Update on Cleaning Supplies

I promised an update on my cleaning supplies, so here we go:

The all purpose cleaner I made works great! I will definitely keep using this. It cleans grease and grime and even cleaned my mirrors without leaving streaks. This one is a winner.

The furniture polish works well. The combination of smells between the lemon juice and tea tree oil is a little strange, but I don't necessarily think it smells bad. You could omit the tea tree oil, but would have to make it fresh when you need it because the tea tree oil works to preserve it. I'm not sure how long the mix will last, but it's still good so far.

The dishwashing detergent worked, but did leave the dishes a bit spotty. Though I know store bought detergent can do the same.

I'm also using a disinfectant since everything goes in my son's mouth. It's made with 4 tablespoons of vinegar, 3 cups of hot water and a couple drops of tea tree oil. This is great for cleaning his plastic toys. This is on my agenda for today!

Let me know if anyone else has tried any of these or found any other combinations that work well!

Cleaning Supplies

I'm in the process of replacing all our cleaning supplies with supplies I can make myself. I'm trying to do this for a couple of reasons. First, I hate spending a lot on cleaning supplies particularly when I can make them for less. Second, it lets me be sure exactly what is in what I'm using. This is particularly important since I'm pregnant. I suppose this really started when my I was pregnant with my son and needed to clean the oven. Finding that baking soda worked really well encouraged me to see what else I could replace. Here is a list of what I've made/ am making. I will follow up once I've used all of these a few times to let you know if I'm satisfied with them. These are not my recipes. I've found them from numerous sites online. Pinterest has been a useful source as well.

The essential oils are just my preference for smell. Use of specific essential oils like the ones listed below help preserve the cleaner so that it can be stored. They also provide a nice odor.

The citric acid listed in the dishwasher detergent is also a preservative that can be found in the canning section at grocery stores. The brand I'm familiar with is in a small green shaker kind of bottle. If you can't find citric acid, you can use unsweetened lemonade powder because it contains the same citric acid.

Fabric Refresher: 1 cup water, 1/4 c vinegar, 1 T rubbing alcohol, 1/2 T baking soda, lavender essential oil

All-Purpose Cleaner: 1/2 c. vinegar, 1/4 c. baking soda, 1/2 gal water, tea tree oil

Furniture polish: vinegar, 1 c. olive oil and 1/2 c lemon juice, tea tree oil

Dishwasher detergent: 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup citric acid (or unsweeten lemonade), 1/2 cup kosher salt & use 1 T per load; vinegar to rinse dispenser

Disinfectant: 4 Tbls vinegar, 3 cups hot water, tea tree oil

Do you have any recipes for homemade cleaners that work well for you? If so, please share them in the comments!

Contentment

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." Philippians 4:11
"But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." 1 Timothy 6:8
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5


I love looking forward to things. One look at my calendar would show you this. I have marked how many more weeks until my baby will be born. How many weeks old my son is. I count down how many more weeks (ish) until my husband returns home from this deployment. Not just the big things though; I look forward to weekends and play dates and family visits. I look forward to the next milestone in my son's life. I've always been one to look forward. 


And then as I pray and study, I find the Lord pushing me to contentment. Some of the verses listed above speak of financial contentment, but that isn't really where I struggle. I've never been concerned about having things. I'm thankful that the Lord provides what we need. I don't care too much for things. I'd rather wash my clothes on a washboard than with a washing machine (though sometimes a washing machine is quite the lifesaver). I'd rather make things from scratch than purchase it for more. No, the type of contentment I struggle with is being content in the moment. 


My need for learning contentment is in enjoying the moment instead of planning for the next. It is enjoying watching my son rock back and forth on his hands and knees instead of hoping he'll start crawling. It's enjoying the cuddles and night time feedings instead of hoping that eventually he will sleep through the night. For me it's enjoying the conversations my husband and I have rather than spending too much time wishing he was already home. 


It isn't that planning ahead is a bad thing. The woman in Proverbs 31 obviously plans ahead because she ensures her family has warm clothes for the winter. She buys land that she knows will be profitable in the future. So, it isn't that planning is bad. With all that will be coming up in the next few months for me, planning is required. I have a birthday party to plan for my son, a welcome home party for my amazing husband, plus planning for keeping everything running after the baby is born. No, contentment isn't about not planning. Contentment is about being thankful for this moment. It's being thankful for what God is doing in my life today. James reminds us "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." (James 4:14). Life is short and each day is a gift from God. 


So may God teach me contentment in today because today is a gift and tomorrow is not promised. 

Kitchen Staples

I’ve been visiting with my parents and offered to cook some while there. Looking through their cabinets made me think about how we each have our own kitchen staples. You know, those items that we never want to run out of. Here are some of my kitchen staples:

Olive oil – I prefer cooking with olive oil unless it’s a recipe that requires a high smoke point oil (like roasting a chicken; olive oil would be terrible for that). It is also great for home remedies as I mentioned in yesterdays post.

Baking soda – Besides a baking necessity, baking soda cleans tough grease off the stove and from inside the oven. I think that entire blogs could be (and probably are) dedicated to the endless uses of baking soda.

Yeast – I make my own bread, so yeast is important to keep on hand.

Flour: All purpose, whole wheat, bread and cake – Yes, I keep an assortment of types of flour because they all have important purposes. Whole wheat and bread flour are both important for most of my bread recipes. All purpose flour is important for making sauces and gravies, and cake flour. Well, you never know when you need to bake a cake.

Coconut oil – It gives a sort of tropical flavor to dishes. It also has a lot of household purposes.

Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning – I put Italian seasoning in a lot of dishes. I just like it.

