This is me!

I am a house wife. A stay-at-home mom. A home maker. I stay at home because we (Zach and I) made that decision a long time ago. It was not a decision we made lightly. We thought long and hard about it. There were many nights spent talking about it into the wee hours of the morning. There still are. We knew that by making this choice we would never own a brand new car or house. We knew we wouldn't be able to buy things just because we wanted them. But we don't want that either. We have to think about making our purchases. We have to save up. We have to pinch pennies. But we find those things fun, challenging, exciting even.

I do not feel I need to justify my not having a job. I do things here and there to bring in a little extra money on occasion but not because I feel I should but because I want to. Not because I have to but because I choose to. My husband is able to support us. Would a second income be helpful, sure! But it is not necessary. We don't need it, nor do we want it. We would much rather I be here. Taking care of our home, our children, and ourselves. And I do work. I work hard. I do not sit on the couch watching soap operas all day eating bon bons while filing my nails. I cook, plan meals, grocery shop, clean, do dishes, do laundry, play with my girl, garden (veggies), and make as much as I can from scratch (pie dough, pizza, bread, yogurt, casseroles, granola, baking mix, cream of chicken soup, gravy, chicken broth, pasta, desserts, pie filling, laundry soap). Could I buy most of those things from a store, sure! But I save us a lot of money by making them from scratch and they are much healthier. Could I do those things and still have a job, sure but maybe not as well or with as much attention to detail.

Have we chosen the hard life? In some peoples eyes, sure. But not in ours. We live a simple existence. We don't go out to eat for our birthdays and anniversary. Instead I make a favortie meal and dessert. We don't go out to the movies. Instead we head the the library and borrow a movie for free. We don't buy new clothes. Instead we shop at Goodwill, consignment shops, thrift stores, and yard sales. We don't go to high dollar salons. Instead I cut my husbands hair and I get mine cut at a beauty college for about $5. We don't buy pricey diapers. Instead we cloth diaper and use store brand disposables. We don't go on big vacations. Instead we go camping or to local parks and historical sites and maybe once every 5 years or so take a bigger trip. Still costing us no more than $500 or so.We live a reusable life instead of a disposable one. We use rags instead of Swifer dusters, sponges, paper towels. We use cloth napkins, cloth diapers, and towels. I am looking into using handkerchiefs this winter instead of tissues. Heck, I even use cloth "female products." Sorry guys!

Are we happy? For the most part, yes. Do we want more? Sure! Who doesn't? We want a home of our own. Land. A place to raise our children. In the country. A place for goats, chickens, maybe even a couple sheep. A place to grow, run, learn, live, breath! But we are willing to wait for that to happen. To slowly build up our savings. Are we planning to buy a quarter of a million dollar home? NO! Not by any means. An old farm house with a couple out buildings and a couple few acres would be fine with us.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not knocking those that do work! Both those that choose to and have to. I am not saying that it makes you a lesser wife, mother, father, husband, person! Not by any means. I am just stating our decision and why and how we make this decision possible. I can not count the number of times I have been looked down on because I choose to stay home. How many people have told my husband that I should get off my lazy good for nothing butt and get a job. And it hurts me. That people cannot accept the decision we have made.

We both sacrifice to make this choice possible for us. Zach works hard! He works a hard, physical job and comes home tired every morning. He works third shift so he can earn an extra dollar an hour. And this means that he is on a different sleep schedule as "L" and I. He gets home from work at 7am and goes to bed. We get up at 8am. He then gets up at 1 or 1:30 pm (after only 6 or so hours of sleep) to spend time with us. He then leaves for work at 5pm. We don't even eat a meal together the days that he works.

And how do I sacrifice? I miss my husband! I see him a matter of 3-4 hours a day on the days he works. And those hours he is tired and half out of it. I don't always get to buy the things that I want or "need". I am tired. Mentally, physically and often times emotionally.

But we are happy. So why can't people just be happy for us? Because we don't want the same things you do? Because we don't want the same things you want? I am sorry if our life style offends you. But maybe yours offends me. But it is not my place to tell you how to live it.

