Greenhouse

Alright, so we have started making our own baby food as I mentioned in a previous article, but how do we know what the fruits and vegetables are getting grown in or what we are exposing our family to? Well, last night, my husband and I drew up our plans for our greenhouse as you can see pictured below.

It is going to be nine feet wide and 12 feet long and five-seven foot tall. We are really excited and as soon as we get the extra money to spend on getting the materials we will get it built.

When we are finished getting it set up, I will post pictures of the final product. We are going all out and we are going to have just about every kind of fruit and vegetable that we possibly can.

I have some sweet corn and purple okra seeds that I am starting right now and then we will be buying more heritage seeds once we get the greenhouse going. This way, we know exactly how our plants are grown and come from for the best health for our family. We will also be saving a lot of money by not having to buy fruits and veggies anymore, although I am not sure if we can grow enough for how much we can go through. What ever we do have left over though, we are going to try to sell at a local farmer's market which also excites me.
 

 

Do you have a greenhouse? What is it made out of? Do you like it? What fruits and vegetables do you grow? Let me know and comment below!

Homemade Baby Food!

This is something that I have recently started with my eight month old daughter.

I am always afraid of who may be making my baby food, is it someone here or overseas that may want to poison my baby? I am also afraid of what is going into my baby food. Is the label 100% correct or are there things that they can get away with hiding? And why must they always add water and dilute it so much? Is she still getting the nutrients that she should? Are they hiding any unnatural sugars?

I do not know if it is just who I am, or if it is because I am a new mom, but these things really do scare me. I also fear if there was lead in the soil where the fruit/vegetables were grown or if there was an excessive amount of nitrates that could be harming my baby.

So, this is why I have decided to start making my own baby food for my child. I want to do what is best for her and make sure that she has as many opportunities in life as possible. 

And if that were not reason enough on its own, I am also saving some money too. I am not saving as much as I had imagined when you take into consideration the amount of water they baby food companies add to stretch out the food that they have. But, at least I have a better idea of what my child is eating.

I did not manage to grow a garden this year (the timing of our move really messed that up for me), so you better believe as soon as I can (next season) I will be starting my garden so that I know exactly what is in the soil and thus getting into our foods and what is used to grow them. I plan to have a green house too, though so that I can better protect it from unwanted bugs. I will also use heirloom seeds since the plants will still produce re-usable seeds (I swear the government making it to wear plants will not continue to regenerate is a controlling and conspiracy plan).

What do you do in these hard times to try to save a dollar? What are your government theories? Please comment below.

Check out my Recipes page for a how to get started guide and copies of recipes that I have created for my daughter.

Awesome Garage Sale Reference!

One really great way that everyone knows about to save money is by the classic act of going to garage sales. Here is a link to a great directory site so that you can find garage sales in your area or post yours for free!

Click here: Find nixa garage sales on yardsalesearch.com
           

Wrapping paper saver

Here is a quick and easy way to save a little bit of money around the holidays. Do you tape your wrapping paper down after you have used it? Then, the next year or the next time you use wrapping paper do you rip some of the paper or the design off? Well, save you toilet paper or paper towel rolls! If you cut a straight line length wise down the roll (one paper towel roll I also cut into several rolls) and then you slip it over the wrapping paper to hold in in place. Roll too big? No problem! Just overlap it onto itself and tape it and you are good to go and no lost or damaged wrapping paper with a random piece of tape!

Cloth Diapers

One of the main things that I do in my household to save money is by making and using cloth diapers. I cut out a pattern and then sew basically a cover together that I insert a regular cloth diaper into. They are fairly simple to make and do not take much time and they have been very helpful in times that we are tight on money. 

One of the most common complaints of people on cloth diapers is that you do extra laundry. Well, my husband has two pairs of work pants-that I keep having to re-stitch up because he does not know how not to get his pants caught on something at work and rip them-and so I have to do laundry at least every other day to keep up on his laundry. So, all I do is add the small diapers in and it really does not add to my total laundry load. I still do as many loads of laundry as we always have.

Another common complaint that I have heard is that it is gross and messy. Look, the pee diapers are easy, take off the diaper, take out the insert and toss them into the washing machine. Yes, when the child has a bowel movement there is a little more work into IF you do not want to just throw it into the machine with the rest of your clothes. What I do is hold the clean end of the diaper cover after I have already put the insert into the washing machine-the insert really hardly every gets any poo on it as they get a few months of age-and dip in the toilet several times and most of it comes off into the toilet and I flush it away without ever getting my hands dirty. Now I like to be sure that I will not have any stains, so I go a step further and finish rinsing off any residue in the sink and then toss it into the washer. Easy as that.

I do still use disposables at night, my daughter sleeps longer and better and I do not have to worry about waking up to a really wet diaper. We buy a small pack of Parent's Choice diapers (which is almost twenty dollars) and that can last us the entire month because of the cloth diapers which do not have any extra charge after I bought the material. Basically, I probably saw my break even point a few months ago. Plus, I used coupons on the material to make the diapers (Joan's is a great store for that).

I really do enjoy using cloth diapers, not only do they save me a bunch of money every week, but I also feel better because disposable diapers never completely break down in the dump. So it is even better for the environment. We also do a few other things around the house to save money from the "extra laundry usage" that everyone thinks exist but does not for us. We conserve our flushes and only flush about every four uses. Of course, if it is number two then a flush is required. We also put a capped plastic soda bottle filled with water into the tank. This makes it fill up much quicker and thus less water is used. I also plan to start making our own laundry detergent-I actually learned the recipe from a fellow student in speech class in college-so that I can save even more and avoid any harsh chemicals.

Please comment if you know of any other ways to save money and I hope to one day be set up to where I could sell diapers that I make for the people who would not have the time and/or skills to make them. They would be very affordable because I want you to save like I do. Thank you for your time and keep checking back for more money saving tips!

Money Saving Stain Remover Tips

Something we came across during our search for the best answer were a couple of inexpensive tricks we were going to try next if the Resolve did not work. One of them I have heard of before and the other I had not. 

• For urine, put salt on it and wait a few minutes before vacuuming it up. The salt absorbs the urine and the smell. This one I have heard of before, not sure how it works or not. If anyone has ever tried this, let me know how it works!
• For stains, of any kind, mix some baking soda and vinegar together until it is a paste. Put it onto the stain and then wait until it dries. When it is dry, simply vacuum it up. I had not heard this one before, but sounds legit. If you have ever tried this, comment and let me know.