frugal

4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}

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May 16, 2013 by kimc 15 Comments

4moms35kids 4 Moms share vegetarian recipes {linky}
Vegetarian?! First, let me clarify a few things.

We think bacon is proof that God loves us. I have made and enjoyed chocolate covered bacon, and I would totally try bacon ice cream.

We think that PETA should stand for People Eating Tasty Animals.

I think this is funny:

And this is hilarious:

I make bacon roses for my husband, and we both think this site is awesome.

We like meat.

But we don’t always eat meat. That is largely because it tends to be expensive, especially when you are feeding a lot of hearty eaters. We have found that there are many healthy, hearty meals that don’t break the bank and don’t require meat. Sometimes you can just skip the meat in a regular recipe if there are enough other ingredients to distract from its absence. We are not vegetarians, but some of our meals are.

Before we start, let me issue a warning: don’t try to force a meat-loving husband to eat meatless meals. He must be on board, or you are doomed to failure. If your husband wants you to cut the food bill, this is a good way to do it. If he looks at your like you’re crazy when you suggest eating some meatless meals, don’t even try it. If you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Here is a sampling of our favorites:

Bean & cheese burritos – Add-ons like tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, etc. really make the meal. To add texture and appeal, make your beans from scratch instead of using refried beans from a can, leaving some whole beans when you season & smush them. Or add lentils cooked with Homemade Taco Seasoning as a sort of meat substitute. It’s not meat and probably won’t fool anyone, but it’s another way to add more texture and appeal.

Lasagna and spaghetti are very good without meat. Just don’t skimp on the sauce and seasonings, and use plenty of cheese in your lasagna.

Taco salad is another meal that works well without meat: just use ranch beans or season your own pinto/black beans with Homemade Taco Seasoning. Top with Homemade Catalina salad dressing.

Bean & cheese enchiladas or “wet burritos” are another cheap meatless meal that everyone loves. I use lots of my Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce under, over and inside each enchilada to make them moist and flavorful. If you use flour tortillas, there’s no need to soften in oil or sauce. Just put a few tablespoons of seasoned beans, cheese and sauce in the middle, and roll up. Crowd in a single layer on a pan lined with sauce (use a pan with sides at least 1″ high). Top with more sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. Bake about 25-30 minutes at 350, until heated through and lightly browned on top.

We also love quiche, and the egg/cheese combination is a less expensive source of protein than most meats. Bacon, ham or sausage is nice but not necessary. Garlic, carmelized onions and other veggies add lots of flavor, and this dinner goes well with a green salad. Just mix up 6 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 2 cups grated cheese (any kind you have on hand), and as many add-ins as you want. Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake until the center is set. Of course we double or triple this. :)

Moving away from meat is a fun excuse to experiment with new recipes. We recently discovered and enjoyed Greek Fakes soup, and my husband wants me to make Indian Dahl lentils again. We tried Black Bean Burgers and decided that the recipe was promising but needed a lot of tweaking.

What meatless recipes have you tried and enjoyed?

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See what meatless meals are cooking in the other Moms’ kitchens:

Smockity Frocks
Raising Olives (currently posting once/month)
The Common Room

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Filed Under: 4 moms 35 kids, food, frugal

4 Moms: Favorite frugal tips

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May 10, 2012 by kimc 10 Comments

This week we 4 moms of many are sharing some of our favorite frugal tips. I’m already busy making this harder than it has to be, asking myself if ”favorite” means the tips we enjoy the most (or complain about the least), or the ones that save us the most. Or maybe our favorites would be the most creative ones, that make us happy just because we thought of them. Maybe our favorites are the ones that are so deeply ingrained as habits that we don’t even think twice about them, but then it gets really hard because we might be utterly unaware of them and then how would I tell you about them?

And if it’s hard to decide on the criteria for the word favorite, how about a definition for the word frugal? This blockbuster post on Frugal Hacks reminds us how widely our definitions can vary, and maybe when I decide which frugal tips are my favorites you’ll just snort derisively and mutter, “She calls that frugal?” Or you might be horrified and send the link to all your friends: “Can you believe she does this to her own family?!”

Now that you’ve been exposed to all my deepest self-doubts and neuroses, I’ll share a few of my best tips for stretching a single income in a double-income society. Some may seem too obvious, but I suspect much depends on where you’re standing and what you already do or know.

Save on food:

Cook from scratch. If you already do some scratch cooking, expand your skills by tackling new recipes: Enchilada sauce, pizza crust & pizza sauce, tortillas, biscuits, pancakes. This adds some work in the kitchen, but cuts your grocery bill and simplifies shopping because you buy greater quantities of staples like flour but less individual items like canned biscuits, bread, english muffins, bagels, and pancake mix.
Buy in bulk but always check unit prices. Bigger isn’t always cheaper, so don’t get fooled.
Shop the specials but check unit prices again. Not everything in the weekly sales flyer is a good deal.
Always watch the prices as your items are rung up. I get overcharged on at least one item almost every time I go to the store, especially sales and clearance items. If you catch the mistake before your order is finished, it’s easy to fix. It’s much harder if you wait and have to go through customer service.
Use what you buy. It seems obvious, but even a great deal is a waste of money if you don’t use what you buy.
Do some menu math. You might be surprised at the results.
Drink milk and water. Juice may have a few vitamins but is loaded with sugar – natural or otherwise. You get much more bang for your buck by eating fresh fruit. Other drinks have little or no nutritional value, so the less you drink of them the better.
Learn to eat meatless meals. Don’t make the switch all at once if you are heavy meat eaters, but begin having a meatless meal every now and then. Skimp on the meat in regular dishes, and teach your family to see it as a garnish rather than a main dish. It could be that your family won’t miss the meat at all!
Avoid eating out. Even a cheap meal out usually costs much more than eating in, so do your best to avoid eating out. It’s fine to treat your family to a restaurant meal, of course, but make it a planned event. Don’t let it happen by accident or default just because you failed to plan.

Save on repairs:

Take care of possessions. Reduce the need for repairs by taking good care of the things you own and use.
Ask how you can save on a repair. Some shops will let you order and provide the parts for a repair, just charging you for labor. If you can find a better deal on the parts than they offer, you can save some money. Prices are often negotiable, too. You’ll never know if you don’t ask.
Do your own repairs. You can do many of your own repairs on autos, appliances, furniture, walls, plumbing, and more. Don’t know how? Learn. The internet is a wealth of free information at your fingertips. If you need to actually see how a repair is done, YouTube is a wonderful resource.
Borrow tools for repairs. If you need a particular tool that you aren’t likely to use often, ask around for a loaner. Besides your own friends and acquaintances, Home Depot and Auto Zone often loan specialty tools for free.
Make it last or do without. Use cars, appliances and other big-ticket items as little as possible to extend their lifespan. When it’s time to repair them, ask yourself if it’s really worth the cost. How much would you miss it if you chose not to repair it?

Save on clothes:

Shop secondhand. If you’re used to buying new, secondhand stores may give you the heebie-jeebies at first, but that feeling passes. Thrift stores can be a great resource for high quality items for far less than you would pay for a new cheaply-made counterpart. Some items are brand new and still have tags from local retailers. We routinely find shoes that retail for hundreds of dollars in thrift stores for $10 or less. I have 2 pairs of boots that I absolutely love: one cost me over $100, and the other pair was like new for $4 (but retails for nearly $200). I bet you couldn’t tell which was which.
Enjoy hand-me-downs. Let it be known that your family appreciates hand-me-downs, and you may never need to enter a thrift store – except to drop off donations. Many people would prefer to give their children’s outgrown or out-of-favor clothes to someone they know rather than donate them to a business, but they need to know that you want them. Brag up the adorable bag of dresses that ____ passed to your daughter, and others will know that pride doesn’t stand between you and a new free wardrobe.
Plan ahead. Don’t wait until summer to hunt for a new summer wardrobe. Whether you’re shopping new or used, it pays to plan ahead. Great prices are easier to find at the end of the season than the beginning, so think about what you’ll need next year.
Repair and remodel. It doesn’t take mad sewing skilz to do minor repairs. Even some very impressive alterations take more creativity than skill. Get outside your comfort zone and you might be shocked at what you can do. Check out what Kaitlyn did in less than 10 minutes to pretty up a plain t-shirt.
Extend the life of your clothes. Washing and drying is hard on fabric, so if it’s not dirty don’t wash it. When you do wash it, consider hanging it out to dry rather than using the electric dryer. You’ll save 3 ways: less electricity, less wear and tear on your dryer, and your clothes will last longer.

