Mopping the floors is great meditation. Especially when, as I am mopping I notice the beautiful wood grain of the 97 year old fir floors underneath the mop head. And as I mop I begin to imagine how beautiful the floor will be when we finally get to refinish them. Of course we won’t be refinishing the floors until after we finish paying off those student loans. We are back on the Dave Ramsey plan. Mopping the floors shows me just one more reason why we need to be gazelles.
Frugal living
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Mopping meditations
Thursday, June 25th, 200910 Ways to save $100 this year
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009- Don’t go driving just because (saves both in gas and in wear and tear on the car)
- Stay out of thrift stores and yard sales unless you have a shopping list (don’t buy anything unless it is on your list)
- Don’t eat out on trips, pack a lunch and find a park
- Make or buy freezer meals for those “I don’t want to cook” nights.
- Cut back on cell phone plan (Call your provider to find out if this is right for you)
- Bake your own bread each week
- Pay bills online
- turn off computer/ unplug appliances when not in use.
- Eat meatless every other day, eat simple though rather than meals that require fancy ingredients
- Drink water instead of juice, coke, gatoraid, etc.
Black Bean Chiliquile
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009I made this for dinner last night. Fairly quick and easy (especially since I used canned tomatoes and canned corn). It came out delicious. This probably has 4-6 servings. If you wanted to make more, you could probably add another can of beans and some cooked rice. Cheap and healthy too.
1 c chopped onions
1 T olive oil
1 c chopped tomatoes OR 1 can diced tomatoes drained
1 1/2 c fresh or frozen corn OR 1 can whole kernel corn drained
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 T fresh lime juice
1 t salt (optional)
1/2 t ground black pepper
2 c rinsed, stemmed, and chopped Swiss chard or spinach*
2 c crushed baked tortilla chips
8 oz (or so) grated fat-free sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 c salsa
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Saute onions in oil until translucent.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, corn, black beans, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Saute for 5 – 10 mins. or until heated through.
4. Prepare your casserole dish (I used a 9″ round deep casserole dish) with a coating of cooking spray.
5. Spread half of the chips on the bottom. Spoon sauteed veggies over the chips. If you used canned vegetables, there will be quite a bit of liquid left in the pan. Don’t pour it all in or your meal will come out soggy. Sprinkle 2/3 of the cheese over that. Arrange the greens over the cheese and spoon half of the salsa on top of it. Then, sprinkle the rest of the chips, salsa, and cheese.
6. Bake for about 35 – 40 mins, or until it is beginning to brown.
Oh and my confession–I didn’t actually measure anything, I just eyeballed it. But then I never measure anything when I am cooking–baking is a whole nother story
Cloth Diapering Simplified–Link roundup
Friday, March 6th, 2009I didn’t intend for this to become cloth diapering week, but once I had three articles written it seemed good to finish up with some good cloth diapering resources from around the web.
For starters, the articles on this blog:
When I was making my decision on what cloth diapers to use, the best resource I found for reviews was DiaperPin.com
I bought my diaper covers from NickisDiapers.com and they arrived quickly.
If you are more the do it yourself type, check out diapersewing.com
Another link for sewing fitted diapers
If you are looking for a baby shower gift–Diaper cakes are all the rage right now. Look here and here for how to make a cloth diaper cake.
Cloth Diapering Simplified–The Wash Routine
Thursday, March 5th, 2009I’ve read a lot of opinions on how to properly wash cloth diapers. Some say use bleach, others say don’t bleach. Some articles insist on HOT water, others say it doesn’t matter.
Here is my simple routine for washing cloth diapers, everything seems to come out clean and stink free and that’s what’s really important isn’t it.
My dirty diapers get stored in a trashcan that is lined with a laundry/duffle bag. I wash the diapers as needed (which means whenever I notice I am getting low or when I decide the dirty ones are stinking up the bathroom). On average, I wash a load of diapers about once every 3 days.
Rather than rinsing out poopy diapers, I start my wash with a pre-wash cycle, cold water with 1 oz (1/8 c) of All Free & Clear 2X concentrated laundry detergent–this is 1/2 the recommended amount of detergent per load. If your washer doesn’t have a pre-wash cycle, use a short wash cycle.
*note–once we start with solid foods, I will have to shake any solid waste from poopy diapers into the toilet before putting them into the diaper pail.
After the pre-wash cycle I set the washing machine to a regular cycle, cold water, with 2 rinse cycles. I then add 1 oz of detergent and put 1 T lime juice in the fabric softener cup.
I originally used vinegar instead of lime juice, but that is not recommended PUL (Poly-Urethane Lamiate) fabrics like the Thirsties cover or for diapers made from synthetic fibers (like fleece). The acid in lime juice helps rinse out all the detergent and disinfects the diapers.
From there, I just drop the diapers into the dryer. Once it gets warm enough, I will be hanging them out on the line to flap in the breeze and bleach out in the sunshine–not to mention that line drying is cheaper than doing it in a machine.
There. That was easy.
