Homemade Mom

A day at the Zoo

2010-09-04T23:13:00.014-05:00

Today we took the boys to the St. Louis zoo! It was so much fun! We purchased bracelets for the first time ever, just $10,00 each. That gave us access to the train, carousel, kids zoo, dinosaur 3D ride and the Dora & Diego 3D movie. It also gave us access to the Penguin exhibit and the Stingrays, but both had lines that were too long so we decided not to wait.

It was crazy busy but I didn't mind because I had Cutler in my Beco Butterfly II Carrier on my back. I was so relieved to not have to worry about pushing a stroller through all the crowds trying to get it to fit! I saw so many parents pushing empty strollers and carrying their little ones. It just seems so pointless to me. You have to pick the child up to see all the animals because the fence is directly in front of their faces. So the carrier was my best choice.

We planned ahead and brought the boys some swim clothes & shoes so they could play in the water feature and still have dry clothes to put on afterwards. I forgot my camera, but here are a few pics from my cell phone.

They were soaked! I'm so glad I thought to remember their swim clothes and large ziploc bags to store them in. They had so much fun! Shortly after I took these pictures Camden was leaning down to stick his face in the water and put his foot out behind him, tripping Cutler. He slammed face first into the hard stones. OUCH!

When he came up he was bleeding from his nose and lip. I promptly scooped him up and nursed him. I was soaked but he was content and stopped crying. Breastfeeding seems to fix all boo-boo's. Don't know what I'd do without it! He ended up with some small cuts on his nose and some abrasions on his top lip. Now he has a fat lip.

Doesn't he look pitiful? Camden felt so bad! I felt bad for him. He didn't mean to, but it doesn't change how he felt. It didn't damper the rest of the trip though. We had such a great time! Couldn't have asked for better weather either. It was around 78 degrees. Perfect!

Baby Carrier Crazy over here!

2010-09-04T00:14:00.007-05:00

Infantino sent me one of their newest carriers to try out and share with all of you! It's the Balance Ergonomic
Baby Carrier! It's so cute! In case you don't feel like watching the video (it helps explain all the features) here are the highlights:

Ergonomically designed for all day comfort
Front & Back Carry
Natural Seat Design + Extra Padding for baby's bottom
Wide, Padded Adjustable straps
Outside Pocket to hold ID/Debit Card
Tidy Loops neatly store extra strap
Cute and wipeable inner fabric
Removable bib to protect mom's clothing
8-35 lb weight range

I found it available at Babies R Us and Amazon. Infantino just released their instructional video of the Balance Carrier today! It's really good!

To keep updated on all the great things Infantino is doing you can friend them on facebook, subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them on Twitter!

“I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products to as part of my participation.”

Back to School Bedtime: Battle or Bliss?

2010-09-02T07:22:00.001-05:00

I was dreading having to enforce a stricter bedtime routine. Honestly, we don't have much of a routine. Well, maybe we do.

When the boys get home from school we do homework first. Nothing else is allowed until homework is completed. Then they have the rest of the evening to do whatever. They play while I fix dinner. Then we eat, not always together either, but at some point during the meal we will all be in the kitchen. It seems that I'm always chasing after Cutler and the boys are in and out due to an ongoing Wii game.

Now that school has started I see the importance of attempting to create a night time routine. I say attempting because our day to day routine is different. Some days we have soccer practice, cub scouts, play dates, all these things interfere with a regular evening routine. Depending on how long the evening events take will delay dinner and baths.

So at the bare minimum I thought I could create a soothing/relaxing environment for them to fall asleep in. We spray their rooms with Lavendar Vanilla Febreze, turn the lights out and turn on the ceiling fan. But what about a night light? Isn't this Firefly Soother cute? I was lucky enough to receive this from Infantino in my participation of the Infantino Mom's program. It's primary function is to serve as a crib accessory, but it can also be used as a nightlight/soother for a toddler's room too! Cutler loved it before we even got it out of the box!
See it in action:

Since we co-sleep we don't have a crib to use it on. That didn't take away from the usefulness of the product one bit though! I let Cutler play with it for a while, then I put it on Cohen's nightstand. He loves it and he's 4!

