Saving Money: Part Three - General Ideas

Dear vigorous and inspired reader,

Here we go with part three of the four-part money-saving series: ideas to put into practice in the kitchen and around the home!  Be sure to read part one (Guiding Principles) and part two (Ground Rules) before diving in to this part, or you may find yourself capsized by the overwhelming wave of Too Much!

Most of these ideas are for the kitchen, which is my primary field of interest - but they can reach out into other areas of the home, as well.  Also, any resources listed here will also be listed in a comprehensive collection at the end of the series, so don't worry about trying to save them all while you read.

Saving Money: Part Three - General Ideas for the Kitchen

Maintain your right to be choosy about what goes on the plate while still saving money.

Don't think you need to sacrifice your health and buy non-organic produce, laden with toxins and pesticides just for the sake of saving a few pennies.  While it is true that I will opt for more "expensive" ingredients like fresh free-range meat, organic produce, organic products, and high-quality local ingredients, I probably still save more money in our kitchen than the average WalMart shopper because I do what I can to make almost everything in the kitchen from scratch - and this will have a long-term effect on our overall health, another savings in the books.  I also work hard to source produce close to home, sometimes even scoring free goodies from the farmers I regularly buy from.  And during hot and heavy harvest seasons, I can produce at home to save money during the year on buying out-of-season organic produce.  When it is in your power to do so, don't give up quality for cheap.

Make your own ingredients. 

This is an excellent starting place for getting the highest quality while still saving money.  Extracts, dried herbs, and seasoning mixes are all significantly cheaper to make at home than to buy in the store.  And of significantly better quality, too.  I buy many of my spices from Market Spice because of the superior selection and flavor; it is also cheaper to buy spices in bulk than in a grocery store pre-packaged - and the pre-packaged ones are usually old and tasteless by the time you buy them!  You can also buy spices in the bulk section of many grocery stores (look for a Fred Meyers, a local organic market, small grocery store, or "granola" type store - they tend to have these bulk sections).  I buy my vanilla beans from Beanilla, and trust me - they are of the most excellent quality and the prices are drastically lower than anywhere else.  Credit goes to Miz Carmen for turning me on to that site!  Buy spices in bulk, and make your own ingredients when possible.  

Think of it, Google it, make it.

My motto in the kitchen is, "If they can make it, I can make it."  If there is something in your cupboard or at the store (lemon extract, for instance, or condensed milk) and you wonder if you can make it at home - do an online search and see what others have found.  You might be surprised where it leads you.  That is how I learned to make pretty much everything in our cupboard.  If it has multiple ingredients and you can buy it at the store, you can probably make it at home for less and with better results - the internet is an invaluable resource for learning how! 

Grow your own, as much as possible.

This can be a little difficult to do when you're, say, living in a hotel.  We did, in fact, have some basil and chives struggling to grow in half a milk-carton in our hotel room.  But often there are ways to grow herbs and tomatoes and other various delights in an apartment, and if you have a bit of property or have family willing to participate you can learn to homestead it very efficiently.  It is arguably the cheapest method of procuring produce of all, and there are many excellent books and websites out there for learning.

Buy things on sale in the store.

I know, this sounds like a no-brainer.  But do take care with this.  You don't necessarily have to stock yourself to the ears (and not all of us have the available room or cash to do so), but buying a few extra things on sale not only saves money by being cheaper at the time you purchase, but saves you from having to panic and run to the store at 5:00 in the afternoon when you may be compelled to buy something quick and easy (read: expensive and poor quality) because there is nothing to eat at home.  Check your local ads for coupons (you should get them in the mail, and they'll also be in the grocery store near the entrance) and do online searches for ads and coupons (places like Coupon Mom post collections of searchable ads in your area).  And eat based on what's on sale: if organic ground beef is on sale, choose a dinner based on that instead of chicken!  Eat around the sales, and stock your cupboards with a nice buffer of sale items! 

Consider shopping outside the grocery store.

