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.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
3 for 1 deal – AMAZING
Ok so you may think I went on a shopping spree but I didn’t. I managed to make 3 different meals out of 1. You may be asking how in the heck did I manage that, and how can you do that. Well I will tell you what I did and how it worked for my family. Remember we are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids (3 kids if you count littlest monkey - but he isn't eating solids just yet).
Wednesday night I took one of the whole chickens I got from Costco out of the freezer and stuck it in the fridge to defrost. On Thursday morning I washed it off (I have a habit for washing all of my meat before I use it), buttered and seasoned it up and stuck it in the crock pot with about 1 cup of water. We served this with rice and green beans and it was a BIG hit with my kids and my husband. After we had our fill I saw I had a good amount of chicken left and a whole carcass that I could do something with.
Well I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the drippings from the crock pot – make chicken broth to freeze for later use. I make a lot of things that require chicken broth. Why not have my own to use, and the best part is I know what is in it because I put it there.
Friday afternoon I took that drippings out of the fridge, added some water and boiled for about an hour. After this I decided I should just make chicken noodle soup instead of pure chicken broth. That would be a good dinner during the summer months and I wouldn’t even have to turn the stove on. So I pulled out all of the chicken and the carcass (that still had plenty of chicken attached to the bones) and plopped it into the boiling broth mixture. I also added another 6 cups of water and let it boil for another hour. I then strained the meat and broth mixture – putting the broth into a huge bowl and the chicken/bones into a strainer. I picked out the bones and dumped the chicken back into broth and put it back into the pan where I let it heat once again. I cut up my veggies and put those (along with healthy wheat noodles) into the broth and let it cook for another 30 minutes. I served with homemade bread (thanks to my new bread machine) and we had our second meal from the 1 whole chicken.
How you must be wondering how I got a 3rd meal from this one meal. Well I have a HUGE pot leftover of all chicken noodle soup. I can’t can the noodle soup because of the noodles, they would just suck up all the broth and I would have canned noodles and chicken but no soup. I am letting the soup cool down some and then I will put them into loaf pans to place in the freezer to freeze. Once they are frozen I will take them out of the loaf pans and place into freezer bags and put back into the freezer for use another time.
I could have taken the chicken soup mixture and canned it before I placed the noodles into the mixture but I am still new to the whole canning thing and I wasn’t confident enough in my canning skills to can this item. You have to be very careful when canning soups (and other things) because if you don’t do it correctly you can risk your life or the lives of those who eat your preserved food. Botulism is a very dangerous bacterium that is completely invisible and odorless so you wouldn’t know if it was in your food because you didn’t can it properly. So till I know more about my pressure canner I will stick with the freezing for later use.
So that is how I got 3 full meals from one $5.00 whole chicken. Let’s take into consideration the rice and green beans I served the first meal with, and the homemade bread I made with the second meal (and the veggies in the soup) the total cost came to about $15 – or $5 per meal (or $1.25 a person). Honestly I think I can get a 4th meal out of the soup because there is so much left over. If I can get a 4th meal out of it that will take the cost down to $3.75 a meal or $0.93 a person. WOW, WHAT A DEAL. =)
Below you will find the recipes to the above meals. This is how I cook my food and you can easily substitute one seasoning for another or add a little more or less. Do what works with for your family. This is just a general guide on how I do things.
CROCK POT CHICKEN
1 whole fryer chicken
Butter (about 3 tablespoons)
Seasons you like (I use salt and pepper, Johnny’s seasoning salt, and Mrs. Dash Chicken seasoning)
1 cup of water
Rinse off chicken and coat with butter and place seasoning over butter. Dump 1 cup of water into the crock pot and place the whole chicken over it. Replace the lid and turn the crock pot onto low. Let cook for 8 to 10 hours. Save the drippings from the crock pot for the chicken noodle soup.
CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Leftover chicken from the crock pot chicken
Whole chicken carcass (bones)
3 cups cut celery
3 cups cut carrots
4 sliced potatoes (peeled)
1 onion
Salt and Pepper and other seasonings you like
About 16 cups water
Take the drippings you saved from the crock pot chicken from the fridge and skim the top layer of fat from the drippings. Pour the drippings into a large pot (I used a 10qt pot) and about 16 cups of water into the pan and let boil for about an hour. Take the chicken and carcass from the fridge and put it into the boiling water. You can use this time to cut your veggies (or do as I do and pre-cut them and place them into the freezer for later use). Lower the heat to medium and after another hour you will want to strain the broth and chicken mixture so you can pick out all of the bones. Once you pulled all the bones out of the mixture combine the chicken and the broth back into your pot with your veggies. Then season the soup to taste with whatever seasonings you like (I used Johnny’s and Salt and Pepper). After about 30 minutes (still on a medium/low heat so not to boil over)you want to add your noodles (we used rotini wheat noodles) and let the mixture simmer/boil for about another 30 minutes. Once the noodles are soft your soup is ready to eat.
Let the soup cool and place into loaf pans (large muffin tins work too) and place the pan into the freezer – make sure the pan is level. Once the soup is frozen remove from the pan and place into freezer bags (I use the vacuum-seal bags by Ziplock. When you are ready to use take the frozen items out of the freezer and you can defrost during the day or you can place the frozen mixture into a pot and let it defrost while you heat on low.