Save on purchases:

Don’t fall victim to SOS. Shiny Object Syndrome is a dangerous disorder that can wreak havoc on your budget. If it’s new and cool, force yourself to wait and make a careful decision after the excitement has worn off a bit.
Don’t just ask yourself if you’ll use it. Go a step farther: ask yourself if you need it, or if you’ve truly missed having it. Did you just realize you wanted it when you saw it on the shelf, or is this a great deal on an item you’ve been looking for?
Shop around. Don’t assume that a sale – or a thrift store find – is a great deal. Take time to check prices, or make sure you already know prices when you are shopping for an item. If you weren’t already shopping for the item, you probably don’t really need it right now.
Know the return policy and save your receipt. Leave yourself room for buyer’s remorse, and be ready to act on it. Even many thrift stores allow returns under the right circumstances.
Don’t fall victim to the spend-to-save fallacy. Some deals make you feel like the more you spend, the more you save. Stop and think: if Option B leaves less money in your pocket than Option A, it’s probably not a savings.
Eye buyer’s insurance with deep suspicion. There’s a reason stores offer you those extra insurance policies, and it’s not out of the goodness of their hearts. They profit on the deal, which means somebody loses on the deal. The odds are against you, so unless you have good reason to believe you might beat the odds, just decline.

And a bonus tip: Don’t be shy. Ask for discounts. Ask for add-ons. Many prices are negotiable, and you’ll never know unless you ask. Negotiating is a dying skill in the US, but is alive and well in much of the world. Help bring it back! Be courteous, but bold. Smile when you make a request, and thank them whether or not you get what you asked for. Here are some phrases I have used successfully:

I would love to have this, but it only costs $8.99 new. Can you come down on the price?
I think my daughter would really like this dress, but it has a hole here. Can you take something off the price?
I love the color of this shirt, but it has some faint spots – see? Can you adjust the price?
I’m looking for an oven like that. Can you do a little better on the price for me?
If I buy these 3 items, can you throw this in for free?

What are some ways that you save money?

Here’s what the other 3 moms say:

Connie at Smockity Frocks
Headmistress @ The Common Room
Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

May 17 - Q&A
May 24 - Homeschooling when in a rotten temper

4 Moms serve dinner for 50 cents/person {linky}

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March 8, 2012 by kimc 22 Comments

4moms35kids 4 Moms serve dinner for 50 cents/person {linky} You’ve heard of $5 dinners, but they usually feed 4 or maybe 6 people. Today, the 4 Moms are going to try to do better. Really? Is it possible to make dinner for $.50/person?

In an attempt to reduce our grocery expenses without sacrificing healthful eating, our family has learned to eat many meatless dinners. This doesn’t mean we skimp on protein, though. We are hearty eaters, and we love our protein!

Beans and homemade bread are one answer that is both obvious and hearty. Two pounds of dry pinto beans from WalMart cost about $1.30 – call it $2 to allow for generous seasoning. A pot of beans can be surprisingly varied if you learn to season them differently. Meat is nice but not always necessary. $1.50 would be enough to make 2 loaves of sweet rich Challah bread or a big pan of cornbread and a little butter. That leaves us $2.50 for some fresh veggies – right now, that would buy 2 lbs. of carrots, 1 lb. of roma tomatoes, and 2 cucumbers.

Beans and cornbread together provide a substantial amount of complete protein, but not everyone wants to eat a pot of beans every day and maybe your family doesn’t like beans as much as we do. Surely we can be a little more creative.

How about pizza? We can’t have all the toppings we want, but let’s see what we can do with our budget.

Let’s make enough dough for 4 large pizzas. Sometimes I make more because I like to plan for leftovers, but 4 is plenty even when we’re famished and today we’re on a budget. Salt is cheap, and since I get flour (8 cups) and yeast (2 Tbs) from Costco and I don’t always use oil in my pizza dough, that’s just 60 cents so far. Let’s allow some oil for the pans, though, to make the crust nice and crisp: 50 cents will provide 2 Tbs. of butter or olive oil for each pan.

Easy Frugal Pizza Crust

makes 4 large pizzas

3 cups warm water
2 Tbs. yeast ($.08)
2 Tbs. salt
~8 cups flour

Combine water, yeast, salt and 2 cups of flour. Let sit 10 minutes, until bubbly and active. Stir and knead additional flour to make a firm dough. Knead by hand or in machine until smooth and only slightly sticky.

Let rest 10 minutes or up to 24 hours. Divide into 4 parts and pat onto large greased pizza pans or cookie sheets. Top and bake immediately, or prebake 10 minutes at 300 to finish later.

Add pizza sauce made from a gallon can of tomato paste (we season and freeze 1 cup portions, then add water and simmer until we’re ready to use it) for 50 cents (19 cents is the paste; the rest is the cost of spices).

We’ll divide 6 cups of grated mozzarella ($3.75 from Costco) between 3 of the pizzas, and make the 4th into breadsticks to dip in the extra sauce. Many people enjoy cheese pizza so let’s leave one plain. We still have 65 cents for additional toppings – 2/3 lb. of turkey sausage can be divided between 2 pizzas, or we can afford 1/2 diced onion, 1/2 bell pepper and a few sliced mushrooms.

Breakfast for dinner can be fun and frugal. We occasionally have pancakes and eggs when we find the dinner hour upon us without a plan.

Pancakes to feed a dozen

makes 50-4″ pancakes for $2.35

5 cups flour ($.35)
2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. salt
5 cups soured milk – 2 Tbs vinegar plus milk to make 5 cups ($1)
5 eggs ($.50)
1/2 cup oil or melted butter ($.50)

Combine dry ingredients. Add milk, eggs and butter, then mix just until smooth. Drop onto hot lightly greased griddle and cook until bubbles appear. Flip and cook until done.

We like to top our pancakes with butter ($.50) and a little sprinkle of brown sugar rather than syrup that’s full of HFCS.

Add 2 dozen eggs ($2.50), fried or scrambled, and you have a fun & filling dinner with plenty of protein for less than $6. There are no veggies this time, but maybe you had fruit with breakfast and a big salad for lunch. :)

More Dinners for less than $.50/serving:

Bean & cheese burritos. Cook your beans from scratch, but buy tortillas if you have an inexpensive source. We pay $1/20. Serve with diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, cheese, and salsa.

Spaghetti, salad and fresh bread. Make your own sauce from that gallon can of tomato paste, and skip the meat if you can live without it. Set out 1/2 lb. of grated mozzarella to sprinkle on top.

Taco salad. Serve homemade seasoned black beans instead of meat, along with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, crushed tortilla chips, salsa, and a little sour cream if we have it.

The other moms are talking about it today, too.

Smockity Frocks

Common Room

Raising Olives

How does your budget compare? How can you or how would you feed your family dinner for 50 cents/person?

Link up with us, and please remember to play by the linky rules:

You must link to a specific relevant post on your blog.
Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms blogs.
The post you link to must be completely family friendly.

If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow one of the rules above. Please feel free to add your link again once you have fixed the problem. If you don’t know why your link was deleted, please ask.

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

March 15 – How to save memories without being overrun
March 22 – Q&A (watch for your chance to post questions on Facebook)
March 29 – Making time to manage the budget
April 5 - Do you plan out blog posts? How do you manage blog time?

Comparing online tax preparation companies: H&R Block vs. Turbo Tax

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February 4, 2012 by kimc 20 Comments

I’m getting ready to file my tax return for last year. We think that income tax should be abolished – after all, America grew and prospered all the way into the 20th century without an income tax – but we do the standard American tax ritual.

We have filed our tax return online for many years, and we went back and forth between Turbo Tax and H&R Block. We had no problems with either, and both were very easy to use. Both asked all the relevant questions and walked me through the process online, step by step, allowing me to save my progress and pick up where I left off if I didn’t want to do it all in one sitting.

One year when we had a particularly complicated return – several businesses and an out-of-state rental that we owned – I used both sites to compute our taxes and compared the results before actually filing the return. H&R Block found a deduction that Turbo Tax missed, changing our refund by $300 for the better. Since then, we’ve used H&R Block but I try to compare the 2 regularly and nearly always come up with the same numbers.

