My Struggle with Entropy

Photo by Stuart Miles

For the most part, I have no beef with the natural laws.  I mean, gravity and I get into it every once in a while, but we tend to just keep a healthy distance and respect each other.

Entropy, on the other hand… entropy is my mortal enemy.  I do battle with it on a regular basis.  Sometimes I emerge victorious and you get several pictures of how nice the house looks, other times I take a break.  As soon as I do, that sly little bitch sneaks in and invokes chaos when I’m not even looking.  Then I take a peek around and wonder what happened to my nice clean kitchen.

How do people do it?  Without constantly cleaning, day and night, how do their homes stay neat?  How does entropy stay beaten back?  I’ve tried a number of schedules to get both the housework and my writing work done and caught up, but one or the other always seems to suffer. Limited number of hours in the day and all that.   My most recent attempt has been taking 15 minutes at the top of every hour to clean up, but I never seem to get any further than a load each of laundry and dishes and maybe the kitchen counter get cleaned up.  And the next day, that same area is trashed again.

It doesn’t help that the kids go behind me actively undoing everything I’ve done.  Plenty of systems are out there, but they never seem to take MY life into account.  The problem is that the people who developed these systems (think Flylady) now have lives that completely revolve around these systems.  Keeping their homes clean is actually their job; they are quite literally being paid to pick up!  I think the Flylady system started out really practical, but it’s gotten completely out of hand.  Her website is (ironically) a cluttered mess, her emails primarily pitches for her products, and don’t get me started on her philosophy (I’ll bitch about nobody helping me as much as I damn well want to, lady).

This blog is essentially about the steps I am taking to get organized and get my life in gear.  It started out just being about the financial aspect of that, but over time it has emerged into something larger.  Getting organized really seems to be at the heart of it.  And there is actually a financial aspect to this as well.  Being organized will save me money and allow me more time to get my work done – I’m sure of it.  But getting to that point is costing me a fortune in time. 

So here’s what I want to know:  How do you do it?  How do you keep up the house AND keep up with your work?   What are your tips for me?  How can I make this work?  

Organized Simplicity: A Book Review

Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider
Image courtesy of Amazon.com

A while ago, I was perusing the Twitter feed for Paying Our Way (@payingourway).  I’m connected to several money-saving blogs, and one of them regularly posts the day’s free e-books for Kindle.  I saw one called Organized Simplicity and thought that sounded like something useful, so I snagged it.  It hung out on my Kindle for a while, until I was bored and decided to give it a go.

I’ve read other books on simple living before.  Most of the time, the premise is nice, but ultimately unrealistic for how we live our life.  I can’t see us giving up the TV or the Xbox, and I’m pretty sure there’s an ordinance against keeping a cow on the back deck.  Plus most of these people are so green, they practically generate their own oxygen.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s just not my lifestyle.

I could tell right away, this one was different.  The writer, Tsh Oxenreider (not a typo, it’s pronounced “Tish”), lives more like we do.  They have an apartment and two kids, and you don’t get the feeling when you read that she’s hovering over you with a wild look in your eye wondering why you haven’t hurled your TV from the balcony yet.

Her advice is fairly simple.  The genius seems to be in the layout and the method.  This is very much a how-to, hands on book.  Some of the changes she was discussing were things we already strive to do.  For example, as you know, we are trying hard to make our own meals from scratch.  We also use a number of homemade household cleaners(by the way, the back of this book has an appendix that is just chock full of homemade cleaning recipes).   Others were changes that I have wanted to make, but felt overwhelmed just thinking about.

These are the changes we have made since I began reading the book:

1.  I implemented the use of the daily docket, a document that helps schedule and organize the day.  It’s simple to use and helps keep me on track all day long.  I’ve linked the one I devised that works best for me.  On the left I list the things I hope to get done during the day, on the right I write in the hours of the day and schedule when I plan to do things.  I’ve been so much more productive since putting this in place.

2.  We set up a daily chore list, featuring grown-up chores and kids’ chores.  Chore Wars is a thing of the past.  Elias was way too good at manipulating the system.  Now, before any TV or electronics time, both kids have to get their chores done (yes, even Maddie has some chores to do). They take about 20 minutes, tops, so there’s really no excuse.

