Wherein I yap about our duds

Our duds {aka our clothing} or more precisely, I yap about the care and keeping of our duds.

On Washing:

A LONG time ago I posted about making my own laundry detergent. Well I was FAITHFUL for about a year. I loved it, I loved the price {nearly nothing compared to store bought} I loved the smell of it and how well it cleaned our clothes. It was a little love affair, you might say.

Then, I fell off the love train and didn't make any for a while. 

Why? 

too lazy perhaps couldn't really tell ya.....

I had all of the ingredients.....just sittin' there.

Yet, I went and bought {gasp!}some at the store. I didn't really care for the smell and it definitely didn't clean our clothes as well. Moral of the story....mine was better and WAY cheaper. I finally gave in last night and made some....oh, the smell. I love the smell.

I've learned my lesson so I'm certain that won't happen again......I hope.

On Drying: 

Don't listen to men who try to sell you a dryer. The odds are pretty good that he has never done a load of laundry in his life. 

The one that sold me my dryer assured me that having the lint/vent thingy inside the front door of the dryer was FAR superior to having it on the top. The air flow is SO much better he claimed. Well it may be, but it also twists the legs of every pair of pants and the sleeves to every long sleeve shirt into something that looks like those old broom stick skirts. 

It is maddening! {nothing against the skirt, I had a few back in the day} This pleated look doesn't really look so good on the sleeves of a man's dress shirt.  

I would love to have my first dryer back.

It was old, but my clothes came out nearly wrinkle free.


It worked like a dream....until it didn't. 


It was given to us by my hubby's uncle when we first got married. We had to go pull it out of the barn behind his house, but it was free so who was to complain. 

Not us, that's for sure. 


To the man who sold me my dryer, you can have your twisty wrinkly clothes and I'll just take my old inferior air blowing machine back.

I would like someone to please take note

Every one of our laundry hampers, baskets and the washer and dryer were completely void of all dirty laundry yesterday morning. Nope, there weren't any dirties on the floor either. It was a good day......and then my family had the nerve to take off their dirty clothes last night and plop them right in those empty hampers (or in most cases, next to them). Well, at least it lasted for a few hours. It probably won't happen again for another 6 months so I just wanted to let someone know. Thank you very much!

Laundry Love

Ok...I confess I still don't really LOVE laundry, but I'm just a little closer now that I have my new washer. We decided to go for the front loader since it saves water, wear and tear on your clothes and dryer time even though it was a bit more than we wanted to spend. I think we'll make that $$ back in no time. 

I know we are a little behind on the times since front loaders came out over 10 years ago. but we bought our old washer when we got married almost 10 years ago and as much as I dreamed about a new front loader and all the benefits, I just could not bring myself to spend money on something new when the one we had still worked just fine.....most of the time. 

I am perfectly please with our purchase so far...I've only had it less than 48hours. It takes longer to wash, but that's fine with me since it's about the same length as the dryer. It also spins the clothes out so dry that it takes about 2/3 the time to dry the clothes even with a larger load. So I've just been busy trying to go from nearly 2 weeks worth of this (for a family of 5) to stacks and stacks of this via this marvelous new washer. This is a horrible picture, but my camera battery just died and I'm way too lazy to go all the way upstairs to get new ones.....you get the idea anyway, it's a washer....ta-da! 

I love the fact that I can put almost twice as much in it....fewer loads and that totally works for me! 

Check out Rocks in my dryer for more great ideas

Menu plan - week of 2/9/09

I did very well this last week and actually stuck to my menu plan. Some weeks it's just easier than others. Take this week for example, we have different meetings, conferences, practice, valentines parties, games, church, etc. every night this week so if I don't stick to my plan....we may just go hungry. I was trying to come up with menu ideas last night and Eric was not being helpful at all so I asked if we could just not eat for a week. He didn't seem to keen on the idea so I guess I'll have to come up with super easy stuff this week since we will be going in all directions. Why is it some weeks have nothing and some weeks everyone decides they need to plan meeting...uugh! Ok- here's what the plan is  

Monday: sloppy joes, fruit and macaroni and cheese  

Tuesday: Garlic chicken pizza from Papa murphy's (it count's as homemade if I cook it in my own oven...righT? Actually, Eric will since I will be at MOPS).  

