Spring Cleaning the Environmentally, Frugal Way!

Ah March, the end of winter and the beginning of spring. At least that’s what the calendar tells us. It may not feel completely spring like, but the sun is stronger, warmer and out longer each day. With spring comes the itch to do spring cleaning, so this month I thought I would share some frugal ways to clean our homes.

Homemade cleaners are healthier for us, our family, our wallet and the environment. They usually take a bit more elbow grease than commercial cleaners, but we all need a little more exercise –especially after winter.

When the sun hits our windows we sure can see the effects that winter has had on our ability to view out, so let’s start there. Here we use 1 part vinegar, 3 parts water and a couple of drops of the essential oil of lemon or tea tree to give it a great scent. Spray on windows on an overcast day and rub clean with newspapers. Remember, horizontal wipes on one side, vertical wipes on the other.

Laundry is another thing that needs to be done. In the spring there are curtains, coats, sheets etc that are extra items to be washed and hopefully hung out to dry. (This alone is a great way to reduce your energy bill and usually smells fantastic!) Here is a homemade recipe we use, but I don’t recommend it with your white clothes. I’m not sure why, but they seem to get dingy here with this recipe.

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap (sunlight)

1/2-cup washing soda (arm and hammer makes this and it's in the laundry detergent aisle)

1/2-cup borax

6 cups water

4 cups hot water

1 gallon and 6 cups more water

You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallons in size

Grate the soap and put it in a saucepan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for 24 hours and it will gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.

To clean the bathtub and get it nice and shiny and rid of any soap scum build up, mix together 1 cup of baking soda with enough water to make a paste. Rub it all over the tub and scrub, then rinse and rub clean.

Toilet bowls are another thing that need lots of attention. I have found borax, vinegar and lemon juice cleans the best for toilet bowls. 2 parts borax, 1 part vinegar and one part lemon juice.

A good disinfectant is also a must. Try using 1 part vinegar to one part water with 10-15 drops of tea tree oil in it. It will clean all of your doorknobs, light switches, sinks and countertops and anything else you want to disinfect.

Finally, there are always walls to be scrubbed, light fixtures to be washed and baseboards and trim to be cleaned. Everyone needs a good all-purpose cleaner. This is a great recipe to get the dirt and grim out of your home.

Mix in a 16 oz spray bottle:

2 tbsp. of vinegar with 1 tsp. borax.

Fill 3/4 of the bottle with very hot water.

Shake until all the borax is dissolved in the water.

Then add 1/4 cup of liquid soap.

To scent, add 10 to 15 drops of an essential oil.

It’s best to use purified or distilled water for this. Make sure to dissolve the borax in hot water so that it doesn't clog the spray nozzle. Please follow the order of the recipe to make sure that it doesn’t clog together.

Do you have other recipes to share? Please drop me a line at fighting2bfrugal@yahoo.ca I would love to hear from you.

Happy Spring!

Why I don't NEED a Dishwasher

I have been hearing this phrase a lot said to me, "Wow, you have 5 children now?! You NEED to get a dishwasher!" It even started to get me thinking that I must need one now that I have "so many children," and although it would be nice to have, it's a want not a need. I used to have a dishwasher until we moved into this home 5 years ago and there wasn't one here. I went through a bit of withdrawal, but quickly adapted as I am quite capable of washing dishes. I have a sink, water, dish soap and capable hands. Therefore I don't need a dishwasher.

Today, as I was washing up the morning dishes (dishes only get washed twice a day here, once after lunch and once after supper), I got thinking more about a dishwasher. First of all, I would have to save up the money to buy a dishwasher because, as far as I know, they don't just hand them out. Then I would either need a plumber to come in to my home ($$) and put the plumbing in for a built in and thereby lose some cupboard space, or I would have to have a place for my dishwasher to sit throughout the day as it gets loaded and then move it over to the faucet to be used at night.

If I had a dishwasher I would need to have more dishes because there wouldn't be enough glasses, plates, bowls to go through everyone for the entire day. That would be an added expense. I would need to buy or make dishwasher detergent and jet dry. I would have to set money aside for the repair man to come at some point or to buy a new dishwasher when it doesn't work any more. There goes a lot of money that I can really use for other things that I truly need.