To keep updated on all the great things Infantino is doing you can friend them on facebook, subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them on Twitter!

“I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products to as part of my participation.”

10 Minute Momentum

2010-08-31T19:29:00.002-05:00

So I've started another blog. This one is strictly for achieving my personal goals.I plan on focusing on one goal at a time. First and foremost I'd like to work on my body. I want to begin to exercise. I never do, because I don't like to exercise. Who does really? OK, maybe some of you do, but I'm not one of them. I have some workout DVD's called 10 minute solutions. Each DVD contains five 10 minute workouts. I can't say I don't have time for that right? It's just 10 minutes! Doctors recommend 20 minutes of exercise 3 times a week. That's one hour total. So is it possible to get the same result, or any result at all if I do six 10 minute workouts? I guess we'll see.

I'm not saying that I'm going to limit it to 10 minutes and 10 minutes alone. I'm hoping the momentum of actually getting started will keep me going. Maybe I'll do two or three 10 minute sessions. If not, I'm OK with that. For now I'll start with 10 minutes and see where it takes me.

So who wants to join me? Do you have a goal that you never seem to have time to accomplish? Can you put aside 10 minutes in your day to give back to yourself? I start tomorrow. When will you start?

Works for Me Wednesday: Portable Solution to Loose Candy

2010-09-01T05:34:00.000-05:00

Every time my boys behave when we go shopping I try and reward them with something out of the machines on the way out the door. Most of the time they select a toy or jewelry of some sort, but some times they pick candy. I don't really mind because the portions are small, and after all, they were good! So I never leave home without a stash of quarters in my purse. It pays to be prepared! I'd rather spend a few quarters than to be bothered for a new toy. Which they aren't going to get, but knowing they get to get something seems to make all the difference.

What do you do with the loose candy so that it doesn't melt or spill all over the floor? Well, it's time you start keeping those plastic egg containers.

I like to keep a few in my car, two in my purse - one for each big boy, and one in my diaper bag. You never know what uses you'll come up with! I've used them:

to keep earrings/rings in when I needed them off,
to hold change when the boys want to hold their "own money" but don't have pockets,
to keep tiny batteries you need to get one replaced and can't remember to write down the number,
for pepto bismol tablets when a child had a tummy ache,
for storing small bits of remaining play-doh or silly putty. (Take these to a restaurant when you know you'll have to wait a while for your food to be prepared. Great distraction!)

TONS of uses from these little free eggs that most of us throw away! Keep them and see what you end up using them for and let me know!

Homemade Trail Mix - Healthy After School Snack

2010-08-30T12:51:00.001-05:00

Here is what I start with: some raisins, glazed almonds, cashews, dates, peanuts (kids prefer honey roasted over plain), pistachios (not pictured), dried berries and M&M's for something sweet.

Here's a handful. This bunch has a pecan and my boys pick them out. I won't be using those again.

What else can you add to your mix to keep a bit of variety going? How about some bottom of the box cereal? It never hurts to change it up a little by adding some sweet with some salty. My boys love it when I add some Lucky Charms or Trix. They eat it up by the handfuls so I know they're getting the benefits of the nuts even though I've added some small portions of sweetened cereal.

Here's how it looks all mixed up in one large bowl. A little bit of everything.

Then I put spoon it into reusable Gladware containers with different colored lids of course, to limit the "He's eating MINE" dilemma. The large one in the middle is for Lou and I to share. YUM!

Do your kids eat nuts? How do you encourage healthy snacking?

(Yes, I realize these pics are dated from March. I'm terrible about forgetting things I wanted to share with you all!)

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T21:28:00.007-06:00

Happy Halloween!!!

Camden was Darth Vader and Cohen was Venon, the black spiderman. We went to the local church run "Trunk or Treat" where they line up cars, decorate the trunks and hand out candy from the trunk of the car. The boys love it! I really enjoy it because we can get all our trick or treating done in one stop! No walking around for miles getting in and out of the car, this is perfect!

I asked Lou to take a picture of us but Camden did NOT want to oblige. He wouldn't smile with any amout of threatening! ;-)

Afterwards we went to a friends house so the boys could play together, and play together they did! They were incredibly rowdy from all that sugar!