Almost everything in a grocery store is marked up higher than I am willing to pay (once you start exploring your shopping options, you'll realize this is true!).  Honestly, I would be content if I never had to visit a grocery store again.  I order the majority of our bulk dry-goods from Azure Standard, because I can find not only organic, high-quality foods here, but also save a lot of cash in the process (you have to have login information to see their prices online, but it is easy to set up an account.  You can also request a catalog - first one is free, they'll charge for later editions.  It's a low-overhead kind of place and the savings are reflected in your bill!).  Produce comes from a local farmer's market because grocery store produce is usually overpriced, old and from hundreds of miles away - generating a lot of pollution from trucks and ships and usually needless packaging which will just end up in a landfill.  Find a local farmer's market by doing an online search or visiting your state Department of Agriculture site.  Meat, eggs, honey and dairy products can also usually be sourced from nearby farms; you can find farms in your area online or ask around for references. Continually network and search to find new resources - it takes time to explore and find farmers and markets, but the health and money savings will repay you in the end.  

Go reusable.  

It is nicer to the world we are supposed to be stewarding, and nicer to your budget.  Less things to fill up the trash can and the landfill, less money spent on filling up the garbage.  Reusable diapers might be a stretch for some families (quadruplets, for instance, can generate a lot of diapers) but something like reusable canning lids can be a huge savings in the long run.  The downside of reusable is usually that it costs more up-front - but if you can do it, I recommend it!  Reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Participate in promotions. 

Don't by shy about entering drawings, competitions, and the like. However, do be cautious about who you share information with; most of you probably already have a "dummy" e-mail account you use for entering drawings, and this can be a safe way to avoid spam.  Mr H and I have won things in the past such as a photo shoot or a free hotel stay; but one sure way to never win any prizes is to never enter any competitions!  (I am not promoting the lottery here, so do not read into that!)  If you are saving codes from a product where you can accumulate enough to "purchase" a prize, ask family for any codes they are going to discard!  Watch this blog and others for periodic giveaways - you could win something for yourself, or something to give as a gift.  Enter to win!  Hint: there might be something special at the end of this series to reward you for reading along ... just thought I'd mention that!  

Make your own bread. 

When we are on the road to home-cooked goodness, making bread is one of the best places to start.  The loaf of bread pictured here cost $0.97 to make, and it is completely whole wheat and organic with only three ingredients: flour, salt, and water (I used a homemade sourdough starter to leaven it, which essentially consists of flour and water).  A similar (non-organic, white) sourdough loaf in the local grocery store cost $5.99 and had a long list of preservatives attached.  I've made all of our bread at home for a long time now, but don't be impressed.  That doesn't mean I get up early every morning and start a new batch of dough.  What that actually means is, we can go for a very long time without having any bread!  I finally caught on to myself and made a couple extra loaves for the freezer for "those times" when I needed to save myself, so the problem is not so great any more.  Experiment with different breads (whisk bread, anybody?  Thanks to the mysterious Mrs S for that link) until you find one you and your family like.  And maybe you'll always buy the occasional loaf, but you can supplement the pantry with homemade!  Homemade bread not only tastes better, but it's usually less expensive than store-bought and will have no mysterious chemical ingredients - not to mention it's inspirationally homey!  

Force your hand.

This idea works best when it does not break Rule #2 (don't die of overkill).  But simply stated, what it means is this: Probably the best motivator I ever had for making bread was not buying bread.

When I run out of something that I want to make at home, I simply don't go and buy a replacement.  I either do without, or learn to do! As the current supply dwindles down, I do some research and learn about making a homemade version to replace it.  I slowly acquire knowledge and purchase any necessary ingredients, and when the old item is all gone I make the new one at home.  Sometimes it takes a few tweaks before it fits our house, but the wrinkles smooth out eventually.  In this way, things in the home are gradually replaced by home-made versions, and I am never overwhelmed by doing it all at once.

I've gained many great skills this way.  For instance, since I haven't purchased any yeast at our new home yet (waiting on an order from Azure ... the grocery store is just wayyyy too expensive), we've been eating a lot of sourdough - and my sourdough skills have improved greatly!

Plan ahead when you can.

Sometimes you unexpectedly have five hungry guys show up on your doorstep and are fully at a loss how to feed them (that happened to me a few days ago.  We all went out to eat).  But in the grand scheme of things, we have a general idea of what our day will hold and we can plan ahead for that.  Homemade foods can be simple, inexpensive, and filling.  Nutritious, delicious, and in a word scrumptious.  A woman feels safe and loved when her man has a job and shows great effort to protect the home - that is where her security comes from.  A man, on the other hand, feels security when he knows his woman has the dinner planned and meals handled!

