We go through a lot of hand soap in our family. While foaming hand soap is expensive to buy in the store, it is very inexpensive and simple to make on your own. In addition to cost effectiveness and ease, you can control the ingredients to make certain they are free of chemical nasties. Finally, making your own hand soap allows you to customize the scent as well as make it as strong or as subtle as you like.… Continue reading
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Simple, All-Natural, Homemade Deodorant
I make a lot of my own natural skin and body care products. Amazing Face Serum (recipe HERE), DIY Foaming Hand Soap (recipe HERE), Homemade Bath Salts (recipe HERE), Homemade All-Natural Diaper Rash Cream (recipe HERE), Hand Sanitizer (recipe HERE), and Fizzy Bath Bombs (recipe HERE). These simple recipes are all a part of our everyday household life (with the current exception of the diaper rash cream, since we’re now done with diapers — see HERE), though that recipe also makes a great skin salve for other body areas that need some extra support.… Continue reading
A Day of Snowed-In Fun
This past week we had a lot of snow. In fact, there was so much snow that we got snowed in. My Sweetie graciously takes care of the snow blowing when he’s in town, but he was on the road during this storm.
While the boys and I were a bit disappointed to cancel a brunch-date with a dear friend, it felt nice for the weather to declare a day of rest on our behalf.… Continue reading
Hosting a Sustainable Gathering: How to Throw a Zero-Waste Party
This is the time of year when many people host an array of holiday gatherings for family, friends, and colleagues. It can be a lot of fun, but it can also result in a lot of waste.
Not only is there paper waste from gift wrapping that gets immediately discarded (you can find more sustainable package decorating suggestions HERE), but people frequently use disposable goods in order to lessen the work involved with hosting a party. … Continue reading
Getting Kids Involved with Preparations for a Special Day
Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I thought you might find a reminder about this post from over the summer helpful. In it, my friend Lainie discusses how she uses a Sticky Note Wall to help involve her kids in preparing for a big gathering or celebration.
You can find the post HERE.
This is a great suggestion for families, especially once your kids can read.… Continue reading
Encouraging Self-Sufficiency: Teaching my 7-year-old to do Laundry
Before my children move out of the house, there are a wide variety of skills that I want them to master. Basic self-care, home care (HERE and HERE), basic repair skills, cooking (see HERE), financial literacy, and many other things along these lines. One of these skills is doing laundry.
My 7-year-old, who has watched me do laundry from the time I wore him as a newborn, recently expressed an interest in doing the laundry himself. … Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: When an Object has Outlasted its Usefulness
If you’ve spent any amount of time reading my blog, you know that I’m a big proponent of using things until they wear out (see HERE). In our house, we do our best to use things until they no longer work for us. We wear clothes until they no longer fit or they get worn through. We use appliances until they can no longer be repaired. … Continue reading
A Cool Way to Save Water
We are one of the few families I know who don’t have an in-door water and ice dispenser in our refrigerator. (This is by choice, those models tend to be much less energy efficient than their solid door counterparts.) This means that cold water is not a given at our house, nor is it instantaneous.
If your refrigerator is similar to ours, than this tip is for you. … Continue reading
Preparing for a Road Trip
We’re getting ready to head off to Michigan to visit my in-laws. This week I’m focusing on planning and packing.
I keep a Master Packing List [you can find a version of it from a previous trip HERE], which makes packing so much easier. Each time we have a trip planned, I pull out our master list and modify it as needed for the particular time of year and circumstances under which we’re traveling. … Continue reading
DIY Foaming Hand Soap
If your family is anything like mine, everyone loves foaming hand soap (if we buy a pre-made one, we use THIS). My boys love that it magically foams up, even before they begin scrubbing. I love that it gets my kids excited about washing their hands. It also helps to reduce waste as it give them a handful of soap in only one squirt, instead of my boys repeatedly pumping regular soap into their hands until they feel like they have enough.… Continue reading