Homemade Citrus Cleaner

Here is a little recipe that I use to clean the bathroom. I love the smell of oranges!

I take orange peels and put them in a quart sized canning jar. Add white vinegar to the jar and let the peels sit in the vinegar for 2-3 weeks. I will swish the peels and vinegar every couple of days, but you don't need to.

Then drain the vinegar from the peels. Save the vinegar, but toss the peels. The vinegar is a beautiful light orange color and smells just like oranges. So yummy!

Add to a squirt bottle and then add 20-30 drops of sweet orange oil. Then clean away. I use it all over the toilet, inside and out (I swear my boys miss on purpose) and all over the counter and sinks. Works great and smells great. No vinegar smell at all. Something I can't stand.

Frugal Fabric Softener

I have been looking to get rid of all the toxic chemical cleaners in my house for a long time. I have asthma and it would always kick in whenever I used anything like Windex or other harsh chemicals to clean with.

Another thing I wanted to get rid of is fabric softener. I have always hated the slimy feeling it left on my clothes. The smell was nice, but was over powering at times. Dryer sheets were the same.

I started out by just using half a dryer sheet at a time in the dryer. It worked well and left less of a slimy film on my clothes. But it was still not want I wanted to use.

 I spent some time on Pinterest checking out what others have done. Most just use fabric softener liquid but in less amounts on a face cloth or a sponge and keep using them over and over. Not what I want. Another I saw used hair conditioner and water. I knew how conditioner felt on my hair and did not want that on my clothes. Finally I saw where some people used vinegar. I have that in my house and use it for my cleaning recipes. Only drawback was that I could smell the vinegar on my clothes even after washing and drying. I hate the smell of vinegar and honestly, who wants to smell like it.

I saw some people add essential oils into the vinegar and decided to try that. I have quite a few oils and picked lavender to try it out.

I filled a quart jar with vinegar and added about 15 drops of the lavender oil to it. Put on the jar cap and swish it to gently mix the vinegar and essential oil a bit. That's it. No chemical smell, No asthma attacks, not to mention it is eco friendly.

To use it, I just add it to the fill line in the fabric softener spot on my washer. I do swish the vinegar around a bit to make sure the oils are mixed in and not just sitting on the top of the vinegar. My house smells really nice while the washer is going.

I do smell the lavender on my clothes when they are wet but once they are dried, I don't smell it, but I also don't smell the vinegar. I have also noticed that the vinegar makes my clothes soft and it has stripped off that yucky film left over from the dryer sheets and commercial liquid fabric softener.

There are times when the vinegar/oil fabric softener does not get rid of the static cling though. It gets very dry here in the winter so I need a little something extra. I bought (or you can make) some wool balls. I love the Woolzie brand. So does my cat Abby, she keeps taking them if I don't leave them closed in the dryer.

These do a great job getting rid of the static cling and they fluff up the clothes. Not to mention that they help dry the clothes faster. I use three balls at a time. I bought a six ball pack, not knowing how many balls to use at once or how long they last. They last a long long long time.

Now to get the hubby to get me a nice umbrella clothes dryer for outside so I can save the electricity from the dryer in the warmer months. Not to mention the heat that it gives off to make the house hotter in the summer. I miss having an outside dryer.

Used Homeschool Curriculum for Sale

Prices do not include shipping. I will be shipping USPS Media Mail with delivery confirmation. First come, first served. I will email totals with shipping. I except Paypal only. Order will ship out as soon as payment clears through Paypal. Please email me directly at duncanheather@live.com with any questions. 

Apologia General Science 1st ed. Text and Test/Solutions books         10.00

Climbing Higher  Hardcover book, workbook & teachers edition.      8.00   

Christian Liberty Nature Reader Books 1-5     15.00    Sold

Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading     10.00    Sold

Busy Times and More Busy Times  Hardcover books, workbook for More Busy Times and Teacher's Edition for both.                  10.00  

Saxon Math 1 Teacher's Guide and Meeting Book     10.00    Sold

Saxon Math 2 Teacher's Guide    10.00

Saxon Math 3 Teacher's Guide    10.00  

Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times  Hardcover book and Test/Answer book   12.00 Sold

