I see the sun! AKA: Living in the PNW is a good reason NOT to clean your windows.

Oh the sun!  We don't see the sun quite nearly as much as we should in the Pacific Northwest during the winter.  Now I know why.  It helps us from seeing how disgusting our windows are. 

 

I'm sitting in bed, sick with whatever I picked up at the ER with my youngest, longing to be in the glorious sun light with the beautiful, healthy people.  Then I notice something.  "What is that all over my windows?"  Hand prints, streaks, & film.  Yuck.

 

I had to clean it.  It was mocking me.  Mocking me.  I went to the cabinet, no glass cleaner.  Gasp.  I went to the pantry, NADA.  A choice word or two went through my mind.  I started this "No Spend January" group, so I knew I could not run out to the store to get a bottle.  Enter Google.  I found a great recipe, actually a couple from CrunchyBetty.com.  I like this one the best.  It doesn't leave a film on the windows.  BUT, you should spray & wipe the windows at least twice to make sure you get all the dirt off and wipe all the liquid off the windows otherwise there WILL BE streaks.  It also helps to use newspaper too.  The black & white pages not the colored pages.  It leaves no particles  on the glass like paper towels do.

 

 

Mix: 1/2C of rubbing alcohol, 1/2C water & 1 Tbsp vinegar.  I sterilized my water by boiling it.  The recipe won't fill up the entire bottle, but you can double or triple the batch.  Yes, I reused the old Windex bottle with my new environmentally friendly cleaner.  The batch I made probably cost me about .50.  Try it out.  I'm sure you are going to love it. 

Homemade & Cheap Dishwasher Soap

New year, new ways for me to save!  I joined a group called Living Well Spending Less & January is a "No Spending Month".  And guess what I just ran out of in my stockpile?  Dishwasher soap.  ACK!

 

I couldn't spend unless it was a need.  This is a need, but I remembered I had posted sometime ago about homemade dishwasher soap. I haven't used the recipe because I had enough premade soap in my pantry.  I read the reviews on line & couldn't justify buying it.  I made some & love it.  So I ended up making 192 loads of dishwasher soap for $3.25 in less than 2 minutes!  That comes out to $0.017 a load.  I use equal amounts of Borax & Washing Soda.  I can get 8 cups total into a half gallon canning jar.  I use 2 tsp. for each wash. It seems like I do at least a load of dishes a day, especially when the kids are out of school.  This will last me until June or July.  I figured I save at least $17 + my time.  Easy & natural ~ can't bet that!

 

 

 

 

Thrifty tip: Saving Marigold Seeds

Who doesn't love Marigolds?  Those little ruffled yellow & orange flowers just add a pop of color to any spot & they keep bugs away.  Did you know you can that you can gather the seeds and regrow them next year?  I didn't.  This seriously easy.

 

 

Pull or cut the spent flower off.  Let it dry. Or if you are lazy like me, wait until it is dry on the plant then pull it.

 

 

Pull the dried petals out.  Sorry for the dark photos, but I'm not a photographer.

 

 

Pull the seeds out of the bottom & store them for next year.  The seeds are thin with black on the bottom.  Each one can grow another plant.  Each flower could hold around 50 seeds.  If you planted & cultivated each seed you'd have 50 plants for free.  Which could save you a lot of money.  Even if they were $1 each that's $50 you saved!

 

Homemade Taco Sauce

In my house we eat a ridiculous amount of Mexican food, in particular, tacos.  We have tacos at least once a week.  It's just easy & everyone eats them without complaining.  I am trying to cook from scratch & trying not to buy processed food. The most easiest way to start lessening my family's dependence on processed food is with making my own condiments. 

 

I haven't bought taco sauce in the past 2 years.  In my humble opinion, I like my sauce more than the store bought stuff.  That's saying a lot because I am picky about my food.  This recipe is similar to the previous post about making ketchup.  See the post here.  (Yes I am reusing the same pictures.)

