Cleaning Chemicals

 I watched "Comerical: Redefining Clean for a New Generation" on Netflix.  Now, it is not the greatest movie; it is poorly produced and didn't state where they got their facts from, but it did make you think twice about what you are cleaning the house with and/or putting on your body.  I would still recommend for anyone to watch it.


Some of the interesting facts that got me thinking were:
*  A adult will come into contact with 72,000 chemicals on a yearly basis.
*  Stay at home moms have a cancer rate 54% higher than working moms.
*  Chlorine is the #1 toxic household poison

I am a stay at home mom, and since I am home all the time naturally I want to make sure my house is clean since I have to live in it and see it all day every day.  With a baby and two crazy dogs, I am always cleaning.  I never really thought about how it affects my health or my baby's.  In fact, my thinking was the opposite.  I thought that if I had a clean house (I am not talking about a sterile house since I believe that germs and some allergens are good for you) we would be healthier.  By cleaning the house on a daily/weekly basis, I am actually hurting myself and baby because of the toxins we are breathing in and being absorbed through our body.  Who knows if cleaning products are actually linked to cancer, but it's fair to say that it's probably not good to be around toxic chemicals.

The movie followed a family as they gave up the store bought chemical cleaners and switched to a more healthy/non-toxic/green alternatives.  From watching the movie, I realized that I didn't have to give up cleaning, or live in filth, but rather just change what I cleaned with.  Most of their new cleaning products were vinegar, baking soda, washing soda, and peroxide based.  Same with their personal hygiene products.  Then the light bulb went on in my head, if something is not safe to ingest then why would I want to breathe it or put it on my body; it will still be absorbed.  Anything that happens to the outside of my body should be safe for the inside of my body.

At the beginning of the movie, they asked the family how many cleaning supplies they thought the had in the house and the mom severely underestimated the number.  Of course I started thinking about how many I had in the house, I thought it was about 20 all together.  I too severely underestimated the number.  I have 58!  I was amazed by how many store-bought stuff I had on hand for my baby.  About a month ago, I actually had to switch brands because she was having an allergic reaction to something in our first product.  I can't believe that I didn't just go homemade at that point, instead I am now subjecting her to other chemicals.  And to think that I was trying to do the right thing, by buying the more expensive product too! 

I am slowly going to switch over to toxic-free, chemical-free cleaners and personal products as I need them.  In the movie, the family went cold turkey and tossed all their cleaners and switched immediately.  I feel since I have already paid for the products  I am going to use them up and then reuse the bottle/packaging if I can.  In the mean time I am just going to be more conscious of opening up a window while cleaning and toss all of my air fresheners right away.

More will follow when I actually start making switches.  I think the biggest switch will be my window cleaner, I swear by Windex.  I think it is the greatest and nothing else can compare...we'll see.

Walking to the Grocery Store

Two years ago my husband and I decided that since we both worked and lived in the same city, that we were going to only have 1 car.  It has been great, there has only been a handful of times where we wish we had two cars, but not often.

Since I am now a stay at home mom, he takes the car 4 of the 5 days of the week.  So if I need something from the store I used to be trapped, until I realized that I can walk there.   The local grocery store is 1.75 miles away, so it makes for a nice 3.5 mile with with my little girl on a nice day.

Today I needed some veggies for my turkey soup that I am making, so I walked to the grocery store.  Our grocery store prides itself on providing produce from Colorado growers, and so I now make a conscience effort to purchase those items (at least until I get my own garden and don't have to go the grocery store to buy produce). 

I was pretty happy, the celery and carrots I needed were on sale and the organic type.  Score!  But I did forget to bring my reusable bag, bad me.

Homemade Body Lotion

I am soooo excited, I just finished making my first homemade body product: lotion!!

I ran out a while ago, and have refused to buy anymore store bought stuff because it is expensive and I haven't found a brand I like.