Story of the World Volume 3 Activity Book        15.00   

Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages  Hardcover Book  10.00   Sold

Story Starters by Karen Andreola    15.00    Sold

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Orange Book Teacher's Edition & Student Book  10.00   Sold

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Yellow Book. Teacher's Guide Only    5.00

First Language Lessons Level 3   10.00

Famous Men of the Middle Ages   8.00  

A History of US by Joy Hakim Volume 7  Reconstructing America  Book & Teacher's Guide for Middle/Highschool Grades          15.00

A History of US by Joy Hakim Volume 6  War, Terrible War  Book and Teacher's Guide for Middle/Highschool grades       15.00

Homemade Banana "Chips"

The hubby has been coming home with a ton of bananas. I have a bunch in the freezer to use for breads and my chocolate chip banana muffins. This last bunch of bananas wasn't as ripe as I like for the breads, so I decided to dry them. I love banana chips that I buy from Trader Joe's, but they are pricey for the little package you get. So here is how I did it.


Cut your bananas in 1/4 inch slices and put them in a bowl with some Fresh Fruit solution. It helps prevent them from turning brown. Lay all the slices on your dryer trays, making sure to leave space between each slice. I used up 3 trays of my 5 tray dehydrator.

Dry at 140°F for 10 hours. I turned them over after 8 hours and then did the remaining 2 hours. They are really sticky and flexible, but not wet. Make sure to take them off the trays right away while they are still warm. It makes it easier to remove.

This was my tray after the 10 hours of drying. As you can see there are some little pieces. Those parts got stuck on the mesh. I did get them off and ate them right away. hehe

Store them in glass jars with an oxygen absorber in each jar. Matt ate half a jar right away. I don't see these lasting long.

Homemade Garlic Bread

About a week or so ago, the hubby was given 7 loaves of french bread from the store up the street. They were just going to throw them away because they didn't get used that day. They get a new shipment of bread in daily. The hubby happened to be there when they were closing, so we got the bread.

This company is in Massachusetts and we thought we weren't going to be able to get the bread once we moved up to NH. So glad to see that they order the bread in everyday. We love their bread!

Now these aren't aren't the small loaves you get in the grocery store, these are over 2 feet long. I got excited and knew what I was going to be making the next day or two. My homemade garlic bread croutons and bread crumbs.

On to my recipe:

Now I apologize, but I do not measure anything for this. I just know what smells and looks right.

You need garlic, minced or powder. I usually used powder, but have been in a garlic mood, so the minced went into this batch I made.

You also need softened butter, I use Country Crock, Parmesan cheese and dried parsley.

Now put a bunch of the butter in a bowl, add a bunch of garlic powder or a couple tablespoons of the minced. I love garlic, so I used a lot. Mix it up really good. The butter will be easier to stir over time.

Then add in the Parmesan cheese, I probably use about 2 tablespoons or so. Mix it in really well.

Add some parsley. I used the parsley that I grew and dried so I had to crush it. I probably had about 1-2 teaspoons of it. Mix it in well.

Take your french bread, cut it in half length wise. Smother each half in the butter, don't be shy.

These four halves was one loaf of bread. I had to cut it in half width wise then length wise to make sure it fits in my freezer.

Put the two halves back together. I wrap each half in plastic wrap then aluminum foil before putting them in the freezer. Make sure you take off the plastic wrap before you heat them up in the oven.

To heat them up, I set the oven at 350° unwrap, slice and then re-wrap in just the foil. Bake on a baking sheet for about 20-25 minutes or so. If you want a crispier garlic bread, skip the foil and lat out each slice or half whole on the baking sheet and bake.

Enjoy!

I love thrift stores

We have a little local thrift store that I like to check out every now and then. Pretty much all our clothes come from thrift stores. I hardly ever buy Matt new things because he is growing so much. Plus it is eco-friendly and frugal to buy used. I have found so many brand new things for next to nothing at thrift stores.

While out to lunch with a neighbor, I stopped in the thrift store to see if I could find some pants for Matt. He is now wearing men's sizes, Heaven help me. I did manage to find him a couple pairs for 2.00 each, but it was the other item that we found that I was most excited about.