3.  We’ve massively reduced the amount of time spent staring at the screen.  The kids get two hours per day, max.  Once Maddie has used up her time, she has been great about finding other things to do, including painting, blowing bubbles on the porch, and reading to her stuffed animals.  Elias usually doesn’t even watch all his time.  I think just knowing he has it is enough.  Gavin has also done great.  Before, the TV was on from the moment he gets home in the evening until we go to bed.  That’s about five solid hours of TV and that’s a bit much.  Having the TV off means we can play music, just read, have conversations… it’s much nicer.  I think even Gavin agrees!

4.  We began working through the 10-day plan for getting the house organized and more streamlined.  I think in our case it’s going to wind up being a 30-day plan, but the point is, it’s getting done.  The living room looks fantastic.  We rearranged some furniture, created a reading nook and an art station, and hauled about six boxes of stuff to the Goodwill.  We are also inventorying every box that goes out and logging on a website Gavin found called It’s Deductible.  It calculates the value of your donations and stores the info so you can import it directly into Turbo Tax.  So far we’ve donated almost $400 worth of stuff… and that’s just the living room.  Each room has a great checklist to work through for cleaning, and I’m really pleased with how it’s going so far.

I’m really loving the changes so far.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to make changes but isn’t sure where to start. 

Homemade Carpet Cleaner

There's some stuff you just don't want on the carpet
when you have kids and pets.
Photo by renjith krishnan

One of the “joys” of having kids around is utter trashing that your rugs receive.  If there is something to spill, they will find a way to do that.  Between two kids, parents who like to drink soda, and a cat who had what appeared to be some sort of eating disorder, our carpets look like a Jackson Pollock painting. 

The other issue with having kids and cats underfoot is that the usual carpet cleaners you can purchase on the cleaning aisle are right next to stuff like Drano.  In other words, nothing you want your kids or your cats playing with.  They also tend to be one of the most expensive items on the cleaning aisle, especially since so many of them really only have one or two uses in them. 

So I was pleased to find a carpet cleaner that doesn’t contain anything horrifying that I can quickly whip up in my own kitchen, from stuff that I always have hanging around.  The trick to this cleaner is that you can’t just spray it on the carpet and let the foam sink in, you have to actually scrub it a bit.  I used a sponge and applied it and then scrubbed the dickens out of it.

It actually works pretty well.  Unlike some of the other homemade cleaners, I can’t say it works as well as the chemical stuff you buy on the store, but it wasn’t bad either.  I think it’s going to take another application, but I have hope of salvaging out poor living room carpet yet.  One thing it didn’t help with was a bright pink stain that I think might be the result of a spilled soda or some kind of juice.  However, it did great with a number of other stains.

The recipe is simple.  Not as simple as the dishwashing detergent, but just about.  Just mix equal parts salt (we used Kosher salt), Borax, and white vinegar into a thick paste.  I used about two tablespoons of each and that made enough to treat several stains. Just so you know, this isn't something you can keep.  You just mix some up as you need it.  It's just as fast as pulling a can out from under the sink. We also sprinkled baking soda on the carpet and then gave it a very thorough vacuuming.  I plan to treat it again tomorrow to see if we can get anything more up.  I’m thinking I might try adding a bit more vinegar into the mix so I can “dribble” the cleaner on, instead of dab. 

Not bad though.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Sparkly clean dishes for nothing!
Photo by africa

I found a recipe for dishwasher detergent!  It’s really super complicated, so get your pens ready, okay?  Here it comes:

Mix equal parts of Borax and washing soda.

That’s it.  Seriously.  It works just fine, comparable to the big name detergents.  In fact, it actually works better than the generic stuff from Fred Meyer (never again, that stuff was awful).  The dishes are totally clean, the glasses are sparkly, no streaks or residue or anything.  

I mixed the two ingredients (which I still have a ton of by the way, despite several batches of laundry detergent and household cleaner) and have them in a plastic container under the sink.  You use the same amount that your dishwasher requires for any powdered detergent, about 1/3 cup for our machine. 

Dishwasher detergent for less than a penny a load.  Gotta love it. 

Back to the Budget

Not one of my favorite things to do...
Photo by Stuart Miles

Tonight we finally got our act together and worked out… not so much a budget, but a map of where our money should be going.  I figured out one of the reasons I utterly hate looking at our finances on paper:  It’s completely stupid.  There’s honestly no reason on earth why we should be struggling the way we do.  Even with my own meager earnings, we should be getting all this stuff paid with room to spare.  I just don’t understand why it never seems to work out that way…

Well, that’s not entirely true.  There’s crap like the car repairs.  Plus, we always seem to be starting from behind.  But at least we can play a little catch-up – we filed our taxes and should be getting a little refund by the end of the week.  Nothing amazing, but at least enough to keep swimming for a while longer.  I’m really looking forward to the flashcards project payout.  That’s going to give us some really good breathing room.

