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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Did you know Amazon has Coupons?

I hope I'm not the last person on the planet to find out that Amazon has coupons. The easiest way to find them is by typing in "All Coupons" in the search box on Amazon.com. Once you "clip" the coupon it is automatically applied provided your purchase meets the coupon specifications.

Also, if you don't know about Amazon Mom, you need to sign up for that too. It gets you 15% off, certain items including diapers and wipes.

Last, but not least if you repeatedly buy something like diapers and wipes sign up for Subscribe and Save and get an additional 15% off.

Collect all the savings you can!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

How To Make Homemade All Purpose Cleaner {Recipe}

I made Homemade Laundry Soap, and after reading the boxes of Borax and Washing Soda, I realized that this mixture would make a great all purpose cleaner. So here's my recipe.

Ingredients:
Homemade Laundry Soap
2 oz. White Vinegar
Hot Water (from the tap)
18 oz. Spray Bottle

Put a little water in the spray bottle, add the vinegar and laundry soap mix. Shake till it seems dissolved. Fill the rest of the way with water. Mixture will settle so be sure to shake before each use. Please tell me how you like it.

Update (September 4th, 2013): Since about last October we have been using a much simpler and wonderfully effective recipe. See below.

New Homemade All Purpose Cleaner:

Fill spray bottle half way full of white distilled vinegar, then fill the rest of the way with water. Add 5 drops tea tree essential oil and 15 drops peppermint essential oil. Shake and your done. The vinegar and essential oils are disinfectant, so your house will be germ free without harmful chemicals. Its wonderful because when my daughter wants to help wipe the table I can let her without worry.

This is not a very unique recipe therefore I'm sure lots of people have similar recipes posted on the internet. This is not meant to infringe on that but merely state what we are now doing, in the interest of keeping this blog as up-to-date as possible.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Buying in Bulk: Great for Limited Space & Budget!

Most of the time when I think about buying in bulk, I think massive amounts of products costing me a big chunk of money (even though per unit cost is low) and an even bigger chunk of space. These things are very true of warehouse stores such as Costco, BJ's, & Sam's Club.

What I'm talking about is buying from bulk bins at places like WinCo. Think about it this way. Let's say for example that you send 1 person (yourself/husband/child) to work/school with a sack lunch everyday. And in this example you want to send them with a bag of chips, you go to the bulk bins, pick up 5 bags of chips instead of the box containing 20+ bags. This you can see will limit the cost and storage space. If your budget was super tight you could even go so far as to buy only exactly what each recipe needs from the bulk bins.

I had never thought about it this way, I always thought about it from a stock up perspective, which is always nice to be able to do but when things are tight what an easy way to save on space and stay within your budget. I hope this is a solution to your money and space constraints!

This post was inspired by something my sister-in-law Catherine said to me.

Find more Homemaking Hints at Heavenly Homemakers

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Homemade Laundry Soap {Recipe}

Modified recipe #9 in this list to get the following recipe.

What you need:

*2 Bars of Soap, Grated (should be actual soap, not a beauty bar or something else). I used Kirk's Original Coco Castile Soap. {Update: this soap will leave a hard to remove film on the inside of your washing machine.}
*1 ~ 4lb 12oz. Box  Borax
*1 ~ 55 oz. Box Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (different from Baking Soda)
*7 cups Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
*20-25 Drops Essential Oil, I used Lavender cause that's what I had available.
*Container to store it in. Should be bigger than a shoe box sized tote.
*Grater

Grate soap. I used my KitchenAid Food Processor for this. Then I changed from the grater to the chopping blade and put 1 cup of each with a little extra of borax in the food processor and processed of about 30 seconds. Then I stirred to make sure the soap was getting mixed in. Then with the processor running I added a few drops of essential oil to each batch. I think it took me about 7 batches. If I had a bigger container, I would have put all the soap in and added other stuff till it was almost full and processed that to get the soap to be fine granules. Then I would have put the rest of the ingredients into the container and shook it to get it all mixed together. You need 2 T per load, I'm using an old coffee scoop.

Check out what else I used this recipe for here.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Two Left Shoes!