Not even kidding here, folks - it's the truth!  (Ask him - see what he says.)

Planning meals in advance saves you from last-minute spending sprees in the store.  Cooking dried beans takes a while but it's infinitely cheaper than buying it in cans (which may contain BPA!).  Work out a system for menus that works for you - I like to write down a list of potential ideas for the week based on what we have in stock, and then each morning I choose the dinner that best fits the day (errands day?  Crack out the crockpot!  Guests for dinner?  Pull out the pizza stone!).

Future Olympian

More ideas will follow ... What will you contribute to the conversation?  Share your wisdom!  No idea is too big or too small! 

Learning,

Mrs H
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Get started making your own ingredients today!  
Try these for starters: 


Almond Milk, Hot Cocoa Mix and Marshmallows, Tortillas, Extracts, Baking Powder ... find these and more recipes here!

Saving Money: Part Two - Ground Rules

To the wise reader who is interested in saving money,

This is part two of my four-part series on saving money in the kitchen.  In the first part I introduced you to some guiding principles, and now I am going to lay out some ground rules.  Remember, I am not an expert or a guru on saving money and simple living - I am just sharing a collection of lessons I have learned with help from all of you!

Saving Money: Part Two - Ground Rules

Rule #1: Don't be paralyzed by information overload or intimated by anybody.  

Dove Street

Sometimes when I read blogs by do-it-yourselfers or watch videos about all-at-homers or read articles by big-money-savers, my mind gets to spinning on ways to save money, I dream up things to make at home, the ideas pile up and crowd out any possible course of action, and I pass out from a headache!  "Spend one dollar a year on your grocery bill!  Spin thread from dandelions and make your own clothes from lettuce leaves!  Use coupons to buy a house for under a hundred dollars!  Make every single thing at home and do not buy anything ever again!"  In truth, to save money at home you just have to pick One Thing that catches your imagination and do it, and you are on your way to the big time!  If you are reading the blog of somebody who is sharing ideas for home-making projects it may seem as though the author "does everything" because everything you read on the blog is about Doing Things.  However, it only appears that way because that is the only aspect of "her" you see!  Nobody out there, least of all myself, does it All.  Nobody knows it All.  Everybody knows what they know, does what they do, and we all work to the best of our abilities, limitations, and constraints, which are unique to each and every family.  Never, ever feel inferior or less-than somebody because they Have it All Together and Do Everything.  Because they don't!  I don't.  And I never will.   Just do what you can, and if you don't like making bread at home that's okay. 

Rule #2: Don't die of overkill.  

Sometimes energetic, industrious, creative people can start a lot of projects (I'm going to bake bread every week, make all our own spice mixes every day, buy only local and organic produce, buy all the canned beans on sale this Friday, make a hundred jars of jelly, sew curtains and hand-knit a rug, plant enough herbs to last us a year even though I've never gardened before) and get overwhelmed by the whole kaboodle.  Then the projects and dreams all go out the window, money and time may be lost to the fire of Life Happening, and motivation goes down the drain in a swirling vortex of disappointment. I learned this the hard way - wasted money because I wanted to cook something homemade and didn't get around to it and ended up buying dinner, rotted produce when I brought home too much to handle at one time, bought the wrong equipment when I jumped the gun on a homemaking project, and over-purchased on a sale item and spent too much money too early in the month.  It happens.  Try to avoid making the mistakes I did and take your time - do research at your leisure, keep a notebook of handy notes and ideas, read up on a subject before diving in, get your husband's approval on a project and don't get upset when he isn't willing to spend the money ("But we'll save so much!" I whined).  You cannot read every home-making book and blog and website and you cannot possibly digest all the information that is out there.  It would be impossible to overemphasize this: There is no hurry - preserve your sanity first, and read about and integrate new ideas and tasks as you have time, funds, and willpower to do so.  

Rule #3: You absolutely need to create a budget.  