I love that both offer free filing, and even if you have too much income to qualify for free filing, each lets you go all the way through the process and only requires payment when it’s time to hit the Submit button.

Here’s my question for you: Do you think people who file online are crazy? Have you used either or both? Which do you prefer? I would love to have your input in the poll below, and I would love to hear more about your opinion and/or experience in the comments! Maybe you can convince me that I don’t need to take time to fill out my tax refund twice, if there is a clear winner.

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The links above are affiliate links, so if you use either company through the link I’ll get a commission. If you want to give them a try but don’t want to use the affiliate links, direct links are below. Don’t worry; I’ll never know the difference. :)

H&R Block

Turbo Tax

Filed Under: blogging & technology, frugal

Linky time: I want your best bean/lentil recipe

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May 18, 2011 by kimc 45 Comments

Last week I paid over $3.50 for a gallon of milk, and my panic button finally went off. It’s been a while since I totaled my grocery expenses, and I really don’t want to do it now. I find it comical that the government excludes the cost of gas and groceries when they tell us we are not experiencing inflation on any significant level. It’s comical the same way a really, really bad day is comical: if I didn’t laugh, I would have to cry. Can they be any more obvious in the slant of their figures?

But I didn’t start this post to complain about the economy. I just want to keep the food budget under control, and I want to do it without resorting to ramen noodles, so we’re going to eat less meat, more beans and learn to use lentils. Beans are great for diabetics (we have one) and proved to be a miracle cure for my morning sickness, which I hope to experience again someday in the near future. We already enjoy beans, but I know we’re missing a whole world of variety when we limit ourselves to pinto beans with ham or taco seasoning. I want you to broaden our world with your favorite recipes!

Please join in by posting any or all of your favorite recipes for beans and lentils, then link up below. Extra points for meatless recipes!

Remember your linky manners:

Link to a single relevant post on your blog, not the front page.
Link back to this post so that your readers can join the fun.
If you find that your link is deleted, you probably broke one of the rules above. Feel free to try again.

Filed Under: food, frugal

Want to learn to make money with your blog?

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April 19, 2011 by kimc 1 Comment

That’s the topic of my new series over at Frugal Hacks, thanks to 5 separate inquiries from ambitious friends and acquaintances. The first post went live today: Monetize Your Blog, part 1. Go see, and give it a link if you like it!

Filed Under: frugal

Psst…cash giveaway over at Frugal Hacks

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November 6, 2010 by kimc 1 Comment

I share a list of my favorite frugal articles from around the web nearly every Saturday over at Frugal Hacks. This week I decided to spice it up a little by offering $10 to whoever submits a link to the best article!

If I get a good response I just might do it this way every weekend, so show me what you think by participating and spreading the word. Pleeease?

Filed Under: frugal, giveaways & deals

Stirring up trouble…

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January 23, 2010 by kimc 5 Comments

I just added this little gem to my Frugal Quotes generator:

We live in a strange society. The Bible says that debt is a curse and children are a blessing. But we apply for a curse and reject blessings. Doug Philips

You can see the script in action here, but if you want my script on your blog just pop over to Frugal Hacks and look in the sidebar to grab the code. Once installed, it will show any of over 100 different random quotes about debt, frugal living, and other wise and witty bits of financial advice and commentary. As I add new quotes on my end, they will show up on yours too.

script provided by Frugal Hacks

Cool, huh?

Filed Under: blogging & technology, frugal

No shampoo update: 7 months and counting

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October 27, 2009 by kimc 44 Comments

It’s been a long time since I mentioned the no-shampoo thing (I just can’t bring myself to call it no-poo), because I’ve adjusted very well. The initial adjustment was tough, but that was largely because of the learning curve and my horrible hard water. Maybe somebody out there can learn from my experience and have an easier time of it.

There are a few pros and cons, but overall I think my hair and scalp are much happier and healthier. Saving some money is a nice perk, too.

MY PRODUCTS

soda water

To prepare my soda water, I boil 2 quarts of water. Then I turn off the heat and slowly stir in 1/3-1/2 cup baking soda. Once it cools, I pour into a large empty dishsoap bottle. This makes it easy to open and close, and easy to apply. I keep this right in the shower, like a bottle of shampoo. 2 quarts is enough for at least 8 uses, even with my long thick hair. For those with less hair, it would go much further.

Try just stirring together baking soda and water first. If you don’t have freakishly hard water, you probably won’t need to boil yours like I do. But if you find that your baking soda just sits like grit on your head instead of dissolving while the natural oils stay in your hair, try boiling. The soda water should feel slippery rather than gritty, and the oil should just rinse away.

vinegar rinse

My “conditioner” is just diluted apple cider vinegar in a second dishsoap bottle. I don’t measure. I just pour ~1/2 cup in the bottom of a 1/2 gallon bottle and add water to fill.

White vinegar works too but apple cider vinegar seems to be milder and has a more slippery feel to it, so it leaves my hair feeling more conditioned.

MY ROUTINE

Most of the time I put my hair up when I shower. About every 3 days, I decide my scalp is getting oily or dirty enough to benefit from washing. On these days, I use soda water to wet it down. I don’t know why, but I find it works much better if I don’t wet my hair first with plain water. Although my hair is long and thick, it only takes ~1 cup to thoroughly wet my scalp.

I don’t worry about the rest of my hair – that doesn’t really get dirty, and does gets plenty clean in the process. I just wet down my scalp and scrub gently to work in the soda water. I have a tendency toward dandruff in certain areas so I pay special attention to those areas.

After washing with soda water and rinsing with plain water, I squirt about 1 cup of this throughout my hair and gently work it in. It should feel slightly slippery. One more rinse and I’m done. I’ve learned not to worry about lingering vinegar smell. It dissipates as my hair dry.

PROS AND CONS

My hair used to be so oily that even 24 hours between shampoos was a little gross. I had dandruff nearly all the time, only barely hidden by frequent shampooing and trials with dandruff shampoos. At first I tried to go a week between washings. That was simply too much, and made the transition harder than it needed to be. Now I wash about twice/week. For the first time since I was little, after 3 or 4 days my hair just looks shinier than usual rather than having an oil slick on top of my head.

I have found that the occasional flakiness I get now can be brushed away. I think this is more of a natural shedding than the unhealthy scalp I had before.

My hair has a subtly different feel now, and I like it. It’s a bit heavier and more substantial. It feels thicker and is more obedient, even though I use absolutely no styling products. This always reminds me of the old saying, “I just washed my hair and can’t do a thing with it!” Now I know what they meant. My hair used to be so soft and slippery that I couldn’t keep it in a clip – it just fell right through. Now it’s soft but has some body to it. It also looks shiny and healthy, with none of the flyaway-frizzies that I used to get when I skipped conditioner. Weather affects it very little. No static, no frizzies, no flathead. Just normal happy hair.

One thing I don’t like is that the natural oils make my scalp attract dust and lint. I have to brush more often to keep it clean, and my brush gets a white greasy residue and has to be cleaned frequently. Yes, kinda gross, but I just remind myself that this is the natural oil designed to protect my hair from the elements. Frequent brushing helps distribute this oil to keep your head of hair sleek and shiny.

At first I missed the fragrance of shampoo and conditioner, but I quickly realized that I can add my own fragrances by applying a dab of perfume oil or a spray of cologne to my hair brush. The funny thing is, once I realized this I stopped missing it. Just knowing that could seemed to stop me from feeling “deprived.” I rarely remember to do it now.

I’m not one to jump in with every trend that comes along, and I thought this one sounded crazy when I first heard it. Now I have to admit there’s something satisfying about not being dependent upon commercial shampoo. It feels like the way hair is meant to be treated. Once I quit stripping my hair daily, it became hard to think about going back.

Have you jumped on the no-shampoo bandwagon?

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal Tagged With: no poo, no poo adjustment, no poo greasy hair, no poo hard water, no poo oily hair, no shampoo, no shampoo adjustment, no shampoo greasy hair, no shampoo hard water, no shampoo oily hair

Charlie’s Soap giveaway

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September 10, 2009 by kimc

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We did our best to choose a winner randomly, but any Christian knows that Somebody is in control and there’s no such thing as random. That’s why I was delighted but not a bit surprised to find that the winner of last week’s giveaway for a free copy of Natalie Wickam’s Pajama School is

Tracey, who said:

I would love to win this! I would also love it if anyone that reads this would pray for me as my husband and I consider homeschooling our little ones who are not yet school age.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and please remember to keep Tracey in your prayers.

Don’t forget to enter Natalie’s fun and creative film-making contest to win a free pass to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, worth hundreds of dollars. What a great homeschooling project!

Next up: Charlie’s Soap.

We’re thrilled to be using Charlie’s Soap again after a brief excursion into making our own. Homemade was fun and easy, but as it turns out it does not work well in hard water, nor is it recommended for cloth diapers. If you have either, get thee some Charlie’s Soap pronto. It’s quite possibly the cheapest zero-residue laundry detergent on the market, getting things truly clean without a lot of fillers, fragrance or other fluff.

Charlie’s Soap is safe for HE washers, delicates, dogs, and nearly anything else you can think of.

Are you ready to try it? Don’t let me stop you from ordering some right now (tell them I sent you), but do take a moment to enter this giveaway. If you win, great! – you’ll have enough to share.

What’s up for grabs?

An all-expenses paid trip to laundry heaven. This Laundry Powder Combo Kit contains 80 loads of Laundry Powder, a handy Sprayer of All Purpose Cleaner, a Portable Emergency Stain Treater, a gallon refill of All Purpose Cleaner, and a stylish non-woven reusable Grocery Tote sporting the Charlie’s Soap logo. Retails for $51.92, and worth every penny.

How to enter

Visit the Charlie’s Soap website. Poke around the FAQ page, full of truly helpful questions and answers plus a healthy dose of good humor.

Then come back and leave a comment telling us why you need Charlie’s Soap or what you’ll be washing with Charlie’s Soap if you win. Be creative!

As usual, you can enter again each time you promote this giveaway:

blog it. Leave a comment with the link to your post.
facebook it. Leave a comment with your user-name.
twitter it. Leave a comment with your user-name.
become a fan of Charlie’s Soap on facebook. If you’re already one, that counts too. Either way, leave a comment with your user-name to tell us.
or really amp your odds of winning by doing all of the above! Just come back to leave a comment for each separate entry.

Ready? Set? GO!!!

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal, giveaways & deals Tagged With: charlies soap, giveaways & deals, green cleaners, laundry detergent, zero residue

We made it!

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August 29, 2009 by kimc 18 Comments

This year we spent the entire spring and summer without a/c. Maybe you live up north and don’t have air conditioning, but we’re in south Texas. We’re farther south than the southern border of California. We’re way down there. And we did it.

We’ve had a record number of triple-digit days this year, but we made it. We only turned on the 2 little window units twice, for company, and all the windows were open at the time.

According to the forecast at AccuWeather.com, the high temps for our little town for the next 2 weeks should range from just 90-93 degrees, and then it’s just one more week until fall is officially here! That sounds positively comfortable. Maybe they’re wrong, but the very thought of sub-100 temps makes me giddy.

Do you know what else makes me giddy? The thought of all the money we saved by not running the air. We didn’t just save what we spent on air last year. This year was much hotter, so we would have spent much more. Ironically, we probably would have spent more and been less comfortable, since the little window units wouldn’t have been able to keep the house comfortable. They would have run constantly, but it would have been a losing battle.

Another advantage: we didn’t experience cabin fever. If the a/c was running, we would have spent all summer crowded together, huddled inside the stuffy house because it was 15 degrees cooler than outside. Instead, we spent a lot of time both inside and out – on the deck, on the trampoline, and visiting our new chickens. The kids explored the woods and climbed trees, and fashioned a makeshift seesaw out of a long plank and a paint scaffold. I still haven’t gone to look at it. I don’t want to.

And finally, not having a/c at home made leaving the house more pleasant. The a/c in our van works, but not well. To our acclimated bodies, it wasn’t bad. The desperate run from the air conditioned vehicle to the air conditioned grocery store wasn’t desperate at all. While others looked sweaty and uncomfortable, most of us felt very little inclination to complain.

Don’t get me wrong: there was complaining through the course of the summer. Some of us adapt more easily than others, and some are more prone to complaining than others. Some of us vacillate between the two groups. Some simply didn’t understand why were weren’t using the air.

It certainly wasn’t easy, especially at first. But it got better even as the temperatures rose. 100 now feels far more comfortable than 85 did in the early spring. God’s design for the human body is wonderful. We can adapt, and when the need presents itself we do.

In the end I feel triumphant. And I feel crisp and cool, even though it’s 7:30 PM and 92 degrees.

Now I’m wondering if we could adjust to winter temps without heat. I’m also wondering if the very suggestion would result in a mutiny. Maybe next year…

Filed Under: frugal

the Budget, and where my Chocolate falls therein

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August 25, 2009 by kimc 13 Comments

Now that our 7 year stupid tax has come to an end, we’re putting our collective shoulder to the plow. Is that the right phrase? At any rate, we have embarked upon a new budget to help us pay off our remaining debts as quickly as possible.

It’s been many years since we had a formal budget. Generally, our budget plans have looked like this:

Pay bills.
Buy food.
Strive to resist unnecessary purchases.
Oops.

Now, our plan is a bit more detailed. We get paid on the 15th and 30th of each month. I’m leaving out most of the numbers out for the sake of privacy, but our budget looks like this:

15th

tithes – automatically deducted off the top.

cash – groceries, plus a modest amount of spending money for Perry and me.

gas - The plan is to put $60 in the tank every Friday. This gets us to town once for groceries and once for church, with a bit left over for unplanned trips. Hubby currently carpools with brother-in-law, so the cost of his lengthy daily commute is relatively small.

cell phones – we keep 3 on a family plan: one each for me and hubby, and one for the kids when we leave them alone to babysit. Our contract is up for renewal, but we’re toying with the idea of continuing on a month-to-month basis for maximum flexibility.

Netflix – we have the $8.99/month membership.

Samaritan Ministries – our alternative to health insurance. We also have dental insurance through Vision Forum for $80/month but this comes out before we ever see it, so it’s not included in the budget.

Any funds left over from this paycheck go toward irregular expenses (van repairs, dental bills, etc), emergency fund, & extra payments on debts.

30th

tithes – same as above.

cash – same as above.

gas – same as above.

house payment

short-sale balance – 18 month unsecured loan. We hope to pay this off sooner.

insurance – home, auto, life

electric – with no a/c or dryer, our bill has been very manageable this year!

notes:

We have a well, so there’s no water bill.

Our house is all electric, so we have no propane or gas bill.

We burn our trash, so no trash bill.

Our internet access generates some income, so we have the cost deducted from Paypal.

Obviously this will be tweaked and changed as the need arises, but it’s a plan. Already, we’ve gone over budget on gas. Hubby thinks we need to budget more for gas. I think we just had a few high-usage weeks in a row. At any rate, my orderly mind loves having a real plan, and hubby thrives on this as well. We are opposites in many ways and that’s often a good thing, but this is one area in which we are alike. That’s a good thing, too.

With a plan, we are forced to stop and ask ourselves before every single expense: “Where does this money come from? How do I categorize this?” Sometimes this is tricky: Does a shiny new kitchen gadget come from my spending money or the grocery budget? I think it depends on how badly I need it, and whether others in the house will use it too.

Other items are easier: a fountain drink comes from spending money. So do books. My personal chocolate stash will come out of my spending money, though some might contend that it’s a necessity and deserves a category of its own. Hubby might even feel motivated to use some of his spending money for my chocolate under certain circumstances. Ahem.

Our grocery budget includes all household incidentals: paper products, school supplies, pet food, minor auto maintenance, clothes, and charity. My last grocery trip included lots of edibles plus a bra, a box fan, chicken food, dog food, ant bait, silverware, etc. My rule of thumb is if I can get it at WalMart, it’s groceries. Yes, I extend this to include chicken feed, which I technically can’t get at WalMart, but you get the idea. Yes, I could also extend this to include chocolate, but I need the discipline imposed by my personal spending limit.

There are a few things about this new plan that just tickle me.