Use as many or as little tomatoes you want.  I use about 6-8 quarts of tomatoes.  Peel tomatoes (lightly cut an X into the skin and drop them into boiling water.)  Leave them in the water for about 10 seconds and put them in cold water (ice water is preferred).  The skins will slide off.  Core & cut.  Leave pot uncovered.  Once soft run through food mill to remove seeds.  Unlike the picture, you don't need onions or red peppers.

 

 

 

 

Reduce the tomato mixture to desired thickness.  Cook on low for 4-8 hours stirring from time to time to prevent sticking.  I prefer my sauce a bit thick so when it covers the spoon & doesn't fall off too quickly I know it's done.  The only thing I add after reducing the tomato mixture is my homemade taco seasoning.  If you're using my recipe for taco seasoning, I used at least 4-5 tablespoons full.  I really don't know how much I just pour some seasoning in until I like the way it tastes.  I'm that kind of cook.  I usually can get 6-8 pints of taco from 6-8 quarts of tomatoes.  Have fun & let me know what you think.



 

 

Once you try it, you'll never buy it again: Homemade Ketchup

I have been making my own taco sauce for the past couple of years and it's pretty easy.  Cook down tomatoes, run through a food mill, add my homemade taco seasoning & water bath it.  This year I had so many volunteer tomato plants in my garden & they are producing tomatoes to the nth degree I decided to try to make ketchup.  Why?  We are trying to eat homemade food to help our children with their epilepsy.  Less chemical or man made products going into their body. 

 

My ketchup label says this:

 

"Tomato concentrate (water & tomato paste), high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, vinegar, salt, onion powder, spice & natural flavoring."

 

Thank goodness for my Ball Blue Book of Preserving.  I found a wonderful recipe that I will use forever.

 

• 4 quarts of chopped, peeled, & cored tomatoes (abt 24 large)
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 med)
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper (1/2 medium)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 1/2 cups vinegar

Combine tomatoes, onion & pepper in a large sauce pot.  Cook until tomatoes are tender.  Puree using a food processor or food mill.  Cook puree rapidly until thick and reduced by one-half.  Tie whole spices in a spice bag.  Add spice bag, sugar, salt & paprika to tomato mixture.  Simmer 25 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.  Remove spice bag,  Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Adjust two piece caps.  Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.  Yields about 3 pints.

  

To peel tomatoes lightly cut an X into the skin and drop them into boiling water.  Leave them in the water for about 10 seconds and put them in cold water (ice water is preferred).  The skins will slide off.  Core & cut.  Leave pot uncovered.  Once soft run through food mill to remove seeds.

  

Once reduced add spice bag & other ingredients. 

 

*Remember to use iodine free salt or sea salt when canning.

The finish product.  This picture does not do it justice.  The color is vibrant.  It's a deep red-orange almost like the color of marinara sauce.  The flavor is AH-MAZING.

 In the water bath canner my pretties.

The finish product:

 

 

4 pints of tomato heaven.  While it is not a thick as store bought, probably because there is no corn syrup to thicken it, but it comes very close.  If you cooked it down a bit longer it would be more like store bought.  My has the consistency of taco sauce. 

 

NOTE: I don't know how many quarts of tomatoes I had.  I just used what tomatoes were ready, I probably used more. than the recipe calls for.  I did cook my sauce longer than it said and at a higher temperature.  I think from start to finish it took about 8-10 hours, mostly just waiting for the puree to cook down.

The Most Medicinal Weed in Your Garden

From time to time I head out to the countryside to go to a women's group called Titus 2.  This group of ladies are a wealth of knowledge.  They would rather find medicinal herbs in their yard than go to the store & buy it.  I thought it was weird to use weeds as medicine, but I started to think about it, this is how my great grandparents healed themselves.  After all, most over the counter medicine are derived from plants.

