I wanted to share a recent discovery. For 2012 we’re trying to “green” our household cleaners, and one of my biggest concerns was eliminating liquid soaps. They’re expensive, and overused. I also don’t like regular soaps, as they can hang on to germs between uses, especially that bathroom counter-top bar that gets frequent use. It gets soggy and unappealing, gets stuck in rings, and begins slipping around.

You may remember those old “soap shavings” dispensers, which dispense a powdered detergent for hand-washing. Fairly sanitary and tidy, but I’m not interested in using detergents on skin.

My solution is shavings of castile soap, a vegetable-based, all natural soap.

While watching television a few nights ago, I took a potato peeler to a bar of soap (like any other crazy frugalista does on a Monday night), and made these beautiful soap curls! One bar of soap will fill this jar about six times. To wash hands or face, simply pick up a single curl, and scrub up! No sticky sloppy bar, no transfer of “used soap” germs, and not an egregious use of time. (A fine task for television watching).

Also, the soap curls smell delightful! With all the surface areas of the soap curls, it smells fantastic.

I didn’t have a photo that I was ready send off from my family, but husband’s sister got married recently, and I thought a canvas transfer of one of their wedding photos would be a fun gift.

I uploaded the photo, selected the size, wrap, shape and coloring of the, and it was all done within a few minutes. If your photo isn’t perfect, the company will change the coloring for you, or add effects like sepia or even touch up problems (additional fees apply).

Within a few minutes of submitting my order, I got an email from the company, informing me that the photo I submitted was low-resolution, and to confirm if I wanted to substitute another photograph or proceed anyway. This was all handled personally by an employee–not a random database-generated message into the ether.  I submitted a higher-resoution photograph and got confirmation just a few minutes later that it would work perfectly, which is great because I’m no photo pro.

The final print arrived a week later, and is really, really stunning. I can’t wait to give it to my sister-in-law and my new brother-in-law.

Frugal, really?

Yes, these are pretty expensive, but not outrageous (at least in my opinion) for what they are worth. The canvas will be treasured by its owners. Also, there’s a 50% off coupon right now on Facebook if you like their page “Easy Canvas Prints.”

But would I order again?

Absolutely! We’ve got to get some new family photos done soon. After those are done, I think we will have them turned into a canvas for our house, and maybe even as a gift for my parents and my husband’s parents.

For a glimpse of the canvas that is on its way to the happy couple, see below.

*Disclosure: I was given a canvas in exchange for review and blog advertising, though this opinion is entirely my own and is not under the direction of the company in any way.

Yes, I’m a canner. A pretty hardcore canner. In June, we make jam, in July it’s beets and pickled cucumbers and dill beans, and come August, it’s peaches, spaghetti sauce and stewed tomatoes.  Is it frugal?  Honestly, I don’t think it is.  Between the costs of the fruit to can, the jars (reusable, but still expensive) the sugar, pectin, vinegar, or other ingredients, and the processing time, I’m fairly certian that it is not less expensive than buying a similar item at the supermarket.

But there’s still a host of good reasons to home-can.

I know EXACTLY where the food came from. I buy organic when I can, when I can’t, I wash fruit very, very carefully. Organic strawberry farms are expensive and hard to find around here, but we buy our strawberries from Duris Farms in Kent and Puyallup, WA. Duris has a committment not to use any chemicals on their berry plants from the time they bloom, so we can be fairly certain our fruit will have very low pesticide levels.

We use BPA-free jars and lids.  Glass jars are naturally BPA free, but most commercially available jars have lids which contain dangerous BPA chemicals. We buy special BPA free lids from Azure Standard by mail order.

We don’t need extra preservatives or colorants.  Our oldest daughter takes ADHD medications and artificial food dyes seem to interact with her medication. We don’t have to add any artificial colorants to our home-preserved foods. Our strawberries were fully ripe, and the jelly gets a deep dark burgundy color all by itself.

This is a case of paying for peace of mind.  Yes, I’m willing to take the extra time and energy to be 100% sure of the origins of my preserved food. We spend our money in our local community, with local farmers. We avoid chemicals and we really, really love jam.

For canning newbies

For those looking for canning instructions, there are a few good places to find them. I really like the Ball Book of Canning which is available at most hardware stores. I’ve also had great luck finding my canning equipment at estate sales and Freecyle e-mail lists. My friends know that I can, so they collect canning jars and glass spaghetti jars for me throughout the year, and because the jars are re-usable over and over, it’s a worthwhile investment. You’ll only have to replace jars lost due to breakage or gifting. For beginning canners, the water-bath method requires the least extra equipment and is lowest risk food-safety-wise. You don’t necessarily need a special canner, if you have a really, really big stockpot, that will suffice. Classes are often offered by food co-ops, cooperative extensions and private companies like Seattle Can Can.

