What I do on Sunday afternoon (Or, my secret life)

Sunday is always a highlight of the week for me. For starters, we go to church. Whether that is Brandywine Valley Baptist in Delaware, or Hope Covenant here in Minnesota, we have always enjoyed worship and fellowship on the Lord's day.

Then on the way home after church, we stop at the store and pick up a newspaper.

After lunch and when things have settled down, I sit down with a cup of coffee, some good music and the computer. I print coupons from the internet, and clip coupons from the Sunday paper inserts. Then I look through the grocery ads and match up coupons with sales. I make a menu for the week around what I can buy on the cheap and what I can get for free.

Then the fun part starts!

I make a list and put all my coupons into envelopes for specific stores. (In my Target envelope, I put in coupons for things I'm going to buy at Target . . . you get the idea.) Then when I have to shop, I already have the coupons for the things I am buying all ready to go. When I see items that are on sale or clearance but weren't advertised, I can just look up the item in my box and check for a coupon.

When most coupons are released, that means that item will probably be on sale within the next 1-6 weeks. I never, ever buy an item with a coupon unless it is already on sale. That is really important. Otherwise you really won't be saving anything.

You learn something new everyday.

My coupon box is my fourth baby and I keep everything organized in there. Lots of labeled envelopes, scissors, calculator, a pen and pad of paper, rebate forms, coupon codes for buying things online, etc.

Did you know I do this?

I save so much money. I get free stuff, or nearly free stuff, all the time.

I regularly sign up for freebies online. Our mailbox runneth over with free samples of laundry detergent, toothpaste, granola bars, etc. And most of those free things come with high-value coupons, so when the time is right I can get a full-sized product very inexpensively.

I never, ever pay for paper towels. Why? Because I can get those for free. Our cupboards in our bathrooms are full of dirt-cheap or free brand-name razors, shaving cream, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, contact solution etc. Even though we use cloth diapers on Elin, I can't resist picking up a pack of Pampers or Huggies if I can get them for about $4 (or free).

When I combine an in-store sale item with a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon (did you know you can print coupons from the Target website? Target coupons for brand-name items? Yes, you can!) and that item has a rebate, then sometimes I even get paid for shopping. I routinely get paid for buying pasta, for example.

I've quickly discovered that food costs less here in Minnesota than it does on the East Coast. So I won't have as many dramatic shopping trips ("Honey, I got $180 worth of groceries for $40! And then I got $10 back to spend at the store on my next shopping trip!"), but I think I'll come out about the same on our food bill. Plus, there's an Aldi's here, so that will help out a lot.

Just wanted to let you know.

(PS - Money Saving Mom is a great place to learn about the art of couponing and get alerts for freebies and great deals. I visit that website almost every day; it's the greatest!)

Laundry Detergent 101

Early in the summer, I paid about $30 for a big box of Tide at Costco. And it really wasn't even that big. As I put it in my shopping cart, I was thinking, there must be a better way.

So yesterday I made the laundry detergent! Here are the ingredients:

Everything was easy to find and very inexpensive (grocery store & Target) except for the Fels-Naptha. After going to various stores and not finding it, I discovered an online soap store that sold it, along with other old-school soaps. Shipping was the same price for 1 bar or for 7, and they were on sale for $.99, but I thought buying 7 bars would be frugal overkill. So instead, I bought 3, and 4 other bars (castile, and something called Lifebuoy).

First, grate the Fels-Naptha.

Secondly, I demoted a wooden spoon that has, until now, been completely useless because it's flat. I stirred the soap in some hot water over medium heat until it was completely melted.

Then I put the Borax and the washing soda into a 5-gallon bucket, courtesy of Nate. When I asked him for a bucket, he asked what I needed it for. "To make detergent!" A couple days later one appeared in the kitchen. Nate has long accepted the fact that I was born in the wrong decade and doesn't ask too many questions.

Once the Fels-Naptha is melted, pour that into the bucket. Mix it well until the powders have dissolved.

Add hot tap water to fill the bucket. Stir, cover tightly, and let sit overnight.

This is actually a detergent concentrate. You add equal parts detergent concentrate and water into a smaller container, and that is your final detergent. So technically, this recipe makes TEN GALLONS of detergent. For about $5. Plus the cost of a bucket, if you don't already have one (and a new grater!). Isn't that crazy? It's crazy.

Nate's cousin's wife, Carmen, uses this recipe and told me that it took blood out of a pair of white pants. That sold me on it!

This recipe is from the Duggar Family. You know, the family with 19 kids? It takes them 2 to 3 months to go through this recipe. I figure that we're set for at least a year. I'll let you know when we run out!

Thrify Laundry Detergent

1 Fels-Naptha bar, grated

1 C washing soda (NOT baking soda. Can you imagine?!)

1/2 C Borax

Grate the soap bar and put in a small saucepan, just covering soap with hot water. Cook on meduim heat until soap is dissolved. Your kitchen will smell very clean.

Put washing soda and Borax in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Add melted soap mixture. Stir until powders are completely dissolved. Add hot tap water nearly to top of bucket. Stir, cover tightly, and let sit overnight. The next morning, stir the mixture. Mix equal amounts of detergent concentrate and water in a smaller laundry-soap container. Shake before using.

For top-loading machines, use 5/8 C per load, for front-loaders, use 1/3 C.

Home economics: Laundry

If you know someone who is considering having a baby, perhaps you should send them a link to this post. Just to warn them. (But babies are absolutely worth it!)

Here's what greeted me this morning:

I'm sorry this picture is out of focus. The other day I thought, "I should shoot everything in manual." So I have been, but I'm sadly out of practice.

And wait, there's more:

(Laundry not pictured: more in the dryer, more accumulated while I was folding this laundry, and then all the diapers.)

This is the reality of living with four other people, three of whom are little kids.

For Elin, there's all the receiving blankets, onesies, tiny socks, outfits, sleepsacks, jammies, burpies, sheets, bibs, and anything that got spit on.

For Svea, there's small socks, camis, training pants, numerous changes of clothing, and lots of jammies.

For Viggo, there's medium socks, undershirts, undies, school clothes, clothes to wear at home, jammies, dirty jackets and gloves, his beloved Peterson jersey, and anything that got dirt/markers/ketchup on it.

And then there's all of our own clothes, plus unmentionables hardly worth mentioning, and, because I use as many washable things as possible, there's also napkins, bar towels for the kitchen, microfiber towels for messes, hankies and other assorted washable whatevers.

I have issues with buying things to use once and then pitch. To me it feels like I'm throwing cash directly into the garbage can. I would like to say I avoid paper towels and paper napkins because I am concerned about the environment. While I am definitely all for a healthier planet, the truth is, I am also an advocate for a healthier wallet (my own!). Did you know, I am still working my way through a 15-pack of paper towels I bought at Sam's? I bought that pack over 3 years ago. It moved out here with us. We only use paper towels for nuking bacon and the absolute most disgusting messes.

While I folded this morning, Svea ran around pretending to be a horse. She was listening to a children's CD by Tom Chapin, and her favorite song from there involves a yodeling cowboy and a horse named "Homesick". That definitely makes folding laundry more fun!

I am thinking of applying to TLC to have our own reality show because it seems that the families on there have people that come and do their laundry for them.

I finally have all the ingredients to make my own detergent, so I hope to post that recipe and process in the next day or two. I am not making this up. I have a 5-gallon bucket waiting for me in the kitchen, and I finally tracked down the Fels-Naptha.

See you in the laundry room!