Our new birthday/Christmas fund is Swagbucks. We will either purchase from Amazon with gift certificates earned from Swagbucks, or try to sell the codes for $5 gift certificates at a slight discount.
Perry and I each have our own modest monthly allowances. This means that I can spend without ovarian guilt, something that is often difficult for me. I can stop for a dollar burger on shopping day if I choose without feeling like I really should have eaten before I left the house. I can add fries to that order. Not every time, mind you, but sometimes.
Now when I buy chocolate with my “allowance,” it’s really mine. I can hide and eat it without guilt. I will share, but it will be because I’m nice.
And when Perry and I are out together, he can gallantly pay the bill out of his very own money. I know, because he’s done it already. I could do it for him, too. That part is only theoretical because…well…I haven’t done it yet…but maybe I’ll bring him a big fountain drink the next time I’m out getting groceries.

Is it just me, or is there something exciting about embarking on a new budget? I can’t wait to pay bills, balance the checkbook, or pull a bit of cash out of the Food Envelope.

There’s something strangely satisfying about making a plan and seeing it unfold just as you designed it. There’s even something satisfying about revising a plan when things don’t quite the way you expected. I can’t quite explain it, but it makes me feel creative and responsible and capable. What can I say? Math is fun.

What do you think? Does that make sense, or should this post go under the Mom Is Neurotic category?

Filed Under: frugal

Diapers

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August 18, 2009 by kimc Leave a Comment

pssst…

just a quick tip to let you know that I’ve been posting a bit more at my other blog. Go put in your 2 cents’ worth – I’d love to know what you think.

Cloth diapers: why I shunned them for 15 years. Why we switched.

Poll: cloth diapers

Filed Under: frugal, questions

The good side of WalMart

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August 14, 2009 by kimc 9 Comments

It’s Friday so I”m out getting groceries today. Consequently, you won’t be seeing much from me today. With an hour commute each way to and from town, groceries are an all-day affair.

If you’re wondering why you’re hearing from me right now, we just stopped in at Vision Forum for a brief nursing break and a visit with hubby. We’ll be back again when it’s time to pick him up and head home. I like this Friday routine. :)

I learned something good about WalMart today. I know a lot of people think poorly of WalMart for a variety of reasons, so it’s nice to have something nice to say about them.

I asked if they had any food-waste that I could have for my chickens, and they said no. I’m a big girl. I can take no for an answer. But here’s what I really appreciated: the manager came out to explain to me exactly what happens to each type of waste!

The meat is pulled and frozen on the sell-by date, while it is actually still safe to eat for several more days. They donate it to a local food pantry.
Unsold bakery/deli goods are also donated to a local distribution for the poor.
Any produce that goes bad before being sold is collected for a local wildlife preserve.

I was impressed. I’m not an environmentalist, but I do think we need to exercise good stewardship over the resources God gives us. This sounds like an excellent example.

I was even more impressed with the level of customer service displayed by the manager. She could have just had someone tell me no, but she took time out of her day to explain why my request was being refused.

Isn’t it refreshing when somebody can tell you no in a way that actually makes you glad?

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, food, frugal

Homemade Starbucks-style frappuccinos

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August 10, 2009 by kimc 31 Comments

If you love Starbucks but can’t afford the habit, try my addiction instead. We’ve been sipping homemade cold coffee that tastes like the Starbucks-in-a-bottle for years, but now we’re taking it to a new level.

With our new blender (courtesy of Swagbucks), we are now serving them frozen. There are some definite perks to forgoing the a/c in South Texas. I have the perfect excuse to sip these treats all day long!

Each of my daughters seems to find her own area of expertise in the kitchen, and 11yo Megan has become our blender-meister. Here is the recipe she has developed for fraps.

Starbucks-style Frappuccino

makes 2 grande (16 oz each)

3 cups ice
1 1/2 Tbs. instant coffee - I use decaf. A good national brand tastes best, but even the cheap stuff will make you regret you ever paid $4 for a frap.
3 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup heavy cream - Not strictly necessary, but makes it even yummier. Try this at your own risk.

Blend til smooth and enjoy. Drink with a straw. Remember to share, because this was 2 large servings.

options:

Mocha: add 2 Tbs. of unsweetened cocoa powder.
Java Chip: blend in chocolate chips
Caramel Macchiato: replace the sugar with a 1/3 cup of caramel sauce.
Get really fancy and top it with real whipped cream.
Try drinking it all yourself.

Filed Under: food, frugal

Frugal living

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August 1, 2009 by kimc 7 Comments

Debbie left a comment on this post about frugal living that I’d like to share because it was very encouraging to me. We are not crazy just because we don’t live the typical American-consumer lifestyle!

These are truly remarkable adjustments you have made. The added bonus is that should we reach a point when we MUST live without these conveniences we take for granted, it will not be the same shock to your family that it will to most.

I am currently visiting my son and family in Japan where the cost of living is through the roof and they are forced to be frugal. Last month this family’s water bill alone was $300 – JUST WATER. They think twice about long showers, extra laundry etc. Power and propane fuel is unbelievably high. I notice that they don’t dispense paper napkins, towels, etc. at home or in restaurants. We have come to rely so much on disposable everything and we waste so much in overpackaging – another reason to do more from scratch.

In Japan, they carry their groceries to the car, bus or train in reusable containers because they have to pay extra for a plastic or paper bag. Wouldn’t it be wise to start this before we have to pay for the luxury?

My son does the laundry and he hangs the clothes, often strung in bedrooms, kitchen and anywhere they can mount a rod or hang a plastic hanger. With lots of rain here, (and snow in winter in this part of Japan) they often don’t have the option of hanging outside. But, when they can there is plenty of support since everyone here is in the same boat – no snooty neighbors or ridiculous restrictive covenants that force unnecessary expenditures.

Where I live incineration is against the law due to air quality concerns. I remember having these in the 50s and early 60s. It really cuts down on garbage. The local restrictions can make it hard at times but in this valley we do need to make changes for the good of the community.

You probably use ceiling fans. I have installed these in two bedrooms as well as the living room and find them to be very helpful and cost very little. (Be sure they are switched the right direction depending on the season). How quickly we forget that we managed without A/C in the past – even in the car driving through the desert to Disneyland. I have no doubt that some places are worse than others without A/C or central heating. Here in northern Japan where climate is similar to Salt Lake where I live, only individual rooms are heated in winter when they are in use – thus the sliding walls and window coverings (paper, rice weave, bamboo, etc.). The children are very good at knowing to keep the rooms closed to conserve the energy and not let heat escape in winter. The same in summer but they only use A/C rarely in a single room. They have also learned that huge homes are not “needs.” There is much we could learn from different cultures.

I guess my suggestion is just to consider all we take for granted and realize much of it is habit; not necessity. (emphasis mine)

Frugal living is simply good stewardship in action, and is one of the ways we seek to honor God. It won’t look the same in every family and household, but we all need to live within our means and make the most of the blessings God grants us.

Filed Under: from the mailbag, frugal

Corners to cut

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July 30, 2009 by kimc 26 Comments

We’ve found quite a few new corners to cut this year, not because we’re hurting financially (though we’ve always had to be careful), but because we want to pay off some debts.

I shared some of our new savings in the comments over at Frugal Hacks but maybe some of you don’t follow that blog, so I would love to compare notes here as well.

Big stuff:

We line dry all of our own clothes. We have a large family so we generate a lot of laundry. We estimate that this is saving us $50/month, not to mention one less appliance to buy and maintain.
We are skipping the a/c. This is saving us $150-200/month.
When we gave up the a/c, we started buying a lot of ice for cold drinks instead. I just realized that we were spending nearly $50/month on ice. This week, we’re experimenting with homemade ice cubes. Switching isn’t as easy as you might think because our water has a lot of minerals and bagged ice isn’t just convenient; it tastes much better. But we’ll try. Savings: $50/month.
We switched to cloth diapers and baby wipes. Savings: $30/month.
We canceled our trash service and started separating our trash. The burnables get burned in a barrel with a screened cover. Savings: $35/month.

Small stuff:

We started using baking soda & vinegar instead of shampoo and conditioner. We also switched from antiperspirants to a homemade concoction which has shocked me by working better than anything I’ve ever used! We don’t do these things for the savings, but that’s a nice little perk. Savings: $15/month.
We make our own laundry soap. Savings: $10/month.
We have started using cloth for other household products, cutting way back on our use of paper napkins, paper towels, paper plates, etc. Savings: $30/month
We invested in chickens this year. They live primarily on scraps so feed cost is minimal. Once they start laying, we hope to save $30-50/month on eggs and might have extra to share or sell. Alternatively, we might find ourselves consuming far more eggs and saving on other sources of protein that we would have bought.