 

The first easily identifiable plant is Mullein.  This plant has soft furry leaves.  When mature mullein will have a long spear like stem with small yellow flowers.

 

It is widely used for herbal remedies with emollient and astringent properties. It is known to possess anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antiviral, anti-fungal, antibacterial, expectorant, and analgesic properties. It is especially recommended for coughs and related problems, but also used in topical applications against a variety of skin problems.  Because of its astringent properties it can be use on hemorrhoids & athlete's foot.  

 

 

 

 

The primary use for Mullein is to fight coughs.  Herbal teas are made for an expectorant, dry cough, bronchitis, & sore throat.  The combination of expectorant and emollient mucilage makes the plant particularly effective for cough. All preparations meant to be drunk have to be finely filtered to eliminate the irritating hairs.

About a week or so ago I found this little guy in my garden right in the middle of my spinach & carrots.  My OCD tendencies wanted to pull it, I didn't.  The leaves grew so nice & big in just a few days.  I cut the bigger ones & cut them into smaller pieces & dehydrated it.  It took only a few hours to dehydrate.  Friends have encouraged me to try it, they really says it works.  So I have a small jelly jar full of mullein ready to use when the cold season starts.  I will let you know how well it works.  I will have to add some sugar or homemade vanilla extract in the tea.

Hydrogen Peroxide is FABULOUS stain remover!

My children are active.  That's the best way to say it.  They climb, run, and jump.  They never sit still.  They're kids; that's what they are suppose to do.  There are many times that they fall & get scrapped up.  Most of the time they get blood on their clothes.

 

This is from our current ouchie:

 

 

Pour the hydrogen peroxide directly on the blood stain.  Let it foam.  Repeat if necessary.  Wash with cold water and pour hp again.  There will be less foam each time you use hp.



This pair of sweats washed once.  The stain is gone!  No scrubbing & no harsh chemicals.

 

 

 

I have even done this on dried blood stains.  Do the same steps.  The stain still comes out.  If for some reason you wash & dry your clothes & you missed the stain, repeat the steps.  It will still foam, but I would add some stain remover.  I just love hydrogen peroxide!  A chemical free miracle!

 

An easy way to make fruit leather

You will need two things: yogurt and a dehydrator.  Yes that's it.

1. Yogurt, any kind, preferably the cheaper the better.  Great way to use up those containers that are just about to expire.

 

 

2. Pour it on plastic wrap and smooth out.  Add extra cut up fruit to intensify the flavor.

 



 

 

3. Dehydrate until dry about 6-8 hours at about 150*.

 

Pretty easy and better for the kids than the roll ups from the store.  I didn't add sugar or artificial sweeteners.  Next post will be dehydrated yogurt bites.  Can't wait to try it.



Homemade Vanilla Extract

Do you know what's in vanilla extract?  2 things: Vanilla beans & vodka.  THAT'S IT! The 3rd ingredient is time.  About 3-6 months depending on your desired level of strength of flavor.

First vanilla beans & vodka

 

 

 Cut beans length wise & scrap seeds into jar.

 

Put vanilla beans into jar.

Pour in vodka to cover beans.  Put jar in the a dark cupboard.  Let sit 3-6 months. 

Shake every month or so.  Don't forget to write date on the lid

 

Cost analysis: $5.99 for organic beans, $18.99 for a liter of vodka.  I probably used about $4.00 worth of vodka (overestimate).  So $9.99 total.  The jar holds 1 pint = 16 fl oz.  Amazon has vanilla on sale 8 oz for $10.17.  I made double for the same price & didn't have to pay shipping.  I'm ready to bake some chocolate cookies!

Cinnamon Pear Fruit Leather

I got a 1/2 of tote of pears for free last week.  They are by no means pretty.  It was a lonely tree in front of our schools bus barn.  No spray, no love from anyone, but still produced a lot of edible pears.  And with pears, they all seem to ripen at once.  I'm only one woman.  Now that my husband has a FT job right now (YEA!), he can't help process all the wonderful fruits that the PNW provides.  I saw a recipe somewhere where I could use the oven to make fruit leather.  This is super super easy. 

