Reusable Swiffer Pads

Hey Y'all!

I recently re-purchased a swiffer.  I'm not a fan of buying all the chemical laden products that come wiht it, and buying the pads constantly.  I have 5 kids... imagine the messes that come with 5 little ones who spill, smoosh, squish, and oh yeah- can leak a diaper....

Anyhoo, I did something that I'm rather proud of.  Of course, Pinterest to the rescue with how to make reusable swiffer pads.  After reading and of course modification, I made my own version:

I used microfiber cloths (bought some in bulk from Sams Club to use specifically for cleaning, but made these pads out of them!).  That's it.  No velcro.  Since the underside of the Swiffer is hook velcro, it easily attaches to the microfiber without any assistance.  These pads are technically reversible, they can last even longer than the type that you do sew the velcro to!

word.

So dimensions:
11"  x 4 1/2"   -two put together.

Stitch around the edges with a zig-zag stitch.  TADA!  you're done.  How easy was that?  I have made 4 pads so far- mainly because my hands hurt so badly right now that I can barely move them to type this.  No really, I was taking a hatchet and helping my husband cut up trees that were cut down on our property this weekend, so I'm aching.

Oh, if you want to see what it would look like if you used terry cloth (btw, recycle some old towels!  Don't go out and buy new just for wiping up your floors with!) I used this tutorial here to get the dimensions.  She seems to know what she's doing because it it totally worked!

I will be making some out of terry cloth too as the microfiber tends to be a little hard to push on the ground.  May be because I'm sore but we'll see!

Obsess much?

I've recently gotten back into couponing.  No, I'm not all "extreme couponer" weirdness, but I like a good deal when I see it.  No, I REALLY like a good deal- like I stalk my mail guy (Rick's awesome, btw.) on Monday and Tuesday to wait for the ads that come out on Tuesday in our little small town.  No, I really don't but could you imagine how extreme that could be?  Sitting there in full camo with paint on my face and pregnant belly just waiting to leap out of the bushes like a jungle cat at some poor guy just waiting for his pension to kick in all because he has a grocery store ad?

But seriously, back to the coupon thing- I spent the better part of yesterday printing, cutting, sorting and arranging coupons.  Please, save me the Sweet Brown "Ain't nobody got time fo dat" speech.  I got myself a shoebox from the dollar tree (addicted to that store- but with a purpose!) and I made 40 envelopes out of scrapbooking paper.  Since I have massive hoards of that sitting around, I count what I did was "free" minus the $1.10 I paid for the box.  Wait, .10?  Yeah.  taxes.  Have to count those suckers in.

AAAANYwho, last Tuesday or so I went through all of my local grocery lists, and decided what I was going to get within our budget.  I have a set budget for both the 1st and the 15th.  Since I spent a few hours yesterday getting the coupons ready and today I'll be getting about 6 news papers (no, I'm not kidding!) to also cut the coupons out- and I'll be putting the newspaper to good use too, I have to start my seedlings- I'll be filing them before I do my grocery shopping today.

Oh, did I mention that I was woken up this morning around 2:30  with my re-found passion and asked my husband if we had a large cooler within access?  Yeah, I did.  I'm a little obsessed preoccupied with saving some money.

What coupons did you clip this week?  Oh, and don't freak out at the time I spent.  It's worth it to me to save my large family lots of money to get the things we want or may need in the future.

Sinus infection gone in 5 days!! Russian Tea!!

Hello Divas!

I'm usually the one who carries a sinus infection for about 3 weeks.  Yes, I'm taking vitamins for my pregnancy but I've had sinus infections that linger even with those.  How did I do it?

Well, I've been drinking my version of "Russian Tea".  (Please know that the FDA hasn't said jack about this product -or concoction!- healing, yada yada yada.  no actual healing statements are being made.  If worse comes to worse, enjoy the tea, it's yummy!)

2 c. tang.
1 c. pre-sweetened lemonade.
1 c. lemon flavored pre-sweetened tea.  (I used Walmart's brand Great Value for both the lemonade and the tea)
2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves


Fair warning, this is some SWEET tea!  but you only use 3 teaspoons in a mug of boiling water.  You can obviously adjust the taste.

But I think it was the overload of the vitamin c and the cinnamon that truly knocked it out of me.  You can ask my friends who came over (and my hubby who gave it to me!) I was in bad shape.  Not a fun way to be while 7 months pregnant.  But, seriously- 5 days ago my face was going to explode just below my right eye, and now- all is well!  I am attributing it to this because like I said before, the prenatals didn't usually help, but this?  HELLO!

Oh, and this tea cost me about $5 to make.  A trip to the doctor for some antibiotics that wouldn't have worked anyway- way more than $5!  Pretty savvy in my book.  (Again, I'm not giving you medical advice, do what you want to your own body at your own risk.)

