I’ve debated on doing this post for a while. I don’t want to come off as preachy, or “look at me and all the fabulously frugal things I’ve done this week.” I certainly don’t want to make any of you women out there reading this feel like you should be doing more, or that you should be doing better. I hate blog posts like that. And I’ve ready plenty of them. Gross. That’s NOT what I want to do. But at the same time, I find a lot of motivation and encouragement from other bloggers’ posts. Not just the how-to posts. I like to see what bloggers are actually doing in their day to day grind. They give me ideas for how I can adjust things in my own daily grind to meet our goals, or make things run a little smoother in our day. I love reading the “Frugal Accomplishments” posts over at the Prudent Homemaker Blog. Even though I do a lot of things differently than Brandy, or because of location, I simply don’t have access to the same deals that she might (we don’t have case lot sales here), I’ve gotten so many ideas from reading her posts. If nothing else, it does so much good for me to see another mama of a large-ish family doing her best on a modest budget. So, I’ll post on Fridays some of the things that I’ve done to save money that week. I think I’ll also post some [frugal fails] of the week as well. Because I have plenty of them, and I think transparency is a good thing. The blogosphere has a way of hiding our […]
Archives for October 2014
5 Ways to Create Healthy Soil in Fall
The first year that we moved into our current home, we moved in too late in summer to start a garden. There was already a 10 ft. by 17 ft. vegetable garden in place. It was a mess, though. Completely overgrown with weeds. The previous owners had used orange shag carpet as a weed barrier (not kidding). But the carpet had been there for so long that it was disintegrating, and embedded into the root systems of the weeds that had eventually grown up through after years of neglect. It was pretty rough, but at least I didn’t have to start completely from scratch. I was also extremely pregnant with baby #4 at the time, so doing a lot of that heavy lifting and shoveling was not something I was able to do. Oh yeah…this was before we’d been able to purchase a tiller. So everything had to be done by hand. I *wanted* to do something to get the soil ready for the following Spring, but I didn’t know what to do. I also didn’t have the appropriate equipment. I don’t think we even had a shovel yet… I won’t claim to know all of the tricks of the trade just yet. I still consider myself a newbie gardener having just wrapped up year 3. However, I have learned a few things that I’d like to share with you that you can do in Fall to prepare your soil for the following Spring. 1. Pull up all of the spent plants. (I do my fall/winter garden in the raised beds, so this does not pertain to them). Don’t let last year’s zucchini plant or […]
Homemade Honey and Peppermint Facial Toner
I come from a long line of people who suffered with acne well into their adult years. Actually, my poor mother still deals with cystic acne and she’s … well, a grandmother. It’s not fun. It’s painful and embarrassing. As a teenager acne is to be expected, but you trudge through in hopes of better days when the wrath of adolescence has loosened its grip. Unfortunately for some of us, it’s a struggle that lasts much, much longer. I’ve tried everything. Everything from oil cleansing, to store bought, to that line of skincare products that you see on the infomercials that supposedly helps all the celebrities, to prescription acne treatments. Nothing really helps. Some stuff helps for a while, then stops working. It’s a really big point of frustration. And it’s not about vanity. Acne is really painful. It hurts. What I have found that helps is a routine of mostly oil cleansing (to be described in a later post). However, I find that I really need an exfoliant, too. So I exfoliate about 3 times a week. And then 3-4 times a day, I use this toner that I’m writing about today. It really does help most if I do it many times a day. I used it for a month and saw a significant improvement in my skin. Then I ran out … and procrastinated on making another batch. And now I’m dealing with a breakout. The day before we get family pictures. Nice. ::sigh:: I’ll post a link to the website where I found the recipe and I recommend that you go check it out because the author, Aubrey, did a […]
25 Uses for Hydrogen Peroxide
One of my favorite ways to save money and become more self-sufficient is to discover new uses for everyday basic household items. Hydrogen peroxide is one of those. Everyone probably has a bottle or bottles of it sitting in their house somewhere. If you stock up on basic household items that have many uses, you’ll be less likely to have to run to the store multiple times a week. Being resourceful is a major saver of time and money. Note: Any time you’ll be using H2O2 on your food or potentially ingesting it, you should look for food grade (not the stuff in the brown bottle). 1. Propagate mushrooms from the store (I’m totally going to try this!!) 2. Clean your sponges. Everyone knows that sponges are a breading ground for bacteria. Create a solution of equal parts water and hydrogen peroxide, and soak your sponge in it for 15 minutes. 3. Get rid of blood stains. Apply hydrogen peroxide directly to the stain (best if it hasn’t dried yet). Let it sit for a few minutes and then rinse with water. You may need to repeat the process, but I’ve used this method several times with great success. 4. Use as a mouthwash. (Note: Swallowing hydrogen peroxide can cause an upset stomach because of the bubbles). Swish around to kill bacteria and help heal canker sores faster. 5. Multipurpose cleaner. Solutions with hydrogen peroxide can be sprayed on your counters, cutting boards, toilets, etc. as a non-toxic disinfectant. Added bonus that it’s safe for septic systems! 6. Use 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide in your laundry to whiten your whites. 7. Treat foot fungus. […]