So today I go shopping and find these cute shoes. I'm trying on two different sizes trying to decide which feels better. Then after I decide I end up putting both left shoes in a box and both right shoes in a box. I put the right shoes back on the shelf, buy the two left shoes and am on my way. For the record I don't have two left feet, I indeed have one right and one left. Anyway I get home and start unloading my purchases and think I should break them in a little. Tossed them on the floor and tried to put them on and had a big problem. Anyway, it was just one of those days. It all worked out, called the store, they found the box and held it for me, went and picked up my right shoe. Now tomorrow I can try breaking them in.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

My Visit to the Herbalist!

On Friday, I went to see an herbalist, as I mentioned on my weight loss journey page. This was one of the best experiences I've ever had as far as health and healing are concerned.

Let me tell you a little about how this all came about. A few months back (I don't know when, didn't know I'd be blogging about it) I started to look into something herbal and came across a free webinar that was a prerequisite for an herbalist training course. I watched the webinar and was impressed by the fact that an herbalist considers the first line of treatment to be foods. Which is what I'm always thinking when I leave the doctors office: "Really?! There's nothing diet or lifestyle wise that could help this problem". At that point I decided I was going to finish the series and treat myself since the doctors wouldn't. But then the anticipated funds, didn't come. So that kinda went by the wayside and sometime later while researching other options I decided to google herbalists and when Steve Horne's name came up it sounded familiar. (No one in Las Vegas actually saw people they just sold herbs). I clicked on the link and saw a familiar face and as they say the rest is history. I looked around his website, found the consultation options and then the forms. It took me quite a while to get the forms completed but I'm so glad I did!

He called me on Tuesday to schedule my appointment. He made an exception to see me on Friday despite the fact that his normal consultation days are Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So then on Friday we made the 2 hour drive to St. George,Utah for my appointment. What I didn't even think about was that there might be a time difference. And there is! Despite the fact that we were a whole hour late, he still saw us. (This is a big deal! Can you remember a time you were late for a doctor appointment? They're never nice about it and sometimes, threaten to reschedule you. Can you remember a time when the doctor WASN'T late. Me neither! It seems very common.)

He had no problem with the fact that I brought my family with me.

The first thing he did was look into my eyes. This was non-invasive and the amount of information he could tell me about my personality and my bodies health tendencies were outstanding. He told me that, "I have a good constitution and that because of that I have the ability to heal rapidly." He told me the iris pattern I have indicates that my weaknesses are digestion and liver. Digestion was definitely right on, I've been having issues with my stomach since I was little, like 4 or 5 years old, and that's just what I can remember. Then we went over the blood work results, referred to a book and the combination of my three highest (meaning farthest away from normal) results, determined an issue with my liver. From there he had me stand and checked my body with a resistance test, I'd only seen done at the chiropractors office. He held my arm and asked me to resist as he pressed on different areas on my body. When it came to the liver, I couldn't resist at all. Could resist a smidgen on the stomach and everything else was strong resistance. He then went to grab an assortment of possible remedies. Then he had me hold each one in one hand while he had me pinch together my ring finger and thumb, then he tried pulling them apart. The ones that I could resist were the ones that would help heal me. He then retested that group by doing the same thing with my finger and thumb but had me say "this is the best one for me". This then determined which supplements I would be given. The total was 3. A supplement to help detoxify my liver and one to help my body digest my food better. He told me that my stomach was up high and was a symptom of stress and gave me some breathing exercises that will help my stomach move back down to where it is supposed to be.

During my eye exam he also determined that I tend to hold in emotion, especially stress and anger & that I have a hard time telling people no. He's right on. The third supplement he gave me (this one was literally free) was to help with this emotional side of my health. As well as told me that I need to release my stress and anger as it comes up, by going into another room and essentially throwing a fit (punch and scream, as long as its not directed at anyone).

We also talked about eliminating sugar from my diet. He suggested using xylitol to sweeten drinks and stuff. He also suggested not trying to go cold turkey but allowing myself to have treats. He suggested theses recipes on his website for cookies. He has a whole lot of recipes for making traditional foods healthier. He also said that licorice root helps to curb sugar cravings.

Other diet suggestions he made included: not letting myself get too hungry by eating snacks between meals, making sure the first thing I put in my mouth each morning is some protein with a little fat (this helps the body metabolize fat and keeps you from craving carbs).