Wednesday: Taco soup and chili at Church (hopefully it won't be 70 degrees out) I'm also bringing dump cake and brownies  

Thursday: Eric has a meeting so the kids and I will have french toast and scrambled eggs & fruit.  

Friday: Maple mustard chicken, w/ roasted brussel sprouts and sauteed apples (I'm really looking forward to this one. It's a new recipe..the chicken part...I'll let ya know how it is)  

Saturday: BBQ meatballs(my sweet friend Laura's recipe) with scalloped potatoes and green beans. I'll probably make a good dessert too...just to show a little extra LOVE since it's Valentines Day. 

Sunday: Lunch-Salsa chicken with rice and salad Dinner- leftovers 

I get my new washer later today so I have got to get the old one put back together and clean this place up. I know I was going to do it Friday, but it was just way to nice outside to hang out in my basement. I'll show a picture later once it's all in place. Can you feel the excitement?? 

Visit Org. Junkie for hundreds of menu planning ideas.

Ramblin' all the way to no where

*I've been busy this week so I haven't been on my blog or anyone else's much. Who isn't busy...really? It seems like a silly statement when I say it out loud (or type it). Aren't we all really busy all the time. I really wish I wasn't. I'm not even involved in that many things right now, but the to-do list just seems never ending. I'm sure most of you feel exactly the same way I do. What do ya'll do when you feel this way?

*My washer broke...again....last Saturday and my hubby tried to fix it to no avail. It will be 10 years old this spring and it has held up well. We just can't see putting a $150 part into a 10 year old washer so it looks like we will need to get a new one. We've decided that it definitely should be a front loader. We found one at Home Depot that we both like and it has excellent reviews so it looks like we will get it this weekend maybe...hopefully. I did 8 loads of laundry at the laundromat the other day, but it's starting to pile up again. Just in case you were wondering....Josiah and I had a lovely 3 hours there, eating lunch, hanging out and not playing all the video games. He thought he was playing though, so it was all good. 

*I now need to clean my basement, not just because it is a complete mess, but because I am fearful that we might actually have the new washer delivered and set up since it is terribly heavy and the poor men would need to be in my basement to do it. Right now they wouldn't even make it to the laundry room. uugh! just what I wanted to do on a nice sunny day...yeah! 

*Yesterday Josiah and I were out running some errands and we have a little "I love you" game that we play. Normally we say "I love you" back and forth and then I tell him "I think you're great" and he agrees that yes he is great. It's pretty cute now...it might not be so cute when he's 14 or so. 

Yesterday our conversation went like this: 

Mom "I love You" Josiah 

"I love you too" Mom 

"I think you are great" Josiah 

"I think you are awesome" Mom 

"I think you are wonderful" Josiah 

"I think you are pretty" Made my day! 

*It's going to be beautiful today (around 70 degrees I think) so we will definitely be going to the park a little later. The big kids have no school today because of a "professional day". Next week they have 2 days off because of conferences and the following Monday is President's day. It's like a little mini pre-spring break break. I really hope it's nice out next week too since it's so much easier to drag the boys away from the wii when you can make them go play outside.

