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!

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.