Saturday, May 18, 2013
Anything you want to see?
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Want to save money in an area in your life but not sure how? comment here with any suggestions, ideas, or questions for any topic you would love me to cover.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Say What? Mosquitos, Ticks, and other pesky bugs.
My daughter is allergic to mosquitos, or I should say mosquito bites. Is that what they do when they suck your blood? Anywho, if a mosquito “bites” her she swells up and ends up with a nasty rash that won’t go away for days. I am sure you can guess we go to great lengths to keep mosquitos off her and that worked great until last summer. However, last summer she started to have a horrible reaction to store bought mosquito repellent. She ended up with what looked like a chemical burn all over her arms and legs. This happened with several types of repellents, including organic repellents. Let me tell you, organic repellent is expensive; especially when it just sits on the shelf because it doesn’t work.
Last summer my oldest son went to sleep away came with the Cub Scouts. He was super excited and really did have a great time. I went out of my way and probably way overboard to make sure he had everything he needed to be comfortable, including insect repellent. I knew he would come home all dirty and in desperate need of a shower and boy did he ever. But I never imagined he would be covered head to toe in little insect bites, he seriously looked like he had chicken pox. The first few days we just kind of laughed about it, and then we tried to make him more comfortable with oatmeal baths and every type of anti-itch cream available. The poor kid was miserable from all of these bug bites and they just wouldn’t go away. Of course just as they started to heal he would scratch them and they would become open sores and the process started all over again, over and over and over again. Weeks and months went by and we could not get a handle on these bites that were now infected and just horrible. The oldest monkey ended up with a nasty staph infection and was on antibiotics and a steroid. Let’s just say it was stressful for about 5 months. Almost a year later you can see scars on his body because of all these bites. The point of this is commercial insect repellent just does not work, at least not for my little monkeys.
I am from Washington State and I never in a million years had to worry about ticks or Lyme disease or anything like that growing up. I remember the first time my daughter had a tick I freaked out and I wanted to take her to the emergency room so they can remove it. I have heard all of these crazy things about making sure you get the whole tick out, the heads being left in the skin, just crazy things that I didn’t know how to deal with. My husband kind of laughed it off and got the tick out and threw it in the toilet. I never expected that to become an almost nightly routine, or at least a few times a week issue. This girl just attracts ticks to her, no matter what we do or how we try to keep the ticks away and out of our yard.
This summer we are trying something new. We are going back to Mother Nature to keep nasty mosquitos, ticks, and other bugs away from my kids and house. Lavender is a natural repellent, so we are looking at planting some lavender in our yard, especially around the areas the kids play. But the thing we will do right away is make our own bug repellent from essential oils. Some of the oils that help to repel insects are lavender, basil, lemongrass, and citronella essential oils. I am sure there are more but these are the few that I have found in my research and the types that I wouldn’t mind using. Now make sure you use essential oils and not an aromatherapy type oil. Below is the recipe I will be using and then there is another version of the recipe.
Homemade Insect Repellent Recipe:
15 to 25 drops of essential oils. I will use Lemongrass, Basil, and Citronella. (to make things simple I will use 10 drops of each)
½ cup of coconut oil.
Slowly melt the coconut oil, you can do this in a microwave, or with the use of a double broiler, or sitting it outside on a hot day. When the coconut oil is melted (and it does not take much) just add the drops of essential oil. Ladle the mixture into a small jar and place in a cool area. This repellent will be more like a balm instead of a liquid.
If you want a liquid repellent add 30 or so drops of an essential oil with ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar and ¼ cup of water. Mix together in a spray bottle and there you go – liquid insect repellent.
Last summer my oldest son went to sleep away came with the Cub Scouts. He was super excited and really did have a great time. I went out of my way and probably way overboard to make sure he had everything he needed to be comfortable, including insect repellent. I knew he would come home all dirty and in desperate need of a shower and boy did he ever. But I never imagined he would be covered head to toe in little insect bites, he seriously looked like he had chicken pox. The first few days we just kind of laughed about it, and then we tried to make him more comfortable with oatmeal baths and every type of anti-itch cream available. The poor kid was miserable from all of these bug bites and they just wouldn’t go away. Of course just as they started to heal he would scratch them and they would become open sores and the process started all over again, over and over and over again. Weeks and months went by and we could not get a handle on these bites that were now infected and just horrible. The oldest monkey ended up with a nasty staph infection and was on antibiotics and a steroid. Let’s just say it was stressful for about 5 months. Almost a year later you can see scars on his body because of all these bites. The point of this is commercial insect repellent just does not work, at least not for my little monkeys.
