Housekeeping with Natural Products

This week, as part of this month's One Small Change Challenge, I have been trying to make the move towards using more "green" and natural cleaning products. I had been contemplating this move for a while, but was a bit reluctant - so I finally took the plunge and tackled our family bathrooms, and for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised.

First, I had to actually purchase some "green" products. I've been wiping down our kitchen island with a mixture of water and vinegar for years, but that's as far as my "green-ness" went. I was in our local Big Box store this week, and purchased a box of Borax. I was surprised at the low cost - I got a 76 oz box for less than $5.00. Ounce per ounce, this was more expensive than Ajax Cleanser ($0.95 for 21 oz), the product I had been using to clean the commode, but according to the research I'd done, the Borax is much more versatile, so I deemed it worth the extra cost. (In addition to Ajax, I had been using SoftScrub to clean the other bathroom surfaces - because that's what my Mom uses :-)  )

I followed the directions on the box and used 1/4 cup of Borax to clean the toilet bowl. It was exactly like using Ajax, I just dumped in the powder, swished with a toilet brush, and then let it sit for about 45 minutes. While the Borax was doing its thing in the toilet bowls, I moved on to sinks and counter-tops. (I should explain that we have 2 bathrooms on the second floor - one in the master bedroom and one off the hall - I typically clean them both at the same time, since I've carried up all the cleaning stuff anyway). To clean the sink, counter-tops and faucets, I again referred to the box, and sprinkled a bit of powder onto a damp microfiber cloth and got to scrubbing. The Borax worked beautifully! I was really pleased with how well, and quickly it cleaned the vanities. What I especially appreciated was that the Borax leaves no residual odor - things smelled clean, but not like cleaning products - it was great!!

My only complaint was really a logistical one - how to best dispense the product out of a 4+ lb box? I found the box size really unwieldy, and I can't conveniently store it under a bathroom sink. And lets be honest, if the stuff isn't in the bathroom, then our bathrooms are going to get cleaned a lot less frequently - which is not a good thing! I posted this question to the Mothering.com discussion boards, and several folks suggested parmesan cheese shakers. I will see if I can't find a source for those - I'm hoping to have a few minutes to do a bit of thrift store shopping tomorrow, and I might get lucky!

A snowy day art project

In case you haven't heard, we've had an insane amount of snow here!! The back to back blizzards have tested my and DH's parenting skills - we've not been able to take the kids outside as much as we usually do - but we have been able to do a few cold weather projects.

One of Talker's favorites was making this sun catcher. (I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of us actually doing the project - I was distracted by the food dye and forgot to take shots of the work in progress!!)

I based our project on this idea from Family Fun Magazine. Talker put food coloring into an ice-cube tray while Happy Apple was sleeping. When the ice-cubes were frozen, he added them to a cake pan filled with ice water that had been sitting on the front steps. The water was cold enough that the cubes didn't melt much before we took it back outside. We filled one of Talkers drinking cups with water, which also ultimately froze, to serve as the hanging hole. The whole cake pan was left outside overnight to freeze, and then we hung it from the lamp post on Thursday morning (after DH dug through the drifts so we could reach the lamp post!)

Even as cold as it was, there was still a small amount of water in the cake pan when we brought it inside to unmold - so if you're going to try this, I recommend unmolding under the sink. Also, some water snuck in underneath the cup that created the hanging hole, so Talker popped it out with the handle of a butter knife. One good thump and it popped right out, but again, this was best done over the sink.

Overall, was a good pre-schooler project - Talker got to do a lot of pouring, and he enjoyed playing with the food coloring. It was a tad messy, but not overly so, and it kept us laughing through the snow, which was worth cleaning up a few colored drips from the kitchen floor. What kinds of things have you been doing with your littles if you've been housebound lately?

Very cute Baby Shoe Give Away

One of the blogs I follow, Moo said the Mama, is having the sweetest give away. Kari has made 3 beautiful sets of baby shoes in progressive sizes and is giving them away to blog followers. She's got pictures of all 3 sets up on her blog, and entries will be accepted until Feb 12 at midnight. Follow the link above and take a look!!