It's been two days and I've already lost about 2 pounds. My stress/anger level feels absent. I'm cold, which never happens and I'm sure its a sign that things are working and healing and I cough up mucous every time I lay down (getting rid of toxins anyway I can).

After today I'll start adding updates to my weight loss journey page (which I'll likely re-title to something like my renewed health/weight loss journey).

Overall it was very informative, non-invasive, and accurate. He was very kind, helpful and generous. Not that I can say that all herbalist will be the same but I'm guessing its like night and day from seeing a doctor anywhere you live.


If you'd like more information about the herbalist I saw check out this website. For more information you can visit www.modernherbaleducation.com or http://www.treelite.com/articles/


Wishing you answers to your health issues, understanding and the will to push through!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Time, Money, & Sanity Saver!

When my baby was about a year old, I put a big stash of baby wash cloths in one of the drawer's in my kitchen so that after she was done eating I could grab a rag, wet it and get her face, hands, and highchair wiped up quickly with out using something like paper towels or baby wipes which we had done previously. I've also got a little basket under the sink to put the used one's in and then wash them every time I do a load of baby laundry!

I really hadn't thought much of it until I had a friend over recently who saw me get one out of there and said, "Hey, that's a great idea!", so I thought I'd share.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

How to Mop the Floor the Hard Way!

So yesterday, I go and start the bath water for my daughter. Add the lavender essential oils and crayon color bath fizz. Then I get distracted. Walk around do a few things and then realize oh the water's still on. We don't have an  over flow drain (or whatever they are called). I walk back into the bathroom just in time to see the water flow over the edge of the tub and engulf the entire bathroom floor. It took every dirty towel I had including two bath sheets, 4-5 regular bath towels, and 3-4 hand towels to get all the water soaked up off the floor. However, my bathroom floor is now wonderfully clean and all the dirty towels have been washed! I guess the trials of July aren't quite over.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

How To Get Gum Off Your Shoe! In 3 easy steps!

1. Scrape as much excess gum off as possible.
2. Spray gum with WD-40. Let sit for a few minutes.
3. Wipe off with paper towel. Make sure to wipe off any remaining WD-40 because it will make the shoe slippery.

There you go, three easy steps to getting  gum off your shoe!

Here's a great article on how to get gum out of clothes, with a natural ingredient no less!

I'm sharing this Homemaking tip at Heavenly Homemakers!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Oh Boy, July was a Dooosie!

As I'm sure you can see my posts have been a bit sparse. I don't even know where to begin. In the recent past my two year old has been waking before me and "wrecking shop" as we like to call it. I've woken up to tea bags cut open and sprinkled all over the kitchen, dry erase maker all over the kitchen floor, butter and eggs in a pan on my couch & all over the carpet ("a birthday cake for my baby"), doggy toothpaste smeared into the carpet, bathroom drawers filled with water and I'm sure I'm forgetting somethings! I'm sure you're getting a great laugh out of this, but at the time it was NOT funny! That on top of the fact that I wasn't really feeling well, it just escalated my stress level! And that was about all the energy I had. To top it off my car broke down (in the Las Vegas heat) and I had a really frustrating doctors visit. The doctors visit was the proverbial straw. I went in with a list of complaints, a book & some herbs that related to one of my concerns. He stated that "there was a lot of controversy around that" but not whether he was going to look into it, he didn't. The rest of the visit he seemed as if he was going to do whatever it took to get to the bottom of it. He ordered blood work. I went back after the blood work, pretty much said everything was fine, that I needed to watch my weight and sent me on my way. He didn't address the fact that I still had all the same symptoms! I was pretty much furious. Anyway, that led me to research stress relief online and the first site I visited mentioned magnesium being helpful for reducing stress. I new I had some and went to take some right away. I almost immediately felt better. The following week, I went and picked up a copy of my lab work. I find out that my cholesterol is very high, while my good cholesterol is low. My glucose level is in the range for diabetes & one more thing that escapes me at the moment.

Despite all this, there is some good that's come out of it. I've eaten a salad almost everyday since July 9th. That coming from a girl who used to say things like, I don't want to eat lettuce, I'm not a rabbit. I've eaten more salad in this month than I probably have in my whole life. And this Friday, I'm headed to see a master herbalist, which I'm very excited about!

Hope you'll continue to stick with me through the ups and down's of life! Looking for a great salad recipe, you'll find some here.