One of the other things we accomplished with this was that I was able to see how much I actually need to make per day to stay afloat.  Once again, what gives?  I can do this, easily.  I don’t know how it’s not happening, honestly.  But at least I can have that number in my head every day so when I sit down to work I know what my daily minimum is.  I’m not going to count the flashcards project toward that minimum.  That’s going to be gravy, as far as I’m concerned.

I’m not going to lay our entire budget out for inspection; we do need to keep some things private after all!  But I wanted to at least show you our categories.  We haven’t yet set up the categories for things beyond the basics.  Most of our expenses really are monthly.  I didn’t set up an entertainment category, although we do have a spending money category.  Once we have this running somewhat smoothly, we are going to look at options for one evening out a month and hopefully a regular date night.

The budget categories:

•  Rent
•  Groceries
•  Power
•  Gasoline
•  Water/Sewer
•  Internet
•  Emergency Savings Plan
•  Debt repayment
•  Cell phones
•  Bus fare
•  Taxes
•  Spending money
•  Netflix/Hulu

I should probably mention that I’m not counting things like insurance and such that come directly out of Gavin’s paycheck.  When we calculated our income, I only looked at the net that actually comes into the checking account.  The taxes category is for the taxes that I have to pay, since mine aren’t deducted automatically.

The next step in this process is going to be to track how much we are actually spending in each category to make sure the numbers are fairly accurate.  I think I overestimated in a few areas; groceries and gasoline come to mind.  I’d rather be over than under though.  

The Breakdown

It adds up faster than you think.
Photo by Michelle Meiklejohn

Following the directions in the Planner, we’ve been tracking our spending since last Friday.  Here’s our report, warts and all. Take advantage -- be a little voyeuristic!  There’s some ugly stuff on here, so no judgments please.  We are aware of the problem, and that’s the point of this project.  Change isn’t overnight.

Friday:

• Gas   25.15
• Groceries (including Christmas/Birthday gifts)  167.30

Saturday

• Coffee with Dad  6.00
• Red Robin (Mom’s birthday lunch)  32.74
• Lunch at work (Gavin)  8.00

Sunday

• Gift for my brother   20.97
• Breakfast at work (Gavin)  4.93

Monday

• Hulu    8.75
• Gift for Gavin    13.93
• KFC   18.92
• McDonalds   10.05
• Breakfast at work (Gavin)  6.47

Tuesday

• Gas   21.00

Wednesday 

• Parking (for Elias’s appt.)  5.00
• NSF fee through bank   25.00
• Payment on Merrick account (credit card)  23.30

Thursday

• NSF bank fee 25.00
• Breakfast at work (Gavin)  2.10
• Sodas  5.25

Okay.  I can see some serious problems and money drains.  They’re pretty ugly in fact.  But that’s not what we are looking at today.  Our assignment was to evaluate how our spending reflects our priorities.

I can see my family priority reflected in my spending on gifts and the treats on Saturday.  I spent money I really couldn’t afford because I wanted to participate in my mom’s birthday.  Responsibility and health kind of flew out the window when I was feeling lazy on Monday and opted to get dinner at KFC.  Convenience really took over at that point.

Gavin’s priorities weren’t very well reflected in his spending this week either.  Taking care of the family with groceries and Christmas gifts was there, but he also spent a lot of money trying to streamline his mornings.  He will probably say that he is eating out in the morning to keep from waking Maddie up, and that’s his way of helping the family, but it’s clear that we are going to have to find a better solution.

And what about those bank fees?  Neither of us has a goal of keeping BECU in business, so we definitely need to get that under control.  

The next step is to figure out how we're going to save that $1000 emergency fund.  It looks pretty challenging at this point, but we're going to sit down tonight and hammer out a plan.  I plan to post the plan, along with constant updates on how we are growing that $1000.  I think it will be fun to see how it grows!

Catching up on the Financial Peace Planner: Stuffitis

The problem with wanting the best
Image by Danilo Rizzuti

Have I been procrastinating on keeping up with the Planner program?  You bet I have.  One of the goals of this blog is to make myself accountable and practice building good habits.  But it’s so darn easy to fall back into the old habits.  Procrastinating, pretending my bills don’t exist, putting off the hard work.  It’s a lot easier to write fun blog posts about chicken recipes and try out new and cheaper ways of doing things than it is to face up to the major problems. 

Major Problem Number One:  According to the Planner, I have “stuffitis.”  I try not to.  But I do.  Apparently if you check more than one statement in the little quiz, you have it.  I checked two, so it’s only a slight case and, most likely, curable.  Gavin has this condition far worse than I do.  That’s not me placing blame; he’s totally upfront about it. 

Here’s the statements I checked:

1.  “It’s not unusual for me to say ‘It’s only a few dollars extra’ when I’m shopping for something I want.”
2.  “So I spent $100 on a pair of running shoes.  The top of the line lasts longer.”

I can sit here and try to justify those responses (and believe me, I can justify damn near anything), but I’m not going to.  I’m going to accept that this is a problem.  It does no good to catch a great deal on chicken if I go out and blow $40 on a dinner out because I didn’t feel like cooking.  I have several bills piled up on my desk that I could be putting that $40 towards, and there’s really no excuse. 

I do like to have nice things.  When I can get nice things at a lower price, it can sometimes be seen as a justification to purchase something I don’t really need.  This time of year is especially difficult.  I don’t just like to have nice things, I like to give nice things.  It’s fun to have someone unwrap something you got them and see a big smile on their face because it’s just what they wanted. 

If you look around our place, you might say “How can these people be in financial trouble?”  We have two desktop PCs, our son has a laptop, we have a flat-screen TV, an Xbox, a Wii… and that’s just the living room.  Well, the PCs have been mostly cobbled together (it’s nice to have a hubby who knows his way around a computer), the laptop was purchased several years ago and is no longer of much use other than as a word processor, the Wii was purchased as a family Christmas gift quite some time ago, and the Xbox and the flat-screen were both donations from people who had more than one. 

So why don’t we just sell these items and pay off the darn bills?  Well, I work online, and Gavin sometimes has to communicate online with his job, and we both really like our games.  So, come to think of it, I actually meet one more of the criteria for “stuffitis”:  “I can’t get rid of my boat/truck/Andy Warhol print.  That would leave a huge hole in my life.”  Just substitute TV/computer/Xbox for the other items.

I’ll keep working through Chapter 2.  This is usually the point where most debt plans make you actually pull out all your bills and figure out your debt.  I have to confess:  I’m pretty scared of that part.

Homemade Household Cleaners: Homemade Laundry Detergent

In our quest to continue to find more ways to cut back, we have been experimenting with homemade household cleaners.  Since the spray cleaner was such a success, we decided to go ahead with laundry detergent next (plus, conveniently, that’s what we were scheduled to run out of next). 

I prefer liquid laundry detergent (it just seems like powders don’t rinse clean), so I looked around until I found a recipe I liked. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Fels-Naphtha – this is a bar of soap that can be found in the laundry section of your grocery store.  Apparently you can use Ivory soap as well, but we went with the Fels-Naphtha since everything I was reading recommended this.  At Fred Meyer, it cost about $1.50.
• Arm & Hammer washing soda – Take note:  not baking soda, washing soda.  This was right next to the Fels-Naphtha at Fred Meyer.  The cost was about $3.50.
• Borax – We already had a box on hand from the spray cleaner experiment.  How convenient!  But, also found in the laundry section.  This was about $3.00 when I bought it.

Directions:

1.  Cut off 1/6 of the Fels-Naphtha bar.  Although most instructions tell you to grate it, it's actually really crumbly.  You can actually just chop it up with a knife the way you would baking chocolate.

The crumbled Fels-Naphtha

2.  Dump the chopped Fels-Naphtha into a large saucepan.  Add 3 cups of hot water.  Heat gently until the soap melts.  This took a little while for us.  Also, be careful how much you stir it, since it gets foamy.

1/4 cup washing soda

3.  Once the soap is melted, add ¼ cup washing soda and ¼ cup Borax.  Stir gently until completely dissolved.

1/4 cup Borax

4.  At this point we were ready to transfer the mixture to our big stainless steel mixing bowl.  First, we dumped 2 cups hot water into the mixing bowl, then gently poured in the soap mixture and stirred a bit to mix.

The melted soap combined with water, washing soda and Borax.

5.  We added another 11 cups of hot water.

At this point, the mixture needed to “set.”  We put it aside to cool.  Our whole kitchen smelled really soapy.

