Sick

I promise to get a new post up soon.  I'm soooo sick right now that I can't even think straight.  I will be trying some new homemade things as soon as I feel better and I will of course blog about them all :)

Quick Shampoo Update

I am still shampoo free.  I am still loving it.  AND there is an added bonus that I have found!  I am pulling much less hair out of the drain than I was when I was using shampoo.  Who knew!  Just that fact alone will keep me poo free because I was seriously afraid I was going bald for awhile there.

I did feel like my hair was a bit dry so I tried the apple cider vinegar conditioner and while it worked well on my hair, even though I kept it away from my scalp, I was very oily and had to wash my hair again that same evening.  I'll let you know when I figure out what works for me as far as conditioning my hair.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Ahhhhh, finally!  The long awaited laundry soap post!

I have been wanting to try making my own laundry soap for years, but every recipe I found was really quite intimidating and I didn't want to have to try to mix up a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff and then have to store it.  Did you like that wonderful, long run on sentence I gave you there?  Anyway, it never occurred to me that I could cut the recipe down so I never tried.

Recently, in my money saving quest, I started looking for laundry soap recipes again.  Originally I found this one for a powdered soap.  I loved this recipe because it didn't require me to use a 5 gallon bucket and it didn't require mixing it using a stick mixer to try to blend it well.  I was planning to go ahead and make it when I found this recipe for liquid soap.  In reading the tutorial it mentioned that the powdered version is not good for cold water washing because it won't dissolve without heat.  Since I only wash in cold water, unless there are gross germy things involved, I figured I would have to go with a liquid version.  The recipe was for 2 gallons of soap and I thought I could surely cut the recipe in half and fill my 1 gallon  Hawaiian Punch container with some wonderful homemade laundry soap.

So here is what I did:

Ingredients:

1/2 bar soap- most people prefer Fels Naptha but I used Zote because it was cheaper
1/2 cup of Borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup baking soda
water

Directions:

• Grate the bar soap into a medium sized cooking pot
• add 4 cups of hot water and bring the mixture to a slow boil, stirring frequently until the soap is dissolved
• add the borax, washing soda, and baking soda stirring well until they have dissolved
• bring it back to a boil then remove from the heat
• let it cool slightly
• add water to gallon container until it is about half full
• slowly add the soap mixture
• add more water until it is a few inches from the top
• close the container and shake well

This mixture will thicken a lot and that is OK.  Use 1/2 cup of the mixture per load of laundry.  I attached a 1/2 cup measure to the bottle using a metal ring that opens easily so it will not become lost.

So far I have been very impressed by the cleaning power of the laundry soap and it does a great job of stain removal on its own.

It cost me about $9 to purchase the ingredients to make the soap and I have enough to make many, many more batches.

Poor Man Stew

Poor Man Stew Recipe


1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
chicken broth or bullion
1 bag egg noodles


boil cubed and seasoned chicken breast in broth or water with bullion.  Once chicken is cooked through add egg noodles and boil until noodles are tender.  Lower heat and simmer until sauce thickens.


This recipe as written will feed a family of 4.  I double it to feed the 8 of us.  I like my stew more brothy so I always make my bowl and then continue cooking because my husband and kids like theirs thicker and more stew like.  I like to sprinkle some grated parmesan, the kind in the jar, on top of mine.  Sometimes we have crescent rolls or biscuits on the side.

This Week's Grocery Trip

Here are the dinners I planned for this week, the list of food I need for the week, and the cost of the food I bought.  I usually do 7 dinners, but this week I did 8 because I was shopping a day early and we were pretty cleaned out of food.  I also bought more fruit than usual because I'm on my newest health kick and I got extra chicken and veggies because I am going to start making my lunches for work rather than eating the prepackaged crap.  

I do my shopping at 2 different stores.  I always go to Aldi first and get everything on my list that I possibly can there, then I finish up at Food Lion.  I don’t generally get meat at Aldi, meat is about the only thing I don’t like their prices on.

I have divided the shopping list up by store.


Dinners:

curry chicken, chili, spaghetti, poor man stew, meatloaf, salisbury steak, stroganoff, tacos

Aldi:

4 lb. rice

2 lb. spaghetti noodles

2 bags egg noodles

chicken bullion

2 cans tomato sauce 

2 cans tomato paste

chili powder

salt

1 jar gravy

1 can kidney beans

1 can black olives

3 blocks cream cheese

1 bag shredded mexican style cheese

1 container sour cream

1 bag apples 

2 cans pineapple

1 bag broccoli

1 bag peas

1 bag corn

1 bag carrots

1 bag green beans

1 bag white potatoes

snacks for kids

cake mixes and frosting for the husband

sugar

3 loaves bread 

3 boxes cereal

1 gallon milk

1 jar peanut butter

Food Lion:

3 bags chicken

8 packs ground turkey

2 lb. beef cubes

curry powder

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cans chick peas

I can’t believe its not butter spray

1 bag cauliflower

3 sweet potatoes

soda- 1- 6 pack each diet coke and pepsi max

Aldi total- $54.84

Food Lion total- $48.21

Total- $103.05

this will feed my family of 8 for 1 week.