I thought I’d spend a minute passing on my tricks for ridding the house of the little beasties.

Take a narrow-top bottle like a vinegar or oil bottle or a wine bottle. Pour a little fruit juice or red wine (2 TBS) and banana bits (2TBS) in the bottom, seal off most of the top with tape, or use a funnel (paper, coffee filter, or plastic) to further reduce the size of the opening.

Leave in affected area for 1-2 days.

The fruit fly problem should be substantially resolved after one night of having the trap available.

I always put red wine in my traps–it seems more humane this way. At least they’ll die happy.

In the morning, I cap the bottle and dispose of it (trust me, they’ll multiply in there, you don’t want to cap it and try washing it in a few days. If you must… see below for instructions, though it’s quite an effort).

To “recycle” your trap glass or plastic bottle, place the bottle in a slightly larger container, like a deep pot (asparagus pot or mug if you’re using a narrow bottle) Cap the bottle.

Invert a canister of “canned air” from a computer supply store  and point the plastic tube into the space between the larger and smaller bottle. Spray the canned air for 3-5 seconds. The flies will drop like… well… flies.   This will freeze the smaller container with your flies in it and allow you to rinse the bottle and recycle it.   Note: DO NOT put the caned air opening directly into your fly canister.. that will result in a facial spray of wine and dead flies…

Here’s wishing you a fly-free kitchen this spring and summer!

Jessica, the Penny-Wise Mom

Hello there! I’m positively ashamed of how much I’ve neglected the blog lately, but be assured, it’s been for good reason. I’m going to try to get back to regular posting now.

Here’s what we’ve been up to since November.

Holidays (’nuff said?)

My attempt at the Atkins diet. This has been really time intensive, as I’ve been focusing so much on my diet, as well as learning to prepare new foods. Our food budget has suffered, but we’ve found a way to make up for that (more on that in a moment). I’ve lost 14 pounds and have been rewarded by our health insurance company—they know my motivator—Amazon.com gift cards! I’m still working to loose, but in the process of this, I have learned that I have allergies to both corn and wheat. Once I eliminated those (as Atkins required) I’ve never felt better! Joint pain, rashes, and constant digestive issues have vanished. I’ve always had digestive problems and “soothed” the difficulty with breads, especially bagels, trying to eat foods that would be gentle on my stomach. Little did I know….I was only making things worse. Now my “part-time-job” is finding my “new normal” diet.

Home schooling. We’re still home -schooling our oldest and now deciding what to do with our youngest for Kindergarten in the fall. She would flourish in the classroom, but she’s also the baby of the family and a handful. It would be very easy for me to send her off to school, and very easy for her to adapt to it (especially since she spent her first three years in orphanages), but easy and right aren’t always the same. Lots of heavy thinking still to go on this decision.

My small business. My small business grew by leaps and bounds in November and each successive month has added new clients. My plan was always to use that business to keep us boosted up while I built my writing career, but it’s hardly leaving any room to write. For now, we’re not going to turn up noses at income, especially since we’re still doing the Total Money Makeover.

Our Total Money Makeover. We started the Dave Ramsey program back in January of 2009 and are plugging through as best as we can. We’re hoping to be debt-free except our house in July of this year. Possibly earlier if we can keep up the hustle like we have been the past few months.

Gleaning. I joined a community cooperative gleaning program. It’s a volunteer position that requires about 5-7 hours per week, but supplements our family’s grocery budget—and we can usually provide groceries for 4-5 other families in addition. (For free!) It is a huge amount of work, but fairly flexible and the kids are helping out too.

Gardening. Yes, we live in a tiny city townhouse, but we do keep a container garden on the patio, and a flowerbed out front. Our elderly neighbor has been ill, so we planted her flowers this year also, and we have a tiny shared plot behind our building that we’ve been talking with our neighbor about doing a “berry garden” since we moved in six years ago. The kids and I planted four raspberries, two blueberries, two grapes and fifty strawberry starts back there and we’re hoping for a fantastic summer “crop.” We also re-planted our herb containers and located (via freecycle) another worm composter who was willing to share worms with us for our worm bin. True, in most places, sharing “worms” would be considered a bad thing, but at the going rate of $25 a pound for worms for the compost bin, this freecycler’s gift of 2 lbs of red wrigglers was greatly appreciated. The cans of home-canned tomatoes seemed like an unfair exchange (I love to share canned items with folks who send something my way from freecycle).

So, where are we at overall? In 2009 we cut our household living expenses in half. This year we’ve already cut our grocery budget in more than half (down another $250 a month with gleaning) and added revenue. We got the taxes done and still have oodles of “adoption tax credit” carryover for 2010 so we adjusted our withholding (for Rob’s job) and I have a savings account for self-employment taxes but my business is still small enough that the tax burden is very small.