Time for my next change!

I'm a bit overdue with this post, but now that it's February, it's time for phase 2 of the One Small Change Challenge.

In January, I committed to using reusable grocery bags. This change worked out beautifully! I moved the bags from a hook by the basement stairs into the car, so they were readily accessible, and managed to only need 3 paper bags from Trader Joe's during the course of the month. (I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself!) A secondary benefit - aside from the obvious - is the major decline in clutter in my pantry closet. Bags had been stored there so I could take them back to the store for recycling, but now that I'm not bringing new bags into the house, I can use that space for something more constructive. I haven't decided what yet, but it's nice to have options.

As for this month, I'm a bit undecided as to what to do. I've been thinking about it, and I think this month's change will be moving away from disposable cleaning items - Swiffer Dusters, paper towels, Clorox toilet bowl cleaners, etc.- and using rags instead. I have been wiping down our counters with a water and vinegar solution for a long time, but I am going to try to make some more of my own cleaning solutions . February is also my second month trying to follow Fly Lady routines. I think this challenge will compliment that goal too!

Wish me luck!!

Awesome service project idea

I found this website for sending relief supplies to communities in need while I was reading another blog. I think that making these kits could make for an awesome service project!

The Health Kit looks like it could be extremely kid friendly - even for pretty little ones. Talker and Happy Apple have a playgroup that we attend every week or so. I think I'm going to use this as an activity the next time it's our turn to host. Each family could be responsible for a piece of the kit, and then we could lay all the materials out on the floor assembly line style and let each kid fill up a bag - or 2 or 3.

I also am really excited about this Birthing Kit! I think it would be a great thing to do as part of a mother blessing or baby shower. An amazing way to reach out to other mothers throughout the world! (I do think this one would have to be adults only though - as the kit contains razor blades)

Cute (and inexpensive) Valentine's Day decorations

In the spirit of the season, I did a bit of Valentine's Day decorating in our dining room today. It was crazy easy, and I think it looks pretty cute.

I bought these Sweet-tart candy hearts at the grocery store today. (sorry the picture is a bit weird, I forgot to take a shot before we opened the bag).

Talker poured the hearts into a candle hurricane, and then we put the candles back in. These hurricanes were a gift from my mother-in-law and we typically keep them on the dining room table. The whole project took about 30 seconds - 2 minutes if you count the time it took for me to clean the residual sugar from the bags off the table - the kids were excited. Here's the end result:

This is a technique I use all the time - red and green M&M's for Christmas, foil wrapped chocolate eggs for Easter, etc. It's fun and we get to eat the candy when the holiday is over. I need to find some kind of cute nibble for St. Patrick's Day! Anyone have any suggestions?

A new (for me) chicken recipe

I tried a new (to me) chicken recipe this evening. It was a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe, which I typically have good luck with. I picked it because I had some leftover chipotles that I wanted to use and I liked the idea of a one pot dinner. I made a few changes - used some cherry tomatoes that I had on hand instead of the larger ones the recipe called for, I didn't use quite as much meat as the original recipe, and I used half a yellow onion instead of red because that's what I had.

Overall, this one is a keeper. 2 chipotles made it pretty hot. I like hot, but I think I'll cut back if I make this again. I might also swap out some chicken breasts instead of thighs. The thighs are cheaper (I can get organic for $2.89 a pound if I'm at the meat counter when they are marking them down), but I think breasts lend themselves to this style of cooking better.

Tomorrow I'm making white bean and rosemary soup in the Crock-Pot. It's a delicious recipe that I got out of a library cookbook and doctored a little bit. I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

Charitable Giving - there IS room in the budget

Last week's horrible earthquake in Haiti has me thinking about an effective approach to charitable giving. DH and I have used a few strategies since we've been married - bi-weekly payroll deductions to United Way, random donations here and there, larger lump sum donations to local institutions at the end of the calendar year when we felt like we hadn't been doing/giving enough. None of these methods really seemed to work for us. It felt disorganized and detached, and honestly, a little half-a**ed.