Just in case you thought you could escape without this reminder ... Do not even try!  Now we all know that some people mistakenly think that a budget means writing down how much they've spent.  In fact, it is writing down how much you are going to spend, and then when the money in a given category runs out - you stop spending (super-innovative, I know).  I suggest Dave Ramsey and his financial education books or courses for learning how to manage money.  If your husband doesn't want to make a budget, don't nag about it; just budget what you can control (how much you will spend on groceries and clothing).  Without a budget, it is way too easy to overspend on "frugal" projects, or end up with a thousand jars of tomatoes and nothing left to buy apples, but that is really missing the point.

Rule #4: Don't underestimate your budget; know what you spend.

The first place people tend to underestimate their average spending when creating a budget is food!  But this category above all is where the thoughtful woman can wage war on Money Spending - there are thousands of ways to save cash in the kitchen, and starting to implement these ideas is simple.  If you haven't already done so, I challenge you to go over your spending records for a month and total up how much you've spent on food, including restaurants (granted, if it was a major canning month your spending will be higher than normal - but you'll be able to see where that comes in).  It is much easier to galvanize your Money Saving Energies when you actually know what you are spending, and have a goal to work towards.

Rule #5: Generate motivation or track success.

How you interpret this rule is purely up to you.  Maybe just staying out of the red every month or paying off a debt would be enough to track success!  As an example of generating motivation: To help inspire myself to do extra projects that take extra effort that would be easier to pay a few extra bucks for, I put an index card on our refrigerator door and track money I saved Above and Beyond the Call of Duty there.  Not savings like a coupon or something in the grocery store necessarily, but just a few items I chose to follow: if I wash or dry a load without using the coin-operated machines, I save a dollar per cycle and put a check mark in the laundry-saving category.  If I make a batch of soap or toothpaste at home that I normally would have needed to buy, I total up the savings and put it in the household-supply saving category (savings = cost of store-bought product - cost of ingredients for home-made).  If I make a loaf of bread, I add a few dollars to the home-baked goods category.  At the end of the month, I total up all of my A and B the C of D savings and add them to our regular savings deposit.  It's never a huge life-changing amount, but it's enough to see the difference add up.  All the other savings - on grocery bills, garage-saling for dishes, growing herbs - are merely reflected in the fact that our overall budget is smaller than it otherwise would be and we can keep paying for electricity and rent and other goodies like that.

Are you ready for part three, our tornado of ideas?  Get your pen and paper ready!

Readying the pen,

Mrs H
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Saving Money: Part One - Guiding Principles

Thanks for reading this post, I'm so excited to visit with you!  

After you've gleaned all the good information you need, visit our new blog platform at www.farmandhearth.com to read even more fascinating tidbits from the kitchen and the fields. 

To the frugal and wise reader,

Usually, we modern people are looking for ways to save money. Ways to spend less, rub two thin dimes, a penny saved, and all that. While I am still averaging a penny a day with my ground-scans, I am always looking for new ways to put an additional coin or two in the ol' savings account.

This is the beginning of a four-part series on frugal beginnings in the kitchen.  I am not a frugal living expert and I do not and never will claim to be - there are many far more knowledgeable than I (and I will provide additional resources in the final installment of this series).  During and even after writing these posts, I debated inwardly about even publishing it because my knowledge is so small compared to many other wiser minds.  But all of the observations that will follow were acquired through either shared wisdom of a multitude of counselors, or costly and painful self-education.  I do not want anybody else to suffer if I can help it, and on top of that the following information has been so useful to me once I learned it that it would be selfish not to share with anybody who could possibly benefit!

There are a few basic principles to saving money in the home.  The home is my domain - I will not be advising you on how to save money with the car or with the insurance company!  And please, if you disagree with my opinions, do not be worried in the slightest - they are just my opinions,

Part one will cover the Guiding Principles, part two will lay down the Ground Rules, part three will introduce some General Ideas to put in place in your kitchen, and part four will put the rubber of idea to the pavement of Galvanized Action!

Saving Money: Part One - Guiding Principles

Save it or make it.