I'm back!

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend! We sure did. We played in the creek, watched fireworks, visited the county fair, ate home made ice cream and corn on the cob, had a cook out with my whole family, played croquet (hadn't done this in years,) picked wild flowers, played with babies and a sweet little girl, and had lots of great laughs with family. A perfect 4th of July weekend in my book!
But alas, we are now back to everyday life. We came home to nearly dead cucumber plants from needing watered so badly. But after about 3 gallons of water poured on them yesterday evening, this morning they are looking right as rain! We also came home to about 2 dozen baby bell peppers and lots of other lovelies growing quite well! Shouldn't be too long now before we will be harvesting our first veggies! I am very excited!
So anyway, I am back! I will be posting Thankful Thursday like normal tomorrow. Once again, hope you all had a wonderful holiday! God's blessings!

Frugal Tip Friday: Coupons

I have found that most often, buying generic/store brand items is less than buying the name brand version with a coupon. I still check every time though because there is a rare case that proves me wrong. However, if you are going to buy something name brand anyway, look for a coupon for the item or stock up when you do find coupons or good deals on it. There are a few items that I have not found a suitable substitute for the name brand in the store brand options. One is my body soap. I have sensitive skin and have only found one soap that doesn't dry me out or irritate my skin. So I watch for when that brand goes on sale and keep an eye out for coupons for it. That way when I do have to buy name brand, I know I am at least getting a better deal on it. Fifty cents here and there can add up to quite a lot in the long run!

Quick Tip Tuesday: Greasy Laundry Booster

My husband's work clothes are always quite nasty. He is a screen printer and his clothes are usually covered with ink, tack, glue, sweat and grease. Eww. There isn't much I can do about the ink. It is permanent and that is fine, they are just work clothes. The tack and glue just take some good, hot water. The sweat and grease, well, that is where the "booster" comes in.

My booster... liquid dish soap.

When you do a load of greasy clothes (work clothes, rags, kitchen towels/rags, sheets-for those of us with oily hair, etc.), wash in warm water, use your normal amount of laundry soap, and then add a good squirt of liquid dish soap. Not too much! About 1 to 2 tablespoons should do it. If you add too much, you risk creating too many bubbles for your washer to handle. No one wants a big mess of bubbles to clean up, although it would be quite fun for a while!

The grease fighters in the dish soap cut the grease in your clothes just as well! It is inexpensive as well. Can't beat that!

Why are dandelions a bad thing?

Why do so many people have a problem with finding dandelions in their yards? What is so bad about them? They are pretty, easy to take care of, come back year after year, and cost nothing to care for.

Mind you, I understand why we don't like them in our flower beds and vegetable gardens. They choke out our "wanted" plants and take over the whole place in no time at all. They are hard to completely get rid of without coating all our plants in harsh, harmful, deadly chemicals and are a pain to try to pull up.

But why such a fuss over them in the yard? They are beautiful! Why fight them? Why fuss and holler and complain when year after year, they are just going to come back? Why not accept them and take them for what they are. A gift of beauty from our loving Father. Meant to be pleasing to the eye. They can also be pleasing to the mouth. Yes, you can eat them! Here is a great article (from one of my favorite bloggers) on the many uses of each part of the dandelion.

So weed them out, kill them off, spray them with weed killer, pluck them from every corner of your garden, yard and side walk. But as for my yard, they stay! :o)

Homemade Laundry Soap

Making your own laundry soap can be a great way to save your family money while still getting your clothes wonderfully clean. We have used homemade laundry soap (this recipe) for about 2 years now. It works great! Even on my husbands inky, stinky work clothes and on my daughters cloth diapers and clothes, with no allergic reaction. And she has sensitive skin! So here goes...