After letting it set for a few hours, we checked back on it.  It was congealing all right!  Using a funnel, we poured it into the detergent bottle we kept for the occasion.  Reduce, reuse, recycle!  This part was kind of tricky.  It definitely took both of us.  The consistency was rather uneven and gloppy, but apparently that’s pretty normal.  The important part, after all, isn’t what it looks like, but what it cleans like. 

Mmmmm, yummy!

This stuff is supposed to work out to ½ cup per load of laundry.  We decided to really put it to the test.  We had Elias bring a blanket from his bed that was in definite need of washing and ran it through with the new soap.

When it came out of the dryer, it smelled fresh and clean!  Victory!  Hopefully it doesn’t gel too much as it sits longer.  We’ll see how it goes and I’ll update you as needed.  The best part?  The cost of this stuff works out to about a penny per load.  Try to beat that at the grocery store.

Let’s see, what can I make next?  What else have you guys tried that’s been successful?

 

The Opposite of "Extreme Couponing"

I am both fascinated and repulsed by the concept of extreme couponing.  On the one hand, IT'S FREE STUFF.  On the other hand... it's free stuff I generally don't really need.  While the idea of getting $600 worth of groceries is appealing, how many bottles of barbecue sauce does one really need?

If you've ever watched the show Extreme Couponing on TLC, you know what I'm talking about.  These people proudly walk through their homes displaying their wares as if they were the crown jewels.  Toilet paper is stuffed under their kids' beds.  Closets are converted to storage areas for Chef Boyardee.  Basements hold practically an entire supermarket's worth of canned goods and toothpaste.

They brag about how many hours they spend clipping and organizing their coupons; it's essentially their full-time job.  The whole family, kids included, is gathered around the table setting up coupons for mom (or occasionally dad) to cut with industrial-sized paper cutters.  I remember one woman, who I thought was particularly sad.  She made a big deal out of how dressed up she got every time she went shopping, because she didn't want people to think she was poor or that she needed to use all those coupons.  She then did her hours-long shopping trip in knee-high stiletto boots and full makeup.  I don't know about anyone else, but I generally don't give a second thought to anyone I see in the grocery store (although I do occasionally wonder about those who shop in their pajamas...).

I have better things to do with my time then spend it cutting and organizing coupons, planning out shopping trips and searching for deals.  When I get deals at the grocery store, I want it to be on healthy foods my family can eat.  Have you ever noticed that coupons are always on processed stuff?  How often do you see a coupon for fresh fruit and vegetables?

I do like coupons for household products.  But since I'm now making my own cleaners (and I'm having a crack at making laundry detergent tomorrow -- I'll let you know how it goes!), that's one more area I really don't need coupons (unless I can score one on Borax).

I do still clip coupons.  But here's my couponing technique:

• I only clip coupons for stuff I will actually use.  You shouldn't feel obligated to buy a product you wouldn't otherwise purchase.
• I only clip coupons that come to me.  I don't spend a lot of time scouring the internet.  I get inserts every Wednesday in the mail and I go through those.  I clip coupons in magazines I have.  I use the store coupons in the weekly flyer and that print out at the checkout.
• If a coupon expires, I throw it away.  I don't buy a product just to keep the coupon from expiring.
• Even with a coupon, I still check to see if the store brand is cheaper.  With a really good coupon, sometimes the brand name will be cheaper, but that's not a guarantee.
• I use coupons for the following products:  soap, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, paper towels, night pants, frozen vegetables, cheese, canned vegetables, pasta and cereal.  I check the weekly ads for items that match my coupons.  I have caught some good stock-up moments that way.  I was recently able to snag two bottles of name-brand body wash for 50 cents each.  That's about as extreme as I get.

Is a Good Deal Worth the Added Stress?

To what lengths would you go to score a great deal?

Photo by digitalart

With Thanksgiving nearly here, you know what’s coming next:  Black Friday. It’s practically a holiday in its own right.  When I was working at the hospital, the day after Thanksgiving was a paid holiday.  But what a strange juxtaposition, when you stop and think about it.  A holiday of giving thanks for all that we have, immediately followed by a holiday in which we desperately try to get more. 

While the original intent of the first shopping day following Thanksgiving was to help people get a head start on shopping for gifts for friends and family, it has devolved into a mad scramble to get the very best deals on stuff for ourselves.  Seriously, you really think anyone is going to give away that Blu-Ray player or TV they just scored a mad deal on?  

