Living on the Cheap AND Green

I've been writing this post in my head for days, unsure of where to start. I've got a lot of tips and tricks that we do here at the homestead to save money, but we've been doing them for so long that I've lost touch with what parts of our life are not exactly normal. Or perhaps I could even go so far as to say that in our house, abnormal is the new normal.

For instance, it wasn't until someone suggested saving money by foregoing toilet paper that I remembered that we already DO that. When our biggest little was a baby I found myself growing jealous over her soft wet hiney wipes, and it didn't take me long to cut up a few more squares of old towel, serge their edges, and throw them into a shelf above the potty for our own use. I keep a bucket next to the toilet to hold the dirty wipes until diaper and wipe washing day. (Don't worry about visiting us though, we still keep TP around for guests!!)

Speaking of laundry, here is the detergent recipe I promised:

2 bars Castile soap, grated
2 cups of borax
2 cups of washing soda

I use Kirk's Castile soap but am searching for a cheaper option, that still doesn't contain fragrances or lathering agents. Tough to find these days. Know of any?

I usually make a double batch, mix it all up well, and store it in an old 9lb bucket. I use one or two tablespoons depending on the load, and it generally lasts me 6-8 weeks. I have not noticed that our clothes are any cleaner nor any dirtier than when we used the other stuff. Most importantly, our dirtiest, smelliest kitchen rags, consistantly come out clean. So, I consider that a success!

The kitchen is another place where I try to scrimp and save in the paper products department. We've moved from disposable sponges to washable washcloths, from paper towels to hand towels and cloth napkins. We use reusable containers for lunches and snacks on the go instead of plastic baggies.

We've also started using straight washing soda in our dishwasher, with a tablespoon or so of citric acid. Once in a while we put vinegar in as our rinse aid. And that all works perfectly fine for about half the cost.

On a related note, I have tried using Dr. Bronner's Unscented Liquid Soap (since I use Dr. B for so much else!) for dish-washing soap, but haven't found it to be as effective for cutting grease. So I still buy regular dish-soap and try to be conscious of how much I'm using.

Dr. Bronner's does seem to work fabulous in the bathroom though! We use it as hand soap, as body soap in the shower, and also as shampoo when needed. Now, the kids and I very rarely wash our hair. When we shower we massage our scalp under the hot water, and that's it. Only after lots of pool swimming or fantastic dirt playing-- when we really, really need sudsy action in there, we use soap. After rinsing out the soap we will then use an apple cider vinegar rinse to remove the residue. (And no, we don't smell like pickles!) Soft, clean hair, for super cheap!

But, a word of warning, before jumping onto the Dr. Bronner's bandwagon, read the label and do as the bottle says, dilute, dilute, dilute!

We also use Dr. Bronner's as toothpaste. Of course, every camper will tell you that using it straight isn't much fun, so I mix Dr. Bronner's unscented liquid soap with baking soda, water, a pinch of salt, about 20+ drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract, and a few drops of peppermint or orange or cinnamon essential oil. I wish I could tell you amounts but we mix it up differently each time. When the jar gets low we fill almost to the top with baking soda. Then, we add the water and soap in a ratio of about 1 parts soap : 2 parts water. By this time the jar is overflowing, and the kids are getting out of hand because it's past bedtime. We stir in the rest of the ingredients quickly, spilling toothpaste everywhere. The kids cheer! They love when we have a new batch of toothpaste because it's fun and foamy. Then they ever-so-cooperatively brush their teeth while we scrub off the counter grime with the excess paste that spilled out.

What a convenient segue to talk about home cleaning products!
We use vinegar and hot water for just about every surface in our house. If it needs more "uumph" I might add some baking soda, or Dr. Bronner's. Most things just need a little extra elbow grease when you aren't using chemical cleaners! I've also heard that vodka makes a great cleaner/sanitizer, but I haven't tried that one yet. I would be more likely to drink the vodka while cleaning (which still sounds like cheap and natural way to clean your house! Right?!?)

I've got a lot more things to share about living on the cheap, but I've got to take some time to organize them. Do you have a preference for where I go next with this?