Poor Cohen just couldn't handle all the fun. He passed out on the way over there and stayed asleep the whole time! I couldn't belive he could sleep through the noise of the boys running, screaming and sword fighting just a few feet away from him!

All in all it was a great Halloween! Hope yours was too!

Kindergarten Halloween Party

2008-11-02T21:06:00.008-06:00

Camden had a class Halloween Party on Wednesday and I volunteered to make his class some cupcakes. We had chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting with black spider rings on top and yellow cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting with orange spiders on top. He and his class LOVED them!
I made so many that we had a bunch left over and Cohen couldn't help himself! He sat in his chair and ate 4 before we even took them to the school. Well, I say that he ate them but he really didn't...he only licked the icing off. ha ha ha! By the time we got back he said he was full, and I'm sure he was!

But later that evening before going to bed I stopped off at the kitchen for a glass of water only to discover this:
Little man couldn't help himself!!!

Thinking about new cell phon

2008-09-04T16:29:00.007-05:00

So here is what's on my mind this week...cell phone plans.

My husband and I share a family plan with Alltel and we get My Circle. So we get 10 numbers from any carrier that we can call for free, free nights and weekends, free mobile to mobile, and 1000 free text messages per month. Our family plan with taxes and all those other crazy fees runs about $95.00 for both phones per month.

We are both interested in getting Smart Phones (like a Palm Treo or Blackberries) but I'm curious, what do you pay? Alltell will charge us $100.00 each per month!!! This for the having the internet accessible on our mobile phones. They don't have anyting that would be any cheaper, so I'm wondering if you have a Smart Phone, who is your service through and what do you pay? Is is possible to have internet access and not pay a fortune!?!

Please leave me a comment and chime in. Thanks!

Tickles me

2008-09-02T12:38:00.007-05:00

He cracks me up! He thought it was so funny that the underwear on his head was smushing his eyes! That's my baby!

Three Column Wide! Yay!

2008-08-16T23:42:00.006-05:00

I just figured out how to turn my two column blog to a three column blog without losing all my gadgets and custom background, thanks to Tips for New Bloggers. They give you step by step instructions on how to master the codes. I wouldn't have been able to do it without their blog. I'm grateful to have found them!

I did have to adjust the main-wrapper width: 410px, outer-wrapper width: 750px, sidebar-wrapper width: 150px, and newsidebar-wrapper width: 150px just like they instructed it to be done. I learned that the padding:10px size, sidebar size, main, and new sidebar size (the px=which is pixels in width) must equal to (or be a little less than) the outer wrapper size. Your main wrapper and 2 sidebars should equal the outer wrapper width PLUS the padding!!! I didn't take the padding size into account and my whole right column kept dissappearing! It took a little trial and error of slightly adjusting the numbers to get it just right.

So I ended up with my header, footer, and outer wrapper being 810 px, my main wrapper 400 px, my right sidebar at 186px with 3px padding, my left sidebar at 187 px with 3px padding. I know it only adds up to 779 instead of 810, but that is what I had to do to get it all to fit.

Well, enough tech talk, I like the new look! If you want to try it too you must visit their blog!

Cohen Singing

2008-07-10T22:53:00.006-05:00

Cohen loves for me to sing with him before bed, but he only likes songs he can sing with me. His favorites are: "You are my sunshine", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Here we are singing "You are my sunshine" in bed shortly before he fell asleep.
(we have those energy efficient light bulbs and they take a while to warm up to full power, that's why the first video is quite a bit darker than the second video)

Cohen was being really silly in this video, halfway through he decided to growl the song! LOL!

These are those tender sweet moments that I will cherish forever.

Organizing Shoes

2008-05-06T07:09:00.004-05:00

So I've come across a blog I've been reading for a while called The Lazy Organizer. She has a blog carnival every Tuesday where you "Talk about ______ on Tuesday" Today is the day to talk about shoes.

