Money Saving Idea #1: Make Your Own Cleaning Supplies

Travis and I are on a quest to pay of the rest of our debt and we are trying to think of every possible way we can save money to do this more quickly since we do not have much extra money in the budget. I was skeptical about making your own cleaners from food objects such as these. I mean I wondered if it would really get it clean. I am used to using strong chemical cleaners like comet, bleach, etc.. I gave it a try the other day. It happened to be on earth day and Travis asked me if I was celebrating earth day but honestly it was just a conincidence. I think doing things that are better for the environment is great but I was focused on saving money.

Here is what I used.
For the Tub: I sprinkled baking soda on the tub and then scrubbed with a wet sponge to get off the grime. This alone worked great. The tub was then covered in a pasty baking soda coating and then I wet that with water and vinegar, wiped with a sponge and then rinsed. Not only did it clean my tub better than Comet in my opinion it makes a sizzling noise which sounds clean when you spray the vinegar on the baking soda. And it smells like one of those volcanoes that you make in elementary school for a science project.

The Toilet: This was my favorite. Sprinkle some baking soda in the toilet bowl and then pour in a small amount of vinegar. Listen for the sizzle and watch it bubble. Then let it soak before scrubbing with a toilet brush.

All Purpose Spray:
Good for on the tub after the baking soda, surfaces and windows.
Mix 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar in a spray bottle. I found these for .89 at Wal Mart last week.

Tough Stains:
Use baking soda as a scrub. Or use a mixture of dish soap and baking soda. I have not tried this yet but I read something that suggested using half a lemon as the scrubbing device for the baking soda which sounds fun.

Floors:
Mixture of mostly water and vinegar or dish soap

Furniture Polish:
1/4 cup olive oil
4Tvinegar
2T lemon juice

If you want it to smell better you can purchase essential oils and add them to your mixtures which I would like to try with some inexpensive ones in the future. I was really surprised by how well these worked. You can purchase big containers of baking soda and vinegar at Wal Mart, Costco or Sams. I plan on keeping this up. It is cheap plus I like the idea that Zion is not putting her mouth all over surfaces that have been cleaned with harsh chemicals and as an added bonus this is much better for the environment. If you try it out or have tried this in the past let us know what you think.

Enjoying the Fruits of Our Breadmaking Below

Chef Z

Now thanks to Aunt Bethany and Uncle Erin, Zion is an official chef. Thanks guys she loves this and the puppets and she plans on putting the picture in her room! We miss you!

Making Bread

Zion woke up very early the other morning so we took advantage of the time and made bread dough before I started work for the day. Travis bought a large step stool for his work in the kitchen and it was perfect for Zion to stand on so she could help. She was very good at helping and I was very impressesd. We are including the recipe for your enjoyment if you would like to have an adventure in breadmaking.

Ingredients:
3 packages dry yeast
1 T sugar
1 cup warm water
3 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups powdered milk
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 t salt

Directions:
Mix yeast, sugar and 1 cup water and proof for 10 minutes (ie let it sit and leave it alone) While it is proofing combine the remaining water, powdered milk, honey, oil, eggs, and salt. Add the yeast mixture and stir. Add 12 cups of flour slowly and mix.

Knead about 10 minutes. (Your arms will get a good workout) Let it rise in a large bowl or two bowls covered with a towel for 1 1/2 hours.
Don't forget to clean up after yourself as you go along. Bread dough is messy!
Punch it down. (This is the fun part) and then take it out and form it into loaves, rolls, cinnamon rolls or whatever you want to make. It makes 5 loaves so you will want to separate it into 5 even parts. We made one plain loaf, one cinnamon sugar, one pizza, rolls, and our version of cinna sticks (if you have ever had those from dominos...Travis and I used to work there(0:) To make the stuffed breads all you do is spread the dough for that loaf out in a square and put the sauce and cheese or butter and cinnamon and sugar. You get creative and make up your own.

Then let it rise again in the pans for 1 hour.

Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Adjust baking time for anything smaller like the rolls.

Enjoy! The smell is great and it tastes great too!

Happy 80th Birthday Papa!

My Grandpa is 80! If you want to know how to be cool when you are 80 you should hang out with my grandpa. He is super fun. Sorry that we could not be there for your party Papa but we are looking forward to seeing you soon in June.

Zion has a Cousin!

Zion has her first cousin and Travis and I are have our first nephew and he is super cute we are proud to say. Shawn, Travis's brother and his wife Jill had a son who they named Calvin and he is three weeks old already. We can't wait to meet him.

Kitchen Color #2

At first we were not sure that we liked this color totally either but I think it is growing on us. The guy at the paint store told me that orange is the color that seems to look the most different on the wall from the sample and I think he is right for sure. What do you think?

Update on Z

This is what happens when she sees the camera. Cheese!
She started back in swim class and now she is actually swimming by kicking when we put her under the water. All the other kids were crying but she was having a blast.
She continues to say lots of new words. Her latest favorite is Josh. We had our babysitting swap last weekend which is what the picture is from and she can't stop saying Josh. The first persons name she learned was Abbey (her aunt) when we were in Pittsburgh and she still recognizes her picture. Josh was second and she has also started saying Leila and Nia two of her other friends.
She likes to model her clothes and is a girl for sure. She tries to put clips in her own hair and is gotten good at putting on her own shoes. She gets frustrated sometimes when we don't understand what she is saying and looks at us like "why don't you get it I am saying it perfectly clearly." She loves talking about animals and making animal noises. She knows how to say her letters and letter sounds up to the letter E and counts to 2. She actually keeps counting past two but just counts 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, etc... Music class has been great for teaching her letters because they are learning songs with the letters and letter sounds. We have been busy doing spring cleaning, organizing and some other home improvment projects and Zion keeps helping. Have a great weekend!

New Blog

Various siblings of mine have blogs but recently Doug created a blog for the cook family where we all post occasionally to share things with one another and share some thoughts. You can view pictures from our recent Chicago trip and more http://toomanycooksinthe.blogspot.com

My Husband is Amazing!

We just got back from Pittsburgh this morning and we were there for over a week. It was a busy fun filled trip including a mini trip to visit my brother Dougie in Chicago in the middle which I will post pictures from soon. But while we were gone you might think Travis would take the time to get some much needed sleep, play video games, or watch man movies but he renovated our kitchen. And he did a great job I might add. Check out the before and after. If you have never seem Florida condos from the 70's a lot of them have these ugly plastic dome cielings with florecent lights inside. I don't know why anyone ever thought they looked nice.
We painted the kitchen green when we moved in but here is what the cabinets used to look like.
The Old stove.
The cieling and the old wall color.

Not only did he redo the kitchen he even got us drawer organizers.

The new cieling! When he took out the plastic dome we found exposed concrete so with the help of a few wonderful friends he was able to finish it and redo the wiring.

AND

Here is the cabinets all newly painted and with new hardware. He even put in cool under cabinet lighting.
A new stove. Travis's friend from work was getting a new one so we were able to get this. Thanks we love it! This was a total surprise to me.
View over the sink. Travis installed crown molding around the top of the cabinets which makes them look much nicer and painted them brown. There is also above cabinet lighting and soon to be track lighting on the far wall. Did I mention that he put in a disposal that is so quiet I can run it while Zion naps and it has the rubber thing that is supposed to be in it so I do not have to duck for cover every time I run it!!! The orange is a bit bright for our taste so we may cover it up with a less wakeful orange but other than that it is awesome.