Spending time saving money instead of spending time making money can be a rewarding and enriching exchange, and surprisingly to some of us, it all seems to comes out even in the end.  Instead of paying extra for pre-processed pre-fabricated food (which also tastes pre-digested, in my opinion), and paying for housekeepers and babysitters and day-cares and extra medications and doctor visits and drug rehab and new outfits and an extra car and additional gasoline and insurance and emergency food we need to buy right now and store-bought children and unhealthy options and take-out dinner and mental counseling, we women can sometimes make the liberating decision to stay at home and watch over things.  As we were more or less designed to do; a beautiful, magnificent task that women are entrusted with.  We weave the house from within and he shields it from outside.  Unless home projects just don't inspire you (and truthfully, some of us aren't inspired by them and that is okay), sometimes it's better to save a penny than to earn a penny.

You already have powerful knowledge.

There are a lot of ways to save money around the house, and especially in the kitchen; I'll be listing a few to power-spark your imagination.  But this isn't a comprehensive crash course in budgeting, because you already know how to manage your own money.  Do post your brilliant ideas and thoughts in the comments (because I know all of you have come up with ingenious ways to save money) and share your wisdom with other readers trying to save money!  There are many, many people out there with much more experience, wisdom, and ideas than I have, but I will share what I have with you to supplement your own knowledge.  You know plenty already; apply what you know, share what you will, and integrate what you like.  

Somehow saving money and saving the planet are two ideas that seem to meet in the middle.

There is almost always an inextricable marriage of greens when it comes to these penny-pinching ideas - going green might just refer to the greenbacks you'll be keeping in your wallet when you whittle your life down to money-saving efficiency!  If you're canning at home with reusable jars and lids, you've already drastically reduced your waste output - not only are you not throwing away empty metal cans or plastic from pre-packaged produce, but you are avoiding a dozen trips to the store (condensed into one trip to the farm for produce!), the production and manufacture of the cans and the canned goods, the trucking of said canned goods across country, and the waste generated thereby.  If you're turning off the lights to save money, you're saving electricity.  If you're making toothpaste or soap at home, you're cutting down on packaging and chemical production.  If you're refilling empty canning jars with your dry-goods, you are cutting down on the production of new polypropylene plastic containers.  Any time you reuse Old, you are saving on buying and producing New.  Reap the double benefit of saving money and protecting God's resources.

Only you know what is important to you.

Not all of these ideas or personal opinion statements will make sense to every household.  Maybe it's important for you to buy local but not organic, of maybe you'd prefer shipped-in but organic food, or maybe you just want grocery store produce instead processed chicken nuggets.  Where one household might be able to save money by giving the two oldest kids a task of making bread twice a week, another kitchen might plumb go under with the same rule.  Maybe you spent or "wasted" a little more than you planned because the kids helped out, and soap slopped over the edge of the pot or a pan of apples got scorched - but you got to spend time teaching and discipling, and the kids learned a lot.  Don't lose sight of what is important to you!  This idea will appear in Part Two as one of the ground rules, but it is worth re-stating over and over again: Never feel down on yourself for choosing what you choose.  It's your house, you run it your way.  


Now that we have these principles in mind, watch for part two: Ground Rules!

Mrs H
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Imitation Maple Syrup

Dear festive readers who love maple as much as I (shout-out to our Canadian brothers and sisters!),

Maple syrup is one of those treats that is so delightfully sweet, so distinguished in flavor, so romantic of history, and yet so tragically expensive.

I understand the high cost of maple syrup and don't argue with it one bit; I've visited a sugaring farm in Vermont and seen the processes involved in making maple syrup, and it is lengthy and fragile.  The maple sap is mostly water, and must be boiled down to produce the thin syrup we all know and love.  It takes approximately forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, and the boiling process itself must be handled with caution to avoid spoiling a batch with a moment of inattention.  Weather, humidity, creatures, infestations, so many factors and more are involved in the tender process of producing, procuring, and preparing maple syrup.  A bottle of syrup is as complex in flavor and color, grade and uniqueness as a bottle of wine.

Sadly, it is just too expensive to keep around the house all the time in quantities we need.  I had two boys over for breakfast one morning with Gary and I several days ago.  I made a triple batch of pancakes (thirty) and I ate one myself.  The boys ate the rest in less time than it took me to fix my plate and sit down.  It took them approximately five minutes.  I was flabbergasted; and we'd just gone through an entire pitcher of syrup!  To keep up with their hearty appetites, I've come up with my own sugary gloss with the help of a family friend who raised twelve children and fed them with efficiency and economy, and some sweet experimentation of my own.