After dropping the husband off at work, I headed over to Natural Grocers to pick up the supplies I needed to make the lotion.  After searching around on the website I chose to follow someone else's recipe to start with and I chose this one from  Frugally Sustainable because it looked easy, I liked the ingredients that were used, and everyone claimed it is non-greasy. 

The recipe calls for:
-1 cup aloe vera gel  (I used just under 1 cup)
-1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
-3/4 ounce beeswax, grated or broken into small pieces
-1/2 cup almond oil
-1 tablespoon cocoa butter
-10 drops essential oils of choice (I opted not to use essential oil because I liked the smell of cocoa butter)

First I put the vitamin E oil, almond oil, cocoa butter and grated beeswax into a large measuring cup. 

 I put the measuring cup into a pot of rolling water to create a double boiler that would melt all the ingredients together.

After all were combined, I transferred it to a blender where I let the oil cool and harden. 

When it was hardened (about 20 minutes), I slowly added the aloe vera until I came to the consistency that I wanted (that is why it is just under 1 cup).  I because it is thick, I had to constantly keep scraping the sides.

I transferred my lotion to a sanitized jar and put it in the fridge to store it (per the website, that way it will keep for up to 6 weeks.  The website recommends taking out small amounts at a time into another jar to use in the bathroom after a shower).  This batch made about one and a half cups of lotion. I couldn't wait to try it, so I put some on, and first off it smells AMAZING, is a consistency between a lotion and body butter, and is not very greasy; be warned a little bit goes a long way!  For me it is a little greasy, so I would just have to wait a while to put my clothes on.  I am wondering if refrigerating it will help with the greasyness, but truly, it's not that greasy. 

Looking at the cost breakdown below I want to see if I can find a cheaper source for Aloe Vera to keep the cost even lower.  Looks like if I buy it online I can get 32oz for about $5.10, which would bring the total for batch down to $5.16; that seems more reasonable.  Perhaps someday I will have my own aloe plant that I can take from.

Cost Breakdown:                  Cost of Product              Portion of Product Used

Beeswax (1oz bottle)                      $0.99                                   $0.75
Almond Oil (16oz. bottle)              $9.55                                   $2.38
Aloe Vera (8oz. bottle)                   $4.85                                   $4.00
Cocoa Butter (7oz bottle)               $6.75                                   $0.48
Vitamin E (4oz bottle)                    $6.85                                   $0.28
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Total for Batch                                                                           $7.89

Making the Most of Everything: Stock

I grew up in a house where my mom didn't cook very well (once time she even messed up Kraft Mac & Cheese which I though was dummy proof to make).  Thanksgiving would come, the turkey would be dry, and then we would throw half the meat as well as the carcass away.  Little did I know, you can make stock with it!


Stock can be used for sauteing vegetables, making soup, or adding to rice in place of water.  It will give everything extra flavor and nutrients.  

This year I made a kick-turkey and saved all the meat I could to make into sandwiches for leftovers, and for the first year I saved the bones.  Who knew it was so easy to make stock?!  I just threw the carcass in a big stock pot full of water along with the remaining veggies that we had on hand (carrots, celery and onion); added some salt and pepper, thyme, rosemary and sage, then let it simmer for 4 hours.  After that I strained the veggies, washed them off and fed them to my worms, and then tossed the bones. 

I was able to fill 5 pasta jars to freeze and have some extra to freeze in ice cube trays. The stock ice cubes provide single servings in case I want to saute some veggies; brilliant.  Sometime next week, I may experiment with making my first turkey soup.

It felt good to use the animal to it's fullest potential.  Not only did we eat the delicious dark and white meat, but I used the neck and gizzards for the gravy, and the carcass to make a stock.  This is the first year I don't feel bad about the turkey giving up it's life for us. (I guess he didn't give it up his life, rather his life was taken.  Every year we name him Tom.)

Worm Bin / Vermicomposting

Since it is winter time and I can't garden outside because of the weather, I figured I would get a head start on my soil by creating a compost bin where I can make my own organic compost.  With the weather being bad, I decided that it would be better if I composted inside.  Composting inside?  Is there a way to do that, will it work, will it stink? 