1. Preheat oven to 170*. 
2. Peel & core pears.
3. Toss them into the food processor.
4. Add sugar & cinnamon to taste.
5. Pour pear sauce onto a silicone lined cookie sheet.
6. Lightly shake the sheet so the sauce is evenly distributive.
7. Bake for at least 4 hours (perhaps more)
8. About every hour or so turn & move (either up or down to the other rack) the cookie sheet.
9. Once cool & dry cut with pizza cutter.
10. Store in a plastic bag or enjoy right away.

I made about 5 tray fulls over the last few days.  My children have eaten all but 4 pieces!  Guess I'm making more!

Say What? Free Hair Cuts?

YES!  I cut my kids hair so this isn't really saving me money, but this could save me some time!  Starting on November 4th, and every Sunday thereafter you can get a FREE haircut for your kids at any JC Penny salon.  I’d still suggest making an appointment if at all possible. (Don't forget to leave a tip, too!)

BTW I did take advantage of their free hair cuts in August.  My oldest hair cut came out wonderful.  Dad took them, I was nervous.  I like my kids hair a certain way.  I was extremely happy when I saw him once I got home from work.  My youngest, unfortunately, who has never had a "professional" hair cut, would not even get in the seat.  He exclaimed "My mommy cut my hair!"  What can I say the kid's got taste!

Thrifty Tip: Homemade garlic powder

Yea I know I can buy garlic powder at the store super cheap, but we're waiting to see if my husband will once again get onto the unemployment line (YIPPEE ~ sarcasm right there folks).  So needless to say that we're trying to save money EVERYWHERE. 

So we're looking at everything we eat or use that we can make ourselves.  What's the first thing you do when you wake up? OK second thing.  Eat breakfast.  I have a habit of having garlic toast for breakfast.  A nice crisp piece of sourdough bread with butter, garlic & onion powder with a diet Dr. Pepper is what gets me going in the morning.  I know I'm weird. 

While munchin down on my breakfast of champions I got a quiet moment to read the label.  Do you know what's in garlic powder?  Dehydrated garlic & some other stuff.  Guess what I did?  Yep.  Made garlic powder!

1. Get a garlic clove, double check to make sure that it has big cloves b/c it's easier to slice.
2. Peel & slice clove .
3. Dehydrate slices.
4. Once dehydrated, ground the heck out of the slices.  (I use our Magic Bullet, b/c grinding things into a pulp is the best thing it can do.)

 

Thrifty Tip: Regrowing celery

I don't know where I saw this thrifty tip, but I decided to try it out. You can grow new celery from an old stalk.  I cut the stalks about 2-3 inches from the bottom & re cut the bottom so water would be able to travel through the stalks.

Day 1

 Day 2

Day 3

 Day 4

 Day 5

Day 6

Look at how much it grew in just 6 days!  AMAZING!  Now I don't know if it will taste the same, but it is worth a try.  Nothing was added except water.  I may transplant it into my garden, now that it is warm here.  It's a great way to double your food by cutting your costs in half.  Try it out & tell me how it works for you.

An open letter to my gallbladder

Dear Gallbladder,

Wasn't I good to you?  Didn't I give you everything you needed?  A nice house, easy steady work, anything you can ask for?  Let's face it, you had a pretty cushy life.  Why, oh why, did you stage a revolt against me? 

Yes I know I sometimes ate like a twenty something male college student during rush week or a 5 year old who inhales everything from the pantry while his parents aren't looking, but come on  I was really nice to you.  But in the end you were evicted, you wreaked your havoc & were kicked out.  So long, goodbye, adios, au revior, and vale. . .