The Easiest Crockpot Applesauce. Ever. (Can it)
I live in New York… the apple state. There are a lot of things I love about this state, most of which have to do with its natural resources. Apples are one of those. Vineyards are another. Mountains…lakes….lush nature. We have a lot of God’s beauty here, and I try to enjoy it and take advantage of it as much as possible. Sure, there are times when I drool at the thought of states with lower property taxes, less strict building codes, looser hunting laws. All the things that make a homesteading lifestyle a bit easier. But ya know…that’s when I come back to that whole “Bloom Where You’re Planted” concept. So this month we headed out on two different occasions to pick apples. We have two apple trees on our property, but the apples were just not good this year. We found U-Pick apples for .80/pound, and picked a little less than 80 lbs. I probably canned about half of those into applesauce, which yielded about 10 quarts. The rest will be saved to eat fresh. We may get out one more time to pick a few more. I’d like to have some more applesauce and also make some apple butter, but we’ll see. We have a busy month ahead and I’m not sure we’ll have time. So. Back to that easiest applesauce EVER recipe. I have two crockpots … a 6 quart and a 3 quart. When I load BOTH of those with chopped apples, it was enough for 5 quarts of applesauce. Just to give you an idea of the amount of apples I used. Crockpot Applesauce: Ingredients: -Apples (we used […]
How to Make Elderberry Syrup
One of the things I’m doing along with our winter preps, is to prepare ourselves for “ick” season, as I like to call it. This includes replenishing my stash of essential oils known to help with cold and flu, such as eucalyptus oil for a natural vapor rub, rosemary, lavender, tea tree, etc. I also made up a batch of Elderberry and Rosehip syrup. Elderberries are high in vitamins which help boost your immune system. It can help your body fight off the “ick”, and also shorten the length and severity of symptoms if you do end up getting sick. It has the added benefit of being safe for men, women (pregnant and nursing…or not), and even children. I purchased my elderberries and rose hips from Bulk Herb Store (affiliate link). They had the best price I could find, and the best shipping costs for me as well. Search around, though. You may live closer to another supplier, allowing for cheaper shipping costs. (Note: Elderberries grow rampantly across many parts of the United States. Ditto for rose hips, actually. You may be able to forage for your own. I tried and was unsuccessful, but will try again next year! Just be sure not to confuse the elderberries with pokeberry.) Ingredients: 1 c. Dried Elderberries (high in Vitamins A, B, and C, and also contains tannins and flavonoids) 1 c. Dried Rose Hips (Added Vitamin C boost, can also be used alone as a delicious tea) 3 1/2 cups water 1/2-1 cup raw honey depending on how sweet you’d like your syrup to be. Optionally, you may had a cinnamon stick, a 1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, […]
Preparing for Winter
Preparing for winter isn’t for just for the paranoid and old fashioned. It’s not just for those with an earthen root cellar, or acres of gardens, or massive pantries with fancy Pinterest-worthy shelves ready to hold your fancy-pants apothecary style jars with chalkboard labels of organic wheat berries….and the $500 grain mill with which to grind them. It’s also for your regular, everyday, practical family. Apartment dwellers, small families, large families, wealthy families, and anyone in between. That will look different for each family depending on your financial situation, how harsh or mild your winters are, how much storage space you have, and the size of your family. But I firmly believe that everyone should do something to prepare for winter, especially if you tend you have harsh winters. A little something, if nothing else. But something. Around here, we’re doing some winter preps. Why? Hauling 4 kids through sleet, snow, slush, and freezing temperatures in a big ole van to grocery shop for 2-3 hours while very pregnant sounds like nothing short of torture, and I’d like to spare myself as much as possible. It’s not abnormal for the men working in my husband’s line of work to fall or get hurt during winter. They work outside on ladders, and do a lot of driving…even in the bad weather. If this were to happen and he had to be out of work for a time to heal, we’d lose our only source of income. Having food stocked up would be one less thing to worry about. It’s also not abnormal for us to lose power during a bad blizzard. Or for the roads […]