Enjoy!

New Year, New Beginnings.

Hello Y'all!  2014 is here- can you believe it?  I know, I say that every year.

What are your "resolutions"?  What do you resolve to do?  This isn't something I take lightly, though many people tend to say "what's the point?  I'll fail anyway."

When you resolve to do something, it's something you commit to in your spirit, mind, and body.  Like your marriage- you resolve to make it work, or raising your children- you resolve to give them the best care possible.

This year, I am wholeheartedly committed to my home and my family.  I have several things that I have cut out that are time wasters.

School- This seems like a "big" thing to cut, and something that many people would look down on for cutting, but my school was a very high-demand school that I couldn't devote the proper time to and continue to be a good wife and mother.  Why would I waste my time and money when I'm going to only devote a small portion of what should be a large portion of my focus?  Not to mention, I feel guilty every time I take the focus away from my husband, children and house (in that order).  Not to mention being pregnant with baby #6, I need some more time for myself to rest.  I didn't quite get that

Facebook- So many things can become addictive.  While I wasn't addicted, I did spend hours on this time-waster a day.  That's time that was graciously given to me that I will never get back.  Today is day 6 in not touching it.  I have no "withdraws", no need to get on it and check what other people are saying, and truthfully with some of the friends I had on there, I saw nothing but negativity each day.  Toward the end, it reminded me of the parable that Jesus told about the foxes and the vines; how little foxes would come in and steal the good fruit off the vine, and eventually there was no good fruit left.  If the Bible says "you will know them by their fruit", what does it say when you have no fruit left???  Bye bye, Facebook!

Lack of schedule- this is a HUGE one for me.  I tend to leave things until the last minute.  I so DESPERATELY want to be a better organizer of both my time and my home.  Well, since my strength is working off of a list because I can see and remember what I need to do better, I can make a master list and work off of it.  Flylady is good for that with her control binder; and my adaptation of that for me.  I now have everything in my daily planner and if it's not in there, it doesn't get done.

SAYING NO!-  this is a HUGE one for me.  I want to do everything for everyone and I burn out easily.  My friends see it.  My family sees it.  The problem is I'm just beginning to see it, when I should have seen it years ago.  I don't want to let anyone down, and always feel a responsibility to others, so I say yes.  "yes, I can make 14 dozen cupcakes... by tomorrow."  "yes, I can sew costumes for the church play.... in a week."  "sure, you need a scout fundraiser planned... and it has to be done and implemented in a month?  ok."  Heather- STOP!  There are other people who can pick up the slack and do what is needed.  WHAT is your priority?

Finally: Procrastinating. Putting things off.  What is easier, quick wash and rinse of that plate and fork or letting all the dishes pile up until you have nothing to make dinner on?  no brainer.  The things we put off until tomorrow that can be done while we have the energy and time today- should be something that we focus on and take care of.

So, what am I doing for myself?

• I am setting routines in place; this includes taking care of myself!  I have resolved to have a relaxing hot bath at night daily- at least until the baby arrives.  I'll modify it afterward if I need to.
• I am utilizing my planner and daily tasks list.
• I am focusing on what is truly important- my husband, my children and my house.  These three things will fluctuate in their specific needs and quantity of time, but they are always my primary focus.
• I am loving myself by saying "no" on occasion.  It's okay to do it, and I won't let anyone make me feel guilty for it.
• I'm changing my eating and exercising lifestyle.  I'm not "dieting" at all anymore.  I am going back to raw vegan.  I miss it, I felt so. much. better on it, and I'm adding DDP Yoga (after the baby is born for that one).

What do you RESOLVE to do this year?  What have you decided to commit yourself to?

How do you go green?

I hate that term.  "going green".  Kermit always said it's not easy being green- and that's what I associate with the whole movement.  I guess I should have called this "how are you both frugal and responsible?".

There are those squiggly little lightbulbs (that DO save a ton of energy but are a pain in the butt when it comes to clean up if they break and they need to "heat up" and they are MEGA expensive in the store, not to mention they suck for photoshoots.)

Then there are a squajillion ways to recycle, reuse, etc- but what about TRULY being frugal and responsible?

It's no secret that I make my own soap.  I not only make my own laundry soap  but I actually make the soap for the bars I grate.  I make my own dish soap- though this is out of necessity.  I'm allergic to all commercial products that I've tried- they're too harsh on my hands or they don't get my dishes clean, BUT either way, I make my liquid soap in a concentrate almost a full pickle jar at a time so it lasts about 9 months to a year.