I am from Washington State and I never in a million years had to worry about ticks or Lyme disease or anything like that growing up. I remember the first time my daughter had a tick I freaked out and I wanted to take her to the emergency room so they can remove it. I have heard all of these crazy things about making sure you get the whole tick out, the heads being left in the skin, just crazy things that I didn’t know how to deal with. My husband kind of laughed it off and got the tick out and threw it in the toilet. I never expected that to become an almost nightly routine, or at least a few times a week issue. This girl just attracts ticks to her, no matter what we do or how we try to keep the ticks away and out of our yard.
This summer we are trying something new. We are going back to Mother Nature to keep nasty mosquitos, ticks, and other bugs away from my kids and house. Lavender is a natural repellent, so we are looking at planting some lavender in our yard, especially around the areas the kids play. But the thing we will do right away is make our own bug repellent from essential oils. Some of the oils that help to repel insects are lavender, basil, lemongrass, and citronella essential oils. I am sure there are more but these are the few that I have found in my research and the types that I wouldn’t mind using. Now make sure you use essential oils and not an aromatherapy type oil. Below is the recipe I will be using and then there is another version of the recipe.
Homemade Insect Repellent Recipe:
15 to 25 drops of essential oils. I will use Lemongrass, Basil, and Citronella. (to make things simple I will use 10 drops of each)
½ cup of coconut oil.
Slowly melt the coconut oil, you can do this in a microwave, or with the use of a double broiler, or sitting it outside on a hot day. When the coconut oil is melted (and it does not take much) just add the drops of essential oil. Ladle the mixture into a small jar and place in a cool area. This repellent will be more like a balm instead of a liquid.
If you want a liquid repellent add 30 or so drops of an essential oil with ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar and ¼ cup of water. Mix together in a spray bottle and there you go – liquid insect repellent.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Cleaning on the cheap
By now you should know I like to save money when and wherever I can. No worries, I will never appear on the TV TLC show “Extreme Cheapskates” because I am still a firm believer in quality over quantity (yes I am using the word quantity to talk about money). Yes, I have gone as far as unplugging appliances and the TV when I go on vacation, but never will I go to the extreme as one guy on the show that pulls the plug on everything every time he leaves the house. Wouldn’t it save him more money to just keep these things unplugged until he needed them? OK, back on topic; I like to save money when I can. I won’t do crazy things to do it, but there are tons of little things you can do around your house to keep it clean and save some money. Best part is that these cleaning hints are all natural and not a chemical base, but they still disinfect.
One of my go-to products for cleaning is vinegar. Not any special type, I just get the huge gallon jug of the white distilled vinegar at the grocery store (about $6). Vinegar will kill all kinds of bacteria, mold, germs, and other icky stuff. This is because vinegar is very acidic and most of these things can’t survive at these PH levels (2.0). My grandmother use to use this stuff to clean her windows and other glass surfaces. I always thought she was crazy until a few years ago when I finally tried it. My windows looked just as clean as they would if I had used the blue glass stuff.
Basic recipe: 50/50 mix of water to vinegar. Just mix the two into a bowl or you can put the mix into a spray bottle. I just mix into a small mixing bowl and dip a rag into the bowl and ring it out. I clean my glass surfaces, and most all surfaces this way and I never have water marks or anything of that sort. However, if you have a marble surface you don’t want to use vinegar because the vinegar could etch the surface. This is my basic recipe that I use for most of my cleaning. I use this solution to fill up my Swiffer wet jet and clean my floors. I use this basic recipe to clean my kitchen aid mixer (the vinegar cleans out the grease from buttercream and other foods that use shortening or butter. However, you don’t have to worry about chemical residue in your baked goods so this is a perfect alternative.
If you don’t like the smell of vinegar that is ok there are ways to make vinegar smell good. Buy a few oranges, peel them (enjoy the fruit but keep the peels). Use a 16oz canning jar stuff the peels from 2 medium or large size oranges inside the jar. Pour vinegar over the peels and tighten the lid onto the jar. Store the vinegar jar for 2 weeks before using. Now you will have citrus vinegar, works with limes, lemons, grapefruit, etc.