Ingredients:
2 cups bar soap (Ivory-what we use, Fels Naptha, or Zote. You can't use just any soap. It has to be one of these as they are low-foaming)
2 cups borax (found in the laundry section of your local big box store)
2 cups washing soda (do not confuse this with baking soda, they are not the same thing. You can find this in the laundry section of many grocery stores or on-line)
Step 1: Grate the soap. You can use a cheese grater or a knife and cutting board. Just make sure you shave it into very small pieces! This is the most difficult and longest process of the whole deal and it only takes about 10 minutes! :o) Place the soap shavings in a 1 gallon ice cream bucket. Mine happens to be 5 quart, doesn't really matter much. Place the bucket in your kitchen sink.

Step 2: On the stove, heat 1 quart of water to a rolling boil. Pour into the bucket with the soap shavings and stir with a whisk till all the soap is melted. If there are a few small pieces floating, it's alright, they will eventually dissolve.

Step 3: Add in the borax and washing soda. Again, stir with the whisk till they are totally dissolved. At this point, it will look like slightly thinned icing. Note the picture below of it dribbling off the whisk. Looks good enough to lick off the whisk, but by all means, restrain yourself from doing so! It will only bring back bad memories of the first time you back talked your Grandmother! :-P

Step 4: (And this is why we put it in the sink) add in cold water till your bucket is full. Stir lightly with your whisk. You will get some bubbles but try to keep them to a minimum.

Mmm. Frothy goodness.

Step 5: Put on the lid and allow to sit for at least 24 hours. After that 24 hours, stir well again with the whisk. Make sure you label well!

Step 6: Mark on the back of the bucket three lines of equal portions. I did this with a ruler.

To use: Stir well and dip out 1/3 of the mix. Pour into a 1 gallon container. You can use another ice cream bucket, a glass pickle jar or an old laundry soap container (this is that I use.) Add in another gallon or so of water, what ever it takes to fill up the container. Every time you use it, give it a little shake or stir.

Use 1/4 cup per regular load. For high efficiency washers you can use even less.

Like I stated before, this works great! And it is cheap too! Less than $2.00 for the pre-mix which makes three containers full once diluted. I would guess that at about 100 loads or so. You can also add some drops of essential oils.

Tea tree- natural antiseptic

Lavender- for smell

Or any other scents you like.

Enjoy!

How to make a rice sock (and what they are).

Many a night I have went to bed with my favorite rice pouch/sock. They offer warmth, relaxation, relief from a headache and help sooth tired, sore, and crampy muscles.

So what is a rice sock? Well, just what it sounds like! You take an old (or new) clean tube sock and fill it with plain white rice. Then tie the end in a knot, tie it closed with a ribbon, piece of string or length of yarn, or sew it shut.

You can also sew a pouch. I have one that is about 4 inches by 6 inches and is perfect for "that time of the month" but also works great on the back of my neck for my (unfortunately) frequent tension headaches. Pouches can be made from any leftover fabric, a wash rag, or a recycled piece of clothing. Just make sure the weave is tight enough that the rice won't poke through.

You can also add things like dried lavender and chamomile or scented oil like tea tree or lavender for a soothing booster.

Either keep it in the freezer as an "ice" pack or store in a cool, dry place and place in the microwave to heat it. Do 30 seconds of heat at a time, then take it out of the microwave, turn over and place back in for another 30 seconds till it has reached the desired temperature. Before using, make sure to shake the rice around to evenly distribute the hot rice.

I have two tube sock kind (one warm, one in the freezer). They are great for laying across your back, wrapping around an ankle or knee and for laying across your neck.

Advantages to a rice sock:

• You can take them into bed with you without worrying about burning yourself or causing a fire (compare to an electric heating pad.
• The rice produces a moist heat that really gets deep into your muscles and joints.
• They are natural and reusable. If the sock gets dirty, simply empty the contents into a bowl, wash and dry the sock and pour the rice back in.
• The heat/cold lasts for about 30 minutes.
• Apply a cold one to a bee sting or fevered forehead for some great relief.
• Very helpful for back labor, ladies!
• Costs you next to nothing to make.
• Are even safe for children, the elderly, and those with sensitive skin.