I have way too many summer shoes, in the winter I wear far less of the actual cute boots that I own. I probably stick to only my top 3 favorite pair and wear them all winter long, but in the summer...I go crazy! I have tons of sandals! Especially the little kitten heel thongs. I love those. I've not always been too stylish but I have to try right? So whenever I see a cute pair of sandals, especially those with a cute little kitten heel, I have to buy them. Sandals are usually pretty cheap too, so what's the harm? Oh...right, storage. Where to put all those shoes!?! Here is my current shoe storage situation. I store all my sandals in a hanging shoe rack on the back of my bedroom door.
In my closet I have a shelf in between my two hanging racks and there I try and tuck all my tennis shoes in. They don't fit well, and they are hard to see, but I don't wear them all that often. I mostly wear them to the gym:
My little boys also have tons of shoes. I seem to one of them a pair when I'm smart shopping at the Goodwill or Salvation Army. I do the same thing with them, the hanging shoe storage rack on the inside of their closet doors.

Here's a little thing that I do that saves me some headache, I take all the unmatched socks and store them in one of the shoe slots. So then when I'm looking for a match I know right where to find it! It works for me...oh, that should be a "Works for Me Wednesday" post over at Rocks in my Dryer! Well, here are the pics of the boys' closets:

Terrible 2's...at 5?

2008-04-25T14:40:00.006-05:00

My oldest son, Camden, has been a complete nightmare this week before preschool. His issue is what to wear to school. Every night before bed we go to his closet and pick out his clothes to wear to school. He helps me and agrees on his outfit with me. No big deal, right? Well, the next morning when I bring him his clothes he inevitably starts the screaming mimi fit! We don't condone fits, I've tried everything from time out, to screaming to spanking...and nothing works.

Wednesday in particular was a very warm day here, almost 75 degrees, and we had picked out a nice short sleeve shirt, shorts, and a light jacket. He decided he wanted to look nice and he wanted to wear a suit!!! Can you believe that? I told him no, that it was too warm today for a suit and he would be sweating to death! He started screaming "I don't like you!", "get out of my room!", "you're mean to me." I ignored the screaming and told him point blank, "You are not wearing a suit today because it's too hot for it." He finally calmed down and put on the clothes we had picked out the night before, but it took 30 minutes.

Thursday was a little cooler with a high chance of rain. I told him he could wear shorts or pants with a t-shirt. We picked shorts and a shirt the night before and agreed on it. He decided in the morning that he didn't like the shirt (that he did like last night) and he wasn't going to wear it. I told him that we are not going to do this every morning, changing clothes that is. That's why we pick them out the night before, to avoid this frustration. He threw another fit and came out of his room in completely different clothes. I allowed it. I'm not sure if I should have made him put back on the clothes we had already agreed on or let him have his way. Either way, I was glad the fight was over.

Friday, today, is a nice day. Last night we put some tattoos on his upper arms. He loves tattoos and it seems to make him happy. Well, this morning he wanted to wear a tank top. I said absolutely not because those tattoos would be distracting to his other classmates. That he needed to wear the clothes we picked out for him. He melted! He fell in the floor kicking and screaming. By this point I had had it! He has done this every morning for at least 30 minutes every day this week! I was at my wits end. I stood him up and swatted his butt one time, got down to his level and told him that this behavior was unacceptable and that he was too old to act like this. He stopped crying and acted like it never happened. I'm baffled?!?

I hope next week is a better week for us. I have to ask all of the mama's reading this to share with me your solutions to this ever changing of clothing battle. I want to win without a fight. Please leave me your comments, I would love to hear them!

Being a BzzAgent!

2008-04-23T07:59:00.005-05:00

I've been turned on to a website called http://www.bzzagent.com/. It seems that it's a website for you to review products (when you have been enrolled longer) and other websites. You will get points you can redeem. As you are enrolled longer they will send you products that fit your profile for you to try and review. Sounds nice, so I signed up. Here are 2 sites I found in the "Frogpond" that I thought were interesting and I wanted to share them with everyone.
The first one is True Mom Confessions. http://www.truemomconfessions.com/

Being a mom is hard work, although you may not always feel comfortable admitting it... publicly, at least. True Mom Confessions has found that nothing lightens the load like a little anonymous commiserating.

Click here for a referral

The next website is called 72 hours. http://www.72hours.org/

Nobody likes to plan for the worst. But 72 Hours says that when disaster strikes, you should be prepared to fend for yourself for the first three days — and shows you how to do it.

Click here for a referral.

