Organic and frugality….is that an oxymoron?
Since April 2008 (so our entire marriage), we have lived on a tight budget to pay off this loan. Now we are not only living on a tight budget to pay off the loan, we are on an even tighter budget to accomplish this while allowing me to be home and keep Tanami out of daycare. Sadly, at the moment, the student loan is on the back burner until my business picks up some more. Not to worry because if I had been working out of the house, I would have missed my baby girl’s FIRST 6 STEPS she took today. Could someone please clean my melted heart up off the carpet?
I digress. I’m not sure if Nashville is more expensive than Atlanta, or if prices have just increased a lot since we were living here last, but grocery money just isn’t going as far as it used to. We are almost paying exactly what we were paying for groceries in Australia. Groceries of a much better quality might I add. Ideally, we’ve got $65/wk to spend on groceries. This includes pretty much anything and everything you would buy at the store…so grooming products, cleaning products, whatever. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to keep it under $75/wk, so we are going to have to change our shopping. So with $65/wk…can you really buy organic? Well, possibly, somewhere…but in our home…not really. In our home, Tanami gets organic, and the rest of the family gets the next best thing. I found a recipe for a produce wash that Oprah suggested when you can’t buy organic.
1 cup filtered water
1 cup white vinegar
1 tblsp baking soda
a few drops of grapefruit seed oil
Of course, if you remember from middle school science class – this is almost the recipe for a home-made volcano…so use a big pitcher to mix before putting it into a spray bottle. Spray it on your produce and let sit 5-10 minutes, then rinse. Personally, I leave out the grapefruit seed oil and use lemon juice instead. The FDA doesn’t have wonderful things to say about Grapefruit seed oil and I’d rather just not risk it when I am using the stuff to be healthier in the first place! It works a treat! I was a bit iffy at first because vinegar just flat out reeks…but you don’t taste it at all. So all of this is much cheaper than buying the fancy schmancy veggie wash at the grocery (which does contain grapefruit seed oil) – and I suppose if you can’t afford “organic” it’s the next best thing.
And just because you are an el’cheapo like me, there is no reason your health must suffer. We steer clear of the harsh chemicals to clean the house as well. I’ve been shown, or found myself, some great recipes for all-purpose cleaner and dish washing detergent. Again…I was skeptical, but I’m going to give them the thumbs up.
Someone likes to play in it…
And who wants to eat off dishes covered in left behind detergent. Ick. So here ya go:
Cheap, Effective, Eco-friendly Dishwashing Detergent (found this over on TheJadeLeaf’s Blog)
1 tablespoon of borax
3 tablespoons of baking soda
a few drops of lemon essential oil
Amazing All Purpose Cleaner (Thanks Melody!)
1 tsp. washing soda
1 tsp. liquid peppermint castile soap
2 cups hot water
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
10 drops peppermint essential oil
Here’s one for laundry detergent:
1/3 to 1/2 cup liquid lavender Castile soap
1/2 cup washing soda ( I use Arm & Hammer Washing Soda)
1/2 cup borax (I use 20 Mule Team Borax)
I honestly have not tried the laundry detergent yet…but when I run out of the crap in a box that I currently have, I will be giving it a go.
I think I may hit up the local farmer’s market to do some comparison shopping. I’ve been making things from scratch as much as possible and avoiding the simple cheap options like betty crocker dinners that come out of a box for $3. They are cheap and tasty, but full of badness. Speaking of, I’ve got some home-made oatmeal cookies to bag up before the little wakes from her nap.
