DIY Laundry Detergent

Recently I was asked about making my own laundry detergent due to a FB post I posted the other day. Well, it's true, for around 30 bucks I was able to make over a years worth of detergent and it works great. The next time you hit the grocery store go ahead and pick up a few ingredients.

3 Fels Naptha bars. (These are with the regular detergent, in fact most of these things will be in the same aisle.)
1 box Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 box Arm and Hammer baking soda
1 box Mule Team Borax
1 tub Oxi-Clean stain remover
1 bottle of Purex crystals, any scent

Alright, you got a bunch of random cleaning stuff, now what? Brace yourself, this part gets a little complicated....
Grate the Fels Naptha into a powder. then, mix it all together. I recommend using the oxi clean tub to keep a small usable amount by your washer and keep the rest in a bucket in the basement or garage.

As a nanny I am constantly cleaning up gross stuff. Blown out diapers, spilled food and the ever present milk residue that gets literally everywhere. This stuff cleans great and smells awesome, you know, as awesome as laundry can smell.

You can also use a little distilled white vinegar and either a cake pop pan or an ice tray and press the mixture into handy tabs. I tried it with half of the mixture and it came out just fine. I recommend using only half the space in an ice tray as it wont completely dissolve and you will have little white stuff from the undissolved solids. Personally, I just use a baby formula scoop and use two or three depending on the load. (Don't use a scoop in the detergent then make a bottle with it. Have one designated for the laundry room. I don't feel it is necessary to inform you all of this but well.... There are some people...)

So there you have it, I have saved hundreds if not thousands in laundry detergent. Don't forget to use walmarts savings catcher app to save even more money and an occasional bleach run through the wash will help keep your washer clean and avoid that mildew smell some washers tend to acquire over time.

Meal Planning, Saving Time And Money

So you have to go grocery shopping, huh? Don't pull your hair out or do any creative accounting to pay for it. I plan out our meals and saved my family hundreds of dollars every month. No you don't need to be an extreme couponer and you certainly don't need to make it your new part time job.

Here is a little back ground into why I started doing this. Before our daughter came along I was the manager of a portrait studio 45 minutes from my house. I worked 45 to 50 hours a week on a constantly changing schedule and sometimes, (about twice a week) I wouldn't get home until nearly one in the morning. This meant I ate lots of takeout  and slept when I was off to try and maintain some sort of normal schedule so real food and a full refrigerator was a bit hard to come by. Then I got preggo and quit my job to become a SAHM and nanny. Now we were down by nearly half our income and I am eating all my meals at home and thus, my meal planning began.

To start with you should know I like lists. A lot! So I have dozens of yellow legal pads all throughout the house and I highly recommend this because I hate hunting for paper every few hours. So I start by making my meal list.
MEALS: This part is fun. Write down your favorite recipes for the week, or two if you are like us and get paid bi-weekly, cruise those pintrest recipes you have been pinning all month, add in a few staples your family loves. Here is my list for this week,
Meatball subs
Homemade chicken fingers and oven fries
Stir fry (stressful days require and easier, one pot, meal.)
Spaghetti and Meatballs, (make your meatballs ahead and save yourself a step.)
Honey Dijon Chicken
Sloppy Joes
Wet Burritos
Lemon Chicken Pasta
Roasted Chicken with Mashed potatoes

Sometimes it's a challenge to plan too far ahead because fresh ingredients don't last as long so if your an every two week shopper then you should plan to pick up a couple more fresh things the following week or keep some frozen veggies on hand. I like to chop fresh veggies and freeze them. Bell peppers freeze amazingly and you can add a little healthy to almost any meal.
I also add an extra meal here and there because sometimes you just don't feel like having that for dinner and sometimes it is just easier to order some pizza. So don't feel like you have to follow your list to a T.

Now you got your list so now you need to scan through and figure out what you need for ingredients.
SHOPPING LIST:
Now you have an exact shopping list and you can stick to it. This can prevent impulse purchases, aimless wandering and strategically placed, over priced items. You just have to stick to it. (Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about the oreos or the fun sized twix bag.)

I am a Walmart shopper, okay I know they are a big corporate meenie but I don't work there, they are cheap and mama has gotta save some coin.

So you have your shopping list, let's go right? Nope, almost though. Walmart has a weekly flyer, like most grocery stores do so where ever you shop go ahead and flip through the sales. If you need corn anyway why not get the kind that's on sale. While this is a great strategy you have to keep your eyes open, I have noticed a lot of times the store brand, (for Walmart this is Great Value), tends to be still cheaper than the name brands sale price. We are all brand loyal to certain things like toothpaste, coffee or even TP and that is just fine but you can have your Crest toothpaste and generic canned veggies too.

Alright, you have your meals, your shopping list and you know what is on sale. You could head on out to fill your car with food but I have another step for you. I can assure you all this extra work pays off in the end. Most people shop at the same stores and know the layout like the back of their hand. This is a great skill to have, when you make your shopping list you should then make a second when the list is finalized. Ugh, I know more lists, I told you I like em. However, the second shopping list is to reorganize  the items by how your store is laid out. I start from the back and work my way up.

While this seems like a pointless step it really does serve a purpose. This prevents unneeded trips around the store, lots of back and forth and when you're walking back and forth you tend to see things on end caps and little odds and ends that you normally wouldn't buy but when you have walked by it six times you are more willing to snag it off the shelf. So I'm saving you time, money and hair pulling. Plus, a little heads up, produce is usually kept in the front of the store. If you grab that last you don't have to worry as much about weather or not your fresh food is sitting a room temp for too long. Besides, since you know exactly what you will need for the week, what's on sale and where everything is you can cut your shopping time and budget in half.