Check it out!

My Afternoon Routine

2008-04-15T08:45:00.005-05:00

Today I'm introducing "My Afternoon Routine"

My Afternoon Routine is geared to keep me on track.

I have set times to eat, handle dishes, naptime (for Cohen), exercise, pick up Camden and prepare dinner. I have yet to do everything on my list, but it is a goal for me to achieve someday. I try and exercise every day, but sometimes Cohen won't go to sleep! They story time/flash cards time slot has yet to happen, but I really want to start reading to the boys more. If I stick to my routine I know I can get it all done!

My Fly List is basically just a list of "reminders" to fly through. I often forget to drink water, and seeing in on both pages really helps me to get started.

When it's time to entertain the boys while I get started on Dinner I have lately been letting them just run around and play. They watch TV and fight and scream. Clearly this isn't working. So here is my Table Activities list that I want to try and use every day. It would be ideal if the boys were at the table (in the kitchen) playing with each other quietly while I'm fixing dinner. I haven't done this yet either, but I plan on starting.

So as you can see I have things planned out maybe too much. It doesn't have to fall into the exact time slot, but having it planned out like this really helps me have a visual reminder for all the things that I'd like to get accomplished in one afternoon. If you have any questions or would like a copy of these pages just click on the following link: . I will be happy to share these with anyone. I created the files in Microsoft Publisher.

My Home Management Guide

2008-04-09T09:51:00.006-05:00

I've been working on filling up my day planner with my morning, afternoon, and evening schedules. I thought I would share my progress with you all. Today I'm sharing my Morning Routine. I have printed out really pretty pages from Microsoft Publisher and covered them with contact paper. That way I can mark off the items I've completed with a dry erase marker. I'm so surprised at how much I get done now. For some reason having a visual reminder of what needs to be accomplished for the day actually inspires me to get it all done!!! I'm loving it! So here are some pictures. I'm happy to email anyone the publisher files if you want to make it your own. You could even resize them to fit an 8 1/2 x 11 binder.
This is my Morning Routine Cover:

Here are the next two pages:

Here is my Morning Routine layed out until lunch time:

My Fly list is something I fly through. It's a simple visual reminder to make sure I did what I was supposed to do.

This page is on the back of my fly list. It is what I plan on cleaning on a weekly basis.

I want to explain number 10 on the fly list: "Where are your shoes?" It's a little known fact that if you dress to shoes you will be more likely to get off your butt and get things done. For some reason if you are at home barefoot or in socks/slippers you are more likely to loaf around. That will make you less effective. So when you get up in the morning it's advised that you dress to shoes and do your hair and makeup first thing in the morning! That fly list just reminds me that if I haven't already put shoes on, I need to do it NOW!

I found a file sharing website where I uploaded all my current day planner pages. The link is: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/show.php?i=271042&cat=1
I hope that link works. If not, please let me know.

My Master Schedule

2008-04-04T14:57:00.008-05:00

I've decided after going to www.keepingthehome.com and www.flylady.net that I can get organized with their help. I don't have much to go, but I find myself spending hours throughout the day online. It just flys by. I have so much I want to learn about and research! So I've set up a master schedule. So far it has been a guide for me. I have yet to accomplish everything on my list (especially in that order) but it is a visual tool for me to keep track of my time online and get everything else done. I need to play with Cohen more, I need to turn off the tv more, I need to clean more, and I need to plan my meals. This schedule will allow me to get everything done if I stick with it! So here it is:

Summer Work Schedule - Upload a Document to Scribd

I'm sure that over time I will need to change some things as I notice them, but for now, this is my goal!

Baby Bond Nursing Sash

2010-06-29T05:28:00.002-05:00

So check this out! Missy from Baby Bond Nursing graciously sent me a Nursing Sash to try. I selected the Chocolate Flex. Just watch and see how cool it is!

I'm already using this WAY more than I expected to. I use it all the time in the house. I pretty much live in these little shelf bra tanks all summer long and now I can cover up more without sweating to death! LOVE that! I also wore it on Sunday to a wedding. I had a very cute dress on that had a plunging neckline. I didn't really think it was my best choice, but it was all I had to wear. I felt covered up and since the "girls" were covered up as well I didn't have to deal with groping from Cutler trying to get a snack! lol! Thanks so much! I'm telling all my nursing friends about this great product!!!