Now that we're living on one income, I've had a bit of time to work on this issue. Here is what we do now: We kept the bi-weekly payroll deductions - they're easy, and we trust the organization. We also give a pre-determined amount to our alma-mater's general fund and to our church. Finally, we keep a small reserve amount for "charitable emergencies" like last week's earthquake and to sponsor friends who are running in marathons, etc. Since we've been doing this, there's always been an emergency - so this money has never not been used, but assuming we didn't use it - we'd send it to either American Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders at the end of the year. We work these amounts into our monthly budget, and then make the payments via electronic bill-pay. (As I said, we're living on one income, so all of these dollar amounts are pretty small - but every little bit helps!!)

We picked ARC and Doctors Without Borders because they are both institutions with a long, reliable track-record and because their overhead costs are relatively low, so most of our donation goes to people in need. For Haiti, we did Doctors Without Borders because they have an existing presence on the ground there, and because my cousin has done nursing volunteer work in Haiti for a couple of years and speaks well of the organization. I put a Doctors Without Borders button on the side right hand side of this page. If you'd like to donate, please click through.

There are some tax benefits to charitable donations, so be sure to save receipts (you need to have them if you itemize deductions).

Keeping on keeping on

I did a decent, although not terrific, job on my January 2010 goals last week.

I finished up Flylady's kitchen routine and have moved on to the "main bathroom" - Zone 3 I believe. The kitchen looks pretty good, and it has been lovely to walk into a nice clean room each morning. Hopefully this habit will stick. She has me working in the "main bathroom" next. We don't really have a "main bathroom" - there is the Master Bath, the kids bathroom off the upstairs hall, the downstairs powder room - which is mostly used by Talker at the moment - and the guest bath in the basement. I did the sink and toilet in our bathroom yesterday, and DH did the shower this morning (God love him!). I also did the kid's sink and the sink and toilet in the powder room. There is certainly organizing work to be done in each of these rooms, so we'll see how it goes.

Dinner menus were a bust last week. In my defense, I didn't learn until Tuesday morning that DH would be traveling all week and wouldn't be home again for dinner until Friday evening - so the menu think kind of fell apart. I'll revisit that again this week and see how it goes.

I confess, I didn't touch the maternity clothes or set foot in the green room last week! However, I did get the bins I need to do the clothes, and I completely undecorated the Christmas tree, so it wasn't a total loss on the organizing front. Currently the bins are sitting in the vacant living room, but this evening I'll make some headway there. DH is traveling again this week, so I'll have some time to work up there tonight.

I did spend some more time with Talker, which was great fun! We made cookies on Sunday afternoon - they turned out pretty well. I've got some pictures, which I'll post in a while.

The One Small Change Challenge

Just today I found the One Small Change Challenge on the Mothering Magazine website. I'm really excited, I think this is a great way to start the New Year. (Of course, it's now the 11th, and I'm a tad behind - but I'm of the opinion that the New Year season lasts at least until Valentine's Day!!)

The challenge works like this: Bloggers (old or new - some folks are starting up new blogs just to participate!) commit to making one eco-friendly change per month from New Years to Earth Day. Participants blog about their changes at the beginning of each month to let people know how things are going, and then the Challenge wraps up on April 22.

There are already over 200 participants! The link to the Challenge is in the first paragraph - it's not too late to sign up!!

So, what is my small change going to be? For January, I'm going to reintroduce myself - and my family - to our small collection of re-usable grocery bags.

I know - this isn't an earth shattering thing - but I've really fallen off the wagon here. When we lived in California, I ALWAYS used the re-usable bags. I think it was easier there because we walked to the store, so it was a no-brainer to grab the bags on the way out the door. Here in Deep Suburbia, I'm more often driving, and the bags are usually NOT in the car when I'm at the store, instead they are hanging on their hook by the basement steps. The new home for the shopping bags is going to be in the car, behind the driver's seat. I think I can hang them from the drivers side head head rest without compromising safety. That way the bags will be readily available, behind Happy Apple's carseat, so I shouldn't be able to miss them. Unless, of course, I'm also missing Happy Apple - in which case, I'm in bigger trouble, and disposable bags will be the least of my problems!