A Few More Tips

Its been a busy week so I haven't had a chance to write a good blog post.  I hope to have my laundry soap post up soon :)  Since my last post about the changes we have made over the past year, I have gotten some great suggestions from some friends and I have also thought of a few more things myself.  So here are some more tips on how to save yourself some money.


Some suggestions from Mom-Pinion:


Use coupons in conjunction with store sales- sometimes you can get the name brands cheaper than the store brands this way.


Do not buy lunches out, her husband takes leftovers for lunch in order to save some dough.


Get memberships to places or use groupon and living social deals on kids stuff.


Use redbox for movie rentals, you can google free codes to get free movie rentals.


Sell your unused stuff on ebay or craigslist.


When you do go out to eat, share your food with your small children.


Shut off the AC or heat when no one is home.


Take advantage of kids eat free nights at local restaurants.


Do not use credit cards- she has been credit card free for more than 3 years now.


Some more of my own tips:


I do all the family hair.  I cut my boys and husband's hair and I do my daughter's relaxer.  I dye and cut my own hair as well as trim the girl's hair.  This saves me $100s a year.


I use swagbucks.  This year I swagged from September until early December and got $75 in free amazon gift cards.  I used them to get Christmas gifts for my kids.


Go to the library instead of the book store.


Hang your clothes out on the clothesline if you can.


I only fill up on gas during the week since gas prices go up on the weekends.


I buy gas at Sheetz since they have the rewards card.  Sometimes I get gas at Kroger when I have enough points on my Kroger rewards card to get a good price on gas.

Changes We Have Made

Just a quick list of things we have done this year to help save money:

We cancelled our satellite tv service and now just use the converter box we got when everything went digital a few years ago.

We returned the truck we bought last year, we got it from a buy here pay here type place so it will not be reflected on our credit.  Yes, that is $7000 paid on it that we will never get back, but we still had a year an a half to pay $100 a week on it and we just really need that money elsewhere right now, not to mention the insurance costs on that thing.  We had a 3rd car that was just sitting in the garage collecting dust so we are putting tags on that.  The car and my van were both cash purchases so now we will have no car payment at all.

I plan out a weeks worth of meals and make my grocery list accordingly.  I stick to my list and don’t buy anything that is not on the list unless it is a really awesome deal.  I try not to go to the store between my weekly trips.  Next time I go, I will post my meal plan and list as well as what the final bill is.

I do a lot of my grocery shopping at Aldi and save tons that way.

I stock up on meat when it goes on sale at the store and I have the extra cash to do so.  I recently bought 20 packs of boneless, skinless chicken breast at Kroger for $1.69 a lb. 

At the grocery store when there is a 10 for $10 deal  or  2 for the price of one,  even if you only purchase 1 of the item you still get the sale price.  With my large family, I usually buy more than 10 though, lol, especially when the spaghetti sauce goes on the 10 for $10 deal at Kroger.

I buy almost all my food store brand because it is still cheaper than if I had coupons for the name brand stuff and it tastes just as good.  The only thing I am snobby about is mac and cheese, that has to be Kraft.

I bake cookies and cakes, it is much cheaper than buying them prepackaged.  My favorite new thing is cake mix cookies.  1 box of cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil.  I found Duncan  Hines cake mix at Target for 89 cents a box!

When I can’t get a good deal on fresh veggies I buy frozen.  It just tastes better than canned and 1 bag of frozen veggies costs about $1 and is good for 1 dinner for my family.  If I buy canned, I have to buy 2 cans for 1 meal and at 65 cents a can, I saved 30 cents per meal.

I buy things like lotion, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, batteries, etc. at the Dollar Tree, although I have recently stopped buying shampoo at all and we invested in rechargeable batteries as well.

I wash all my clothes in cold water to help save on the gas bill.

We hand wash dishes, it saves us on our water bill.

We turn off the water when we brush our teeth. 

We bathe the younger kids together 2 at a time and every other day.  My husband, myself, and the 2 oldest kids take a shower every other day and we try to keep it under 5 minutes each.