I have been after Matt about getting him a new blanket or quilt for his bed. He has had the same blanket since he was out of the crib and refuses to get anything else. The darn thing is paper thin. When I saw this beauty, I asked Matt what he thought of it and he liked it.

Boy colors for sure. Plus is is made from denim so it is nice and strong and has some weight to it. I paid only 5.00 for it too! Loved that the most. Matt said he will use it over his paper thin blanket because he will not get rid of that one. LOL

What does "Homesteading" mean to you?

This is a post that I have been wanting to do for sometime now. I have had some people tell me that I can not possibly homestead where I am. I beg to differ. So, what does homesteading mean to you?

The definition of a homestead is:

1. a house, especially a farmhouse, with adjoining buildings and land.
2. Law Property designated by a household as the householder's home and protected by law from forced sale to meet debts
3. Land claimed by a settler or squatter, especially under the Homestead Act
4. The place where one's home is 

I have a home and I do have a little land and one outbuilding (a storage shed). So, according to the first one, I have a homestead.

I live in a mobile home (a home is a home regardless of what it looks like and we own it outright, so no mortgage). I do live in a small mobile home park, but because it is small, each home here has a decent sized yard. Our park is just two streets. The side that I live on has nothing but a stream and a tree line behind it. Our park owner said that our lot is the biggest one in the park. He also doesn't care what we do as long as it is kept neat. 

This is the stream behind our house. This was taken in late spring before the stream was overrun with wildflowers and weeds. You can see a tree that fell in the upper left hand corner. That is the "bridge" that Matt uses to get to his fort.

This was part of the garden last year. You can see the tree line behind it at the edge of our yard. Matt has cleared out a little area in the "forest" to make a fort.

We are not allowed to have outdoor animals, so that limits us. We can not have the chickens or goats that I want. So no eggs and milk to make cheese. The hubby wants to get bee's but I am not to keen on that idea. I would love the honey, but not the risk of getting stung. A neighbor not that far from us (not in the park) has a few hives, so we saw lots of his bee's in our yard last year, just not as much as the year before.

Most of the blogs that I read here have what some people consider true homesteads. They have acres of land, animals, large garden, etc. This is why I think most people consider what I am doing is not homesteading, hence the name of my blog. 

So how do I define homesteading? To me, it is a way of life. I grow my own veggies and preserve them in a few ways (canning, dehydrating, freezing). I am frugal in the way I shop (I coupon, price match, use thrift stores, meal plan). I am also eco friendly (I use cloth bags when I shop, use a clothes line in the summer, use cloth pads for my period, rags and towels instead of paper towels, we recycle and compost). I also cook from scratch. Not many prepackaged things are found in my house. I think the only things that I have are some boxes of cake that I got cheap.

To me, this is homesteading in the 21st century. A life style of self sufficiency. Granted I will not be totally self sufficient, but I do what I can to lower our footprints. 

First week in the 31 Days To No Spending Challenge

Click picture for Challenge information

This past week of the challenge was a short week because it started on Wednesday. But in all, we did well. It also helped that the hubby had Friday and today off, so there was no takeout food for lunch for him. 

I tend to cook from scratch pretty much all the time, so out food budget is cut down big time now. Most of the coupons out there are for processed boxed food that is so salty and bad for you. I have been thinking of stopping using coupons because I haven't used any in a few weeks and my budget is still low. I honestly have no budget for food, but I like to keep it around 60.00 or so every two weeks. 

This weekend I did need a few food items and ham was still on sale, so we grabbed a couple to put in the big chest freezer in the shed. Food items we got this week are: 

Two hams 10.51 and 9.52

Celery 1.58

Mozzarella Cheese 4.98

Whipping Cream 2.42

Gallon of Whole Milk 2.49

Total spent on food this week: 31.50

I might have saved more if I could have found coupons for the cheese and cream, but I didn't see any. We did buy two papers this Sunday for the coupons. A neighbor also gave me their inserts. There were 4 inserts total in each paper, so there should be some good ones in there. I have yet to look. My coupon binder needs to be cleaned up big time. Something that I do every year around this time anyway.

My menu for this week is all home cooked meals, including our dessert for the week. You can find the menu here: Dinner Plans for 1/6 ~ 1/12.