Two years ago we were driving through Kansas and met up with some old friends, while we were there we ate dinner with them.  Afterwards I was helping cleanup, and she handed me a pile of food scraps and told me to put it in the bin in the living room.  Huh?  I was so confused, but I was trying to be a good guest, so as odd as it sounded I headed to the living room.  I found a rubbermaid tub with a lid on it, I lifted the lid to find dirt with worms in it.  I threw the scraps into the bin and then observed.  Nothing happened since the worms were scared of the light, but then I became curious and started asking lots of questions about worm composting.  She said that they had made the tub, bought the worms and have been composting their food scraps for over a year.  She was getting into gardening and said that the worm compost was the best stuff for flowers and vegetables.  Cool.

I didn't think about how that had an effect on me until now, two years later as I thought back to that day and said to myself, if they can compost inside their house then we can too!  I started researching a lot on the web.  I settled on a two bin system for now.  One bin is the bottom bin for catching the liquid compost and the other bin is where the worms actually live.  I headed out to Target because I knew they would have gigantic holiday bins for a good price this time of year.  I got two 18 gallon rubbermaid totes. 

1) First step in composting is ordering your worms.  For our family of two (and a baby) I ordered 1 pound of red worms (1 pound = 1000 worms).  I ordered them from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm online.  I was pleased that my worms shipped in three days and that they were still alive and looked good.
 *  Keep in mind that if you order through him, he uses the USPS to ship and USPS only picks up live packages on Mondays so that it gets to you during the week.  This ensures that the worms don't accidentally get left on a loading dock over the weekend.  So if you order on a Tuesday, it wont be until the following Monday that they ship. *    Given our food waste, we should have ordered 2 pounds, but I figured we would start slow, and given time the worms will quickly multiply anyways.

2)  Go get your tubs.

3)  Drill holes in one tub.  Drill holes in the bottom for drainage so your worms don't die, and on the side so that the bin will be well ventilated to prevent rotten odors.  In the second (non-drilled) bin, place a tall rock to create space when the drilled bin in placed inside the non-drilled bin.

 4)  Fill the tub with bedding.  I used torn newspaper, some dirt from our garden, and vegetable food scraps ( I had potatoes at the time).











5)  Wet the bedding and keep it moist for a
few days before adding the worms.

















6)  When the worms come, immediately dump them into the prepared home.  They will want to crawl everywhere as they are checking out their new place.  To prevent them from crawling out, keep a light shining on the bin for the first 48 hours.  The worms hate light, and will stay in the bin;  after 48 hours they will be comfy and won't try to escape.  Keep a tight lid on top of the bin.

7)  Then it's just up keep.  Feed them every day or every few days and make sure the bedding stays moist.  You can feed the worms just about everything EXCEPT for oily foods, dairy, meat, and glossy paper.  The oil, dairy and meat are harder for them to digest and will rot making the bin stinky.  Otherwise there is no odor to the bin, except a smell of dirt when you take off the lid.

The red and green holiday bins aren't the most beautiful thing in our dining room, but soon I will get creative and decorate the outside so that it will look cute and match the rest of the home decor.

No More Grocery Bags

I am very proud of myself today.  My husband and I went to Sprouts to pick up some produce for Thanksgiving and I brought my own bags to use!  I have tried doing this before by putting the reusable bags in the car, but would always end up forgetting to take them in the store.  Well, today I remembered (with the help of my husband).

While in the store, I also consciously decided not to put my produce in the little bags that they provide.  Rather I just put the produce in the cart, on the conveyor belt and then into my own bags.  When I got home I washed them anyways to get rid of any pesticides and yucky stuff.  I saved 8 produce bags by doing this.  I felt really good about that.

I am sure you all do this anyway, but not individually bagging my produce and bringing my own reusable bags was new to me, and it felt really good!!