We participate in clothing swaps for the children.

We don't eat out very often and usually only if we have a good coupon or someone has given us a gift card.

We do not have a house phone and we got rid of the expensive monthly cell plan we had.  I was paying an extra $35 for each of us to have the data package on our phones.  Our bill was up to almost $300 a month!  We now have our phones through a prepaid service and we pay a total of $100 a month and we still have the fancy phones with internet.  Although, we are looking into the Magic Jack but have not made a decision yet.

In the summer we kept our AC set at 76 and now that it is cool out we keep the heat set at 74.  Thats really good for us since last year my husband kept it up to 78 and sometimes 80.  The bill was insane!  It is much more affordable this year.  I think the most often recommended temps are 80 in the summer and 68 in the winter.  Those are too extreme for us :)

I do not use paper towels or paper plates.

We use ripped or stained clothing that can’t be saved for rags to clean with or for my husband to use in the garage (he works on cars in his spare time)

My husband does all our car maintenance and repairs.

We keep all the lights off in the house unless we are eating, reading, or doing homework, even in the evening.

We use those energy efficient light bulbs that seem to last forever. 

We unplug anything that is not in use,  especially phone chargers.  I also keep the  toaster, blender, can opener, etc. unplugged when I’m not using them.  

We use rechargeable batteries.

We sleep the computer when not in use.


My husband quit smoking.  That saved us $5 a day!

Homemade Dish Soap

Today I made my first ever batch of dish soap.  I made the liquid kind for hand washing because we don’t use the dishwasher for anything other than a really great dish rack.  Thats right, I have 6 kids and a husband and I hand wash the dishes.  Its really not so bad.  We used to use the dishwasher but the water, gas, and electric bills went up so we stopped.  You wouldn’t think that using a dishwasher would make that much difference, but our water bill has gone down by $10 a month since we stopped using it!  Its hard to say how much it really affected the gas and electric bills, but I’m sure it helped at least a little bit.

When I wash the dishes I fill one side of the sink with soapy water and let the dishes soak for a little bit.  Then I scrub them in that water and place them on the other side of the sink.  Once that part is done, I run a weak stream of water and rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher to dry.  I don’t like having the other side full of clean water like other websites suggest because I feel like the last dishes are just getting rinsed off in dirty water.

I got up this morning and went off to Walmart to buy my supplies.  I purchased all 2 ingredients for a total of $4.95 and they will make me a total of 4 batches which will probably last the better part of the year.  I bought Zote bar soap for 97 cents which actually equalled 3 bars of soap.  I used the equivalent of 1/2 bar of soap.  I bought the Fleet brand glycerin in the laxitive section for $3.98 and it was already divided into four 1 1/2 tsp dropper thingys.  I figure it cost me about $1.15 to make the batch which will likely last me 3 months or so.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of either soap flakes or grated bar soap (I used bar soap)

3 cups water

1 1/2 tsp liquid glycerin 

Directions:

In a large saucepan combine your soap, glycerin, and water.  

Cook over medium low heat until the soap is melted and the mixture is smooth.  It will be very thin, do NOT add more soap, it will thicken up on its own.

They say to let it cool overnight but I just put mine in the fridge until it was cool to the touch.  Then I used an old hand beater to blend the mixture until it was smooth.  Once that was done, I used a ladle to transfer it to a measuring cup and then poured it into the containers I had ready.  I didn’t have a funnel on hand and using the measuring cup was fine, there was no spillage at all.

I was able to fill 1 dish soap container and then had enough to fill 1 1/2 old spaghetti sauce jars.

If the soap comes out too thick for your liking you can just add more water.  This soap also works well as a liquid hand soap and is safe for children or animals and is fine for septic tanks.  This is a gel soap and it will not suds up like most store bought dish soaps, but suds do NOT always equal clean :)

I have already used it to wash a sink full of dishes and I have no complaints so far.  I have yet to find out how it handles grease.  I’ll update when I do.


*update as of 1/16/2012: This soap is great for non greasy dishes but it definitely lacks when it comes to the greasy ones.  I found that sprinkling baking soda on the greasy dishes then scrubbing works great!  And still cheap :)

I Stopped Buying Shampoo...

Yes, you read that right, I no longer use shampoo.  I know you are thinking how gross that is and no matter how much money you were trying to save or how green you want to be, you would NEVER stop washing your hair.  Well, guess what, I didn’t stop washing my hair, I just stopped using shampoo.  

