Ways to Save Money on Laundry

Thanks again to Homemaker Barbi for her tips on how to save money when doing laundry. Here is a summary of her tips.

1. Buy Energy Star rated appliances.

2. Cut dryer sheets in half.

3. Dilute laundry detergent in the bottle with water.

4. Use less detergent and liquid fabric softener.

5. Clean the lint trap before every load of laundry.

6. Line dry your clothes.

7. Create a hybrid drying routine.

8. Do less laundry.

9. Double up 1/2 loads of laundry and only dry full loads.

10. Dry loads back to back.

11. Double spin clothes in the washer.

12. Use vinegar in the wash instead of fabric softener (1/4 cup). Smaller loads need smaller amounts, unless you want to smell vinegar on your clean clothes! This cheap alternative to liquid fabric softener will save money on your laundry supply budget for certain.

13. Wash in the coldest temperature recommended for your clothes.

I was reading The Creative Mama and her post about The Two-Piece Suit where she bought her self a two-piece bathing suit even though she hasn’t lost all the baby weight and believes she certainly doesn’t have a two-piece body. The power of her post is that she "made a decision, a conscious choice to push aside my self-image issues, my insecurities about my post-two-babies-body, and the lingering voice inside of me that says 'I’ll just let the hubbie take them swimming'."And because she donned this admirable attitude, she didn’t miss out.

I think this post hit home especially for me because I have been contemplating registering our children for swimming lessons and I had the same internal dialogue as The Creative Mama. I have had two babies, darn it! I have never claimed to have the perfect bathing suit body and my kids and hubby don't really care. They just want to be with me as a FAMILY. And so I am going to post this blog and proceed to register all of us for parent and tot swim lessons. Yep, two kiddies and their mommy and daddy will swim (or we'll hold them) together twice a week for a glorious 30 minutes of splashes and giggles and quality time. I can't wait.

Happy Canada Day!

I was getting frustrated while e-searching July holiday menus and craft ideas and mainly having July 4th recipes and ideas popping up. Nothing wrong with July 4th - if you are American. So today (of course on Canada Day itself) I found some really cool links on celebrating the big Maple Leaf day.

Canada Day Menu and Your 100 top Canadian Things ~ thank you Homemakers.com

A summary of the Homemakers top 10 Canadian favourites include:
10. Tim Hortons
9. The beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains
8. Fresh water
7. Hockey
6. Health care
5. Freedom
4. Our changing seasons
3. The Canadian character
2. The landscape
1. Multiculturalism

New Carpets

We *finally* got new carpets in the three bedrooms and the main stairways. They are beautiful and soft and plush and they smell new - not the stinky smell but the lovely new home scent. I love it. Although then I noticed that the walls were dirty from small hands. So I walked around and scrubbed the hallways (up to my chest for good measure) and door frames, handles and baseboards. Now THAT makes it look new again ;)

I'm Outta Control

Do you ever find that the state of your house (or living area) reflects the inside of you? The house is chaos, I have a ton of projects on the go and on the horizon and I keep planning to do things but then cannot seem to get them implemented. Sound like you? If so, how do you cope?