Future plans:

We hope to install a woodburning stove to heat the house this winter. We’re debating whether to go with a cheap/free model, or invest in a more efficient one. We might save immediately by using a free one now and then invest in a better one in a year or two. We expect to save $400-600 this winter.
We are considering one or two milk goats. This should save us at least $30-40/month minus the cost of feed. Feed should be minimal since we’re hoping they’ll help clear the land by eating a lot of brush, though we’ll have to give them some grain if we plan to milk them.
We have talked about using passive solar energy to preheat our water, significantly reducing the energy consumed by our water heater. This is rather common here in south Texas. I estimate that it might save us $15-20/month, though I admit that’s nothing more than a wild guess.

This list is hardly comprehensive, and doesn’t include the other ways we’ve been saving over the years. These are just a few things that have changed recently in our house.

What’s new in yours?

Filed Under: frugal

Summer cooking: are you hot?

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July 19, 2009 by kimc 16 Comments

People keep saying this summer is a scorcher, but when I step outside I don’t notice a big difference.

Maybe that’s because we’re living without air conditioning in South Texas, where it has been 100 degrees nearly every day. We are doing this because it is saving us roughly $200/month. Honestly, it’s not as bad as it sounds. The human body is an amazing creation, and we have acclimated rather well, I think. We have also learned some new tricks, or at least improved upon our old tricks.

I think it should be obvious that one lifestyle choice – living without a/c – begets other lifestyle choices. We don’t cook in the house.

We do use the toaster and the microwave in the house, and we even boil water for the French press, but that’s all. Instead of heating up the house, we cook outside. Believe me, the house is hot enough already!

Instead of the oven, we use the roaster.
Instead of pots on the stovetop, we use the crockpot.
Instead of the griddle on the stovetop, we use our snazzy new enormous electric griddle, purchased with Amazon gift cards earned from Swagbucks. Can you see me smiling? That baby has room for 12 pancakes, 12 slices of french toast, or 12 grilled cheese sandwiches! Tonight, we had pork loin, sliced and breaded and fried. mmmm. 8 lbs. of tender, juicy spicy pig was done to perfection in a flash, thanks to Deanna. She cooked on the deck, and we ate on the deck.
Instead of cooking hot food, we can now make smoothies in our new blender, also courtesy of Swagbucks.
Or we enjoy sandwiches, salads, veggie trays, and fresh fruit. I think we’re averaging 5-6 large watermelons/week. No, I’m not kidding.

How are you staying cool this summer?

Filed Under: food, frugal

No shampoo, week I-Forgot-How-Many

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June 26, 2009 by kimc 10 Comments

I don’t remember how many weeks it has been since I started using baking soda and vinegar instead of shampoo, but I think it was at the end of February. It’s been a while since I posted any sort of update, so I guess this is a good time for a recap.

The first several weeks were rough. My hair has always been very oily and I have shampooed daily for 25 years. The baking soda/vinegar kept my scalp healthy and dramatically reduced my persistent dandruff, but it did NOT get rid of the oil. It was difficult. I was sure that eventually the oil production would slow down, but I didn’t see it happening.

Then I discovered that because my water is very hard, the baking soda doesn’t work the same for me as it does for those with soft water. I started adding some baking soda to boiling water and letting it cool before I used it. It made a world of difference!

Suddenly my hair was clean and soft! I still use the soda/vinegar every 2 or 3 days, but my hair is nice and soft, clean and shiny. I can do this forever. I would like to be able to go longer between washes, but I seem to be in a holding pattern. Maybe in the winter, when the weather is cooler and drier.

My children have all made the switch as well though some of them switch back and forth, occasionally using shampoo/conditioner for the fragrance. Some are old enough to have an opinion. A few held out longer than others, but our discovery about boiling the water encouraged the reluctant ones to give it a try.

One daughter who has had eczema on her scalp for over 5 years found that her eczema was gone after a week of baking soda and vinegar. When she shampooed the following week, it was back. She is now a convert.

I would love to wrap up this post with a wise and witty comment, but my laptop is used for movies in our house. It’s Friday night. There are about 5 smallish people leaning over me, whispering into both ears, “mom, turn the movie back on. mom, can we watch the movie now? how ’bout now?”

Quite understandably, my wit is nowhere to be found. Instead, I’ll find the “play” button.

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal

I learn to recharge the a/c in my van

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May 29, 2009 by kimc 22 Comments

Yesterday Hubby asked me to recharge the a/c in our Ford 15 passenger van, and I didn’t even flinch. I figured if WalMart sells the stuff to anybody over 18, then anybody over 18 should be able to read the instructions on the back of the can and get the job done. That sounds logical, right?

So I waited til the hottest part of the day, my traditional time to tackle outdoor projects, and headed out to the van carrying a 20 oz. can of R134-a, or something cryptic like that.

I popped the hood and leaned into the shade it provided, reading the back of the can.

Fast & Easy, it promised. The first words on the back of the can. There were only 3 steps.

Step 1. Find port and remove cap. Um, find it. Just like that. As in, find it yourself. That’s your problem, not ours. Just for those of us who are a little slow on the uptake, they helpfully add that the low-side port is located on the larger diameter aluminum tubing between the compressor and the evaporator. I’m pretty sure I know the general vicinity of the compressor/evaporator thing(s), but I still have no clue what a low-side port looks like.

I look for stuff that looks like it might attach to the thingummy on the end of the refrigerant can, because the label assures me that the high-side port won’t fit. At least I can’t mess this up. If something fits, I found it.

Nothing fits. I pull off rubber boots, gently tug at promising tubes and pipes, peer around in the darkness. No clues are forthcoming, except a sticker in the van that says it holds 4 lbs. of refrigerant. My 20 oz. can might not go far, assuming I can even find an orifice in which to cram it. Oops. I read ahead, and Step 2 said not to force it.

I do what any sensible person with a question does in the 21st century. I go back in the house and google it. I also look for our Ford Van repair manual, but I can’t find it. Google, it is.

I learn that most Ford vans have the low side port hidden way back behind the air filter. Some people recommend taking off the cowling inside to get at it from the passenger compartment. Others insist that you simply must remove the air filter. I learn that the low side port looks rather like a big tire valve with a cap on it that may or may not be color-coded blue. Or black.

So I go out and feel around behind the air filter. Uncharacteristically, I decide to skip right to the easy way rather than taking short cuts, so I crawl inside the van and unlock the buckles on the cowling. As I tug, I realize we’ve never taken the cowling off this van. It’s really, really stuck. It’s not coming off for me. I guess I have to do it the hard way.

I take off the air filter, which entails removing 5 very rusty bolts and several hose clamps. I have to crawl up onto the engine compartment to do it, though I find I can move it out of the way after 5 bolts and just one hose is released. Maybe it’s actually the intake manifold, or something like that. That term comes back to me from years helping my dad work on his van. Considering the reliability issues with my memory, these mental popups tend to be surprisingly accurate. At any rate, I am removing the whole contraption that holds the air filter.

Now. I look, and see nothing. Except – what’s that to the left? In plain sight, up on top, right against the side of the van? Nowhere near the air filter? It was staring at me all along. A big black plastic screw cap, between what I think might be the compressor/evaporator thing(s) and a smallish black cylinder. It looks just like the cap on a bicycle tire, only much bigger. I take it off and attach my can of refrigerant. It fits. This is easy, just like the label promised. Anyone can do this. I bolt down the air filter-holder-thing, carefully replacing everything just as I found it. The crack was already there, I promise.

Step 2: Measure. This is easy. The built-in gauge on the can tells me it’s low.

Step 3: Charge. Shake, and press the button. Keep an eye on the gauge, etc. My finger is sore by the time it’s done, but it’s easy and the van blows colder.

Now I just need one or two more cans. I have a feeling they will go faster.

Filed Under: Everyday life, frugal

Another Swag Code

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May 12, 2009 by kimc 1 Comment

Thank you to all of our friends who signed up at our urging. If you joined through our link, we get a SwagBuck every time you earn one! We’re on our way to earning a much-longed-for serger to help with a multitude of sewing projects.