The hubby is working tomorrow, thank goodness cause he is driving me nuts, so I can get a few other things done. Like the freezer inventory (I have three freezers, two totally full and one partly full) so this will take awhile. I also need to look at my pantry stock. I know I am low on baking soda, so I will need to add that to my shopping list for this week. I tried to find some at Walmart today, but all the had were little boxes. I want a big box of it. I use it for cooking and cleaning, so it gets used a lot. 

Now if the hubby is a good boy and does not spend any money on food outside of my budget, we will be fine. He has a habit of spending money on lunch while he is at work and then not eating it. Drives me up the wall. I need to make sure I have some tuna or chicken salad ready for him for the morning. 

Well, week two is off to a good start. I will tell you all about it on Sunday.

31 Days of Spending Zero

Starting January first, I am participating in a month long challenge to spend no money, except for the essentials like gas, household bills, groceries. You can find the challenge at Living Well Spending Less.

There is also a Facebook group to join for extra support and encouragement, should you need it.

I told the hubby about this and told him that he has to help out as well. He always spends extra money everyday at work. So, it will be up to me to make sure he has a lunch and snacks for the week, as well as my son.

Because we have a rather expensive bill coming up (labor for installing a new engine for the hubby's truck that we bought used), I am taking this challenge a step farther and not spending any money on groceries other than milk. I have been slowly stockpiling food for the past couple of months, so we will be able to use the food we have on hand. Thanks to our garden and the sales on turkey at Thanksgiving (we have 6 in a chest freezer) and other meat, as well as the deer the hubby got, we will have plenty of meat. I can make one turkey stretch for a week and a half or so.

I can make pretty much everything from scratch. I refilled my stock of bread and whole wheat flour today so I will be making bread soon. I have a friend who can give me eggs from her chickens, if I need them. I do have 2 dozen eggs at the moment that should last us a little bit. Plenty of pasta and dried beans as well.

I will come back every Sunday with a post to let you all know how the challenge is going for me. I am so excited to start this. It will be hard, mostly to get the hubby to stop than me, but we are ready to do this. If it works out, I will try it again in March. I might do this every other month or so.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Nothing is better on a snowy day than some hot chocolate. Today we got a little bit of snow. So far we only got a dusting to maybe an inch, but are not expected to get much more.

Hot Chocolate Mix

10 2/3 cups Instant Dry Milk
3 cups Powdered Creamer, Non-Dairy
4 cups Powdered Sugar
2 cups Unsweetened Cocoa

Mix everything together. Store in a glass jar or another air tight container.

How much you use per cup depends on how big your cup is. 1/3 a cup or more. I used a 1/2 a cup for our large Pooh and Tigger cups. Add some whipped cream or marshmallow fluff and enjoy!

Dehydrating Apple Slices

This past summer I was able to buy myself a dehydrator. A 5 drawer Excalibur. The hubby said I should have got the 9 drawer model, but I didn't think I would need it. Well, I kinda did with the apples.

I started out peeling and coring my apples using my little corer peeler thingy. I don't know what else to call it. hehe

I filled up a huge bowl with the rest of the apples we had from apple picking. I attached the peeler to a wooden tray table and peeled them while watching tv. Abby kept reaching up and pulling the peels down so she can play with them. She never ate any, thankfully. She seems to hate the smell of the apples.

Once they were all peeled, I cut the apples in half so that my apple pieces were half. Some of them broke into smaller pieces, but that is ok. I also mixed up some Fruit Fresh Produce Protector to help prevent the browning of the apples. It will also help the apples keep their white color.

Then I lined the trays up with all the pieces of apple slices. I tried to get most of the slices onto the trays while leaving a little room between each. Sorry for the blurry picture.

As you can see the apples had already started to turn brown before I put the fruit fresh on them. I put them in for 6 hours at 135°.

As you can tell from the picture, not all the slices got the Fruit Fresh on them. I was trying to mix the slices while not breaking them too much, so I missed getting it on some. You can see how much they shrink down. They are a little bit chewy, the way I like them. You could always put them in for longer if you like chips.

I store them in mason jars with some oxygen obsorbers. When I put the slices in the jars, they were filled to the top. Over night they kinda settled down a bit. So yummy for a cheep snack. Think I might have some right now.