Free kleenex for life

As I am not a fan of using disposable items I try to find new ways to incorporate environmentally friendly substitutions in our lives every day.  

I have a few cute embroidered handkerchiefs that I use for myself, but I wanted something for the whole family.  I would need a lot if it would replace a box of tissue during cold seasons.  Purchasing 20 handkerchiefs was out of the question, and I only wanted more 'one use' items anyway.

I soon realized that if I cut up some of my husbands old white tee shirts (from of my sewing scrap bin) I could duplicate the 'kleenex box' idea.  Cotton tee shirts are from fabric woven very tightly and will not come unraveled so don't need any sewing to keep them together, simple cut to shape!!

Thrilled in my discovery, I knew the real test was my husband who had just been hit hard by a cold.  I showed him the stack and he was happy to try anything.  He was instantly in love with the softness and sturdiness of these.  Now he won't touch the crummy disposable tissues!  Tossing them into a laundry basket instead of the garbage seemed to create no extra hassle for any of us.

We keep them in our kitchen towel/rag drawer for ease!  I'll never go back to paper!

(I know its been forever since my last blog post, sorry Grandmas!!,  I'll try to get a few more in during the weeks  :-) in the mean time check out my Etsy site and see where all my 'spare' time is going!!)

The Best Homemade Toothpaste!

I have made toothpaste only a couple of times recently and found/created a wonderful blend this morning.  

Okay, your thinking 'homemade toothpaste?', Come On!  But, do you realize how many harmful chemicals are in standardized toothpaste?  Some of these horrible chemicals are Sodium Lauryl Sulphate(SLS), Triclosan, diethanolomine and Isopropyl Alcohol.  Did you know Flouride can be fatal for children when consumed in high dosages?

Want more info?  Heres a great easy list from the Chicago Tribune.

Okay, there are some safe ones out there but be careful, even the standard toothpaste by Toms of Maine has SLS in it.  We have been using one called Xyliwhite and love it, but its pretty expensive in my mind at 3.75 a tube PLUS shipping.

Here is my version, give it a shot, we really think its wonderful!

Erins Yummy Toothpaste

Ingredients;

baking soda appx 1/4 cup

xylitol appx 1+ Tbs

salt appx 1/2 tsp

liquid glycerine appx less than 1/4 cup

essential oil 1-2 ml (maybe 1/4 tsp?)

(these are all very approximate as I dont write my toothpaste recipes down, really I just go by taste and feel.  Its not a science, trust me!)

Directions; 

Pour baking soda in a bowl, add salt and xylitol(I ground up the xylitol with my pestle and mortar as the first batch this morning was too grainy).  

Drizzle in the glycerine till you get a toothpaste like consistency.  

Add essential oils to taste.  

I made a cinnamon version earlier today that was so cinnamon-y it made my tongue numb so be careful, that was also due to a lot of testing!  My second batch, the white one, turned out perfect!  Crushing the xylitol was really key to a perfect product, and so was lots of peppermint oil!  If it was in a tube nobody would even know it was homemade!  

Oh, except it doesn't foam.  I have been using natural toothpaste so long I forgot that companies use the SLS and other foaming agents in theirs.  So, yes, you may miss the messy foaming over sensation and huge mess in the sink.  Your welcome.

I store mine in baby food jars and we just dip our dry toothbrush into it before each use.  If you are concerned about the cleanliness of this just keep half a popsicle stick in the jar for sanitary spreading, or make each family member their own jar.

I have not calculated the cost of this but I can assure you it is minimum.  The initial cost of some of these supplies is certainly a factor but once you have them they should last for many, many years.  I purchase my essential oils and glycerine from a local to me and wonderful company called Brambleberry.  I highly recommend them as they always have the very best prices (I know as I compare often always trying to get the best deal), they ship super fast plus the business is run by a regular women, just like me and you.

I got my xylitol from my mother who probably ordered it from iHerb where she gets all of her natural supplements and products, at least the ones I don't make for her!  Im sure any health food store or many grocers would carry this as well.  Check in the natural baking section by the sugars.

The xylitol is a very important ingredient in this product as it has been shown to fight cavities better than fluoride and even has REVERSED cavity deterioration in many studies.  Actually, my mother is an example so I am a true believer.  

Go now,  make some toothpaste and impress your family!  Go on!

Home Made Diaper

Well, I finally did it.

I have been so afraid to try to make a diaper, I mean, if I do a poor job I will end up with a really big mess! I have been researching cloth diapers for a long time now and just came across a really easy pattern by DiaperSewing.com. It really is just instructions and I traced my own cloth diaper for the size and pattern. I used the Fitted Side Snap pattern and I think it turned out wonderfully.
I used some flannel I already had, an ugly receiving blanket in my scrap pile and a cut up cotton pre-fold diaper for the soaker. As I now have a serger I was able to whip this out pretty quickly, between caring for the little one and all. The pretty snaps I purchased at JoAnns during a sale, as well as the awesome investment of the snap gun, maybe $7 for it on sale?? I am soo getting my moneys worth, I use it all the time.