The baby is kicking!!

The baby is kicking big-time today! I've felt him (or her), or at least thought I did, for about a week or so now, but today it's definitive. This little one is making her (or his) presence known! It's very exciting!!

Financial Organizing for 2010

One of my goals for this blog is to write periodic posts on financial literacy and planning and maybe share a tip or strategy or two.

Today’s tip: create a folder for your 2010 taxes. Yeah, you read that right, I wrote 2010. Of course, if you don’t have a place to store your 2009 documents – which if you’re like me, you’re already receiving – then you should certainly start one, but at the same time, take out a fresh folder, or large mailing envelope, or whatever you prefer, and create a file for 2010. Throughout the year, paperwork will accumulate that come next spring, you are going to need, and instead of wasting time tracking it all down, or worse yet, forgetting all about it and missing the deduction, you will have all your papers in one place. This folder will become the home for things like donation receipts, local tax forms, receipts for any home improvements you might make, etc. A little bit of organization now can save you lots of time in 2011.

Today is a New Day

Today is officially the first day post-vacation. Daddy has gone back to work, and those of us on the home front are doing our best to get back into our routine. Re-entry has been a bit rough, but we're doing okay.

As part of my New Year's resolution to get the house in better shape before the baby arrives - please see the ticker (isn't this cool, BTW, I totally stole the idea from another blog I read, but it was too cool to pass up!!) - I recommitted myself to Flylady. And then I immediately fell off the fly-wagon. I've been doing well on the sink, but I just cannot bring myself to get dressed including shoes. We don't wear shoes in our house - unless you count Happy Apple's little soft ones, but those I put on him just to keep him from pulling off his socks, because it's cold. Everyone - even guests if I can manage it without appearing too rude - takes their shoes off when they come inside. This cuts way down on dirt and detritus that we all track in from outside, and theoretically cuts down on the time I spend sweeping (or rather, that I SHOULD spend sweeping). So, I'm not getting dressed to my shoes - but I am dressed - if you count sweats and a T-shirt as dressed, and my hair is washed and brushed, etc. s0 I could open the door should it ring without being embarrassed, so I think that counts for something. I believe the Flylady zone this week is the kitchen, and I'm kind of looking forward to getting things in order around here.

In order to give myself some more accountability, I'm going to detail some more of my goals for the week here - we'll see how I do:

Transition closet from everyday clothes that no longer fit to maternity clothes that might. DH brought the bins down from the attic last night, but I need to sort through the clothes that are already in the closet before I can add new things in. My long term goal is to make the transition back from mat clothing to regular clothes go smoother with the new baby that it did with Happy Apple. Last time, we lived with large bins of clothing in our master bedroom for 6 months. Tomorrow when Talker is in school, I will go to Target and get some bins, and get moving while Happy Apple is napping

Create a menu plan for the week. This seems like a reasonable goal, and if I can get into the habit, I think it will be a good long-term strategy

Spend 10 minutes a day organizing the "green room" and 10 minutes a day cleaning out the secretary in the living room. The green room is in our basement, it has green walls, and it could be a lovely office/sewing room/crafting/journaling space IF I got my act together and straightened it out. DH and I spent days working on it before Happy Apple was born, and then we had a small flood, and I was stockpiling things for Christmas, and now the room is totally out of control again. I'd like to get it into better shape. The secretary in the living room is just a nice piece of storage furniture that was in my room as a kid and is now here. At the moment, it's full of all kinds of detritus, but it could be a good kind of "mom-office" if I got it sorted.

Start tracking our grocery spending. We are blessed with a degree of financial security, but I would like to increase our savings rate from 10% to at least 11% this year, and I control most grocery spending, so this is where I'm going to start.

Spend more time playing with Talker. He's 4, and in school 4 mornings a week, and I worry that he's getting a bit overlooked.