Save to give

I know we've all been hearing about "the economy" and the devastating layoffs, companies going under and the increasing need for charitable donations so people can feed themselves and their families. I for one would like to be in a position to help others with what the Lord has blessed us with. Eric hasn't lost his job (this time) and we still live pretty comfortably. We run a pretty tight ship around here as far as money goes. We don't buy frivolous things unless we have "gift" money or we have saved for it. We aren't debt free yet, but we are getting there. I am so very thankful that we have a stocked pantry and freezer and enjoy the occasional dinner out. We are able to fill our cars with enough gas to get us where we need or desire to go. Even so, I am challenging myself to spend even less and have found a few ways to cut back because I want to have that extra "cushion" to be able to extend a helping hand when needed. Here's a list of ideas to try: *Food is always the biggest thing on the budget for us...except when gas was $4 a gallon. I used to shop weekly and have been trying to extend it to 10 days. The less you are in the store, the less you will spend. Eat leftovers, soup or try breakfast for dinner...the cheapest meal of the day. You might have to pick up milk or produce, but if you can do 10 days instead of 7, that's only 3 trips a month instead of 4 and that can make a pretty significant dent in the budget. *Plan, plan, plan! It's funny I should say that since this week I had no plan, but normally I do and it helps on the budget immensely. Plan out your meals, including breakfast and lunch. You won't spend $ on the items that you don't need for the week. Make your list and shop only from you list. *Buy "real" food. Processed foods are so much more costly that what God intended us to eat. I'm not saying we don't eat any processed foods, but I do try to keep it to a minimum. I heard Jilian from "The biggest loser" say the other day "if it doesn't have a mother or come out of the ground, don't eat it!" I thought that was pretty good advice and something to think about for sure. I do still like a hostess cupcake as much as the next gal though! *Laundry detergent can be a big expense so I started making my own and have loved the results. You can find the recipe here. The batch I made lasted for a full 2 months for a family of 5. I was impressed it made that much for only about $4. I was way too lazy to go to Hy-vee to get the Fels-Naptha soap I needed this last time I made a batch so I used Zote (the pink one) and I really like it too so I think you could safely use either one. *Another laundry trick is to fill a squirt bottle with 3 parts water to 1 part liquid fabric softener and spray a clean wash rag about 5 times per load and toss it in the dryer instead of dryer sheets. It works just as well, but it's much cheaper. Anyone have any other great ideas for putting a dent in an already tight budget? I really just want to be able to serve others when it's needed and feel like cutting down on what I spend so that I have extra available could possibly help someone out of a tight spot. I read this quote from Dave Ramsey here this morning and thought it summed up the current situation beautifully. Thanks Dave!

The dog is still chasing its tail.
Debt started the problem, so what is the current plan to fix the problem? More debt! What really drives the economy? Is it D.C.'s programs or small-business people scattered throughout the country? This down economic time will begin to heal itself. Do we have to go $1 trillion in debt to do that? No way!
The good news is that our future as an economy isn’t coming out of Washington. Our future prosperity is coming out of the hopes, dreams and individual freedoms of the American people. When left alone, we have a tendency to prosper.
The healing of the economy will begin and end with you. Yes, you, the person you see in the mirror! You have to make your decision as to whether or not you’re going to take part in the recession.
As for our new president, if you’re not a fan, pray for him. He’s your president. If you are a fan, pray for him. He’s your president, not your savior. Your hope will be crushed if you wait for him and his administration—or anyone else—to fix your life and give you money.

For more Frugal ideas visit Biblical Womanhood

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I spoke the other day about my homemade laundry detergent and a couple people have asked about it so I thought I would share my recipe. 

It only calls for 3 main ingredients which are fairly easy to find here in this area. The Borax is at Walmart for about $3.50 a box. The Super Washing Soda (not baking soda....different, but it is Arm and Hammer brand so don't be confused) was found at Price Chopper for about $2.50 a box and the Fels Naptha soap was at Hy-Vee for about $1.50 a bar (you can probably get this at Price Chopper too...I forgot to look plus it is my understanding that you could also use ivory....it just needs to be REAL soap not detergents).

1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated (I just used my cheese grater)

2 Cups Super Washing Soda

2 Cups Borax

1 qt. + 2 gallons of water

You will also need a large bucket, at least 3 gallons (I used a 5 gallon bucket...I chose a pretty color to make me happy while I do the laundry... from Walmart $4.50 and got a tight fitting lid to go with it $1.20.....yep, they actually charge you for a lid...crazy! what is this world coming to?)