I made this to fit the free diaper cover I won a while back from Andrea (Mamma in Flip Flops2). Woo Hoo, I think I'll make some more!!

Total Cost $1-2ish.
Worth it!


(thank you grandma Laurie, this picture would be nothing w/o the REI socks and the Pottery Barn table & chairs. we are so spoiled!)

Clean Your Microwave!

Looks like its about time to wipe my microwave down again.  I prefer to do this the easiest and greenest way possible.  I don't like to use chemicals and I don't like to struggle!

1) Fill a glass measuring cup (or a mug) at least half way with water.  

2) Add a good squirt of lemon juice and a teaspoon of baking soda.

3) Microwave 2-3 minutes, or till just boiling.  Let sit a few more minutes.

4) Open microwave and wipe down with a clean, dry cloth.

5) Use the leftover solution to do a quick wipe down of the outside.

The steaming solution should have coated the inside of your microwave and softened any baked on splatters.  The natural deodorizing baking soda and lemon will leave your appliance smelling nice and fresh!

Frugal Friday; homemade starch

My husband irons his clothing for work. (yes, I do know how lucky I am that he irons his own clothes!!!) He is also a huge fan of starch, I think he has a 'starch addiction'. We go through a lot of starch, a lot!

A few days ago we ran out of starch and quickly discovered that we did not have any reserve cans left. To avoid a slight crisis I did a little bit of research and discovered that we could make our own using simple corn starch.

ingredients
2 cups warm water
1-3 Tbs corn starch

mix corn starch into warm water and pour in spray bottle. for fun I added a few drops of essential oil (do be careful with oils as they can stain clothing!) Shake well before each use.

1 Tbs= light starch
2 Tbs= medium starch
3 Tbs= heavy starch

Not only was this really cheap, we are so much happier using a chemical free product and my husband even thinks it works better than the aerosol stuff.

Six cents per 2 cup 'bottle' for the Light Starch!!

Carrot Harvest

Well it does not look like a lot now, but trust me, there are a lot of carrots there! Over the weekend I pulled the rest of my carrots from our old house before the closing happened Monday. Sorry guys, you are not getting my carrots too!

They are so sweet and yummy. Perfect and crisp eaten raw and my daughter loves them steamed. I love nothing more than serving my family safe and wholesome foods I have grown myself in local organic soil.

I cannot wait to get my garden started at this house!

Be on the lookout for these carrots in my future posts!

Frugal Friday; Shopping Habitat for Humanity

I just learned that home fixtures can be purchased through Habitat For Humanity.  They actually have stores where home builders (and homeowners) donate items such as used interior or exterior accessories and even new items that had been ordered in the wrong color or size.  

It looks as if Habitat accepts most home pieces in good and working order.  We only looked at exterior doors when we were there but I want to go back and check out what else they offer.  What a great resource to use as we fix up our old house before we sell it!!

I was thrilled to find out there was a ReStore just about 30 minutes away from my house.  I went with my mom and we picked out this gently used door for just $45!!  Sure, its wasn't free and maybe I could have found a better deal on Craigslist but we had a HUGE selection to choose from and the staff was very friendly and even put it in the truck for us!!  I just love it!

Find a ReStore near you and fix up your house!!  Its green, its thrifty, it keeps things out of the landfill, it helps build new Habitat houses and its just plain good in every way!

Check out Biblical Womanhood for other Frugal ideas!

Cloth Pads, thats right, Menstrual Pads!

Well, my husband thinks I am crazy. First for trying these, second for 'telling the world' (his words!). If you have read my blog before you know that I am a huge cloth fan. I use cloth towels in the kitchen instead of paper towels, cloth diapers and wipes on the babe, cloth grocery bags... so why not on myself?

I have read so much about how much other women really love cloth, it is softer, lack of chemicals results i n a shorter and lighter period, and they are cheaper (or free if you have fabric on hand!). Not even to start with the whole environmental aspect.

If you can get over the gross factor (it took me about 6 months of considering to do so) and just realize we have to deal with this whole period issue no matter what. It is really not going to be much different. I wash diapers anyway so it wont create any extra tasks or even waste any extra water. And I just cannot wait to see how comfortable they really are, all I read is how much women just love them!!

I have done a lot of research and used some really wonderful and easy patterns off this website here , do check it out, at least see how pretty they are! I also was inspired by this great blog To Love Honor and Vacuum, she was less formal on making hers and it just seemed so easy and fun I really had a great time making them! This site here was especially helpful in choosing my fabrics, she also has a lot of great information to share. A great help so I was able to use materials I had on hand. I will have to purchase some snaps to add later as I have read that velcro can be scratchy!