You can even make your own laundry soap, and it works great, smells amazing, and it’s cheap. The cost is about $8 for about 550 loads of laundry. Before I go into the recipe I suggest you use utensils for the purpose only and don’t use them for cooking again.
You will need:
1 Bar of soap – I use Dove bar soap.
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Washing Soda: Arm and Hammer makes this and you can usually find it in the laundry soap area.
You will need a large pot that can hold about 2.5 to 3 gallons of liquid.
You will need cheese grater, or something of the sort.
A funnel isn’t a must but is very helpful.
1 large spoon, I use a plastic one because it is easier to clean off.
Now you will want something to store your soap in. I use 2 milk jugs. You can also buy a 5 gallon bucket at the home store and double this recipe and store it in there.
1.) Grate your bar of soap into your pot. (I had an old food processor that made this so much easier).
2.) Fill one gallon jug and pour water into pot with grated soap. Cook until the grated soap dissolves.
3.) Add the Borax and washing soda.
4.) Bring to a boil. It will coagulate.
5.) Turn off the heat. Add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir well.
6.) Pour 1 gallon of your detergent into each container. A funnel helps tremendously.
I have many more money saving tips for cleaning but this is more than enough for now. Let me know what you think of these suggestions and if any of them work for you.
One of my go-to products for cleaning is vinegar. Not any special type, I just get the huge gallon jug of the white distilled vinegar at the grocery store (about $6). Vinegar will kill all kinds of bacteria, mold, germs, and other icky stuff. This is because vinegar is very acidic and most of these things can’t survive at these PH levels (2.0). My grandmother use to use this stuff to clean her windows and other glass surfaces. I always thought she was crazy until a few years ago when I finally tried it. My windows looked just as clean as they would if I had used the blue glass stuff.
Basic recipe: 50/50 mix of water to vinegar. Just mix the two into a bowl or you can put the mix into a spray bottle. I just mix into a small mixing bowl and dip a rag into the bowl and ring it out. I clean my glass surfaces, and most all surfaces this way and I never have water marks or anything of that sort. However, if you have a marble surface you don’t want to use vinegar because the vinegar could etch the surface. This is my basic recipe that I use for most of my cleaning. I use this solution to fill up my Swiffer wet jet and clean my floors. I use this basic recipe to clean my kitchen aid mixer (the vinegar cleans out the grease from buttercream and other foods that use shortening or butter. However, you don’t have to worry about chemical residue in your baked goods so this is a perfect alternative.
If you don’t like the smell of vinegar that is ok there are ways to make vinegar smell good. Buy a few oranges, peel them (enjoy the fruit but keep the peels). Use a 16oz canning jar stuff the peels from 2 medium or large size oranges inside the jar. Pour vinegar over the peels and tighten the lid onto the jar. Store the vinegar jar for 2 weeks before using. Now you will have citrus vinegar, works with limes, lemons, grapefruit, etc.
You can even make your own laundry soap, and it works great, smells amazing, and it’s cheap. The cost is about $8 for about 550 loads of laundry. Before I go into the recipe I suggest you use utensils for the purpose only and don’t use them for cooking again.
You will need:
1 Bar of soap – I use Dove bar soap.
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Washing Soda: Arm and Hammer makes this and you can usually find it in the laundry soap area.
You will need a large pot that can hold about 2.5 to 3 gallons of liquid.
You will need cheese grater, or something of the sort.
A funnel isn’t a must but is very helpful.
1 large spoon, I use a plastic one because it is easier to clean off.
Now you will want something to store your soap in. I use 2 milk jugs. You can also buy a 5 gallon bucket at the home store and double this recipe and store it in there.
1.) Grate your bar of soap into your pot. (I had an old food processor that made this so much easier).
2.) Fill one gallon jug and pour water into pot with grated soap. Cook until the grated soap dissolves.
3.) Add the Borax and washing soda.
4.) Bring to a boil. It will coagulate.
5.) Turn off the heat. Add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir well.
6.) Pour 1 gallon of your detergent into each container. A funnel helps tremendously.
I have many more money saving tips for cleaning but this is more than enough for now. Let me know what you think of these suggestions and if any of them work for you.
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