While I would normally be all over a good deal, I make a point of staying home on Black Friday.  Part of it is to make my own statement, and part of it is to avoid becoming part of the problem.  Good deals are great, but not when they come with the stress and craziness that is often attached to Black Friday sales.  Everyone knows the horror stories.  People being trampled in the mad crush to get that incredible deal and getting killed for their desire to save a few bucks.  Why do we do this?

Last night Gavin was telling me about a co-worker of his who was heading down to Best Buy right after his shift (on Tuesday, mind you) because he wanted to get the deal on the $200 42-inch TV.   Okay, granted, that’s an awesome deal.  But really?  He’s going to camp out for two days and miss Thanksgiving for it.  He’ll probably save about $400, but at what true cost?  He’ll need to eat for those two days, so I assume he’s going to be spending money on fast food.  He’s going to be cold and wet, it’s a typical Seattle Thanksgiving, after all.  And isn’t his time itself worth money? 

This opens up the question:  How far are you willing to go for a good deal?  I’ve detailed my efforts to make my own cleaners and broth, and I’m going to be incorporating more of these “DIY” efforts as we go.  I clip coupons (I’ll be talking about that later), but not to the point where it takes over my life.  I watch for sales, but I’m not going to drive to four different stores to get my shopping done.  And you’re never going to catch me camping out for two days to pay money for an item that, let’s face it, I don’t actually need.

Would I like a new TV?  You bet I would.  The color is going out on the old one and games designed for HD look distorted on it.  But for the time being, it’s perfectly serviceable.  The kids are happily watching Go, Diego, Go even now and I haven’t heard any complaints from them.  Well, except that the older one would rather watch Astro Boy, but that’s a whole other issue.

So what about you?  Are you hitting any Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals?  Are they for you or for gifts?  Are they for items you need or items you want?

My Conversion to Homemade Household Cleaners

Homemade spray cleaners are super cheap and much 

easier to make than you might think.

Photo by Ambro.

This is something I’ve pondered for a while, but never had the guts to actually try.  Could I really save money doing this?  Was it worth the extra effort?  What is the benefit… really?

Looking for more ways to cut our grocery budget down finally inspired me to give it a whirl.  I had noticed that Gav had added “spray cleaner” to a recent grocery list.  We were running low on our usual cleaner, a Seventh Generation product I liked.  It smelled nice (thyme and lemongrass!), didn’t have freaky ingredients and cleaned well. It’s pretty pricey though (we had purchased it with a coupon on a half-off sale) so it wouldn’t be practical to keep purchasing it.  Store-brand cleaners usually aren’t that awesome, so I figured now would be the time to give this experiment a go.

I researched cleaners on the internet, found one that looked easy and cheap to make and I had all the ingredients except one.  So I put Borax on the list and went for it.  At the store, I was astonished at how cheap the Borax was!  Only $3 for this huge box – and I only needed 2 teaspoons for the cleaner I was making!  So for less than the price of my normal cleaner, I would get… well, I’m not going to do the math, but suffice to say, it’s a LOT.

So the Borax sat up on the shelf in the laundry area for a week or so until we actually ran out of cleaner.  Today was the big day.  We’ve got company coming over and I needed to clean the bathroom.  I rinsed out the old bottle (hey look, reusing plastic bottles too!  Shouldn’t that be worth bonus points or something?) and mixed up a batch:

Homemade All-Purpose Cleaning Spray

In a 26-oz spray bottle combine

4 Tbsp. vinegar

2 tsp. Borax

Hot water until almost full.  Gently swish to combine and dissolve the Borax.

Add a few drops of mild dishwashing detergent, and about 10 drops of your favorite essential oil.  You could leave out the essential oil if you don’t care about whether it smells nice or you don’t have any on hand.  I had lavender on hand so in it went.

Clean!

IT WORKED.  Like a charm.  It cleaned the toilet nicely, along with the counters, the light switch plate and the cupboard doors.  And it smelled really nice.  My son has toilet issues, so our bathroom can sometimes get icky, but this stuff cleaned it all.  Plus, the vinegar is a natural disinfectant, so I don’t have to worry about germs.  

When we run out of laundry soap, I’m planning to try making my own batch.  Since I already have the Borax, all I’ll need is some washing soda and Fels Naphtha.  It only takes a couple minutes to mix up and it’s a huge savings.   I can't wait to see what else I can make! I confess -- I’m converted!