Busy Body Book Review

2010-01-11T00:04:00.003-06:00

About a month ago, Joan from Busy Body Book sent me a 2010 planner. I was so excited! I LOVE planners! There's just something in the promise of those blank pages that makes my heart flutter. I imagine all the things I'll write down; recipes, websites, phone numbers, email address...all in one place! I have to say that I have many planners. For whatever reason they don't get used. Usually it's because they look so nice that I'm afraid my scribblings will "mess it up". Stupid isn't it? I know.

So when my Busy Body Book arrived in the mail I stared at it for a while. Then I opened it and felt all the pages like they were magic. I immediately saw how handy it was going to be! I love everything about it. Let me explain:

2 Monthly Planners - One planner to record birthdays & anniversaries! Another to note next year's appointments & future events.
Months-at-a-glance - An overview to help plan ahead for the holidays, vacations, or special events.
Key contact pages - 2 Pages for your emergency contact information, doctors, coaches, babysitters...
Removable shopping lists - Perforated pages for creating handy grocery or gift lists.
2 Pockets - Inside front & back covers provide a deep pocket to hold important papers, receipts, coupons...
Bookmark - Easily flip to the current week with this unique bookmark that grabs the spiral.
Notes - A full page each week for notes, to do's, lists, or alerts. Plenty of notes pages in back of BBB too to record and keep important information.
NEW! - Sturdy, clear plastic covers now provide BBB's beautiful covers with even more protection.

Well, enough about my Busy Body Book...go get one! They are available in calendar year and school year, love that! A girl has to have options! Here's a peek at a page from their website:

She's so sure your gonna love it that they even have FREE printable grid pages for you to try out!!! If you find that the organizer isn't enough for you and your family...there is a larger 7 column format and a wall calendar available! Something for everyone! I love mine! Start the year off right and get organized with the help of the Busy Body Book.

Natural Cleaners

2008-04-05T19:46:00.007-05:00

Jaime said...
"Where are those comments about the natural cleaners? I have heard of these but have yet to use them. Let me know!!!!!!"

I wanted to answer your questions. There are many sites out there that help you create your own natural (toxic-free) cleaners but here is what I'm currently using:

For cleaning surfaces and tiles (non-wood surfaces)
Mix 1 cup of white vinegar with 1 cup of water, and put into a spray bottle. Label that bottle "all purpose cleaner".

For polishing wood surfaces and furniture
Mix 1 cup of olive oil with 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Keep in a sealed container, labeled "furniture polish".

For cleaning the toilets
Fill a spray bottle with undiluted white vinegar, and label it "toilet bowl cleaner".

For cleaning sinks and tubs
Use baking soda as a scouring powder. For hard to clean sinks and tubs, add a little bit of water to some baking soda, to form a paste. Paint the paste onto the area you need to clean, and let sit for a half hour, then scrub it off, and re-scour with dry baking soda.

For cleaning mirrors, TV/computer screens, and glass
Mix together 1 cup of rubbing alcohol, 1 cup of water, and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Pour into a spray bottle, and label it "glass cleaner".

For scrubbing hard floors
Fill mop bucket with steaming hot water, and add some liquid bleach. Read the dilution instructions on your bottle of bleach, to find out how much bleach to put into the bucket. (When you mop, open a few windows, to limit bleach fumes.)

For spot-cleaning carpets
Pour some undiluted rubbing alcohol on the spot, and rub with a wash cloth.

Dishwasher Detergent
INGREDIENTS

- 1 cup borax

- 1 cup baking soda

- 1 cup Cascade (optional, but cleans the dishes SO much better for adding so little)

HOW TO MAKE IT

1. In a small container, mix together the borax and baking soda and Cascade.

That's it! :-D

I keep a table spoon inside the container with my mixture, and when I run my dishwasher (which is twice a day) I put in 3 tablespoons of the homemade detergent.

Once every week or two I fill the rinse aid receptacle with vinegar.

