Five super simple ways to start saving money and resources right now.

1. Cut down on how often you wash your hair. Less frequent shampooing is actually better for your hair. You can still shower, less frequent personal hygiene is not necessary better for you or your social life. You can either wear a shower cap or wet your hair, but not wash it. I rinse my hair in the shower everyday and then just put on a dab of leave in conditioner and comb it out, but I only shampoo and condition about once a week. I can make a rather small bottle of shampoo last for months and I have some seriously thick hair.

From Soap To Nuts

Yes, I realize yesterday was Monday and I am, once again, a total bloser (my new name for Blog Loser) and missed Meatless Monday. I might not have even redeemed myself today with a post, but I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs when a post about laundry caught my attention and wouldn't let go.

Everyone knows that the L-Word is my least favorite household chore. I curse it on a daily basis. David likes to ask if I am going to charge the baskets rent when they have lingered in the hall a bit too long. Last weekend, I did gain some momentum when spring sprang into action and I was able to hang all the laundry out on the line without it freezing solid. I am definitely more apt to stay on top of it when I can do part of it out in the sunshine and also feel the satisfaction that comes with doing something the old fashioned way.
So when I came across Easy Eco To Go's post about a SoapNuts review and giveaway, I knew I was in for a new adventure.

Prepare Ye

Since I tend to be inspired by the goings on in my day to day routine, I frequently find myself wanting to blog about things as they occur. Holiday related activities, for example. But nearly all of the materials that I use to accomplish This and That are items that I am quietly socking away throughout the year and I forget that everyone may not have a stockpile of egg cartons or corks in their cupboard. I certainly don't want anyone running out to buy anything to tackle a task they find here as that would be the very antithesis of our purpose, wouldn't it? So I am going to start dropping some suggestions for bits and pieces that you may want to hang onto so that when you see a post come up about making 100% repurposed Christmas ornaments you can head right for your juice lids and get to work.

Lighten Your Load

When Noah was about five he started asking me this question "Mom, if you could have a robot that did any job you wanted it to, what would you like it to do?" Don't ask me where this came from. It just arrived one day and has never left. Now, at nearly ten, he still asks it on a regular basis and is genuinely delighted by my answer, even though it never changes - "Laundry."
It is the bane of my existence. I teach the kids not to use the word "Hate", but this is an exception. I HATE it. I loath it. I despise it. Any evil thought you can think about something I think it about laundry. Laundry, I spit on you. I curse you to the heavens. I seeth at your very existence, and yet, you still come back for more. You have to give laundry that, it's got tenacity.

A Free Play Makeover

No, it's not for me, although I could use a serious overhaul. I keep waiting for those "What Not To Wear" people (most likely contacted by my very fashionable sister) to pop out from behind some aisle in a store or ambush me at preschool pickup. I would have to kill them if they tried to throw my clothes away, though. Not because I am particularly attached to them, but I spent good dollars at the thrift store one those and I can not condone such waste. The thrift store is certainly my favorite place to acquire new duds, but it is also my go to destination for just about all my other non-food needs, as well. So when I decided that I had finally had it with the mess the kids make of a playroom that I am chronically organizing, it only took a quick trip to Chez Cheap and I was off.

Here is a "Before" of the room in question. If I don't keep on them all day it ends up looking like this...

...or this

...and this.

                                                  

I was trying to think of a way to cut down on the amount of stuff and provide some new and stimulating ways to engage the kids (mainly the girls) in more productive play. I was checking up on one of my favorite blogs when I saw this on Our Yellow House. My Noah attended a Montessori preschool and kindergarten and I suddenly started thinking that all those Practical Life activities would delight the girls. So I did a little online research for inspiration and decided to go with a Montessori-ish theme. I moved all of the dolls, ponies, etc. onto higher shelves where the girls need to ask for them and filled the reachable areas with new activities that I put together for practically nothing.