Imitation Maple Syrup
This syrup is, obviously, very sweet.  I can't claim it has any nutritive value whatsoever.  It is, however, good on pancakes, or used in recipes in place of maple syrup (when baking with it, I add extra Mapleine).  If you want your syrup thicker, like high fructose corn syrup brands such as Mrs Butterworths, add more sugar or beat in a tiny bit of cornstarch.  

2 cups of water
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 or 2 drops of Mapleine, to taste

Pour the water and sugar into a small saucepan; bring to a heat on the stove and stir continuously until the sugar melts completely.  Remove from heat.  Add a few drops of Mapleine to taste.  Stir the flavoring completely through; store in the refrigerator.

You can make it with white sugar only, if you wish.  The brown sugar will darken the color of the syrup and give it a richer flavor.  You can store the syrup in any container, but it is especially pleasant to reuse the glass bottles from buying syrup.  (I would not recommend reusing plastic bottles, however.)

Flipping flapjacks like Paul Bunyon,

Mrs H
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Settling In the Kitchen: Making Liquid Soap

Dear woolen-stockinged hot-cup-holding reader,

There is always a sadly short summer in my native Pacific Northwest, followed quickly by a delicious and crisp fall.  Pumpkins, frosted fields, ruby-brown leaves, the whole bit.  We're in California now, and there is no pining for summer here. We pretty much live in summer.  So much for pumpkin pie, eh?

It's rainy and cool out today, though, so I am happy.

Now that the hotel days are over, where am I living?  For now, in a sweet little one-bedroom apartment.  In the days leading up to finding and moving into said dwellingplace, I would every so occasionally remember that I would soon have a kitchen of my own again ... and I'd get butterflies and chills just thinking about it.

Cyclists need to cycle.  Sculptors need to sculpt.  Musicians need to musish.  I need to bake!  I need to cook ... I need to chop and dice and knead.  I have to wash dishes and sort vegetables and sweep.  I need to be in a kitchen!

Since I didn't bring much with me, I scored a few Useful Items at a local estate
sale.  The house was built in 1921 and had the same owner since 1936! I used
the ol' "bundling" method to get more stuff, for less $. It works! 

I had envisioned finding metal measuring cups and spoons one day; that is
 exactly what I found. 

Nothing quite like a hog-shaped cutting board! 

Nice, deep oven-safe plates.  Mismatched for a discounted price!
These were precisely the style of plates I hoped & prayed to find
and only a fraction of the cost I had expected to pay! 

I had also hoped to find a large shell for a soap-dish.  Well, look what I found!

Settling in to the kitchen, I immediately got to work turning my mind to learning, experimenting, and exploring in my new little domain.  I had read on Gina's blog about how she made some liquid hand soap for her home, and since we didn't have any hand soap I decided to give it a go.

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

You will need:
1 bar of soap
Water
1 shredder or knife to chop
Pot to heat
Bowl to stir in
Spoon to stir with
Note: While you're here, you can get as creative as you want, depending on the soap you use, and add essential oils for scent, glycerin, or honey.

You can use homemade soap or store-bought soap; I used a 50 gram loaf of faintly scented hotel soap since I was trying to avoid a trip to the store!

1. Shred or chop the soap.  I shredded mine late one evening, and then left it sitting on the counter to work on in the morning.

2. Boil some water and add the soap; stir and simmer over gentle heat until it fully melts.  I transferred the melted mixture to a bowl because I only have two pots (one small, one large) and couldn't spare one for the several days it would take to make soap!

3. Let it cool overnight or for a long period of time, undisturbed, to see how much it will firm up.  You will probably need to add more hot water.

Like Gina, I wasn't sure how much water I would need so I didn't start with very much - maybe a quart.  I set it aside and checked it the next morning while I was making breakfast; it was thick and firm, like extra-jelled Jell-O.  I added more boiling water and stirred until all the thick chunks dissolved.

Over the course of several days, whenever I remembered it I would check the consistency and stir in more boiling water.  In the end, I used a total of eight quarts of water before it stopped firming up.  You can make your soap as thin or thick as you like, so long as it still pumps through the soap dispenser.