If I had a dishwasher I would have to get after everyone to put their dishes in the dishwasher, then I would have to rearrange it afterwards to ensure that everything was cleaned properly. Not to mention that I would still have to wash the pots and pans and the plastic lunch dishes (don't worry, they aren't leaching BPA, no microwaves are being used and no dishwashers). I would also have to rewash anything that the dishwasher didn't clean properly the first time. Not to mention the pre rinsing that everyone seems to have to do for their dishwasher so the food doesn't get stuck on. Where is the time being saved? Then there's the drying and putting the dishes away the next day because I would be saving money and not using the heated dry in the dishwasher. So far it sounds like it's costing me a lot more time and money than my current doing the dishes by hand bit.

Speaking of which, I can wash all the dishes for the entire day with my family of 7 and the dishes the after school children use in 30 minutes. Then I just let them drip dry when I wash them. My home economics teacher taught me that this is much more hygienic to let them air dry then drying them with a dish towel.

Also, I would miss out on the time I get to either have by myself if I am doing the dishes alone, because no one bugs me when I am washing dishes as I hand them a towel to help out, or I would miss out on those lovely conversations that I do have with my children when they are helping. It's amazing what things spill out of their mouths while they are drying dishes.

Plus, we have 5 children, two of which are old enough and responsible enough to wash and dry the dishes on their own and have them clean enough to eat on. We started getting the two oldest to wash and dry the supper dishes most nights because they needed the time to work together. They were bickering and picking on each other too much that we realized that they needed to serve together. What progress has been made in their relationship, although, I won't tell them that. They have gone from fighting with one another and tattling that so and so isn't working hard/long/fast enough, to hearing giggles and laughter coming from the kitchen as they joke/commiserate/confide in one another. Having a dishwasher wouldn't have them together long enough to have this relationship develop. Not that I don't have a LONG list of other chores for them to work together on.

You may bring up that with a dishwasher at least the dirty dishes aren't seen throughout the day. Well, aside from glasses, they aren't. My father told me how his mother used to have a dish pan under the sink that the dirty dishes were stacked in throughout the day so that the counters were clear and clean. I am now doing the same thing. It drives my mother crazy.

Soon after our fourth child was born, my mother was over helping out and volunteered to do the dishes thinking it was just the ones from our current meal. As she looked in the cupboard under the sink for the dish soap, I heard her yell almost sounding like an expletive, "Minnie Pearl!" That was my grandmother's name. She said that my grandmother would always have a stack of dishes under the sink when mom went to wash too.

So you see, I don't need a dishwasher. I would lose out on all of this goodness, growth, money and time. What are your thoughts on dishwashing vs dishwashers?

Enjoy your day!

How to keep your cool on a hot day.

Thankfully, summer has arrived. We have had a very cold, wet spring here and I am so glad that summer and it's sun and heat are here. Now, I know there are people out there that aren't so happy with the heat, and maybe you can't afford or don't want air conditioning in your home. Here are some of the ways that we use in our home to keep it nice and cool without air conditioning  -even when the humidex is reading 32 degrees C.

-first thing in the morning open all of the windows in the house full height

-all fans go on to high setting and are set in front of the window to draw in the morning cool air

-windows are then closed about after an hour or two (or when you leave for work) and fans stay on

-once the sun starts coming around to the side with the windows, blinds and curtains are closed to keep the sun out

-once the sun starts to go down, the windows are opened again and cool air comes in

-some days when it's really too hot and it's starting to get warm inside anyway, we set a bowl of ice in front of a fan and it blows the cool air from the melting ice around the house and it cools down

-cook outside on your bbq or place your slow cooker even outside, just don't use the appliances inside. Even the slow cooker puts off heat and can slowly warm the house up

-use the clothesline instead of the dryer (smells better and more environmentally friendly)

-keep lights off in the house, these carry small amounts of heat also and it will stay cooler when it's not bright

-put your feet in a pan, or a kiddie pool, of cool water. All of your blood goes through your feet in thirty minutes they say, and it will cool you down quickly.

What do you do to keep your house cool on a hot day?

Enjoy your day!

Not All Dish Soaps Are Created Equal

(http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_9990000041447320P?vName=Food%20&%20Grocery=&cName=Dishwashing&sName=Liquid%20Dishwashing%20Detergent&ci_src=64119933&ci_sku=9990000041447320P&aff=Y&sid=KAx20061023x272xTier3)

I have tried many dish soaps over the years. For the past five years, my kitchen dishes have really become part of an experiment of which dish soap works best for me, as we haven't had a dishwasher in the home we purchased.