A week and a half later and we are well on our way to a new way of playing and taking care of what we play with. Here are the shelves now. The top three shelves on the right and one of the ones on the top left are Noah's things and those still need to get pared down. The lowest shelf is all activities that need to be done on the floor. For these, the girls need to get one of the small rugs that is folded on the bottom left and their things must stay on that space. When they are finished, they must pick everything up and return it to the shelf before choosing something else. The next two rows up are all "works" that they will do on their table.

This used to be an end table that David had refinished, but we don't have room in our current living room configuration for it. The two little chairs were given to us for free when we stopped by our neighbors yard sale last summer.

The TV used to be here, but I moved it to the other side of the room because I hated it being the first thing I saw when I walked in. Since that move, the television has died and I couldn't be happier. We are not planning to replace it anytime soon. So now we have David's amazing dollhouse that he built for me last Christmas to greet us. The room also needed some additional lighting so I picked up this lamp at the thrift store for $5. It had a hideous black shade, but I found this funky one there for 50 cents. The rolling rack I got at another yard sale for $5 and it is awesome. The bins all slide out and I put some additional activities and books in it. Samson the itty bitty black kitty also wanted to get in on the action.

This is the new and improved Art Wall. Each child has a "clothesline" where we hang some of their recent work. There are also some projects created by the two oldest.

I moved this little corner table that I got from a free pile last year and made it part of our theme area. Right now I have out a little basket with figures from "Nightmare Before Christmas", some wooden apples and the Fall-ish books. All this was stuff we already had.

                                     

Here are the girls demonstrating one of the floor activities - stacking blocks. This can be a two person work and must stay on the rug to prevent them from getting thrown around the room.

This is an activity that helps build muscle strength and fine motor skills. Caroline uses tongs to transfer the little dinosaurs from one bowl to the other and back again. The whole thing stays on the tray and makes it easy to keep everything together and carry it to and from the table. I spent a total of 50 cents on this one.

This sorting activity can be done with any small objects, but Josie needed something a bit more challenging so here she is sorting a bowl of dried beans into a dish with three sections that I picked up for 50 cents.

The rice bin is a huge hit, but stays on a higher shelf and must be requested. It can get a little out of hand without supervision. I filled a large tub with rice and the girls dig for small plastic animals that are buried. This is a good one for them to work cooperatively on. They also like to use funnels and scoops to play with the rice. Some does get spilled, but it hasn't been too bad and after they are done I have them sweep up and they LIKE it!

Water play is always a hit, but I limit that to the kitchen. Each child has a tray, a dish of warm water and sponges cut into various sizes. They work on building muscles important to fine motor skills, like writing, by squeezing the sponges into the bowl. They also experimented with floating ad sinking. Had all the materials and just dried the sponges and put them away till the next time.

Pouring! I could write an entire post about how much kids love pouring. Here, Caroline is using a large plastic measuring cup with spout to pour into the funnel and fill a small glass vase. I put a drop of green food coloring into the water so she could see it better. This is all on a tray and a plastic place mat. Cost was 75 cents for a few things we didn't have a spare of.

Every day I think of more things to add and the beauty is that it all comes from right around me. The few things we didn't have I got second hand so there is not a single "new" item in the mix. The kids are loving it and I can't wait to incorporate some big kid activities for Noah. They are learning to work more peacefully and cooperatively. As I write this, they are ALL at the table behind me doing a puzzle together. And no one is SCREAMING. Miracles do happen. So take a look around, ask Barbie to scoot over and see what your kid can get their hands into.