Steam Cleaning

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I am trying to get the house ready for guests.  I would normally head to our local grocery store and try to find the $8 bottle of Resolve carpet cleaner with OxyClean.  With two dogs, and a husband, this always looked like the best brand to clean my carpets, and it had OxyClean (I saw commercials on what it can do for clothes, so it must be good for my carpet too right?).

Well, with Urban Homesteading, I was looking for a way to get my carpets cleaned, hopefully using chemical free products and a way not to buy the $8 bottle (which would be enough to clean my living room, but not any of the bedrooms or basement).  After Googling a whole bunch of remedies, I busted out the steam cleaner and started.

 The first time I used hot water and  a Tablespoon of Gain powder detergent.  I am still using store bought detergent until we run out, then I will make my own.  But no sense wasting something I have already paid for.  Man oh Man did it work great!!  The water was black, kinda disgusting considering I just steam cleaned a month and a half ago.

I let it dry and the second time I went over it again with the same mixture of water and Gain.  The water was brown but still seemed to get my carpets clean.

I let it dry and went over it a third time with a mixture of white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.  I figured going over it a third time will make sure that I get up any residue left from the detergent, used vinegar to deodorize the carpets, and the hydrogen peroxide to help with any stains.  I used 2/3 cup of each with hot water.  The water came out tan after I steam cleaned.  The carpets look great, I think they are better than when I use the store bought stuff!

It may not seem like much, but I am quite proud that I looked up my own concoction for the steam cleaner rather than wasting gas running to the store to buy an $8 bottle of cleaning solution

Living Within Means

You may live within your means, but do you live within Earth's means?  

I took a quiz on Ecological Footprint  that estimated the ecological footprint (the amount of land and ocean area required to sustain my consumption patterns and absorb my wastes on an annual basis). I would say that we have an average size household and use an average amount of food and water;  we don't live an extravagant life, and I was still surprised by the outcome of my footprint.  If everyone on Earth lived my lifestyle, we would need 8.87 Earths to sustain us. My Results  Now, my goal is not to bring it down to zero Earths, but to lessen my household's impact by at least half;  I think there are a lot of improvements that I can make such as making a garden, recycling more, switching to energy saving appliances and fixtures.

Global Footprint Network has another quiz to take.  I like this one because it has cool graphics and music.   My results from this quiz are that we would need 5.2 planets to sustain life.  The two largest categories are food and services (at least food I am confident I will be able to be less dependent on)  .  It also has a way to explore scenarios that will reduce my impact (like eating fewer meat based foods and more fruits and veggies).

Now the two footprint numbers are way off from each other, but if you look at the bigger picture, it just means that I need to be more conscious of my style of living and that I can do things to help lower my carbon footprint in this world.  Just think if everyone changed a few little things, like make their own herb garden or change to low flow showers and toilets, or florescent bulbs;  that could create a HUGE impact!!

What is your ecological footprint?

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Smart Gardener

While cruising around on Pinterest, I came across this awesome website for planning your garden.  www.smartgardener.com    and the best part is that it is free.

On the website, you can plan the dimensions of your garden using raised bed, in ground planting, or container gardening.  Then based on where you live it gives a long list of fruits and vegetables that will thrive in your area as suggestions for what to plant.  Once you have picked your vegetables, it will assign an area in your garden based on space, and companion gardening.  It's pretty cool!

This is a sample screen shot (I couldn't figure out how to get my own screen shot).

It also has a Journal and Calendar features.  The calender will give you a "To-Do" list based on the vegetables that you chose for your garden, as to when to plant and prune and mulch and harvest and tons of other things. 

I figured I have around 190 square feet of gardening space once I redo the back yard.  

That will be spring's project. 

Making Vanilla

I LOVE to bake and the most expensive part of baking is the vanilla.  So naturally I thought, "How is vanilla made and can I make it for cheaper?"  the answer, "I can!"

As I was researching how to make vanilla, I came across some cute ideas of turning it into Christmas gifts for friends and family.  I decided I was going to do the same.

