Knitting Socks Scrapbooking beaded bookmarks making earrings making chunky votives
Family Read Alouds
Kingdoms Dawn by Chuck Black
Our Curriculum
On my night stand
Bible
Reread Heart of Wisdom by Robin Sampson
7 Habits of a Healthy Home by Bill Carmichael
Learning In Spite of Labels~ Practical Teaching Tips and a Christian
Perspective of Education by Joyce
Our Father Abraham~ Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith by Marvin R.
Wilson
A Family Guide to Biblical Holidays by Robin Sampson and Linda
Pierce
Good and Angry by Scott Turnasky and Joanne Miller
Having Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver
A Parents Guide to The Spiritual Mentoring of Teens ~Building Your
Childs Faith Through the Adolescent Years by Joe White , Jim Weidmann
Wild Days ( a book about language arts and nature journaling) by
Rackliffe
How to Create Your Own Unit Studies by Valerie Bendt
The Power of Parents words by H. Norman Wright
How to read the Bible for all it's worth by Gordon D Fee and Douglas
Stuart
Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and your
kids by Scott Turnasky and Joanne Miller
You Can Teach Your Child Successfully Grades 4-8 by Ruth
Beechick
A Strong Start in Language
An Easy Start in Arithmetic
A Home Start In Reading by Ruth Beechick
Any Child Can Write by Harvey S. Wiener
" This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look: ask for
the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you
will find rest for your souls."
Jeremiah 6:16
Mar. 3, 2008~ Tightwad Tuesday~ Washing in Cold Water ~
Another way to save money in laundry is.....
Wash clothes in COLD water.
This has been something that took a long time for me to do.((blush)) The powder laundry detergent would not dissolve in cold water for me.]0= I even would fill a little bit with warm water then add cold but still didn't really work for me. Now , with my older two boys I had to figure something out b/c their curling uniforms HAD to be washed in cold. Then hubby brought home a store brand liquid laundry soap for me. I don't know why I resisted. I guess I didn't like the idea of supporting one more thing coming in a plastic package.
But we can recycle it. So, there you go I am now washing clothes in COLD water.
The next thing I want to do to save money with hot water is to get a timer and set it for times in the middle of the night and middle of the day to not heat the water. It will save a lot on our electric bill. We are REALLY trying to Kill~A~WATT(s). Use less and save more.
There is only a few "BIG" ways to save money but what REALLY saves money... is all the "small" things we do that adds up.
I can see how washing in cold water would not work with powered detergent. All of my clothes need to be washed in cold water (with special detergent...read my post, please) to keep them soft.
Timer for hot water ...good idea!
Mama Karen
I wash my clothes in cold water and I use homemade liquid laundry soap. It is wonderful. And...not only does it save me LOTS of money, but I don't have to keep buying those big plastic bottles!
I have been washing in cold water for years and I haven't seen a difference in the cleanliness of our clothes! This tip saves us lots of money each year.
Pam
I recently started washing everything in cold water too. My next chore is to find a repairman so that the washer will dispense fabric softener properly. Kind of defeats the purpose when I can't put fabric softener in the rinse cycle and have to use the dryer instead of the line. 8~( (Phoning a local repair guy is actually on my to-do list today!)
I do this too! Only use hot when we have sickies and really need to disinfect things. It took me a while to get used to using only cold as well, but it works and saves $ for sure.
I still use hot water, using only cold water would take a long time for our washer to fill; but only about a year ago did I finallly switch away from powder detergent - I guess I always thought liquid was more expensive until I really LOOKED at the prices at lesser known liquids and I saved a bundle. I don't know why it took me so long on that one.
Here's my link. Good idea with the cold water. I always use cold for every load here because we have no hot water on our first floor to be able to hook the washing machine up to use hot water. Saves us a lot on gas (what we use to run our hot water heater) I guess. :) There is only powder laundry detergent here but I think they must have figured out the trick to making it dissolve because it does!
Great tightwad Tues!