How to Make Powdered Laundry Detergent
INGREDIENTS

- 1 bar of Ivory soap (Fels-Naptha is preferred)

- 1 1/2 cups baking soda (Washing Soda is preferred)

- 1/2 cup borax

- 1/2 - 1 cup oxy clean (optional)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

1. Shred the bar of soap. If you use Ivory, you'll find that it likely shreds easier than cheese, and only takes a minute to shred the whole bar. I suggest you use a very large plastic container. I got mine from Wal-Mart.

2. Pour in the baking soda, and mix.

3. Pour in the borax, and mix.

4. Pour in the oxy clean, and mix. (this step is optional. you can use 1/2 cup but 1 cup may give your detergent a better boost!)

5. All done. You'll probably need to shake your detergent before each use to mix it up. Also, keep a measuring spoon with your container, and use this to measure and pour the detergent into your laundry loads. I tend to use 3 tablespoons for most loads. For extra soiled loads, I'll use 4 tablespoons.

Using just the above, you now have all the cleaning solutions you need, to clean your whole house. :-)

I obtained all these instructions from http://www.keepingthehome.com/. She hase some really wonderful and useful tools I plan on trying to use at home. I have all my cleaners and detergents already made up (courtesy of my dear friend Shelley, she made all of these for me for my upcoming birthday!) and I will start using the on Monday. I can't wait!!! Shelley says they work beautifully, if you can get past the vinegar smell! :-)

Happy Cleaning!

Home-Made Cleaners

2008-06-17T14:55:00.011-05:00

A while back I posted recipes to make your own cleaning agents and I thought it was time to tell you how it's going. I am LOVING my natural cleaners! Here is what I use: One large box of Baking Soda, one box of Borax, one large container of Oxy Clean, Ivory Soap bar, and Vinegar (I'd buy a large jug of it, it will cost less that way and last longer). That's it! That's all you need!

Believe it or not, all of the above will make all of this and more!!!

My friend Shelley made all these for me for my birthday this year, for some strange reason I was elated! She thinks I'm such a dork, but I love cleaning and organizing products. It's even better if it's non-toxic and safe around my boys! She labeled everything for me with her label maker and I wrote on the containers with a dry erase marker in case hubby decided to do dishes or laundry. (yeah right, lol!)

Here is the close up texture of the laundry detergent. You can see the little shreds of the Ivory soap all mixed in. They break down once you start the water. Many people shred theirs in a food processor but I use just a plain cheese grater that I bought from the dollar store and use it only for shredding my soap. It works well and my arms get a little work out! The soap shreds up very easily as long as it's been sealed. Once it's been opened and has a chance to harden up it's a bit harder, but not too bad. Here are my vinegar cleaners. They work great actually! I was surprised at first. I'm not too fond of the vinegar smell so I plan on buying some citrus essential oils to scent them a little bit. Maybe something in orange, lemon, or lime will work the best. I'm using these in the mean time because I just haven't found the time to find a great (cheap) deal on oils. That stuff is kinda pricey!
So there it is! That's what I'm using. I've had no problems at all with the laundry detergent, works great, I think it's because of the Oxy Clean that I've added. The natural cleaners work great too. My only complaint is the dishwasher detergent, it doesn't work too well with dry stuck on foods. So I keep a box of generic electrosol tablets nearby to use for those really messy loads. The recipes for dishwasher and laundry detergent usually last me one month from mixing. But I have enough ingredients to last 2 or more months from the boxes above. The spray cleaners last much longer because I don't use that much when I clean, there is no need to.

So I'm curious...what are you using to clean with?

Tip 3: Make your own cleaners

2009-04-03T00:01:00.003-05:00

Tip 3: Make your own cleaners

Currently I make my own dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent, all purpose cleaner, toilet cleaner and glass cleaner. Here is a post that I've done in the past that has all the recipes.

I find that making your own cleaners is MUCH more cost effective, plus I know what chemicals I'm allowing to enter my home. I don't have to worry about the harsh toxins/fumes that come from many retail cleaners.