I went to Ikea and bought 8- 5oz. jars to hold my vanilla extract, then went to the grocery store to buy the vanilla beans.  For two beans it was $11.99 on sale!  Whoa that seemed really expensive, I knew there had to be a cheaper option.  I ended up ordering 40 premium Madagascar vanilla beans from www.topvanilla.com for $23.95.  I chose the Madagascar variety because the flavor is a rich, dark and creamy with an overwhelming sweet, buttery aroma. These are well suited for many baking recipes, drinks and desserts.  I got the beans in the mail about 6 days later.

I then had to search out the second ingredient in vanilla; Vodka.  I have a nice bottle of Grey Goose in the basement that we have had for 6 years, but I didn't want to use the good stuff for vanilla since I was reading it doesn't make a difference in the flavor.  I was keeping an eye out for a sale at our local alcohol store.  Finally a bottle of Vodka went on sale for $11.99 for 1.75L.  I was so excited, that I dropped my husband off and work at 9:00am and headed straight to the alcohol store.  It felt really weird going to buy a huge bottle of Vodka, while carrying a baby, at a store at 9am where I was the only customer.  The lady at the checkout counter kinda gave me a strange look, like "lady, you must be an alcoholic and a bad mother since you are buying vodka at 9am while bringing in your baby to the store"  and I felt the need to tell her it was for making vanilla, and she gave the "riiight" look.  When she was checking me out apparently I had a $10 credit that I was able to use on the vodka....score!  I was grinning from ear to ear.

I came home to clean and boil (disinfect) the glass jars in preparation for making the vanilla extract.  I was told to cut the vanilla beans in half lengthwise and submerse them in the Vodka. (next time I think I will just cut them into 1" strips because it is easier to keep them submerged in the vodka)  It is to be stored in a dark place for at least two months and shaken once a week to help infuse the flavors.  I am storing it in my coat closet in the front entrance since there are so many of them.  There were lots of suggestions as to how many beans per cup of Vodka to use and I chose to do 4 vanilla beans in the 5oz. of Vodka.  I'll have to see if that creates too strong of vanilla extract or not.

I am a little upset at myself that I have been buying an inferior product my whole life.  I am amazed that most store bought vanilla extract is not pure, it has corn syrup in it, despite the label saying "Pure".  Looks like it was infused in water and then the alcohol was added later?  Also that the alcohol is only 35 proof, rather than 40 proof (that you get when you make it at home) Again, how awesome that homemade stuff is far superior in taste and quality!

I am going to create cute little labels and give them away at Christmas.  It won't be ready by then so I will have to tell everyone to give it a shake once in a while until it is ready.  The great thing about the homemade vanilla extract is a starter too (much like a sourdough starter).  If the level gets low, just add more vodka.  If the flavoring is getting week, just replace a vanilla bean.

Cost Savings:
Generic Store Bought Vanilla Extract: $3.39 per ounce
McCormick Vanilla Extract:  $3.49 per ounce
Organic Vanilla Extract: $4.14 per ounce
Homemade Vanilla Extract:  $1.36 per ounce


The Breakdown
8 Ikea Jars: $8.61 (with tax)
40 Vanilla Beans:  $32.98 (with shipping)
Vodka:  $12.93 (with tax, not taking into account my $10 credit)
----------------------------------------
Total:  $54.52  (it was $44.52 with my credit)
Total per Gift:  $6.81 for 5oz.  or $1.36 per oz.  ($5.57 for 5oz. or $1.11 per oz. with my credit!)

Butter is Made from Heavy Cream?

So I guess my first step towards this new life was making butter.   A few weeks ago I had to buy some Heavy Cream for a recipe I was making and had a lot left over.  I felt really bad if it were to go to waste or be thrown out, so I started looking for other recipes to use it in.  Then my husband said why don't you make butter? I think my answer was, "Huh, that is what butter is made of?".

I really had no idea of what butter was made of or how to make it.  I grew up in a city in Southern California and so had no clue of "farm life" or making things from scratch.  I felt really stupid, that I am 26 years old, and didn't know what butter was made from.  But I set out to educate myself and to make butter.

