nothing special, just a working mom and wife trying to simplify life as much as possible with little time and even less money. it perplexes me that “green” items are often so expensive when, in fact, a truly green lifestyle should save you money. for no particular reason, i have decided to chronicle my everyday adventures (and misadventures) in “greening”, cleaning, cooking, and everything in between.
note: my husband is an omnivore, my son is an 18-month-old lacto-ovo vegetarian (which I catch heck from everyone for), and i am a health nut striving for a stricter vegan lifestyle.
friday, july 17, 2009:
my husband is technically “off” today, but for a minister that is never true. he has a lunch meeting with a youth volunteer (to which my son and i are cordially not invited), so i’m in a bit of a hurry to get some housework and cooking done, get off to whole foods, and get home in time for him to take the car to his meeting (we only have one car – how i’d love to live somewhere we could just walk or ride bikes anywhere we need to go!!).
*for dishes, i like the simplicity brand of dishwasher soap and lemishine to help with the hard water effects. i buy both of those at wal-mart (so sue me, i’m on a tight budget).
*for laundry, i have as of late been using the HEB version of gain laundry detergent. it’s phosphate free, and i get a discount. we don’t have a dryer, so we go through lots of fabric softener. i have been using whatever softener is the cheapest, and it doesn’t always work well. does anyone have a recipe for a homemade fabric softener that might be cheaper and a little less chemically?
i would rate whole foods number one on a list of stores where my son is most likely to act up and make a fool of himself. he didn’t do too badly today, but I was still embarrassed. we picked up some soy cheese, some new conditioner, some organic all-purpose soap for the kitchen (lemon scent), and a can of Zevia, a new stevia sweetened soda on the market. Zevia is tasty, but not very sweet; it’s good for me, maybe not so much for regular soda drinkers. has anyone else tried it?
notes for the day:
this long nasty drought we’ve had this summer puts me in mind of water conservation techniques i learned during my time in venezuela. if i’d had a rain barrel on the back porch last night, i probably could have caught some usable water, as it rained for the first time in months. i think the rain barrel is an excellent idea, if you have a porch for it and are diligent enough to keep it clean. just purchase and sterilize a large plastic garbage can and tight fitting lid. cut a small hole in the lid and fit it with a large funnel to catch as much of the rain as possible. this water is for any of the million tasks we run water for everyday except drinking and cooking.
we’ve had a difficult time keeping the apartment a livable temperature in this blazing heat. still, we try to stick to 75 degrees on the thermostat in the summer and 70 during the winter. it has certainly cut into my ability to make foods from scratch, as it’s out of the question to heat up the oven on most days. i’m always looking for no-cook dinner ideas (keeping in mind my family’s diverse taste) – does anyone have any tasty, nutritious summer dinner ideas? (we have no grill here in our apartment, and we already eat our fill of salads.)
a momentous occasion as our son has demolished his first pack of crayons. rather than throw the bits of crayon away, I’ve decided to make those little crayon cookies I used to play with at children’s church. this idea is as old as crayons, and definitely not mine, but worth passing along!
crayon cookies
with an old knife, chop the crayons into small bits and stir together in a medium bowl. pour into mini muffin tins lined with foil cups. melt in the oven at 350degrees (should take 10minutes or less). remove from the oven and cool completely before removing foil wrap. fun times!
clearly, there is a lot of money spent on the average coffee shop visit. here is my list of thoughts on how staying home compares to going out for coffee:
