I hate math. I hate money. I hate keeping tabs of receipts.
So I forced myself to enroll in Financial Peace University last year.
I am really truly glad that I went through through the course. I learned a lot and am so excited to get a fresh start on everything once we figure out our new budget.
In the meantime, I took a look at our old budget.
cringe
Here is the skinny people. I wanted to make some major budget cuts this year. While we are going from grad student income to a doctoral income and we are saving lots of money by staying in a family owned town house…. we want to live at an even more frugal rate then we did in grad school.
As I said before…I really am not good with numbers. I needed to keep this as simple as possible.
I sat down while the kids napped, took a look at some old numbers and wrote out the top 15 expenses in our home ( I am talking household things, not gas or electricity or whatever. All though I’ll look at those next month).
Then I started looking for alternatives to those big heavy hitting expenses.
First on my list (surprise surprise) with so many boys and a messy little pup, laundry detergent.
We spent hundreds and hundreds last year on friggin' LAUNDRY detergent. Between the Bear’s eczema and our outdoor laundry facilities, which whenever neglected (more often then not) a washed load would need a second run through. PLUS we had no hot water hook up. This resulted in the need for extra extras just to get stains out of clothing.
Enter pinterest. Evil wonderful pinterest. I found a few DIY recipes for homemade laundry and really took my time reading comments from readers who had taken the time and effort to make it and use it. Eventually, I found a winner for us. Perfect for the Bear’s sensitive skin. A beast at getting out stains. Smells great AND leaves everything soft. What more could you want out of laundry? Best of all, I could make a whopping four gallons of the stuff and it would last me about a year.
Yeah, you read that right.
Oh, and it only costs $40 to make.
(3) 14.1 oz zote bars (I used the pink ones but you can use the white ones if you want to leave off the scent and dyes)
3lb Super Washing Soda (arm & hammer)
3 lbs of oxiclean stain remover (optional)
76 oz Borax
(2) 55 oz of Purex Fabric Softner Crystals (I used the lavender scent)
Use a cheese grater to grate the zote bars. Mix well with all the other ingredients. I picked up a 5 gallon bucket with a lid at Lowe’s and mixed all the ingredients a bit at a time in layers into the bucket. Then I sealed the lid and rolled it around for a bit. I saved the two purex crystal bottles, took off the labels and poured some of the detergent into the bottles (I still have 2//3 of the tub full and stored away). The purple cap from the Purex bottle is the perfect measurement amount for the large loads of laundry I do.
Now, this recipe was found off some chick’s blog. I’d love to give her credit for the recipe but her blog entry seems to have been wiped off the face of the universe. Suffice to say, kudos to her for her adaptation on this recipe (which I have found a few versions of). Those purex crystals smell AWESOME but I must say my new all time favorite scent is a freshly unwrapped Zote bar.
Our laundry looks awesome. Smells awesome. IS AWESOME. My laundry is AWESOME.
Ha! Forgive the enthusiasm but since laundry used to be the bane of my existence you can understand my joy at having kicked it in the knees and scored a victory.
This small change in our home with a HUGE financial and self esteem boost got me looking at everything else around the house.
As you know, I tend to take on 60,000 projects at once when inspiration hits, I get overwhelmed, I leave them all 75% done and poor J has to come behind me with the broom, sweeping up the mess and finishing the last bits.
So before any more adjustments are made we have set a few criteria:
1) EASY and NON stressful (bonus if the kids can help make it)
2) Cheap and economical
3) Something that replaces an item we all ready use
4) NOTHING WEIRD.
Ok I know #4 sounds ambiguous…but if you have ever surfed the household DIY on pinterest you know what I am talking about. Homemade toilet paper? Ah, no thanks.
Whats next on our list?
Homemade body wash, hand sanitizer, dishwashing powder, furniture wax, all purpose cleanser. Checkity check check check.
Homemade kids snacks like yogurt dots, fruit leathers, whole grain animal crackers.
And just for fun and because I have a surplus of lavender flowers in my home (thanks Mom), some post partem bath bombs.
Whippin’ this house into shape! Waddling through one day at a time and ONE project at a time (I promise, babe!)
Off to get the yogurt dots out of the fridge….
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