In the meantime, I thought that I would share our budget spreadsheet and numbers so that you can have something to go by if/when you think about your budget. It's in google docs, check it out!
(Oh, and this is especially for family, don't worry about our negative balance! That figure is including the things that we want to start setting money aside for, like house and car repairs. It also is based off of reduced work hours. We're are consistantly well fed and very happy! I'll share more later about how we manage to eat well, as well as entertain ourselves for free!)

So, it's almost February. Do I have any takers on that grocery budget challenge??

Celebrating the Return of the Dark

Forgive me for starting in on the "seasonal" music so early, but this song caught my attention hard recently. We've been listening to our "Fall Festival Songs" and once in a while a few Winter songs will slip through before I change CD's. Well, this morning the song People Look East, slipped through and held me hypnotized for a half minute as I stirred the grapes juicing on the stove.

Now that we are wavering between the Fall and Winter seasons, I have been turning inward. No longer am I focused on the yard and gardens (although they still have plenty of work beckoning me before the snow truly starts to fall) but instead I am intently "making my house fair."

This includes adjusting my physical home, with the upstairs satisfactorily completed I can clean and putter about downstairs as I wish. My focus has turned toward our space and it's utility. When the song captured my attention I had been deep in thought about the state of our living arrangements. The previous day had been spent moving the playroom contents about ever so slightly-- but slightly enough that the toys were being played with again. Feng shui is REAL, man. The success of that arrangement led to other thoughts; we don't have the most abundant room or the most frequent of house guests so why am I hanging onto gigantic overstuffed armchairs and love seats? Our book space and our freedom of movement are priorities and so I'm letting go of a few things that were getting in the way of that. My rule of thumb has been that if it has traditionally been a place that accumulates our daily debris, it is not functioning in household harmony. I have been feeling rather "choked" creatively, and while some folks would blame the size of the house, I blame the use of the space. Perhaps as per my Libran horoscope for the week, I should do a little experiment.

Hypothesis: It's not the size of the house but how you use it.

So, now that the living room and play room have been received well by the fellow house-dwellers, I'm going to be turning my attention to the office and eventually the kitchen. And for good measure I plan on doing a final sweep of the house for any extraneous items I've missed. No more piles of accumulated debris, a place for everything and everything in it's place! Now, as someone who also subscribes to a "use it up, wear it out, make do or do without" philosophy this is not easy. But that is a post for a whole other day. In the meantime...

"Trim the hearth and set the table.... Love, the guest, is on the way"

Other adjustments are being focused towards my "spiritual" home. I have been putting my inner work on the back burner but it's become clear to me that now is the time to re-focus my attention. Read a novel that's putting a few things into perspective-- helped me look beyond my rut.

Lately, I had been feeling like I have still to give chase and catch my ducks, before I can even give them a good once-over to put them in order. Looking back at all of our fits and starts with the house this summer, it became clear to me that I wasn't walking my true path, my faith had faltered. Or perhaps, one could argue that I didn't know of my need for faith but instead was trying too hard to control my path and destiny.

Now though, I think I've got a line on some ducks. The "catch" is, I've got to wait for these ducks to come to me. Have you ever tried to tame a duck?

So, I'm giving up my expectations on the external. I don't know where I'll end up or how I will get there, but I do know that in order to take those first steps (and the second and third...) I need to be patient, compassionate, dedicated, and grounded. And those are all qualities that I have a fair amount of influence over.

Something that I've been meditating on, relatedly:

If the people lived their lives
As if it were a song
For singing out of light
Provides the music for the stars
To be dancing circles in the night.

So, that's where I'm at. Celebrating the return of the dark by retreating inward. Creating warm, welcoming, and inspiring spaces while feeling deeply and honestly. Slowly and methodically traveling the day-to-day path towards our. next. steps. Having faith. Living as if I am to coax the stars out of the darkness and on to the dance floor.

Are you wondering just what it looks like for my family and I to be doing this sort of introspective work? Wondering just how we celebrate the darkness? Well, here is one evening's task...

Abundance of eggs, veggies, and ricotta
+ the need for heat =

QUICHE!!

Use THIS pie crust recipe. TRUST me.

Turn on some simple music.
Put on aprons.
Let the kids do as much work as they can, setting aside pieces of dough for them to knead and shape.



Stay present in the moment,

and serve on a freshly made table.



Say grace.

It will make you say yum!And "ahhhh..."



Life is good.