Here's what I do:

In large bucket, place the 2 cups borax and 2 cups washing soda.

In a large sauce pan I put 4 cups (1qt) water and the grated soap. Let this gently simmer, stirring constantly until all the soap is melted (this took about 5 min). 

Once this is all melted, pour into bucket with the borax and soda and stir. 

Now add 2 gallons (8qts) warm water (out of the tap is fine) and stir until completely dissolved (about 3 minutes). 

The mixture should thicken up as you stir it. Cover and let it sit 24 hours or at least overnight. End Product.......

When you use it: You will use about 1/4 cup per load. You will need to stir before using each time. This is not a high sudsing soap like commercial brands and there isn't much smell to it. You can add some essential oils at the end if you like a scent. I've only used this for a few loads and have been happy so far. I'll let you know if my opinion changes. 

It ends up costing only a couple cents per load.

Something else I have learned to do over the years to save money on dryer sheets is to keep a basket on my dryer of old washcloths with a spray bottle filled with a 1:4 ratio of liquid fabric softener to water. I just squirt a cloth with about 5 sprays for a load and toss it in the dryer. It works great. I don't use softener in my washer unless I am doing sheets or towels. I have found I love the smell of it sooo much I have a hard time controlling myself on the amount so I just don't use it. 

I wasn't aware until a couple years ago that if you use too much softener it can really break down the fibers in your clothes quickly, especially on my hubby's dress pants and shirts.

One final thing....steping on soapbox.....

Please, Please, Please do not leave this laundry detergent sitting uncovered if you have little kids around. Use a tight fitting lid that little fingers can't open.

Reason#1- many, many little kids die each year from falling head first into buckets filled with liquid.

Reason #2- It is detergent....not just so healthy for drinking and playing in.

Reason #3- that is what all the recipes say, so...follow the directions. please

head over to Kimba's DIY day for more great ideas

Clean!

Today over at The Homespun Heart Monica is talking about cleaning! I am really trying to stick with this Making your Home a Haven theme this week so here is what I plan on doing today. Clean out my refrigerator (so my husband can actually find leftovers for lunch) Clean our bedroom- needs dusting very badly Possibly clean the living room...although it seems like a losing battle Clean more clothes....made it through 6 loads yesterday and hoping for the same today I'm not sure it will happen since I tend to get more loads done in the evening and I will be gone .......so we'll see. I vow to do laundry daily after I get caught up!! I always say this, but this time I really mean it (I think)! My biggest obstacle is that my computer is right by the door to my laundry room and it calls to me...not really, but you know what I mean. Other things on the agenda: Make a sweet treat for the m&m's meeting tonight Decorate the bulletin board for m&m's Make dinner: country fried steak, mash pot and gravy, corn and rolls (yum!)

Making your home a haven

Over at the Homespun Heart, Monica has put out a challenge for the week on making your home a haven and today's theme is Tidy so that is what I am doing. Mostly laundry....but tidying along the way. I am embarrassed to show my pics of the chaos that is my house. I am a bit of a neat freak so this really pains me to share but here goes: This Laundry thing is seriously OUT OF CONTROL!!! I really just wanted to show the "after" photos, but that wouldn't have been keeping it real, now would it?? Not perfect but MUCH better....... excluding of course the 4 ft tall pile of dirty laundry in the hallway I refuse to show you.

Please don't think less of me....please!

I just really like seeing other people's homes and spaces in a state of "real" rather than all perfect so I thought I would be brave and share mine. please ignore the large square of spackle on my bathroom wall, this room is slated for remodel this winter.

I really do think it is important that we clear away the clutter and make our homes a haven for our families. It is up to us to make our homes a refuge from the outside world where our kids can feel loved and nurtured and our husbands can feel relaxed and uplifted. School and work are not always great places to be, but I certainly want my home to be.

For more ideas on making your home a haven please visit The Homespun Heart