is very strong & woodsy smelling).

NOTE: This is not a perfect deodorant & I found that sometimes I do need to reapply later in the day. I think this is better for cooler months, so in the summer I used regular deodorant.

There are many other homemade recipes I have that I haven't tried yet, but hope to in the near future. The one cleaning agent I absolutely WILL NOT use is ammonia. The fumes from it are so toxic & I can't stand to be near it for even a few seconds. I know bleach is not the safest to be around either, but I'm very careful w/ it, especially around the munchkins.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Also, if you have any great homemade recipes or money saving tips, please leave me a comment.

Meal Planning for Our Household

In yesterday's Small Successes comments, ViolinMama asked about my 4-week meal plan, so I thought I'd share it w/ you. (BTW - She is going to be homeschooling this fall & has started a second blog to highlight their adventures. Check it out - A Rosey Outlook Adventure: Homeschooling)

The first thing I did was make a list of the main dishes most of us like. I do have one extremely picky eater, but I've decided that if he doesn't like what we're having, he can make himself a PB&J sandwich or have a bowl of cereal. Next, I took a blank calendar page & started plugging in the food, making sure that there were not two chickens in a row or two pastas in a row.

So, the following is what is on our schedule for one month of main dishes.

Week One
Sunday - Quiche
Monday - Quesidillas
Tuesday - Kielbasa
Wednesday - Meatloaf
Thursday - Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole
Friday - Subs
Saturday - Pizza

Week Two
Sunday - Stir Fry
Monday - Chicken Nuggets or Patties
Tuesday - Pasta
Wednesday - Turkey Noodle Casserole
Thursday - Spaghetti w/ Beans & Broccoli (no sauce)
Friday - Chicken Wraps
Saturday - Pizza

Week Three
Sunday - Roast
Monday - Tostadas or Tacos
Tuesday - Baked Chicken
Wednesday - Ham Steak
Thursday - Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole
Friday - Subs
Saturday - Pizza

Week Four
Sunday - Stir Fry
Monday - Taco Pie
Tuesday - Pasta
Wednesday - Burgers
Thursday - Pork Schnitzel
Friday - Ham w/ Beans & Rice
Saturday - Pizza

One of the first things you probably noticed is that pizza is listed for every Saturday. This is for Casinodad's benefit! I work all day Saturday, so having either a frozen pizza or a roll of pizza dough in the fridge makes things easier for him.

Also, there are a couple meals that occur every other week. The Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole is a favorite around here, so I made sure to put it on twice. Other things can be varied: Pasta might be spaghetti, rigatoni, or lasagna. The stir fry may be w/ chicken, pork, or steak & the veggies will be different each time. Quiche could be spinach or bacon or both. Subs one week might include turkey, salami, & cheese while the next time might be ham & cheese. So, even though the meals are planned for each week, there is a lot of flexibility.

I make my shopping list once a week, depending on what we already have on hand & what we'll need for the next week's meals. I also make sure to have a variety of veggies & fruits for side dishes, plenty of lunch & breakfast items (mac & cheese, hot dogs, PB&J, cheese tortillas, cereals, bagels, eggs, bacon, etc.)

This plan may not be perfect 100% healthy, but over the past few weeks, I've found that it works for us. As we move into fall & winter, I'll probably tweak a few things here & there to include soups, chili, & other comfort foods.

If any of the above meals sounds good to you, let me know & I'd be more than happy to pass on the recipe.

Laundry Detergent Recipe

As a follow-up to my Small Successes for this week, I thought I'd post my laundry detergent recipe, in case anyone is interested.

1/2 bar Fels Naptha soap (grated)

8 c. water

Bring to a light boil for 5 minutes.

Add:

24 c. cold water

1/2 c. Borax

1/2 c. washing soda

Use 1/2 - 3/4 c. for full load of laundry. It becomes a thick gel as it sits, so I shake the bottle before each use. Store in air-tight container(s). It only takes about 20 minutes to make up a batch. The longest is grating the Fels Naptha.

Notes:
1) Most of the ingredients can be found in the laundry section of a grocery store, although ours has the Fels Naptha in the body soap aisle (not sure why!)

2) Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is different than baking soda.

3) I store mine in old (washed out) laundry detergent bottles & make 1/2 the recipe at a time. It fills about 3-50 oz. bottles & last about 2 months for our family of 6. Family usage will vary depending on the size of the family, amount of clothes that get dirtied, & any other factors.

4) The Fel Naptha has a very pleasant scent, but you can add any favorite essentials oils if desired.

5) I've been making detergent for about a year & have yet to buy more boxes of the washing soda & Borax. I still have over 1/2 left in each box. One box was $2.99 & the other was $3.99. (I can't remember which was which.) The Fels Naptha is about $1.50 & I've only had to buy three bars so far.

I don't have exact figures, but I have saved our family quite a lot in the last year. The cheapest I bought detergent was $2.99 for a 50 oz. bottle at Aldi & think they are now around $3.50.

"Mom, Can I Scrub the Toilet?"

"Can I mop the floor?"

"What else can I do?"

"When can I shovel the driveway?"

"I like scrubbing the toilet!" (exclaimed by The Archangel just a few minutes ago)

These are some of the comments we've been hearing around here lately. "Have all your munchkins been taken over by aliens?" you ask. Nope, we've finally found some motivation to get them to help out around the house more.

We have been selling stuff on ebay lately. Casinodad happened to see that Lego figures (not sets, just the people/characters) were going for some incredible prices. He took a little of his Christmas money to buy a bunch of Star Wars Lego sets. He lumped about 20 figures together to put on ebay & almost doubled his investment, & still has more figures to put on!

"What are you going to do w/ the rest of those sets?" I asked.

He wasn't sure at first, but suddenly it came to him - get the munchkins to do some housework to earn the sets! So, we sat down & brainstormed household tasks that were doable for their ages. Each task was assigned a certain amount of money (not real money, just credit that we would run a tab on). Once they reach a particular level, they earn the Lego set of their choice. To get a set, they have to pay 1 1/2 times the amount of the retail price. For example, they can get a $9.99 set for $15.00. For The Princess, who isn't as into Legos, I found some dolls that were mine when I was a little girl & assigned a price to each.

They still have regular chores that they don't "get paid" for doing - making their beds, cleaning up their toys/rooms, etc. This is just a little motivation to help out more around the house. They won't always get stuff for doing these things. As they get older, we'll change to an allowance type program, but for now it's nice to hear "Why does he always get to vacuum? When do I get to do it?"

PS - For some reason, no matter how many spaces I put between each paragraph, Blogger is not accepting them. Sorry all the paragraphs are jumbled together. If you know how to fix it, please let me know.