Finally, my first post!

You should be proud, very proud of me! I am. After 4 months of telling myself to put up this blog, I have finally done it.  Hold back your applause, I’ll blush 🙂

I wanted to put up this blog for a few reasons… all selfish of course! No really, we live very cheap lives.  I thought I would share some of my cheapness.  After all, my user name on Ebay is “ms.cheapo” and I’m not into false advertising.

everyone needs one!

The tightwad gazette is an indispensable guide with a plethora of ideas to cut back and live on less. Another reason I wanted to start this blog is just to let it out! All of the craziness of parenting, teenagers (ugg), homeschooling, living with an unemployed husband (ugg x2), running a business, working part-time…I could go on, but it gives me a headache just thinking about juggling it all, and believe me, the balls do drop sometimes.  Thank God for who he is…and who I am not. I need to, many times a day, give it all over to him….then tredge on. Don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful for everyone and everything that He has put into my life…I wouldn’t have it any other way! 

Abby getting upset that her potholder isn't as easy as she had hoped

Another reason for this blog is that I wanted to share some of the creativity that comes from my wonderful family… Yes, I am a proud mama bear! If someone was to talk behind our backs I would hope they could describe us in 2 words. Loving, and creative. The two most important motivations in our lives. Lets face it, we are all in this journey called life but if we don’t know what motivates our actions then we will always be wondering who we are.

Josh joshin around...he is such a funny kid!

ok…now that you know, let’s get to the good stuff! I’ll be sharing recipes, patterns, tutorials, funny musings, and whatever else comes on this blog. I hope it makes you laugh, inspire and inform you. I want to hear from you too, or else I may feel lonely 😦

Cheapness #1 

We make our own soap…all kinds, but the one that has probably saved us the most green is the laundry detergent. I am a Tide fanatic so it really took me some time to even think about changing detergents. I can honestly say this competes with Tide and I am very happy with the results. We got this recipe from the Duggers website (the family that has 18 or so kids??) We also have a front loading machine, so it does work in both types of machines. Here is the recipe:

Nat making laundry detergent

4  Cups – hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup – Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

– Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer “Super Washing Soda” – is usually with the detergents in the grocery store..we get ours at Kroger. Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent – We find our Fels-Naptha soap bars @ Giant Eagle in the soap isle.

Nat filling the bucket of soap

We have been using this recipe for a few years and love it!  With a cost of less than $7 a year, how could we not???