I hope this was at all helpful for you guys and I'll keep sharing my money saving tips and tricks. If you want to know more or share some of your ideas feel free leave a comment and feel free to share it up.
Happy shopping!

Not Your Average Mom

The more I build my blog the more it becomes apparent that I should find a style that suits me and portrays the type of woman, wife, and mom that I am. And I can assure you I'm not you average mom.

The basics, I mean, sure, I make meal plans and grocery shop. I'm a stay at home mom that nannies on the side. I'm a home owner and an Aunt. But what people don't see in the endless stream of Facebook posts and mommy blogs is that we don't all start out as Mom's, wives etc. I like rock music and horror movies. I have gauged ears and tattoos. Don't bother asking the internet for they will tell you that I am teaching my daughter all the wrong things by having a tongue piercing or letting her stand on the couch.

To that I say, shut it! No one asked your opinion. I say this half kidding because when I was pregnant I joined a very popular mommy thread for new moms. While the information I could get was very relevant and eased a lot of fears I had about starting this new type of life there were so many women looking for real help and real advise that were torn down by other moms. By people who, for all intents and purposes, were supposed to be there to support each other in a very challenging and scary time in life. And that just sucks.

That all being said I am going to celebrate being different, being an alternative mom. I believe instead of focusing on how we can be more like other mothers we should focus more on being ourselves, something so easy to lose when you have children. Are we withholding vaccines because we believe they cause Autism or are we doing it because it is the new fad these days? What do you really think? Yet, no matter what you choose people on either side will give you a hard time with it.

I received almost hate mail when I mentioned in a post that I was thinking of getting my daughters ears pierced at three months. I can guarantee someone you know had their ears pierced as a baby and they didn't explode into flames or spend their whole lives believing they were mutilated as a baby. Still, this is how we think. Am I doing things right? What will the other moms think? How will society view me if I make this decision? These are things that we shouldn't care about. Our children are ours and no one else's, (assuming your children are safe and not being intentionally placed in danger.) So if you think earrings are a good idea then do it and stand up for yourself. If you want to dye your hair blue and wear shit kicker boots everyday and no one can stop you. Certainly if you believe that a drug of vaccine is unsafe then don't give it to your child. But please, as responsible adults, make sure your getting real information because your FB news feed is not real news.... please remember this. (Always do your research first!)

I say we take back a Mom's real power. We are responsible for our children and we alone get to make these decisions. If my four year old wants a mohawk then so be it and if my daughter wants to wear a hoodie with a skull on it then I am not going to teach her that self expression is unacceptable.

Besides, what is the point of having children if we turn them all into little adults. I guess we might as well just clone people. Have some fun.

If any of you have advise (positive) for other readers about parenting, kids or just being a Mom these days please post it in the comments. Any questions you have for me go ahead and post them or send me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I get it.

Thank you all for reading my blog and I will have much more to come as this parenting thing is just starting. (My husband mentioned having another baby soon YIKES!)

Be Fashionable. On a Budget.

Lately, I have been receiving lots of compliments from my mom and sister about my fashion sense and my outfits. This is not normal but as I have grown into an adult a have dropped the wallet chains, black lipstick and chokers for distressed jeans, chucks and chunky scarves. In fact, my sister has been asking me to seek out certain articles of clothing as they come into fashion because I can get the best deals.

Well, I'm here to share those deals with you.
For starters, eBay needs to become your best friend if it isn't already. When your looking to a specific piece like an infinity scarf or certain type of shoes something then your going to search for it right? Sure thing! When you do search by 'lowest price + shipping' these will usually start at the auction starting price and almost always start at .01 $. I know what your thinking, "But Erin I don't want to waste time sitting and watching a stupid auction just to win a new hat."
Not to worry, like everything else in life these days you can set the notifications to let you know when you have been outbid or when time is running out. That way as long you stay the highest bidder you don't even have to worry about it. If the item is from China or sold by a company rather than in individual person there is likely several of the same listings floating around. Some times these are used as a feeler for what the item is likely to sell for in the states. Use this to your advantage by bidding on a couple of them while they are low and when one price gets too high for an item just let that one go and watch your other options. I have scored several items this way. Two baseball hats for .11 cents each. Three infinity scarves for no more than $1 for each.

Sometimes we have the hardest time getting away from some of our favorite name brands. I really like my Charlotte Russe jeans but I can assure you the world will continue to spin and life will continue if your shoes are not actual Chuck Taylors. I bought my mock sneaks for 13 bucks. (keep in mind that in some cases you are in fact trading quality for price but when three pairs of fake sneakers is still cheaper than one pair of the name brand I will wait for my shipments thank you very much.)

When your just not sure what your looking for and really need a website to guide you then I highly recommend 10dollarmall  everything you could want under ten bucks. I order from them all the time and I'm always happy. They tend to keep up with fashion and usually have a huge selection of nice tops and, of course, shoes! Lots of Shoes! Word to the wise the sizes are really close so if you are in between M and L go with M. Some of the tops tend to sit a little baggie so keep that in mind when looking at different styles of tops.

Alright, you're all set for clothes and shoes, even accessories, so you're good to go? Hold up! Make up, how on earth and you head on out without a little face enhancer. Scroll on over to E.L.F for a pro looking style. The prices can't be beat and I can tell you after years of ordering from them that the quality is always fantastic. Even the brushes are great quality and last forever.

These websites will save you a ton of time and money when pulling your look together. Go ahead and comment with some of your favorite sites and stores you use to save money and happy styling.