Frugal Cleaning Tips

One place to cut down on waste and expense may be your cleaning closet. Over the past year I have started to implement easy ways to save and simplify the way we clean our home. Not only have I saved myself some money but, literally, the headache that comes with using powerful chemical cleaners. Now I find that when I have to clean with regular cleaners it really affects me. I used to just take it for granted that a headache came with cleaning, but thankfully no longer. So here are some tips that have helped me:

1. Make your own cleaners.

This may sound complicated but it is actually really simple. If you can follow a recipe you can make a cleaner. Often they only include a few household items that are poured into a bottle and shook up. For some great recipes I found online visit Clean and Green.

2. Use old rags instead of paper towels and cleaning wipes.

If you are like us you probably have many old wash cloths and dish rags that have seen their better days. Instead of throwing them out, give them a new life in your cleaning closet. To make sure they don't end up in the linen closet after they are washed I snip one corner off to identify them from any others. I normally can clean my bathroom with one rag by starting with the mirror, then the counter and sink, and last of all the commode. Then it gets thrown in the wash, not the trash basket. This has cut our paper towel usage in half. If you usually use a wad of paper towels to protect your hands, like my brothers (it is amazing how wimpy my brothers become when it comes to cleaning the bathroom), you can always buy a cheap pair of latex gloves to keep in the bathroom.

3. Buy supplies in bulk

When you make your own cleaners the supplies are pretty cheap to begin with, but you can save even more by buying in bulk. I can get two gallons of vinegar at our Sam's Club for $3.18 and 12 lbs of baking soda for $5.36. If you don't want to use a membership store you may be able to find the same things at any bulk store such as GFS. If you prefer to use ready-made cleaners you can often find concentrates for these at bulk stores that come out to be very inexpensive per batch.


For more advice and tips to save money visit Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.

Apples, Apples Everywhere!

Apple season is fully here and I am taking advantage of it. Michigan has it’s many beautiful orchards and farms that supply us wonderful fresh apples this time of year. Last week we finally visited one of these orchards. Lined up in a machine shed were neat rows of different kinds of apples. It was a hard choice, but we came home with some Honeycrisp, Jonagold, and Macintosh, mostly Macintosh.

The day after our little trip to the orchard was spent in the kitchen preparing all those apples. Pies, applesauce, apple butter, apple tea and apple jelly are the results of lots of hard, but fun work. My dad especially appreciated all this as he is the apple fan of the family.

What really excited me about all this cooking though was how little waste! In the past when I did my apple cooking I would pull out my apple peeler/corer/slicer, run my apple through it and leave about as much scraps to throw away as I did apples to cook. So this year I decided to put all those peels and cores to work.

First thing they were going to make me was apple jelly. I have never made apple jelly before, I had heard about it but I am not the jelly maker so I never tried to make it. But feeling industrious and having one last box of pectin in the cabinet I took the plunge and looked up a recipe online. I found a few here and here. I used the later and found it very similar to other jelly recipes, you cook the apples down (about 30 minutes) and mash them through a sieve to make juice, then use the juice to make jelly. I’m afraid my jelly didn’t set up very firm, not that there is any fault in the recipe – I actually hope to try it again – but that my pectin was many years old. It is not going to waste though, the resulting syrup is wonderful on pancakes, in oatmeal and to sweeten apple tea.

Making apple jelly has led me to think of other ways to use apple scraps. You could make juice from the cores and peels, syrup from the juice, puree from the peels and also apple tea from dried peels. Although haven’t tried all these ways yet, except the tea, I think they would be wonderful ways of being frugal.

When we really try to be creative with the things we already have it is amazing how much we are blessed. Can you imagine, all those things I made from just six dollars worth of apples? Frugality isn’t just an idea, it is a frame of mind – creativity that can be used to bless our families.

Many Blessings

Saving On Lunches: Soups

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The average lunch menu for many people probably includes sandwiches, chips and other such food. One reason for this is sandwiches taste great and can be made in a wide range of varieties. Also they are quick and easy. But sandwiches have their down falls; they are not always nutritious and/or strain the budget (i.e. bologna is cheap but not exactly healthy). So my solution to solving both the nutrition and budget problems is soups.

Soups are packed with nutrients, and can be made with all kinds of inexpensive ingredients. Think about what can go into soups: leftovers, carrots, chicken bones, celery, beans , noodles, canned and frozen vegetables, potatoes, garden vegetables, squash, and the list goes on- all inexpensive good food.

To start making soups you need a good stock. I usually make double or triple batches of chicken stock to save time later, this lasts me a month or two. Chicken is my favorite stock because we can get chicken leg quarters from our Wal-Mart for $0.49/lb. Mom divides them into backs, legs and thighs to freeze and I use the backs for stock. There are lots of great stock recipes out there, I use the chicken stock recipe from Nourishing Traditions. Be sure to add a couple tablespoons of vinegar to extract the calcium from the bones and parsley to impart additional mineral ions to the broth.1 Other basic stocks include beef (or venison), fish, and vegetable.