To my surprise it is VERY easy!  Why doesn't everyone make butter?  I just threw the heavy cream in my KitchenAid and beat it on high speed for about 15 minutes until butter was formed and buttermilk was the by-product.  While it was beating, I saw it turn into Whip Cream before it became butter.   You should have seen the look on my face when I realized that I can make whip cream.  You think I would have figured it out long time ago with the name, WHIP CREAM (duh, it's actually whipped cream) but I never knew.  I feel so enlightened now! 

And I am so excited for Christmas this year, we have our families coming to our house and I plan on making whip cream for their hot cocoa and desserts, and butter for serving with dinner.  The butter was good, but came out pretty hard.  I am going to have to look for a way to soften it.  I didn't put any salt in with the heavy cream, I wonder if that will help soften the butter, or is homemade butter naturally harder than the store bought stuff?  hmm, something to look into.

As to why everyone doesn't make it, heavy cream is way more expensive than store bought butter (especially since we coupon, i can get tub butter for as low as .49 cents).  As of right now I don't have a cheap way to get farm fresh milk or cream, so I have to buy cream from the store (perhaps down the road that will change?).  I am glad that I know how to make butter, and it was WAY FUN, but for now we still plan on buying it from the store.

New to Urban Homesteading

I have recently decided to start down the path to Urban Homesteading and a "Back to Basics" style of living.

I have always enjoyed living simply, with not a lot of material possessions, not a lot of clutter.  Then when I got married my possessions seemed to have quadrupled and the clutter grew.  Two years after we got married, we moved into a 3 bed, 4 bath split level house complete with family room, living room, kitchen, garage and basement.   We filled the place within 6 months!  We were like goldfish, we grew into our environment, and are now out growing it.  Instead of moving like most people would do, we had a heart to heart talk and decided that we like Doing things rather than Having things.  So we rounded up a bunch of stuff and sold it (granted we still have a long way to go before we get rid of all the stuff we want/need to).  This de-cluttering was the first step in back to basics living.

My husband and I have been watching "The Walking Dead" and the new show "Revolution" and this got me thinking about the Urban Homesteading aspect and living a more self-sustainable lifestyle.  I don't think the world is going to end in December or that there will be a military revolt or that the government will take over or anything like that, but what if?  Or what if something environmental were to happen (or anything else imaginable or unimaginable), would I be able to survive and provide for my family (husband, 5 month old daughter and our two dogs)?  We have come to depend on modern conveniences too much, and I want to try to make life more simple so that if something does happen, I am more prepared.

The first step in being prepared is food rations.  We are couponers, not extreme couponers, but couponers none the less.  I feel really great about our stockpile right now.  When we had our daughter, we didn't have to go grocery shopping for 3 months after she was born (with the exception  of eggs, bread and milk)!  We coupon to get great prices on food to lower our monthly food bill, but if something catastrophic were to happen, I feel comfortable of our ability to live off the food we have for at least 8 months.   But what about bread, milk, eggs, veggies and fruits?  We live in a suburban home with an HOA and we are not allowed to have farm animals, so no eggs or milk for us.  But I can make bread, and have.  I have gardened before but with little success.  I kinda did a half-assed container gardening where I would get some basil, peas and a tomato or two.  This next year, I am going to create a garden and really give it a try.

My husband and I have decided that Urban Homesteading and a Back to Basics style of living is something we would like to try. Since I am now a stay-at-home mom, we are going to try it if it is cheaper, easier, healthier, etc.  and do everything in moderation. I don't think it is about going crazy from the start, but slowly adapting and finding out what works best in each situation.  I have decided not to tell my family or most of my friends yet.  They would think that I have lost my mind.  My mom was already freaking out when she heard we were selling a bunch of our stuff.  Urban Homesteading is very different than how my husband and I grew up and is very different from how all of our friends live (except for one couple).  We want to live a more self-sustainable life.

This will be a blog of my adventures on my way to becoming an urban homesteader; it should be very interesting!