I do SO many frugal things, but one thing I"m trying this year is aquaponics!  Our grocery bill is between $500 and $800 a month.  Not bad considering that we have 7 people in our family that we're feeding outright (8th will be here in April and will be nursing).  My goal is to take down our food bill with this to about $150 a month.  How awesome would that be?!  eating mainly fruits and veggies that I not only grow myself, but it costs WAY less than the average shopping trip- I'm actually REALLY excited about it.

What other ways can we be responsible to the environment and also be frugal?  well, there's compost piles (organic material- organic matter, not necessarily chemical free) and doing laundry outside every now and then- hanging things to dry instead of running your dryer.  There's so many ways we can actually do it, but there are some ways in our comfy society that a lot will look on as nasty.  For example, I cloth diaper.  some moms would rather die than have to rinse out poo.  Well, to that I say- why not?  you wash your toddler's clothes if they poop themselves, right?  why not your babies' diapers?  There's mama cloths (instead of buying feminine products every month which can irritate you and cause severe diseases in some instances) but a lot of women would freak at having to clean out things specifically designed to collect blood.

Like I said, a lot of people would be grossed out by it.  me?  not so much.

Anyway- what ways do you do that can stretch a budget and be responsible?  For example, I get a whole turkey.  I'll roast it and use that for dinner.  After that, I'll break down the tturkey for other dishes.  I'll then boil the bones for a stock which I'll use to either make soup, or use the liquid for rice, or mashed potatoes.

I'll save the scraps of onions, carrots, celery, peppers, corn cobs and egg shells in the freezer for stock.    I'll recycle coffee grounds to put into my compost or outside garden for the worms to eat.  I'll also use egg shells crushed (not ground!) around my strawberries to prevent slugs from eating them.

there are just so many ways to frugally live- how do you do it?

Coming soon and other awesome stuff!

Hey Y'all!

I write a lot of this blog for my daughters who will one day be wives and mothers.  No, I'm not pigeonholing them, and they can be anything they want- but what is wrong with encouraging them to be what they were ultimately created to be?

Anyway, with that said, I have a few followers now.  I'm not looking to become the next biggest thing in home ec blogging, however the tips and tricks I learn along the way to help myself and my family. I want to share with you.  I've kept this blog free, and have all intentions of keeping it free- to go along the with the Savvy portion of Smart, Savvy, Homemaker Divas.

I would LOVE to hear from you- what are you interested in?

What is coming up:  I'm going to be doing some blogs with my great friend Emily and she's doing a common sense section on her blog.  Well, I jumped for joy because that's pretty much what this entire blog is about!

I'm going to be upping my crock pot cooking section, as well as adding freezer cooking!  I'm ALSO going to be adding a pinterest section I'm going to call "pinteresting".  Ideas and stuff found on pinterest that look like they'd be interesting to try or share, I'm going to try.  You'll see either way if it's worth it or if it's a bust.

I'm also going to be trying more in the way of cleaning stuff- more homemade products, other inventive ways to get things to work... I'm excited and looking forward to it.

Be blessed and don't forget to tell me the things you'd like to see!
Heather

Sewing: a skill to last you a lifetime.

You may have seen that post title and groaned.

Think about this:  you're in a consignment shop and you see this gorgeous hand-made gown for your toddler that you know would look absolutely adorable on her.  You have to have it!  You touch the fabric and feel the soft texture, the color is perfect, and it just feels so "right" in your hands.... until you get to the price tag.  $85 for a hand-made one-of-a-kind dress.

ouch.

With the invention of the internet and particularly sites like Youtube, how easy it is to learn some skills to make a dress like that?  Let me tell you- if you can drive, you can sew.  really.

What if it was something simpler than a dress- seriously, do you know how to sew a quilt?  What about something even simpler- what about a curtain or a pillow case?  What about darning a sock, or replacing a button?  These are skills that every homemaker should have.

How much money could you save if you did it yourself?  Back to the dress thing- I have 3 girls in my family, do you know how many clothes I go through a week?  Why not make some for church functions, and "nice" outings?  Basically things we "need" them to be nice looking for.  Here's a Christmas dress I made for one of the girls- I'll be making another one (possibly different style dress, same pattern though.) soon.  I'll post it, and maybe a video of myself making it!  (how awesome would that be?)

I finished this dress this morning:

With the bow in the back instead of the front:

I LOVE Olabelhe patterns.  Dawn is a stay-at-home homeschooling mom like me who now teaches 4 separate grades!  (can you imagine?!)

I used the Colleen for the dress, and the Sabrina for the sleeves.  If you're interested, you can purchase her patterns by clicking on their names.  I fully support home-business moms and Dawn is definitely I'm going to be spending my money with again (I have quite a few patterns of hers that I'm going to purchase and make!

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll catch you later.