The reason I suggest letting it cool overnight or all day, without stirring, is that a little bit of stirring can break it up and it will appear to be deceptively thin, when if you had let it sit, it may have become too thick to squeeze through a pump.

The soap did not separate, and I let it sit for several days because for one, I put it under the sink and forgot about it, and for two, I want to be sure it wouldn't harden or separate!

The soap-making cabinet ... 

You can reuse any soap dispenser, but I happened upon this cute one with an "H" on it for $4.  I thought it a worthy splurge!

My two gallons of soap were essentially free, since I used a bar of soap I got at the hotel (even though I of course had to pay for my stay!).  But, a bar of soap doesn't cost more than one or two dollars and may be even cheaper if you made it at home yourself, or even received it as a gift.

At Costco, you can buy individual 7.5 ounce containers of liquid hand soap for $1.89 apiece.  If I were to buy enough to make up the two gallons of soap that I made (a little more than thirty-four bottles), it would have cost me $64.50!  Of course, I could be very economical and buy the one-gallon containers of soap for $10.26, but that would still be a total cost of $20.52, and I didn't need to spend anything to make this soap.

I have several jugs of soap now, and I can use those to refill shower bottles for body soap.

Let me know if you try making some hand soap, and what bar of soap you used and how much water it took in the end (if you can remember!  I knew that my bowl held just over 8 quarts, so that was how I measured mine.  And, I weighed my bar before shredding it).

Keeping it clean in Cali,

Mrs H
twitter.com/_mrs_h

P.S. What other delightful mix-ins can you think of that would easily blend into liquid soap?

So You Can Know ... the Rest of the Story

To the supportive readers who have promised to love me no matter what (you did say that, right?),

I received enough comments and text messages from my last post to convince me I needed to either post the rest of the story, or quit blogging.

Obviously I didn't decide to quit blogging, since we are reading this right now.

So, I'll finish the story that I began.  First, allow me to preface this with the disclaimer that nobody should do what I did, and that being sleep deprived and tired will make you do bizarre, stupid things, and the fact that I am writing this story here does not mean I promote such rash actions or would even fully admit to doing so if questioned in person.

The bold author would like to be remembered as more intrepid and adventurous than wise and intelligent.

When Seafoam and I were racing to the rescue with pizza, we were laughing and joking to each other about how "this would make great stuff for the blog!"  How lighthearted and carefree we were, in retrospect!  As the night wore on, however, we changed our minds.  "This," we said to each other, "will never be on the blog.  We'll be in way too much trouble."

But I am just stalling, so let's cut to the heart of the matter.  Remember how we were laying in the darkness of the hotel lobby, the power out in two states and two countries, no hotel rooms available for the night, wondering what our fate would be?  Take yourself back in time ...

Seafoam was sprawled out on a couch a few feet away, and I was tentatively slouched on the other one, debating what I should do if the power were to come back on, while the ladies at the concierge desk discussed whether or not they had the gumption to kick us off the couch before they got fired.  You may remember my exact words:

I had unfolded my towel for a blanket but now I was prepped to be kicked out of the lobby.  I folded the towel up and set it under my purse, half sitting, half leaning against the arm of the couch.  Ready to run, if necessary.  Now, I will finish the story that I so vaguely abandoned.

In the blackness, and over the beeping of the emergency alarms, I heard Bill walk in.  Bill is the maintenance man for the hotels - he's pretty old, lives close to the hotel, and is always standing at the front desk talking with his girls, as he calls them.

He reported that the power had come on at a city about ten miles down the road, and it should be back on at the hotel within an hour.  I felt a little nervous at this comment!

"Those girls are sleeping on the couch," the women reported to him.

He seemed mildly surprised.  "Why are they sleeping there?"

"We can't get them rooms," the ladies stated.  Their conversation took a snarky turn.  "And they're going to wake up and assume we have rooms for them, but no, we have no more room."  A Navy ship was due to arrive in the bay the following morning, and many of the sailors' families were in town.  "We are one-hundred percent booked!"

I feel that this would be a good time to insert some vague and pretty pictures
that my seven-year old sister Chickadee took with my camera.  

