"Home is the nicest word there is." ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
In love with Jesus. Wife to my best friend & man I love more than life. Mama to 4 amazing God given blessings. Proud Homemaker & Homeschooler. Living life with it's ups and downs and blogging about it!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Being Domestic

For the past few days I have just felt this urgent need to purge and clean! My home was out of order and that caused everything in my life to feel out of order. My husband has been home for the past four days and so we have done some much needed maintenance around our place.

I've always enjoyed cooking and baking and the art of keeping our home running efficiently (even if I didn't always succeed!) But, since I've become a mother, I find that it is ESSENTIAL to my sanity and that of my family's to have a structured home life. To have our meals planned, a day to do grocery shopping, everything has a place type of lifestyle. Since I have been menu planning, we haven't ate supper out in over 3 months. That is a HUGE accomplishment for us! We have estimated that alone has saved us over $100 a month. A HUGE savings!

I also have started making my own baby wipes and laundry detergent and I am going to start making my own fabric softener and household cleaners this week as well. It is so nice to be able to make these things for yourself and not have to freak out about running to the store because you are out of a specific item. And, in case you are wondering, as I did, the homemade stuff cleans just as well and some of it is even better! I PROMISE!!!!

To find the homemade laundry detergent recipes go here. We make the powdered one, I personally have not tried the liquid.

The baby wipe recipe is as follows:

1 Roll of Bounty Paper Towels (they are the best; they absorb well)
3 capfuls of baby shampoo
3 capfuls of baby oil
4 cups warm water
Airtight plastic container with lid (poke a needle size hole in the lid)

Cut roll of paper towels in half with a serrated knife (this is somewhat difficult, get your hubby to do it!)
In container, pour warm water, shampoo and oil. Swish around. Add paper towels and push into the water mixture until soaking wet and no dry spots inside or out. If needed add a little more warm water. Pull out wet cardboard center. Squeeze excess water out of wipes. I place mine in a Rubbermaid container (mine came in a 4 pk. stackable canister set; I use the 6 & 1/2 cup one for the wipes, and the largest container to hold my laundry detergent) You can carry the container in your diaper bag and sometimes I also place my wipes in a gallon size ziploc freezer bag when I need more room in my diaper bag.

I just thought that I would share these tips with you. They help me so much!

Have a blessed day!

Julie

4 comments:

Denise said...

Great tips, thanks for sharing.

In Light of the Truth... said...

I just tried making our own baby wipes too a couple months ago! They were really easy to do and worked okay--I just have to figure out a good system for storing them so that we can pull them out and tear them apart more easily. So I'm working on it, before I try making the other half of the paper towel roll. I also haven't figured out yet how much it will actually save money because the kind of paper towels I like (Viva) are pretty expensive. So we'll see...

P.S. Are you still doing the Philippians study??

cryssi said...

To Sarah...I tried Viva, They didnt work as well as the bounty but of course they only cost me .97 per roll too. Maybe not the same kind.

Julie, I was wondering if 4 cups of water worked better than two...I only use two like the recipe that I have and have given to everyone I know says....and 1 tablespoon of oil and wash. I dont have to squeeze the excess water out that way either. I was going to post my recipe this week but with everything else going on I dont think I will now.

Glad yall got so much done. I wish I had more time to do my stuff.

Love ya
sis

Malisa @ Sanity in Small Doses said...

Holy cow! You make your own baby wipes!?! I have never heard of such a thing. Now, if you come up with a way to make your own diapers at less of an expense, I am so there...they are so darn expensive but oh so necessary!!! Great idea...keep inspiring us!

If we don't find Him in the small things, how will we ever find Him in the big ones? ~Elisabeth Elliot