We are totally jazzed about SwagBucks, and we want you to be excited too! If you missed the exclusive code last time and still haven’t signed up, here’s another chance. Sign up through our link by midnight Monday, May 18 and use the code FRUGALHACKS (case sensitive) to get a total of 5 SwagBucks when you sign up!

Filed Under: blogging & technology, frugal

I heart Swagbucks

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May 4, 2009 by kimc 8 Comments

Why didn’t I join Swagbucks sooner? Leave it to me to be the next-to-last one to jump on the bandwagon. Now that I’m on, you’re probably the last one. Jump on with me!

I just blogged about Swagbucks a few days ago on Frugal Hacks, and already I have enough for $10 in Amazon gift cards! We already use google all the time, so I added the Swagbucks search engine and now I get paid for something I was already doing for free. That’s my idea of fun!

Exclusive code

To join, just go here and fill out the simple form, and they’ll start you out with 3 Swag Bucks. I also got 1 Buck with my very first search. Coincidence? I think not.

Want more? Here’s a special code just for my bloggy friends to get 2 bonus bucks when you sign up: LIFEINASHOE (case sensitive). It’s good through midnight, Friday, May 9 so hurry! Feel free to tell everyone you know. I don’t mind.

Filed Under: frugal

No Shampoo, week 7: getting old

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April 19, 2009 by kimc 14 Comments

I have to admit: this is getting old. Most of my daughters had no problem at all making the switch away from shampoo, but I sure did. I know my hair is still adjusting, but it seems to be getting oily faster again. Maybe it’s the hot weather. I shelled out a few bucks for a boar bristle brush in the hopes that it would help distribute the natural oils, but I was hasty and bought the first & cheapest one I found. It’s far too soft for my hair, so I don’t expect it to do anything at all for my scalp.

I washed my hair with egg and lemon juice again, but my hair only felt clean for 2 days instead of 3 or 4 like last time.

It seems harder and harder to thoroughly distribute baking soda through my hair, and my scalp is feeling a bit icky. Ack! Dandruff!

I’m not ready to quit, but this is a bit discouraging. I’m perfectly happy with my hair up in a clip all the time – it’s my normal hairstyle – so I only really notice when I take it down at night. It feels good not to be a slave to a daily shampoo, and I know my scalp and hair are probably healthier for the change, but at the same time I miss my soft and swishy hair – especially when I’m surrounded by so many soft and swishy heads.

I could really use a few words of encouragement from others who gave up shampoo and persisted through a long and oily adjustment period.

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal

No Shampoo week 6: the saga continues

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April 11, 2009 by kimc 15 Comments

I’m afraid I spoke a bit hastily last week. Success was too strong a word. My hair does seem to be improving, but it’s still very oily.

I had used the egg/lemon juice mixture on Wednesday morning, and when last Saturday rolled around my hair was still feeling pretty clean. I forgot that it had only been 72 hours, and failed to give enough credit to the power of the egg shampoo. Now, 7 days later, we’re still having some significant oiliness. It doesn’t look like Week 2, but it also doesn’t look like success. I didn’t use egg at all this week. I’m going to hold off on the egg for a bit and see how things progress.

On the bright side, the fact that my hair still looked and felt clean 72 hours after an egg shampoo represents a tremendous change for the better! I may not be done with the adjustment period, but I’m still very encouraged.

Photos? I don’t know…my hair still stays up or braided. You won’t see a difference unless I let it down, and I’m not ready to do that.

SKIN

On a related topic, I stopped using facial cleansers when I stopped using shampoo. My oily-but-sensitive skin was always uncomfortably tight after cleaning, then shiny and oily again within an hour or two. Moisturizers didn’t seem to help.

But when I started washing with just warm water and a cloth, the results were very different. I’ve never had good skin – large pores and 10 years of adolescent acne – but I can honestly say it has never looked better. I’ve had no acne, far less oil, and it’s softer and smoother than ever. The change in my skin has actually encouraged me to persevere with my hair.

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal

We eat cloth eggs

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April 9, 2009 by kimc 21 Comments

That statement might warrant some explanation.

Back at the beginning of February, we switched to cloth diapers. It only made sense to switch to cloth wipes as well. We have gradually begun to do other “crunchy” things as well: washing our hair with baking soda/vinegar, using baking soda/cornstarch/tea trea oil for homemade deoderant, making our own laundry soap, growing a garden, line drying all of our clothes. But it all started with cloth diapers.

And hence a new definition of “cloth” was born in our house:

cloth – (adj.) 1. organic, natural or unprocessed; 2. old-fashioned; 3. re-usable or non-consumable; 4. homemade in origin

Some changes were met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception. Children were heard to wail, “Next thing you know, we’ll be eating cloth food!”

And so, we now eat cloth eggs. We noticed a neighbor’s sign for fresh eggs at the bargain price of $1.25/dozen, and jumped on the opportunity! Unfortunately they only have 6 laying hens, so they can hardly provide for all of our egg needs, but we’re enjoying whatever they can spare while we make plans for a coop and flock to provide all the cloth eggs we can eat. I suppose the coop will be cloth as well, since we’re building it ourselves. And now that I think of it, we live in a cloth house.

We are also looking forward to cloth vegetables from our garden, though I’m suddenly rather excited about starting some bean & alfalfa sprouts, perhaps since our salad greens are languishing sadly in the heat already. I think this qualifies as cloth food, though the children remember Grandma B’s sprouts fondly. We’re making homemade bread rather frequently these days, though we’re sadly neglecting our whole grain wheat and grinder. I think even white bread, when homemade, qualifies as cloth bread. At the moment, I’m making my first batch of English muffins in nearly 20 years.

It’s not just food, though. We have greatly reduced our use of paper plates, relying more heavily upon our cloth plates. We also use cloth napkins – really!

And Kaitlyn has become quite adept at sewing, providing her younger sisters with cloth clothes.

What’s cloth in your house?

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal, mom is neurotic

No shampoo, week 5: Success!

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April 3, 2009 by kimc 28 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been 5 weeks since I quit using shampoo! To recap, I used to shampoo religiously every 23.5 hours. My hair was so oily that even after 24 hours it was looking bad. I also had dandruff that was only barely kept at bay by ever more frequent shampoo.

The first 2 weeks without shampoo were definitely the worst. I used baking soda and vinegar every 2 or 3 days at first, then every day. By the middle of the second week my dandruff was gone but my hair was so oily it looked damp all the way to the ends. After 3 weeks it began to seem not quite so incredibly oily, and last week I was pretty sure it was getting better.

Now, amazingly, my hair feels very nearly normal. I don’t quite understand how this can be, but it’s true. I spent the day grocery shopping, yard saling and at a party – all with my hair down, not hidden in a clip. I flipped it, swirled it, ran my fingers through it. I wasn’t trying to show off. It was more like running your tongue over your teeth after a cleaning at the dentist, when your teeth suddenly feel so smooth. After 5 long weeks, I have my hair back almost overnight, but I’m no longer tied to daily shampoo.

In the shower, my hair feels different. If I try to use conditioner, I can feel the natural oils “blocking” it from my hair. It doesn’t penetrate, and it rinses right off. When my hair is damp, it feels a little “off.” But ince it’s dry, it’s sleek and shiny, not a bit greasy, with lots of body and movement. The only difference I notice is that it has more body than usual and is a little more…obedient? The short little bits of new growth seem much easier to train. They don’t stubbornly stand straight up if I try to smooth them down.

I’m pleasantly surprised that this only took 5 weeks. I really didn’t expect to see such a change, and certainly not so soon after the way the first 2 weeks went! At this point, I plan to keep using baking soda and vinegar every 2 or 3 days and an egg/lemon juice mixture every 7-10 days, unless my hair continues to change.

Among my daughters who have followed me in this experiment, we have several hair types:

The one with fine, straight hair says her hair feels very silky and smooth, not a bit greasy after a short minor adjustment period. She loves her hair this way.

The one with very thick straight hair says her hair still feels a bit oily, though not extremely so. It did look rather oily for the first 2 weeks or so, but not nearly so much as mine – only a couple of inches near her scalp. Now hers, like mine, feels more trainable but otherwise very much like it did before she gave up shampoo.

The 2 curly girls are alternating between baking & vinegar, and occasionally washing with conditioner only. Their hair used to be very dry and prone to tangle, but is now extremely soft and luscious. I see the greatest difference in appearance with those two. They had no oily adjustment period since their hair was so dry by nature.

