I have been in Montana for the past three months because my dad was sick.
He passed away two weeks ago.
I’m trying to get things sorted out, but I’m sure to be posting here soon.
Spring Time! (aka get off your butt and get movin’, movin’)
April 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Ah, Spring. You have evaded us for too long, and now you are here. Let’s just take a minute to appreciate all things Spring – no snow, warmer weather, no thick coats, flowers, no snow, rebirth, renewal, no snow.
Ok, that’s enough, time to get busy!
This year we have a lot of things going on here at Casa de Polock. We have a shed to build, gardens (yes, plural) to get ready, not to mention regular yard work, house upkeep, etc.
The shed is coming along very s-l-o-w-l-y due to the weather. Thankfully, today we got a break, and were able to put together the floor joists. Due to financial constraints, this baby is going to be phased – meaning, each phase gets done as funds allow. Speaking of which, holy cow can you believe how high prices are? Gas, groceries…. And, they are going to continue to go up. But, that is for another post. Anyway, here is a picture of the floor joists…
Before they were done.
I’ve detailed out how we are planning the shed over here >> with the only variation (right now at least) is we are actually building is 12 x 24 instead of 22. This is to have a little more space for the garage and chicken coop area. And, it is going to be one big building rather than having a lean to thing off the side.
And, we rented a rototiller to get the ground ready for the gardens – this is the earliest we have done so, and we won’t be able to plant for a few weeks yet, but at least it is done! Our main garden is a little bigger, and we now have a second garden that as of right now, will be for potatoes. And, I made that bigger than I had planned, so…
The chickens (and possibly ducks) won’t be “home” for a few weeks yet. We have to head out of town in a couple weeks and will get the birds after that.
So, here it is spring time, and we are moving our butts along with all the projects at hand. Word to the wise – if you are planning this much physical activity after a winter of relative dormancy, it might be a good idea to stock up on prescription strength Ibuprofen – just sayin’.
Saving money with laundry
April 3, 2011 By 1 Comment
Laundry is my least favorite chore. Period. I have been married over 12 years, and I have yet to find a way (and I’ve tried them all) to make it more… palatable. It is just…. always. there. You never complete the job – lingering in the back of your mind are the clothes on your back, the one’s you will wear tomorrow, etc. Ugh.
Yet, there is one small thing I do enjoy about it. I make my own laundry soap, and I save tons of money doing it. First, I’ll give you the recipe, then I’ll break down my way vs. the normal way.
The recipe I use is everywhere on the web. There are two versions – one for top loaders (powder formula) and one for front loaders (liquid). I actually prefer the liquid because I never felt like the dry was mixed enough.
- 1 bar, Fels Naptha ($1.25)
- 1 Cup Washing Soda ($2.25/ 55 oz.)
- 1 Cup, Borax ($3.25/ 76 oz.)
Grab a 5 gallon container, or as close as you can get – I use a kitty litter bucket (the big one from Sam’s Club). Dump in the Washing Soda and Borax, and put some hot tap water in it – enough to get the dry ingredients dissolved. Now, go grab your cheese grater and start grating the soap. Once you have that done, put it in a pot on the stove with about 4 cups of hot water (make sure to use a big enough pot because it will “foam”). Turn your stove on medium high – you want to stir it frequently as it warms up. The goal here is to get 99% of the soap dissolved. Once all the soap is dissolved, dump it in that bucket, then finish filling the bucket with hot tap water. The 5 gallon paint stir sticks work great for stirring, by the way. Now, put the lid on it and let sit overnight. The next day you will have a goopy mess of laundry soap! When you are ready to use, just fill up an old laundry soap container half way with your new soap, and fill the rest up with water. You can also add an essential oil fragrance of your choosing, but I kind of like the natural smell of Fels Naptha. For each load you can use anywhere from 2 tablespoons to whatever you normally use, but you really don’t need much at all.
The other way I save money in the laundry room is to dilute my fabric softener. I used to buy the cheap stuff, but around here, especially in the winter, it doesn’t come close to cutting the static. So, I’ll buy Snuggle, or Downy from Sam’s Club, and reuse and old fabric softener container – pour 1/2 full of softener, the rest of the way up with water. Works great!
Now, cost.
Ok, let’s use Tide as an example, since most of the people I know use that stuff.
At Walmarts, a 90 load container of Tide runs $17.97. So, that works out to $.19 each load. Making your own laundry soap the way I have detailed runs about a penny a load. Downy costs $8.97 for 130 loads, or $.06 cents a load. If you cut that in half by dilution, you are at $.03 cents a load. So – keep doing it your way for $.25 a load, or do it my way for $.04. For a family of four that averages 5 loads of laundry a week (not including bedding), that savings comes to $55 a year, or 84%! And, I know I do way more laundry than that 