Over the years, I have come to find that Palmolive Oxy is the best dish soap out there. Only a small amount is needed, much less than the other brands I had been trying, and it works for my entire load. In a family of 6 plus if there's company or after school friends, dishes can pile up.

My mother and mother in law were over one night doing the dishes. My MIL was on washing, and put in the amount of soap she is use to using for her dishes. The sink had more suds than water! She was amazed with how well this dish soap bubbled up.

I do dishes twice a day, unless it's a day of lots of baking or canning, then I do more of course. This dish soap has not let me down. Great bubble action. Great grease cutting action, Great smell.

I even had an old pizza pan that was given from a closed pizzeria that had baked on grease on it. Once submerged in my sudsy soap water and left to soak for about 15 minutes, the old hard grease came right off!

One bottle lasts in this home about 2 months. I have found that Walmart has it for the lowest price, $1.77 a bottle where Superstore sells the exact same product for $2.89.

What dish soap works best for you?

Enjoy your day!

Review: SOS Pads vs Steel Wool (Curly q's)

 

 www.roadstarclinic.com

How many of us get annoyed with stubborn stains on our pots and pans and purchase these cleaning pads to get everything nice and shiny again? They do work quite nicely. Everything gets nice and clean and those stains are gone until the next time you cook that meal. The SOS pad shrivels up and by the end of it you through it in the garbage. These don't last very long, can cost a bit and aren't recyclable.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/

In walks the Curly Q, as we call it here. A pack of three can be purchased at the dollar store for, you guessed it, one dollar. But do they work? Will they clean your pots and pans as good as the SOS pads with their chemicals and quick cleaning claim? 

The Curly Q works just as good, or even better then the SOS pads! They don't leave that film on your dishes that sometimes comes with the SOS pads. They don't leave a weird feeling on your hands when your done with them. They last more than a few times (like months if cleaned properly!) and are WAY cheaper! Also, they can be recycled after wards!

If you buy the bigger ones, just cut them into more manageable sizes and your money goes even further!

My money is on the Curly Q's . It's a small change. It won't make you a millionaire, but it will help a little bit and little bits can go a long way!

Tell me what are your thoughts on it?

Enjoy your day! 

A comeback on blogging

My apologies for falling out of the loop. You know how they say breaking a good habit is easier than starting one? Well, I can attest to that. After being away for a week on a trip, it was hard to get back in to the grind.

This past week, my husband, father in law and myself learned the art of laying hardwood floor. We bought this beautiful Oak hardwood that worked out to be $2.79 a square foot with taxes in and after a rebate and sale awhile ago. This past week, we got around to laying it. It was rather intimidating to start it and to make sure it was squared. However, we learned a new skill, how to appreciate others work a tad more and saved DOLLARS!  All of these things are a great thing!

This is a great way that you can save money around the home, now with libraries in every home (internet) we can enlist videos and other's knowledge on how to do many things. What do you do around your home to save money? Please send it in and we can have a reader's post on it.

The other lovely dollar saving thing that I was able to have yesterday, was four wonderful loads drying outside on my clothesline. That's $3 in my pocket and not Maritime Electric's!  Gotta love this spring weather!

With spring here, I have a question for you: are you planning a vegetable garden this year? We have had one as long as I can remember. It's always been a part of my life, and living on PEI, we are blessed with VERY fertile soil. Today, my children and I are planting some more transplant seeds to grow in our beautiful sunny room.

What kind of gardening do you do? We are sort of a square foot gardeners. I bottle what we don't eat or give away. In fact, we are currently on our last bottle of salsa and just ran out of tomatoes last month. I am praying that we have a bounteous harvest again this year.

Join with me in gardening, whether you have acres, a small plot or a balcony. Everyone can do it. There is nothing like seeing your food grow and then eating it and it's a great way to keep it VERY local and save some dollars.

Tell me, what are you going to grow in your garden? Send us your garden list and we'll post it! Keep us updated through out the summer and share some tips on canning, preserving, and some photos on how your garden grows. Email me at smile_zil at yahoo dot ca

Enjoy your day!