I was hoping to get the chance to use these by today so I could report on how they worked and how comfortable they are but it might be a few days yet! I will be sure to let everyone know how much I love/hate them just as soon as I get that chance!

Natural Cleaning

Ahhh, the wonders of Borax.  I started purchasing this wonderful stuff when I joined the cloth diaper world.  It really works wonders in getting rid of that skunky diaper stink.  

Today I thought I would try it in the bathroom.  I dumped some in a bowl, added a little baking soda and some salt for extra abrasion as my tub was beyond dirty with hard water stains.  I used this mixture with a wet sponge and a scrub brush as was amazed at how well it worked.  I think it was just about as good as Soft Scrub.  

Added bonus;  my daughter crawled at my feet while I cleaned, no chemical inhalation worries for me!

Go on, Try it!

Frugal Friday; cheap baby food

This week I discovered a super cheap and easy to prepare baby food.

I try to make it a priority to feed my daughter only organic baby food. As we all know organic can be very expensive. I am a big fan of boiling down my own organic produce, pureeing it and storing it in jars for my daughter. This is a great way to save some money but is a bit time consuming.

This week I purchased (with a coupon and sale, of course!) a jar of organic applesauce. I mixed the apple sauce with some organic baby oats and water, poured it into jars and tossed them in the freezer. I got about 8 2nd size jars worth of food, costing me appx .25 each and only taking seconds of my time!! That is a super deal for organic food packaged in safe glass containers (I wont buy the cheaper organic in plastic).

Frugal Friday.

Stop wasting money on paper towels.  

With lots of company and family over I have realized that we have been going through paper towels like water these past few weeks.  Okay, not really that bad, but much faster than normal.  Generally a roll of paper towels will last 3-4 months at my house.  We really only use them when necessary; really yucky messes (ie; cat puke).  I have a drawer in my kitchen dedicated to cloth towels, napkins and rags.  We use these for everything you would generally use a paper towel for.  I keep a  small basket in the pantry (under the sink would work as well) to toss the dirty cloth towels and napkins in so clean up is as effortless as disposable.  We also have a cute napkin holder on the dining room table that is always full of clean cloth napkins.

I know some of you may be able to get your paper towels for super cheap, but here on the west coast I have rarely seen them under a dollar and that can really add up.  Even if they are free, what are we doing to the environment?  Sure they biodegrade, but they still sit in a landfill for some time and the chemicals and bleach used to make them are quite hazardous.  And why must we be so wasteful?

Lets save some money (and the planet) and invest in a bunch of cloth options, keep them in a napkin holder or a basket on your kitchen counter or dedicate a drawer within everyones reach.  If they are easy to grab nobody will mind.

I am going to put away my paper towel holder for good, find another option for the cat puke (tp?) and live solely without those wasteful paper towels.  Do you think you can do it?

Frugal Friday

My frugal tip for today is a great trick I have recently been using with my Swiffer.  I take a micro-fiber cloth (we have a number for cleaning and dusting) and poke it into the Swiffer, just like you would the purchased disposable cloths.  Throw in laundry when done.  Its just that easy.  No more running out of cloths, spending the money (they are a bit pricey when you use them as often as I do) and no more filling the land fills!

Happy Frugal Friday

Throw away your Nalgene bottles

 

I have a large stylish pink Nalgene bottle that I am very attached to.  I flipped it over this morning to discover that it is made with plastic #7.  This is a very harmful plastic, Nalgene uses it because it is unbreakable.  The chemicals  bisphenol A and phthalates can cause cancer, neural and behavioral problems, reproductive dysfunction, and other neurological problems.  My mother has been warning me of this for years but I did not really listen until recently, when I became a mother myself.  I hope to God I have not consumed too many of these chemicals during pregnancy, I could not bear it if I have hurt my daughter.  Please check all your plastics and throw away what we know to be extremely harmful.

Throw out #3, #6 and #7

Studies show #1, #2 and #5 to be safe.  (but are they really?)

Some good links on this info are:

The Daily Green

Trusted MD

Time (article on baby bottles)

Science Daily

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer on this topic but it is very important to me.  It should be very important

 to you as well.  Protect your children and loved ones please.

On a lighter note, I did just order 2 Klean Kanteens which are 100% safe stainless steel.  My mother has a few and they are quite lovely to drink out of, I had not realized how water really takes on the flavor of what surrounds it. Originally I wanted to order the ever popular SIGG metal water bottle because they are so pretty, but upon further research I discovered that they have a PLASTIC LINING.  Quite absurd, I guess they too only care about the environment and not our bodies.  Oh well, Klean Kanteen it is then.