Honey – I use honey instead of sugar or to cut down the amount of sugar used in some of my bread recipes and sauces.

Vinegar – This is another food that has many uses in the kitchen as well as the rest of the house.

Shortening – Some recipes just require good old fashioned shortening. It’s just the way it is.

Sugar – Sugar is needed to activate the yeast.

1 can of super cheap spaghetti sauce – So, I realize this seems weird, but I always keep a can on hand. If I need to make a quick spaghetti, I start with the cheap canned sauce and add tons of stuff to it to make it taste like it isn’t super cheap canned spaghetti sauce. It’s an inexpensive base for making really yummy sauce.

So those are some of my pantry staples. What about you? What do you always have in your pantry that you wouldn’t want to run out of?

Home Remedies

I love home remedies as long as they actually work. I’m always looking for good, natural ways to treat issues. Recently, with the constant weather changes in my area, my sinuses have been really upset. My son is also in the middle of teething, so my mind has certainly been on treating these issues. So here are a few home remedies that I’ve found work for me and my family. They may be ones you already use, but perhaps there will be a new idea in the mix.

Ear Aches:

A couple drops of olive oil in the ear relieves earaches for me. I’ve used this with my son also and it seemed to work for him as well.

I know some people who use a little hydrogen peroxide, and they say that works as well.

Congestion:

I realize this is probably obvious, but steam works amazingly well. For adults, a pot of water heating on the stove works great. When my son was congested, we spent a lot of time sitting in the bathroom with the hot water on steaming up the room.

Saline drops are great as well. These are sold, but are also really easy to make. It’s just ¼ teaspoon salt mixed in 1 cup of warm water.

Teething:

A little bit of olive oil on your finger and rubbed into the gums seems to help with the teething pain.

My son has no interest in teething toys. He really just wants to chew on fabric and hands. He’s pretty impartial; any hand or piece of fabric will do. With that being the case, gum massages seem to help most.

Diaper rash:

I love certain commercial all natural diaper ointments, but have also found that coconut oil works great. If you aren’t familiar with coconut oil, check it out. It has a lot of uses along with being good for cooking.

I hope at least one of these is a new idea for you. Hoping your weather has been calmer than ours!

3 Uses for Left Over Pieces of Soap

If you use bars of soap, you may, like us, end up with those little pieces of the bar left over. Did you know those little pieces are actually quite useful? Here are three ideas for those pieces.

1. You can make those pieces into a new bar of soap. 

Just save up the little pieces until you have enough to make a new bar. I keep a plastic bag in my bathroom drawer. When I see a little piece left on the soap dish, I move it to the bag. Once I’ve collected enough pieces, I put them in a glass microwave safe measuring cup, add a little water and microwave. I do 30 seconds at a time and check and stir. Once the soap is fairly well melted, I pour it into one of those travel snap close soap dishes and put it in the refrigerator to cool. Once it’s hardened back, I pop it out of the mold and viola! You have a usable bar of soap. I make melt and pour soaps, which are certainly much prettier than the lumpy bar of soap produced from the store bought bars of soap, but it serves its purpose.

2. You can also make liquid soap out of your left over soap pieces. 

To make liquid soap, collect enough to make about 1 whole bar of soap (if they almost fill the travel type snap closed soap dish, you have enough) and grate them using a cheese grater. Mix the grated pieces in a glass microwave safe dish or measuring cup along with 3 cups of hot water. Microwave at 30 second increments until it is completely melted. Once all the pieces are melted, let it cool and then pour into a container to store and use.

3. You can make dish detergent. 

For dish detergent, grate the pieces of soap until you have ¼ cup. Melt the pieces into 2 cups of water either in the microwave or on the stove top. Once it’s melted, allow it to cool then add one teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice. I have found that the detergent using lemon juice doesn’t last quite as long as when it is made with vinegar.

So before you throw out your left over pieces of soap, think about saving them for an easy weekend project. 

Roasted Chicken Part 4 Why it's worth it

On day one, I gave some of the reasons why roasting a whole chicken is worth it. You get delicious chicken for a lower cost and can make really good chicken stock. Other than my inability to properly carve my chicken (this is definitely my husband’s job!), I really enjoy the whole process of making everything myself, and knowing that I’m feeding my family fresh foods that haven’t been processed. It also saves money.

If the chicken is not on sale (and you can usually find them on sale pretty regularly), it’s about 99 cents per pound in my supermarket. Here’s my cost break down for a 5 pound bird. These are estimates; I really haven’t weighted the pieces of my chicken.

2 chicken breasts (about 1 – 1 ½ pounds depending on the size) would be $1.99 per pound store bought (on sale at my local supermarket this week)

2-3 pounds of various chicken parts (legs, wings, thighs) would be $1.19 per pound store bought (same sale)

2 quarts of chicken stock (approximately) would be $2.69 for 26 ounces store bought

So roughly, the cost would be ($1.99 x 1.5) + ($1.19 x 3) + ($2.69 x 2) = $11.94 for the chicken breasts and other pieces and the chicken stock

If it’s not on sale the chicken would be $.99 x 5lb bird (but seriously, they’re always on sale!) + about $2 worth of vegetables = $6.95 (the chickens I got on sale for $.39 a pound would be a total cost of $3.95 with the vegetables)

So, buying a whole chicken and taking advantage of all of it allows you to get about $12 worth of product for about $7 or less. Besides being almost half the cost, the flavor of the chicken and the broth is so much better!

Maybe one weekend, you can roast a chicken and make some stock. You’ll have a delicious weekend meal of roasted chicken and be able to put together a casserole so you don’t have to worry about what’s for dinner for the first couple of week days.

Happy roasting!