I hope you enjoy today's blog. If you have any questions just post a comment and I will get back to you.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Step in the right direction =)
On Sunday Hubby and I went grocery shopping and let me tell you we did great. We went to Costco and purchased bulk meats, I am sure it will feed the family for a few months. If you shop at Costco (Sam's Club, BJ's or any warehouse type place) you will know the deals are good but you sure don't want to freeze 12 pork chops or 6 pounds of ground hamburger all together (unless you are feeding a family of 10). So what can I do to make things easier for me later - split it up and freeze it in individual bags. My two freezer bags of choice are the Vacuum-Seal Bags by Ziplock and the Seal-a-Meal vacuum system. I am also a fan of Tupperware Vent n' Serve for my leftover.
After sorting out all of the meats into more reasonable family sizes I put them in my chest freezer (if possible you really should look into getting one). However, I left out a few pounds of hamburger to cook up and season before freezing. Once you cook and season your meat to your liking make sure you drain the meat and let it cool down, then you want to place it into your freezer container and freeze for later use. This will save you time when you want to have a good home cooked meal but you are short on time. This is a good option for Taco nights, just cook the hamburger up with taco seasoning and freeze. Just put the container in the fridge to defrost the morning (or night before) you want Tacos, heat it up before dinner and you have a yummy taco dinner in 1/2 the time. Below you will find a recipe for an easy meal that is a favorite in my house.
2lbs season ground beef
1 10 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
1 1/4 cup of milk
3 cups of dry rice
You should have already precooked your hamburger so defrost it the morning you use it and warm up in a skillet with the mushroom soup and milk. If you don't want a thick mixture add a little more cream of mushroom and milk.
Cook your 3 cups of rice according to the directions on the package.
Serve the meat and mushroom mixture over the cooked rice. This feeds my family of 4 and like I said it is a favorite in our house.
On our same shopping trip to Costco we purchased some onions and other veggies that we use all of the time. We cut up a few onions and sealed them in a freezer bag and placed in the freezer. This way when I need onions all I have to do it pull them out of the freezer and add to my dish.
I know it doesn't sound like much of a start but hey a city girl has to start somewhere.
After sorting out all of the meats into more reasonable family sizes I put them in my chest freezer (if possible you really should look into getting one). However, I left out a few pounds of hamburger to cook up and season before freezing. Once you cook and season your meat to your liking make sure you drain the meat and let it cool down, then you want to place it into your freezer container and freeze for later use. This will save you time when you want to have a good home cooked meal but you are short on time. This is a good option for Taco nights, just cook the hamburger up with taco seasoning and freeze. Just put the container in the fridge to defrost the morning (or night before) you want Tacos, heat it up before dinner and you have a yummy taco dinner in 1/2 the time. Below you will find a recipe for an easy meal that is a favorite in my house.
2lbs season ground beef
1 10 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
1 1/4 cup of milk
3 cups of dry rice
You should have already precooked your hamburger so defrost it the morning you use it and warm up in a skillet with the mushroom soup and milk. If you don't want a thick mixture add a little more cream of mushroom and milk.
Cook your 3 cups of rice according to the directions on the package.
Serve the meat and mushroom mixture over the cooked rice. This feeds my family of 4 and like I said it is a favorite in our house.
On our same shopping trip to Costco we purchased some onions and other veggies that we use all of the time. We cut up a few onions and sealed them in a freezer bag and placed in the freezer. This way when I need onions all I have to do it pull them out of the freezer and add to my dish.
I know it doesn't sound like much of a start but hey a city girl has to start somewhere.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
New Frugal Mom - this will be fun.
Our family has gone through so many (amazing) changes in the 3 years. We have moved from Washington State to Virginia, Derick and I got married, and the biggest change of all (as if a cross country move wasn't big enough) Derick is no longer in the Army, and we had a baby 5 months ago. With all of these new changes in our life why not make a few more - healthy, simple, frugal living.
I am learning to can some of our food. I am going to start freezing meals ahead of time, and this spring I am going to start a garden. Who would have though I would ever start a garden. I guess the biggest question is will it actually grow and will I get anything from it? I do not have the best green thumb, I am more skilled at killing all things plant related.
I am starting this blog for everyone who is just like me and would like to learn how to can, freeze, garden, or get a good laugh at a city girl trying to live simple and frugal. =) So stay tunes, check back in, and enjoy learning how to live frugal through my mistakes (and I am sure there will be plenty of them). I also love to cook yummy meals for my family, so I will try and have recipes that work for our family, but do not break the bank to make.
I am learning to can some of our food. I am going to start freezing meals ahead of time, and this spring I am going to start a garden. Who would have though I would ever start a garden. I guess the biggest question is will it actually grow and will I get anything from it? I do not have the best green thumb, I am more skilled at killing all things plant related.
I am starting this blog for everyone who is just like me and would like to learn how to can, freeze, garden, or get a good laugh at a city girl trying to live simple and frugal. =) So stay tunes, check back in, and enjoy learning how to live frugal through my mistakes (and I am sure there will be plenty of them). I also love to cook yummy meals for my family, so I will try and have recipes that work for our family, but do not break the bank to make.
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