The net-effect is that we should be debt-free (except the house) by the end of this year, plus 4-5 months of living expenses in an emergency fund, plus fully funded retirement accounts for 2010. It will take diligence and “hustle” but we’re pretty sure we can get there by the end of 2010. We also are continuing to give throughout this process (many ask about tithing—we give to our church and also to a couple of orphan-related charities that are dear to our hearts).

As for the house, real estate value is still down, and we don’t have money saved yet for another adoption, so we are going to sit tight through 2010 before deciding what to do with our condo. Also, we’ve had an unusually dry winter, so there’s been no flood risk to us, which is also great news for the prospect of selling our condo in 2011.

So where from here? I’ll be resuming the $1 dinner series and working on an ebook on the same topic. I’ll be posting regular updates about money-saving resources. I’d like to do a whole series on home-made cleaners and detergents. I’ll do a round-up/summary about our family’s experience with Financial Peace University. I’ll also do a short series on lessons we’ve learned about estate planning, as my husband and I have resolved to create a full estate plan in 2010. What else would you like to see here at Penny-Wise Family?

Jessica

Likewise, I began a low-carb diet back in December. Sure, a little more money on eggs, and meat, no more oatmeal for me at eight cents a serving. The grocery bill went up slightly (and has since been offset by gleaning) but suddenly I felt better and had more energy than I ever had. I made appointments to go out with friends for dinner or to the movies (I could stay awake through a movie!) I spontaneously took the kids to the zoo and on other outings. Every day felt like a “once in a lifetime experience.” And got really expensive!

Again, more change in February, my small business volume grew dramatically again for the second time in six months. Being a one-woman show around here with no employees, I was suddenly stretched thin, and commuting like crazy (my work is mobile—so I travel a lot). My gas bill was 4x what it usually is, and I resorted to fast food—killing my diet and my budget.

And then I got sick.

Not just a little sick, but like when I had mono last fall. Everything hurt, my stomach was always upset. Honestly, I’ve always had trouble with pain and stomach problems but this was truly miserable—especially after two months of doing so great.

Further investigation revealed that I have Celiac Disease—an autoimmune disease that turns gluten from certain grains, basically into a poison. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense and explains a lifetime of health problems, but my most immediate concern is—now what?

Folks, this is gonna be expensive! At least while I figure it out, but I have a feeling it’s going to stay that way. Celiac disease means I cannot ever again eat wheat, oats, spelt, rye or barley—or anything that touches it. No beer, no blue cheese, no chocolate bars with whey as an emulsifier. No bread. No pretzels. No hot dog buns. Actually, most hot dogs have wheat fillers, so nix those too. Baseball will never be the same.

After having the experience of a few weeks without gluten, I can tell you that I have never in my life felt better, so I don’t regret the decision to cut out the gluten, but this is a major change.

I’ll have to invest in (and learn how to use) almond flour, manioc, rice flour, garbanzo flour, teff and tapioca flour. These aren’t direct-substitute types of things either. Likewise, I had to purge the fridge and pantry of items that are now deemed “not safe.” Salad dressings, BBQ sauces, katchup, malt vinegar, granola bars, oatmeal… the list goes on and on.

To tide myself over I got a gluten free cookbook (with a gift card from a friend) and bought a loaf of gluten free bread. It tastes OK (kind of like a cheddar-flavored angel food cake) but it was $7 for one loaf! This evening after a lot of late night out of town work and my husband pulling a double shift—I ordered pizza. Two pizzas from a place that I know makes a gluten free crust. The prices weren’t on the menu. I should have asked. The final bill was $57.00. FIFTY-SEVEN BUCKS!!

There’s a special place in hell for those who exploit others’ genetic weaknesses….

So, how to mitigate this new change? It’s going to take me many hours of research and reading. In the meantime, I’ll have to adhere strictly to the diet in order to keep up the energy to keep up my newly increased work from my small business.

It feels to me like a bit of a helix…. if I work less to learn more/faster and save money, then I may have insufficient income. If I work too much, I may get much sicker or slip up on my diet. (One little slip-up can leave me sick for days). I’ve been gluten free about two weeks now, but did have a “contamination” incident the other day when I got ill from cream cheese that the kids had also been spreading on their toast.

Have you experienced these kinds of domino changes that affect your finances?

I’m curious about our reader’s take on this—how do you manage your money when your life feels like it’s getting the upper hand on you?

On the plus side, even if this does slow me down a little now as I adapt, it does mean I have a much longer, healthier and more productive life ahead of me, which does make me very, very happy!