I have been doing a lot of research lately on how to make your own laundry soap, dish soap, hand soap, bath soap, etc.  I thought why not see if I can make shampoo.  Sooo, I googled “homemade shampoo” and it didn’t bring up a single thing about making your own shampoo.  What I did find though was a ton of information on going “poo free”.  At first I thought that this couldn’t possibly be true and how there is no way people are going around with dirty hair.  Then I opened the links and I got really intrigued.  I mean, if this lady, has been shampoo free for 2 years and her hair looks like its nice and clean in the pics she has posted (they were posted after 3 months of no shampoo), then maybe there is something to it.

So, how does this no shampoo thing work you ask?  All you need are the ingredients shown in the picture below.

Basically, all you have to do is mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda with 1 cup of water.  When you take your shower you just squirt some of the solution directly on your scalp, rub it in, and rinse.  Do this no more than every other day.  Yup, thats it!  I did it last night and my hair looks awesome today!  Here is my pic:

Now, I know you probably have some questions and I will give you the best answers I have right now.

Q. What if I have hair that needs conditioner?  

A. Mix 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar with 1 cup water, pour it on your hair, avoiding the scalp, let sit for a few seconds then rinse.

Q. What if I have dandruff?

A. You can use a solution of 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup white vinegar twice a week.  Do this before you wash your hair.  

Q. Will my hair get oily if I use this method?

A. Your hair may be a little more oily than usual for a week or two during the initial transition period.  If it continues to be too oily, use less vinegar conditioner, or stop using it all together.

Q. How much money will I save using this method?

A. Well, that depends on how much you currently spend on shampoo.  Over the last year I have been buying my shampoo and conditioner at the Dollar Tree and I go through about a bottle of each a month.  So if you do the math, I was spending $24 a year on shampoo and conditioner.  Using this method, I estimate I will use about 1 tablespoon of baking soda a week and even less of the apple cider vinegar.  I got a box of baking soda for 50 cents at Kroger and I figure that will likely last me a year.  Apple cider vinegar I got at Kroger for about $2 and that will last much longer.  Water is free :)  So, that adds up to $2.50 at the most for the year.  That is a savings of $21.50 a year for me.  If you buy your shampoo and conditioner at the grocery store, you could be spending $5 or more per bottle.  That would be up to $120 a year, so for you that is a savings of $117.50 a year.  Just think of what $117.50 could buy if you used it elsewhere.

For more information and answers to all the other questions you may have, such as why is it green to go shampoo free or why is shampoo not so good for us or the environment, you can check out this website as well: http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html#bad

How This all Started

The name of this blog, (Un)Accidentally Green is a play on words.  It was NOT an accident that I am trying to save green (money) but it WAS an accident that I became green (environmentally friendly).  I have never been what you would call "Green" or "crunchy".  I bottle fed my kids, I used disposable diapers, and I basically live for convenience.  Apparently, though, in trying to save money I have begun doing some things that would be considered exactly that.

First, some background.  Last year things were going great, my husband had a good job, I graduated college and got a good job.  We moved into a great house, all the bills were paid on time, we had a savings for the first time in a long time, and we had just bought a new truck.  Life was good.  BUT, in January, just two weeks after signing the papers on that truck my husband was laid off.  

He was able to collect unemployment although it wasn't nearly what he was making when he was working.  He immediately began searching for a job but had no luck at all.  He signed up with a couple of temp agencies and throughout the next several months he had a few odd jobs through them but nothing that lasted more than 1 or 2 days and they were few and far between. During this time we were slowly becoming behind on the bills and rent was being paid later and later every month.  At one point we even had an eviction notice.  Around about August he finally got a job.  It was a job that didn't pay well and would require him to be out of town a lot but he took it anyway because it was a job.  His first week he was sent out of state and was told it was fine to leave the truck in the parking lot at the job while he was away (he rode in a company truck with another worker).  That night the wheels were stolen off the truck.  We decided it was best not to continue at that job.  He continued on his quest to find a good job.  Finally in October he was offered a position working for the city water department.  It still doesn't pay what he was making before but its with the city so what it lacks in pay it makes up for in benefits.  He is still there, yay!  And we are finally starting to catch up on the bills.

Having gone through all of this and still being in the position of playing catch up, I have decided to embark on a quest of my own to save money.  This blog will be about my journey to save my family money and what I am learning along the way.  It seems that some of my money saving efforts are turning me into a bit of a "crunchy" person, but that is OK.

I won't be going all "save the environment" on you, although that is very important to me, I won't preach to you about it.  I'm not all "organic is better", I buy what is on sale and if it happens to be organic then yay.  What I will do is share with you the recipes I have found for things like home made soaps, detergents, deodorant, etc. and stuff like how I make my grocery list and the best stores to shop for the best savings.