Now you are ready to try all those great soup recipes hiding away in your recipe collection. You by no means need a recipe though. Some just like to keep a "soup bucket" in the freezer to collect leftover vegetables and meat, then they simmer it all in some stock or stock/water mix and add whatever spices sound good. When you make soup and have a lot of ingredients on hand, make double or triple batches to freeze for those days when you don't feel like cooking (make sure you like the recipe first).

If you haven't made many soups before you may want to stick to recipes until you get the feel for what taste good and goes together. I have posted two recipes here Bean Soup (my own creation), and Cream of Vegetable Soup (N.T. recipe) 1. Also look for recipes at Recipe Zaar. I like this recipe site because you can search by ingredient and also can adjust servings number then calculates the measurements for you. I have really enjoyed soups from Nourishing Traditions, if you have the book by all means take a look at them. You can find great recipes every where once you are looking for them. So dig in and serve your family something yummy and warm for lunch for a change.

God Bless

1. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon was my inspiration to explore soups. If you don't own the book yet, I highly recommend it.

Yogurt Making

Yogurt Recipe
4 c. milk
2c dry milk powder
2-3c. warm water
4 T. yogurt (commercial or from last batch, must have live cultures)
3 t. gelatian softend in 1/4 c. cold water

Heat milk over low heat stirring occationally until it reaches 180 degrees (I use a candy thermonitor to check it).

Steralize a two quart jar in two inches of boiling water for a couple minutes.Soften gelitain in cold water.
In two quart jar pour in dry milk. Add heated milk and stir. Pour in hot water leaving room for gelatain and yogurt. Let cool until 125 degrees.

Pour 1 cup warm milk into 4 T. yogurt and stir. Wisk into jar. Stir in gelitain.
Screw lid on tightly and set on heating pad and set to low. Wrap in a old blanket and leave for 8 hours. Transfer to refridgerator and chill overnight.

Frugal Yogurt Tips

I have been making my own yogurt weekly for at least three months. Not only is yogurt making economical and nutritious, but also fairly easy after you get the routine down. If you don't use gelatin in it, you can also make your own cream cheese. This week I will tell you my frugal tips in yogurt making and next week I'll tell you my process.
FRUGAL TIPS FOR YOGURT MAKING:

1. Stretch your starter. In order to make yogurt you need a couple of tablespoons fresh starter; this can be either commercial yogurt with live cultures, or five-day-or-less old homemade (but then you can only repeat that four times). But a little known secret is that you can freeze yogurt without killing the cultures. So what I do is when I get my tub of commercial yogurt home from the store I measure it out by tablespoons into ice cube trays and freeze it. After it freezes I put it in a freezer zipper bag to keep it fresh. The morning before I make yogurt I put a couple cubes in a bowl to thaw and then use it like normal starter. It works every time.

2. You don't need a yogurt maker. Although helpful, these are unnecessary and just take up more room in your kitchen. I wrap my two quart canning jar in a old blanket and set it on top of a heating pad set on low. Leave it for 8 hours and it is done!

3. You can use reconstituted dry milk. When I first started making yogurt I used the recipe out of the More with Less Cookbook. It used 6 cups water (heated to 125F), 3 cups powdered milk, and either 1 cup scalded whole milk or 1 can evaporated milk. It wasn't as creamy but it tasted the same as using fresh milk.
Next week I will tell you my process and give you some great recipes for using yogurt and making yogurt cheese.

Cut Butter Cost In Half: with your own spreadable butter

Our family has some heavy butter users in it, and with the cost of butter going up that can really cost you. A few years ago my Mom started making our own spreadable butter. By mixing half softened butter and half canola oil (other oils work too) with our hand blender, we got a firm yet spreadable butter when chilled. It is just as delicious as regular butter, but nearly half the cost. You can also blend it in a food processor, use a hand mixer, or regular blender. I typically blend 2 lbs of butter with 4 cups oil at once to save time and clean up. You may just want to do one stick with 1/2 c. oil the first time to see if you like it. You can use this blend in some baking when either oil or butter can be used. My favorite cookie recipe uses it.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sift together:
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

In separate bowl cream together:
1 c. spreadable butter (1/2 oil, 1/2 butter)
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar

Add and blend well:
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla

Gradually stir in dry mixture.
Fold in:
1-12oz bag chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes. Makes 5 dozen. Beware: doesn't last long!

Enjoy!

Books: The Best Price on the Internet

The next time that there is a book that you would like to own, instead of going to the local bookstore, try finding it on Bookfinder. This website isn't a book seller but a book search engine. You type in the author and title and it comes up with the most relevant titles. When you click on the title it takes you to a page that shows you all the book websites (Amazon, half.com, ebay, ABE books, Alibris, and more), their price including shipping (scroll the arrow over it to get the divided price) and any comments on that product. Try it out, it is the first place I always go to to find my books cheap. Most of the time you can find the book for which you are looking for a fraction of the cost and in excellent condition.

That's my frugal tip, if you want to join in on Frugal Fridays visit the Biblical Womanhood blog and leave your link.