This Weeks Thrift Store Haul

Sometimes I am on a mission when I go to the thrift store only to come up completely dry. I love deals, but I won't just buy anything. It has to be the right thing. Sometimes I go and just peruse and maybe pick up a gift to tuck away or a great pair of shoes. This week though, I went armed with a mental list that included:

• a few backup pairs of mittens or gloves for the girls
• a new hat for Caroline who is blessed/cursed with my hair which is ridiculously thick and makes hat wearing a challenge
• something to organize the barrettes and ponytail holders that are taking over
• materials to undertake a complete Montessori-ish playroom makeover

After spending $19.50 I walked out with the following:

• 2 cute hats
• 3 pairs of gloves
• 2 metal lap traps with the folding legs in great shape and with identical girly design
• a small three drawer organizer (for the accessory explosion)
• 1 laundry basket
• 3 medium storage totes
• 2 plastic stackable storage drawers
• 1 very nice plain wooden truck in perfect condition
• 1 wooden tray
• 2 basket trays
• 3 sectioned plastic trays
• 2 plastic sink size bins
• small plastic storage box
• small wooden handled brush, never used
• a brand new dust pan
• a huge vinyl placemat, brand new
• brand new set of measuring cups and spoons
• 2 small ladles
• 1 pair of tongs
• 1 small spreading knife
• and my best find of the day, a totally cool three wheel scooter which Josie has been asking for as a birthday or Christmas gift, in great shape and only $1

Everything except the outwear, the hair nightmare holder, the lap trays (Christmas gifts for the ladies) and the scooter will be combined with things I already have to organize the playroom and create works and activities for the kids. I am only loosely using some of the ideas that I witnessed when Noah attended Montessori preschool and kindergarten. I want the girls to begin to keep their materials in a confined space, to finish what they start, to put away something before they take out another activity and to just up the ante a bit in terms of their home education. I am chronically feeling guilty because I spent so much time working with Noah on anything and everything and the girls have never gotten that type of attention. There will be a few new things out for Noah as well, but he is generally pretty neat about his things and has a high level of natural curiosity that leads him to explore in his own way.
So that is my room redo plus extras for less than 20 bucks. I will post some before and afters once it is completed and, in the meantime, I am preparing to arrive before the doors open at a super mega Rummage Sale on Friday. I hope to walk out with my Christmas and birthday shopping for the coming year done. I may get buck wild so I'm bringing $40.00.

You down wit DMP?

On our first night in our first apartment some 12 years ago, future hubby and I went to prepare dinner and it became clear that neither of us had a clue how to do anything related to running a household. My mother had bought us some groceries to get us started and among those was a boxed rice mix. I read the directions and, to my horror, they wanted me to let this mix simmer. "What the hell does simmer mean?" I called to the other end of the apartment ten feet away. David came up short so I called my mother and posed the question. She knew, but let us just say right now, and I will preface it by saying "I love you, Mom. You are perfect and amazing.", but my mother is NOT a domestic diva. She cooked, but didn't particularly like to. She cleaned, but it was not her forte. She was a lovah not a Martha. So I did not grow up under the tutelage of a culinary master. I had zero SKILLZ.
I did however, have the benefit of a cheapskate for a father. Seriously, a tried and true, argue over a 10 cent overcharge, return a hamburger to McDonalds, price haggling, use it till it wears out, no name brand EVER (think Joan Crawford sans hanger), tightwad. So this is the foundation for all my learning. This was the bag into which I would put all my tricks. That is where I am coming from and is where I will introduce one of  the backbones of our household success - Domestic Management Policies (henceforth known as DMP).  I'm a sucker for a good acronym. I'm cool like that. But really I use strategies rather than a strict set of rules to guide my routines and decisions. So I will, from time to time, post things under this category that go into some of these techniques and discoveries.
The first one I would like to do a post on is Keeping It Stocked. In my cupboards are things that will ALWAYS be there. As soon as I am running low or out it goes on the list. I keep backups of some of these things. These are the items from which I know I can make a plethora of meals without thinking about whether or not I have the right ingredients. When deciding if I want to try a new recipe, I really won't consider it if it needs more than one item that is not on the regular Stock list. So I will be working to get this inventory together which will include spices and perishables, as well as dry and canned goods. It will also be a reference so that when I post recipes they can be cross-referenced to see if all the ingredients are in the pantry.
We'll see how it goes. I have been wanting to compile this list for a long time. I am putting it out into the virtual world now so that I will feel compelled to get it done. Like Salt 'n Pepa, I work best under pressure. Stay tuned.