All I want to eat this:

But instead I eat this:

I want to eat this:

Now I have to choose this:

I was taking this to help:

 

Now I'm taking this:

I have won the war dear gallbladder.  Mint leaves made into tea helps digestion.  Hot or cold tea, it doesn't matter.  No more ingestion, heart burn, nothing.  It's natural.  Probably better than the sucrose (sugar) and calcium carbonate found in the over the counter stuff.  So long gallbladder.  It was fun while it lasted.

Michelle

Now you've paid your taxes, go do something fun for FREE!

Hopefully you've paid your taxes, because they are due TODAY!  After writing that dreaded check, treat yourself & your family by doing something fun & FREE.  Visit a national park.  April 21-28th you can visit any national park for free in honor of Earth Day.  Go here to find a list.

Watch out world, I'm learning something new!

Look what I picked up (for free) from my library!  I'm hoping to find some good cost cutting ideas from these books.  Unfortunately, we can't have bee hives, goats, or cows in town, but I will be letting you know if they have any good ideas that we "suburbanites" can use.



Meet my motherboard

I've been couponing for a few years now.  When people find that out, the #1 question is : "How do you keep track of all that food so you're not throwing out food that's been in your freezer for a while?"  My answer "I plan all my dinners."  I only plan the main course nothing else.  I have an erasable monthly calendar that I call my "Motherboard".  I put EVERYTHING on it.  Chores, baths, laundry, etc.

I have a little cheat sheet of dinner ideas I look over & place that dinner on whatever day I choose.  It takes me about 15 minutes to complete the monthly menu.  That's it.  I do have an erasable board next to the freezer, but it hasn't been updated in months :(, but I know approximately what's in there.  I even add left overs (LO) or pick (everyone choose what they want cereal, quesadillas, etc).  This seems to work for us, if I'm running somewhere my husband can start dinner.  In no way is this set in stone, but at least we have a goal & aren't arguing about "What's for dinner?" & it's cuts out the "I don't know what to cook, let's go eat out" syndrome, which save us money, too.

So try it out.  Start with a list of dinners your family likes to eat.  Then plan a weekly dinner menu.  If you're adventurous, try tackling an entire month.  BTW, I have been know to skip a month or two due to sheer busyness.

Remember saving money on food is great, but if you're throwing food away because it's too old, you're basically throwing money in the garbage!  Tell me your menu ideas, too!  I'd love to hear about it.

Thrifty Tip: Your tax return is not a savings plan!

So you've been reading my blog for a while now, learning ways to save money.  You can save money thousands of different ways.  But the number one way to save money is to take a look at your tax return.  Yep, you read that right.  LOOK AT YOUR TAX RETURN!  Don't be afraid of it.  It is about YOU. Carefully, study where the numbers from your W-2 go on the tax forms.  Most people get a huge tax return.  It could be from a number of different sources: 

• Earned Income 
• Making work pay
• Additional child tax credit
• Federal income tax withheld from your paycheck

While the first 3 bullet points you have no control over you do have control over #4 - Federal income tax withheld from your paycheck.  Do you know that most people never change their filing status?  Do you know that you're in essence giving the government a loan for FREE?  They don't add interest into the calculation for your refund.  Why give them more money than you need to.

Check out the IRS website for their withholding calculator to see if you are paying too much.  If you are, indeed withholding too much, get a new W-4 form from your HR department.  In addition, you should check out your state's website in the event that you are paying too much to federal you may be paying the right amount to your state and we don't want a unexpected tax payment when you file your taxes.

Now comes the hard part, saving that money.  I read a lot of finance books.  I love Suze Orman, David Bach & Dave Ramsey.  They all say the easiest way to save that money is to make it automatic.  Go into the HR department get their form for an automatic deduction.  You can choose to send to a saving account, IRA, etc.  The less time you have that extra money in your checking account the less likelihood you'll spend it.

As with any tax issue, check with your tax preparer whether you can benefit from a change withholding status.