All you really need is:

Borax
Baking Soda (Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is preferred but not as easy to find)
Oxi Clean (this isn't necessary, but is recommended)
Fels Naptha Soap (Substitute Ivory if you can't find this item)
Vinegar (it's recommended to use essential oils to mask the vinegar scent if you don't like it)
Cascade (not necessary, but really helps to clean the dishes)

That's it! Not too difficult and it will save you TONS of money!!! When I buy all these things I typically have enough laundry detergent to last for 3 months (and I do 3-5 loads a week), and enough dishwashing detergent to last 2 1/2 - 3 months (I do a load daily).

Liquid Laundry Detergent vs. Powdered Laundry Detergent:
I often hear people say they don't like powdered laundry detergent and I'm not sure why this is. When you buy liquid laundry detergent you are usually purchasing a container that's over half water! I feel that my powdered laundry detergent goes a long way for so little. When you make your own detergent you can easily turn it into a liquid detergent by adding boiling water...and a LOT of it! So essentially what you are doing is watering down your detergent. Not only that but it's more work! Also it takes up much more space! You will probably want to mix a large batch which will need about a 5 gallon bucket, it's also quite heavy to move so you would need to transport your boiling water to the bucket in the laundry room.

Homemade liquid detergent doesn't have the same consistency as store bought detergent. After you add the boiling water to the powdered blend and mix well the mixture will congeal. It's not quite a liquid and not quite a solid. It's a gooey watery detergent that has the consistency of runny pudding. As it sits the water will begin to separate from the soap leaving the thicker mixture to settle at the bottom. This means that there will be stirring of the detergent before each use. So for all the work involved I just don't see the benefit.

If you have any concerns about the powdered detergent just give it a minute or two to dissolve in the washing machine before you add your clothes. No problems there! You may see some soap bits on your clothes and this would be due to the shredding of the soap bar. The finer the pieces of shredded soap in the mixture, the better. I use a simple cheese grater from the dollar store and it works great for me! No need to go out and by a food processor just for shredding soap!

For a breakdown on cost check out this post by Lynnae. One load costs about 6 cents!!!

So that's it! Leave me a comment and share with me your experiences with homemade cleaners!!!

Closet Challenge

2008-07-15T12:26:00.012-05:00

I've been wanting to get to this post for a while now and I keep forgetting all about it! Duh. So anyways, I've organized the closet the best that I know how. I've got a shelf up top that's currently storing my boxes of photos (left and right), a clear bin of all my owner's manuals for stuff, a green bin for some crafting items, and hungry hungry hippo on the top. Then I have two bars for hanging clothes, and a large bin at the bottom for stuffed animals. The problem...boys don't like to use hangers. So everything usually ends up stuffed into a dresser drawer or on the floor. I would like suggestions on what would be the least expensive way to change out this TINY closet into something that would be more effective for a 4 year old.

The closet is only 34 1/2" wide,

6 feet tall (just the door opening, the stuff on the shelf starts at 6' high and goes up),

and 26 1/2" deep.

So please send me your ideas! I would love to hear them.

Storing Kids Clothing

2008-07-29T16:39:00.009-05:00

This weekend I finally decided to tackle a project I've been putting off for a long time, how to organize and store the boys old clothes. I want to keep all of Camden's clothes for when they fit Cohen. Up until now I've had them all in clear storage bins under the basement stairs. The problem with this location is that:

1. it's hard to get to
2. you can't stand up straight
3. and there is no light
It's so hard to find what you are looking for in the dark all hunched over. So I devised a plan. I should move my holiday items and our out of season clothing to the dark, dank area under the stairs and move the kids clothes to the nice open, well-lit room! Genius!!! Why didn't I think of this 4 years ago? It made sense to move the items I access once a year to the hard to get place instead of the easy access room. Not I can get to the kids clothes when I have a need without moving everything out of the way! Yay! Oh well, so the process took me about 2 hours and here are the results:

The items I will need to access the soonest is in the highest storage space so it's accessible.

These items down low are the items that both boys have outgrown. (I don't know how the roller skates got in there! lol!)

This stack has old Halloween Costumes and mostly shoes

Beware: these pictures show the dark dank under the stairs storage area, not too pretty! We keep our out of season clothes in large (un-used) Trash Bins. It's super easy to transport only one Trash Bin versus 10 smaller storage bins!

Here I have my Christmas (under the Thanksgiving box), Thanksgiving and Halloween items.

All in all I'm pretty happy with how things turned out!