Another batch of helpful hints!

Lately, I've been making all of my own cleaning products to help in the cost of maintaining my household. With the cost of gasoline and electricity increasing, something has to give! I don't have cable or a car payment. I buy mostly used clothes and home goods. I try to be as frugal as possible, but also as HEALTHY as possible. I don't think that adding a bunch of harsh chemicals into my cleaning routine has been beneficial, so here goes my new experiment!

Here is a list of cleaners that I've collected from various places around the internet:

Window Cleaner

1 c. water

2 T. vinegar

2 T. rubbing alcohol

1 1/2 t. cornstarch

 Mix all ingredients in a small spray bottle and shake to combine. Easy!

All Purpose Cleaner

Use the peels of a dozen or so oranges to fill a quart size jar, and fill it with white vinegar. Let it sit for two weeks, then it is ready to cut with 1 part water to 1 part vinegar in a spray bottle for a great-smelling all purpose spray!

Martha Stewart's Tub Scrub

Here's a nontoxic but effective way to clean your tub: Add one teaspoon of liquid soap and several drops of an antibacterial essential oil (such as tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary, or peppermint) to one cup of baking soda. Add just enough water to form a paste, and use it with a sponge or brush to scour bathtub surfaces.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent aisle

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking aisle

1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent aisle

2 bars of Zote laundry soap

2 small containers of Oxy Clean (3.5 lbs total)

(this is optional, I added it into mine because I have pretty messy kids and the cleaner the better)

Start out by grating your Zote soap just like cheese. You can use a food processor or just use your hand held grater, what ever you have.

**Don't worry the Zote will dissolve in your washer even if you only use cold water like me.** Toss all ingredients in a 5 gallon bucket lined with a garbage bag. This part makes your whole house smell great. Once everything is mixed store soap however you like. I chose a jar that I keep above my washing machine, I also got a little scoop to keep inside. Wasn't that easy? Sure was! Enjoy your soap.

Bathroom Spray

So it's pretty simple. Heat up some vinegar (I used a cup of vinegar and nuked it for 2 minutes). Then pour it in your spray bottle, add an equal amount of blue Dawn (the website comments were pretty specific about getting the blue kind), shake gently, and voila! 

Again, that's a one to one ratio of white vinegar to blue Dawn. I measured out a cup of each originally, but only used about half of my bottle. So next time I'll just do a half cup of each. The whole point is that the white vinegar is heated up, and while I haven't used it with it being room temperature and don't know if it'd work just as well, I'd rather just make it fresh each time. Especially if it's going to give me super clean results. Spray it on and let it sit for 2 hours or overnight. :)

Momma Must-Haves!

I've been formulating this list for quite a while, and I'll have to update it often. :)

Here are some things I find utterly indispensable as a mother:

A handheld shower with a hose! If your kids do something disgusting to themselves, or are sick.... this is such help to "hose them down" with nice, soothing warm water. It's also nice for us moms when we want to thoroughly wash our hair quickly, or when we're cleaning the tub!





Secondly, I love my Amazon Prime membership! Tons of free movies, free shipping on select items, and lots of other benefits. Saves me tons on products I need, AND I get them delivered to my door in 2 days! No running around the store with my kids and forgetting what I went for in the first place. :)

Another thing I've found helpful is a good quality food processor. If you have kids, you know the price of healthy foods can be astronomical! I buy veggies in bulk from Costco, and then process them immediately upon arriving home (what I am not planning on using right away). Sliced, shredded, bagged and frozen, it makes everything so easy when making meals! I also pre-bag "convenience" meals to slap into the crock pot on busy days. A little planning makes a lot of difference! I also made all of my own baby food, and now my kiddos are EXCELLENT eaters!

My last tip for today will be the Little Green Machine. Singlehandedly, the smartest investment I've made in my carpets and upholstery! It can clean car carpets, spills on the floor in your home, and scrub spots on your couches to perfection. SO worth the price! Just ONE trip out from the pros will cost you more than this little machine, and it fits nicely in a closet next to your vacuum!

What tips do you have to share?

The Secret

So often people ask me what "my secret" is. Those who know me well already know the "secret", but they may not realize it.

How do I do everything that I do?

Answer: my house is almost never "clean". I spend too much time cleaning up things like this....

Oops! That's what I get for folding laundry downstairs!

There are two reasons for this. 1. If I *did* keep the house sparkling, I'd freak out that much more when the boys messed it up. 2. It takes two days to clean one days' worth of the mess my boys can make. Example above.

Just to clarify - I don't live in a pit of germs and old food and disgusting-ness. It's just not *sparkly* the way I'd want it to be. Being a little obsessive/compulsive about tidiness isn't helpful, because in my mind I'm constantly tearing apart all the ways in my mind that my home could be more beautiful, but it's been a profound lesson in patience and looking beyond my current circumstances.

The outdoor dirt festival.

One day, I thought to myself, "I wish the boys weren't here so that I could have a clean house for once!!!" But then, I really gave this thought a once-over, and I realized how LONELY a sparkling clean, EMPTY house could be. If it always stayed clean, there wouldn't be any morning snuggles, play dough playtimes, crafts with 20 google eyes glued to them, or adorable little "chefs" stirring the brownie mix and accidentally splattering some on the wall. To me, I'll take the mess if it means I get three precious sons in return.

The three little explorers.

So, today - instead of sending them off to preschool on spring break so I could begin day one of spring cleaning, I kept them home and played with them all morning. We learned all about gardens, how seeds grow, the differences between veggies and flowers, rode bikes and read stories. I have about three loads of laundry and some dishes sitting idle, but I can get to those during nap time.

After all, chores don't grow up and leave you behind, they're ALWAYS there.

"Just Mom"

FINALLY! MY COLLEGE FINALS ARE OVER!!!! Somehow, I managed to get A's on every final I took in addition to all of the work I had to do prepping for Christmas. *Cue the Hallelujah chorus!*

Now I get to go back to a couple joyous weeks of getting to "just" be mom. Although I am looking forward to becoming a teacher, I can say without a doubt that this time with my boys is one I treasure. I will never get a chance to be their "mommy" again, and I am determined to give them my absolute best.

To me, "just" mom is so much more than the cynical lot who tout the idea that stay-at-home mothers are a bunch of bonbon eating, couch surfing, lazy women. I play hide and seek in the dark, bake cookies from scratch, take the kids to our local theme park at least once a week in the summer, and monogram their preschool nap blankets so that they can take one look at my handiwork and know they are loved.

Even as a single mother, I tend to shoot higher than we are taught to reach as mothers today. Since the oppressive days of the 1950's housewife (for some women), we were taught to rebel against the "stereotype" and become women of importance. Break the glass ceiling. Shatter expectations. Be extraordinary.

To me, however, being "extraordinary" involves doing the "ordinary" with zeal. "Just" being their mom. Making my children's characters, lives and comfort my priority.

Granted, it isn't easy raising three boys alone. Sometimes I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle every time I get out of bed. They don't come when they're called. Getting them ready in the morning is like wrestling butter-slathered wild hyenas. Their hair has their dad's texture and it looks wild if it isn't 1/2" long. They often get stains on their clothes that I can't get out. I have my hair in a ponytail at least 4 days a week. My makeup and clothes are largely from Costco.

It isn't glamorous.

In spite of the fact that I don't live a picture-perfect Betty Crocker life, I do have my great-grandmother's collection of aprons proudly on display at home. They remind me of a time when being a mother was a woman's first priority. When I'm feeling like the housework is even too overwhelming to begin, I put one on and feel like "SUPERMOM" instead of "just mom". I dust. I shine. I fold. I iron. I CONQUER.