Today I’d like to tell you about my calendar.
I’ve just purchased my second “mom’s plan-it” calendar. I love this calendar because it includes a line for each member of the family (up to five). Being a four-person family, we use the fifth space to show the evening’s dinner plan, so we don’t have to answer the question a dozen times a day.

The kids love the event stickers and that they always know where to look for their stuff. It’s also great for mom and dad to be showing things like shift work, doctor’s appointment and which parent is driving whom where, which we always struggled with on our earlier traditional calendars.

I found this at Office Depot at the list price of $14.95, but Amazon.com has a much better price (I used a coupon on mine, so I didn’t pay full price).

Here’s an example of how we’re using the calendar at home.

DISCLOSURE: I’m not paid by the publishers of the calendar, however I am including my Amazon.com affiliate link.

Most of you know I’m a freelance writer, but until now, I’ve only written nonfiction. This month I’m joining hundereds of thousands of writers worldwide in an attempt to write fifty thousand words of fiction in thirty days.

If you want to try this adventure along with me (it’s only 1600 words a day on average) look me up at www.nanowrimo.org and I’m “jessc098.”

Never fear though, I’m working on Pennywise posts still including one on budgeting, saving, our debt freedom progress, several more $1 dinners, estate planning and making funerals affordable.

Here’s the situation.  We live in a lovely condo in a planned community alongside a river. We’ve been here without difficulty for six years.  Last year, a large rain storm  flooded the river, and damaged an earthen dam upriver from us critically.

So here’s where we’re at.  Round-the-clock, we hear tractors filling 400,000 two-ton sandbags and placing them on top of the levy near our home. Those will be covered with plastic, and the plastic will have another berm of smaller sandbags to give the levy another 10 feet in elevation since the dam cannot hold as much water back.

In the event of  ”overtopping” (water spilling over the new, higher levy), we are predicted to get moderate flooding (about 5 feet of water).  Our condo is a 2nd story unit, so other than our garge, we’d have minimal damage.

In the event of a total dam failure upstream, we’re expected to have “total, catastrophic flooding.” 

We’ve got flood insurance, and a place to stay as long as we need to (thanks mom!) and enough in our emergency fund to cover our insurance deductibles, and enough insurance to cover our needs.

image credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

We also have a room-by-room evacuation plan and we’ll be drilling on it soon (so the kids and I can get the house ready and evacuate within a short period of time in case my husband isn’t home when the time comes). 

We’ve stacked up giant garbage bags–so as we leave, the bedding in each room can be stuffed into a bag, tied up and stacked on the beds.  The pets can be packed up and taken to grandma’s house, and everyone has all of their needs met.

So–if you were in my house, what would you be doing to get ready?  What valuables/sentimental items should I be thinking of having out of the house entirely? We’ve got the “grab bag” of emergency documents (insurance, adoption documents, etc) and the backup hard drive on the list.

If you’ve been through disaster like this–I’d love your ideas, especially if they’re frugal or if they’ll save resources as we prepare to get back on our feet afterwards.

Thanks in advance! (PS: We’ve already thought of selling the house, but as you might have imagined, the market is…umm… saturated).

One last note: the dam upstream from us will be replaced in five years, so we may not be out of the woods until then.

I’m going to refer you to NCN’s template for this as I think it’s as good as you’ll find.  You may also consider keeping your price-book on a PDA in MS Excel mobile file.

I began by printing off 35 of the sheets from the NCN blog, and pulling out a month’s worth of grocery receipts to get started.

This helps for a couple of reasons:

1. You can see seasonal trends, for instance the price of turkey is far lower in November than in May.
2. You can track stores for individual products. For instance, I know I save 30% by buying my daughter’s “Good Nites” disposable diapers at a liquidator store rather than the local grocery store (I don’t care if they have last season’s floral patterns).  Note: Please don’t harp on me for not using washable diapers for our tot. We’ve tried, but haven’t found one she won’t soak through… the laundry alone was costing us far more than disposables are, and I shudder to think of how much water we were using!

We’re splitting our shopping and price checking between a few sources:

1. Our regular grocery store, Win-Co which is likely familiar to West coast shoppers.
2. A local liquidator for non-food items.
3. A catalog food company, Azure Standard, for organic products, whole foods, staples, grains and really yummy organic cheeses.

Keeping all the prices on the price book (a 3-ring binder) provides us the guidance we need to plan menus within budget, and pick up the right products at the right stores.

Also, I use this for my business—tracking paper costs, printer toner and Post-It flags that I use in my business in large quantities. My printer toners are usually about $144 each, but I found them for $89 each from Inksmile (an advertiser here at Penny-Wi$e Family).  Rather than buying paper at the local office store, I’ve found better prices at the Kinko’s/Fedex store, and the local K-Mart.