End of intermission ... looks like you hung around for the rest, so here goes!

None of our phones had reception due to the power outage, but I wished I could text my husband and update him on our status.

One of the ladies expressed how tired she was.  "You could go up and lay in my room," Bill suggested.  He had an early shift and had booked a room for the night to save himself the trouble of driving in, but I realized he apparently wasn't planning to use it.

She declined and they all went on to discuss how nice it would be to have pizza and soda.  I was momentarily considering bringing in the leftover pieces of Costco pizza from the car to buy their support, when there was a bright flash and all the lights in the building came back on.

"Woohoo!" the ladies cheered, dancing behind the desk.  Seafoam stirred and came to life, sitting up groggily, groping like a fresh-hatched chick in the garish fluorescent light of the lobby.

I saw Bill approaching me, his dozen keys jingling at his belt.  "Do you girls have a place to stay for the night?" he asked.

"Oh sure," I bluffed.  I wasn't going to fall into the trap and 'assume they had rooms.'  "We'll probably drive into town and see what we can find."

He seemed concerned.  "You know," he said, "I have a room here and you girls can just stay there for the night."

And so we come to the pivotal moment in history where I have the option turn into a bad example for future generations.  Memories from childhood drifted through my mind like dead flies floating downstream.  Don't take candy from strangers ... Don't sleep in a stranger's hotel room ... My eyes were heavy, my bones were heavy, and my head was swirling.  I glanced over at Seafoam, her huge dark eyes soggy with sleep.  She blinked.  It was a desperate situation, but would I really agree to sleep in some random man's room, some fella I had never clapped eyes on before this moment?  That would be a move far too ridiculous for my ultra-conservative behavior.  I looked back at Bill.  "Sure," I said grandly.  "If you don't mind, I mean, we can always drive in to town ..."

"No, no, just stay here!" Bill insisted.  I stood up and picked up my purse and the folded towel I had been sleeping under.  Well, if he wasn't going to use the room anyway, there was really no reason ... "I'll just sleep on the chair," he said.

What?

Eesh, I thought to myself, too late now.  And honestly I was so tired I really didn't care any more.  Anything to get the desk ladies off my back.

We went upstairs, the desk ladies trying not to look like they were gawking as we went by.  Inside the room, Seafoam tottered onto the bed and I sat next to her.  Bill settled himself in the chair, still in his working uniform, and put his legs up on the ottoman.  I sat on the edge of the bed and talked for an hour with him - he seemed to have endless conversation and was eager to tell me about himself, which was exactly what I wanted.  I plugged my useless cellphone into his charger, which he offered upon hearing that my phone was nearly dead.  Not that I could have used it if I needed it, but the only outlet was on the other side of the room and nowhere in reach from my position on the bed.

Who am I kidding, I thought to myself.  I'm staying in some strange old man's room and at this point, nothing is really going to improve the situation or be "smart".  But I listened to his stories and asked questions until I could finally hold my head up no longer, and then I crumpled next to Seafoam and fell into a fog of half-awake, half-asleep, jolting alert at the slightest movement in the room.

Like when I woke up around two o'clock to the sound of him taking the spare blanket out of the closet, and then watching through barely slitted eyes as he unfolded it and threw it over Seafoam and I.

By the time I woke up I felt like I had been in a train wreck.  He told me, "I woke up in the night and you girls looked cold so I put the spare blanket on you!"

"Gee thanks," I said.

Bill put on his cap and left for work sharply at seven, and Seafoam and I went downstairs to check in to our own hotel rooms.

I'd hoped the desk personnel would have changed by morning but the desk ladies apparently work 24-hour shifts, and curiously asked, "Where did you stay last night?"

"In Bill's room," I nonchalantly stated.

"Oh ..."  And stares of wonderment.

That is our insane story, without the family-size edits.
Still alive to tell the tale,

Mrs H
twitter.com/_mrs_h

FTW, when Seafoam told her husband "we slept in the maintenance man's room," he said, "You slept in the broom closet with the buckets and mops!?"

When I revealed our horrific story to the Navy boys, I was gratified to see their eyes bulge in shock and horror.  It takes a lot to impress them but apparently I managed to do so.

And for the record, I'm not going to try that again.