Some simple homemade laundry detergents for you...
http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/Inspiration/2000-05-01/laundryrecipe.aspx (that link has a powder recipe that calls for baking soda rather than washing soda plus recipes for a pre-wash stain spray and a bleach brightener substitute)
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/detergent.shtml (This link has 3 different recipes for liquid detergent and 1 powdered recipe. This powdered one calls for washing soda, NOT baking soda. I have personally used this powdered recipe, but had to stop because it wouldn't dissolve well in our harsh well water - it should do fine for someone that has good, clean well water - ours unfortunately is heavy in iron and sulphur.)
I made the switch too. I do still wash whites in hot, especially unmentionables. *blush* I used to wash everything in warm or hot. I buy my detergent at CostCo and use one fourth of what it calls for because of our water softener. We are getting freezing rain today, Mary. I am eager for Spring.
(((hugs)))
Jenn
I wash in warm because we don't pay for our hot water...oh bad me, bad me....so I can use any old laundry detergant. That being said the cheapest sale liquid is usually as cheap as the cheapest powder, so I use liquid. I've made my own laundry soap in the past from ivory soap, washing soda, borax but found that I needed to use that for a week and regular detergant for a week alternating. The clothes just didn't seem to be as clean with homemade soap.
I've had good luck with cold water. I do still wash my sheets, dish towels, and towels/washcloths in warm (rinsed in cold) because warm water kills germs much better. Otherwise, I use cold. I just started using homemade laundry liquid that is supposed to only cost 1 cent per load, and not have as many chemicals. I don't know how it will work out (and, duh, I accidently threw away the receipts where I bought them, and now have no idea how many loads I've done! sigh) I'll have to try again next time!
We also buy as many bulk foods as we can, many coming from a co-op. Also, when I'm cooking beans, I cook 5 lbs. at a time, then divide them up and freeze meal portions. This way I only use the stove once for several meals worth, plus it saves me time.
Letitia
I'm a cold water washer too! All clothes are washed in cold water at my house... except on a very rare occasion with whites and bleach... but even with bleach I use cold water.
I finally got my internet fixed so I should be around more! ;) Went to cable internet and your page loaded right up!! Yeah... sometimes it could take over 10 min. with my old connection!
I have used cold water for the longest time. It really makes my mom nuts though. I tell her when she is home she can use hot water if she likes, but with all these boys in the house I can't afford it!
First , I am a daughter of the King almighty and a
a wife to my Handsome of 18 years. A mom of 4 on the go boys 16, 14, 10, and 8. I grew up in the states but married my Canadian sweetheart and moved up north.
We live in the southern part of British Columbia , Canada on our homestead. We have homeschooled our four boys from birth and plan to go the distance till all four graduate from our homeschool. I teach with a Charlotte Mason style. I love to craft! I am a beader, knitter, x-stitcher, quilter. We have been on a journey of being apart of building "The House that God Built". I have been recording our journey on my blog. Go to my links on The House That God Built and you will find it. I know God has a lot more instore for us and we just need to follow where our Lord takes us.
This blog is the home of Show and Tell Friday's and Tightwad Tuesdays. I hope you decide to join in on the fun !
Blessings and ((HUGS))
In Him<><
-Mary
Thank you all who nominated me for
~Best Thrifty Homeschooler
~Best Encorager
~Best Cyber-Buddy Blogger
Thank you all who nominated me for
~Best Encourager
~"Live-What-You_Believe" Homeschool Blog
~Cyber-Buddy Blogger
Thank you all who nominated me for
~Best Encourager
~"Live-What-You_Believe" Homeschool Blog
~Cyber-Buddy Blogger
First , I am a daughter of the King almighty and a
a wife to my Handsome of 18 years. A mom of 4 on the go boys 16, 14, 10, and 8. I grew up in the states but married my Canadian sweetheart and moved up north.
We live in the southern part of British Columbia , Canada on our homestead. We have homeschooled our four boys from birth and plan to go the distance till all four graduate from our homeschool. I teach with a Charlotte Mason style. I love to craft! I am a beader, knitter, x-stitcher, quilter. We have been on a journey of being apart of building "The House that God Built". I have been recording our journey on my blog. Go to my links on The House That God Built and you will find it. I know God has a lot more instore for us and we just need to follow where our Lord takes us.
This blog is the home of Show and Tell Friday's and Tightwad Tuesdays. I hope you decide to join in on the fun !
Blessings and ((HUGS))
In Him<><
-Mary