Thanks for all your encouragement along the way! For those of you who have watched and wondered how it would turn out, are you ready to take the plunge yet?

What other new thing did you try in the month of March? Did it work for you? What will you try in April?

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal

How does my garden grow?

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April 2, 2009 by kimc 13 Comments

Let me count the ways.

It’s not the most beautiful sight: the containers are rather disorderly because we were preparing for a possible frost when the photo above was taken. Also notice the door/windbreak. Rather, please don’t notice it. Let’s talk about the plants instead.

Our homemade earthboxes seem to be working very well, both the buckets and the tub variety. Most of our plants are growing and thriving except for a few glaring failures which I try to explain below. We’ve only watered once or twice/week so far, and the soil seems to maintain a good level of moisture.

We’ll start at the lower left, but skip past my 2 empty “earthbuckets” which will probably hold some sort of large slicing variety of tomato. Bell peppers are labelled, 4 small new transplants. I bought the very last 9-pack at WalMart and gave 5 to my mom and sister. I still need some jalepenos for hubby, though I’m not quite sure where they will go yet. Probably more 5 gallon earth buckets.

After that, we have the container of failed cucumbers. I replanted these just after the photo was taken, so hopefully we’ll have something to show in a week or two.

In the corner, we have 2 containers of strawberry plants. I started out with 12 plants but 5 died right away. The rest are thriving. We have pinched off the blossoms diligently to let them devote their strength and energy to growing now, so we’ll have a bigger crop of berries later on. I haven’t decided yet if we’ll replace the 5 that died, since I probably shouldn’t have planted quite so many in the first place.

Next, we have tomatoes: 2 Romas, 2 Sweet One Hundreds. These have grown a lot since I put them out, and are trying to blossom too. We’re picking blossoms off almost daily, but might leave some to develop very soon.

To the right of the tomato buckets, you can see 2 containers of green beans (an heirloom bush variety – Contender, I think?) and 2 containers of peas. The beans are doing very nicely. I only hope I planted enough.

The peas – not so good. There are 2 varieties, one of them with edible pods. I foolishly neglected to note which was which, and one container has failed to germinate. This means that unless you can really tell by the amount of time to harvest (56 days vs. 70 days) we’ll have to taste a pod and decide just how edible it is. I hope, hope, hope it’s the edible pod variety. Quite honestly, I only planted the others because that’s what I found on my first trip to the store. Either way, I’ll need to provide something for these to climb very soon.

The smaller oblong containers in front contain edible flowers, lettuce (small and sad, and growing very slowly), spinach, and Swiss chard. The round pots are not part of the garden: a mum, a poinsetta that might be dead already though I’m hoping it comes back, and boganvia from my brother-in-law’s wedding last May. I nearly killed it several times, but it keeps coming back. I like stubborn plants.

I also have a large pot that I divided into 4 compartments with cardboard. This is holding 4 new cuttings from my mom’s fig tree. If you think they look sad, don’t worry. It’s normal for most or all of the leaves to drop off. In fact, we pulled most of them off to lighten the load while the branches are trying to grow roots. I’m really hoping my air layerings take off, but these cuttings will be the backup plan. If they survive, that is.

Now, are you wondering about the plants that failed so quickly? My earth boxes were fairly easy to make, but once I done with basic construction I got excited and didn’t follow the directions very well. I didn’t fill them to the very brim with dampened potting mix. Instead, I filled them to a reasonable level with very dry mix. Then I rushed ahead to planting, and placed 2 cups of fertilizer in a row down the middle or side, as directed.

Do you see a problem yet? Since the potting mix was dry, I had to water it thoroughly from the top at first. I learned this the hard way after waiting 4 days for moisture to wick up from the bottom. When I watered thoroughly from the top, I think I dissolved a good bit of the fertilizer right into the germinating seeds – too much of a good thing. The few that survived long enough to struggle to the surface looked distinctly burned. A second problem was that the level of soil dropped significantly once it was dampened. This seems to give the seedling trouble finding an opening, make them more susceptible to wind, and probably allows rain to puddle under the plastic, dissolving more fertilizer than is good for them.

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, food, frugal

No shampoo – week 4

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March 28, 2009 by kimc 13 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been 4 weeks since I shampooed. The change has been very gradual, but either my hair is getting better or I’m getting used to this. I’ve decided to wash with a mixutre of 1 egg and a bit of lemon juice once each week, and use baking soda with apple cider vinegar about every other day for the rest of the week.

Incidentally, I learned the same lesson that the Headmistress learned about egg shampoo, though not so dramatically. Don’t use very hot water, Do rinse very thoroughly, and for the love of all that is good and pure, Don’t use a blow dryer on your hair unless you want to see how many bits of egg white you missed even though you thought you were rinsing thoroughly.

And if you don’t take my advice? Well, the bits of cooked egg white comb out pretty easily.

My hair still seems a bit heavy and greasy, but not terribly so. I can wear it down if I want, but I still don’t think it really looks nice. Since we moved to south Texas I’ve preferred to keep it up anyway. All my short new hairs that used to stick up stubbornly all over my head are far more manageable with a bit of natural oil on them. In this sense, my hair looks far better! No more post-partum crew cut!

I do still notice a bit of that “scalp” smell that a commentor mentioned, but everyone else in the house swears they can’t smell it unless they sniff my head closely, not something I expect to happen often in public places. Hubby has requested that I wash the pillow cases more often since it has become noticeable there. I was thinking the same thing.

I was tickled to learn this week that several of my sisters and one sister in law are doing this as well. I’m not the family nutcase! At least, not the only one. I was also pleased to learn that NPR did a story on the spreading No-Poo movement, so apparently the idea is going mainstream. Even so, I refuse to call it No-Poo. I just can’t do it. It sounds too much like…well, you know what it sounds like. We crazy people have to draw the line somewhere, you know.

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal, mom is neurotic

Vision Forum: free $50 gift certificate

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March 28, 2009 by kimc 1 Comment

Well, sort of. It’s not quite that easy. Don’t grimace, because everyone loves this deal!

For five days only — March 28-April 1, 2009 — receive a free $50 gift certificate (passport) for every $95 of Vision Forum merchandise you order! There’s no limit, and you don’t have to split up your orders into neat $95 servings. If you order $180, you’ll automatically $100, and so on. These free gift certificates may be redeemed between May 2 and December 24, 2009, and are good for anything at Vision Forum.

There’s no special code necessary. Just fill your cart and you’ll receive your gift certificates automatically. Nice, huh?

What’s on your wishlist? If you’re on the Vision Forum email list, did you notice Princess Adelina in the ad? Nudge, nudge.

Filed Under: frugal, Vision Forum

No Shampoo: week 3

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March 22, 2009 by kimc 18 Comments

Who’s with me on this crazy little trip?

It’s been 3 weeks since I used shampoo – unless you count the egg shampoo – and I’m really wondering if there’s going to be a happy ending to this tale. I did try a shampoo bar, using just a touch of suds right at my scalp, but I didn’t like what it did to my hair.

I see more wave in my hair than ever, but also more oil. I can and do wear it up in a clip, so nobody knows but my own household. But when will the oil end? I certainly don’t want it to feel like this forever! Just for the sake of giving it a good try, I want to stick with it another couple of weeks, but I’m not sure what to expect or hope for. I’m afraid this works best for curly hair that tends to be so dry. My 2 curly tops now have softer, shinier hair than ever. Those of us with straight hair? Not so happy, but mostly me since my hair is far oilier than that of the children.

I don’t want to leave you with the wrong impression. I haven’t been miserable. My hair is soft and wavy. It feels almost sticky when it’s damp from the shower, but once it’s thoroughly dried I can run my fingers through it. I can’t decide if it feels nicely moisturized like skin after applying lotion, or if it just feel like somebody dumped a cup of Wesson Oil on my head. Sometimes I think it looks healthy and shiny, but then I give it a swing and it separates into strands. Ugh. Back into the clip. Pictures? I don’t think so.

I have been using baking soda and vinegar every day. This week I think I’ll back the baking soda off to every other day, probably with just a vinegar rinse on the off days. Maybe I’ll just rinse with warm water. I might do the egg shampoo again too, just to give myself a break.

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, frugal, madness