8 Months In

Throughout these past eight months I have had to check my self pretty regularly.  What is my heart behind all of this?  What is the real motive?  Who am I doing this for?  To what end am I working?  Some days the motive for winnowing is to have less crap to pick up around the house so there’s more time to sit on my duff and surf the internet.  Sometimes my motivation is to do some awesome, kicking-butt-and-taking-names job on organizing or cleaning out or rearranging so that I can take cutesy/artsy pictures to slap up here to make you ooh and aah.  A number of days I have been propelled by the aspiration to bring even more peace into our abode.  More than a handful of days, there is no motivation.  Zero.  For any of it.

The last couple of weeks have been, um, interesting.  They have been in some ways a breakthrough in this whole WinnowingWoman lifestyle.  You see, eight months in (eight.flipping.months.), I am seeing progress.  Finally.  Real progress.  Not the *“look, I got the laundry room cleaned up!” long enough to take a picture of it and only to see it junked and cluttered with different stuff a month later* kind of progress.  Real progress. . .  

There is a place for everything, and everything is in it’s place (or can be put back there in about two minutes) in ALL of our bedrooms.  Clothes, toys, books, shoes, everything. A place for everything.

The Us-es have been observed day in and day out, helping me realize that out of a hundred toys, they consistently play with about the same twenty-five.  So broken toys have been trashed and the rest have been stored in an extra-large plastic container and put away in the garage for “trading out” every few months.

I can tidy the living room at a moment’s notice in less than five minutes, including returning the items back to where they go because now they actually have a designated location instead of “I don’t know, just put it somewhere” (read: our bedroom). 

The kitchen dishes can (and do) still get backed up and overlooked for a whole day’s worth of meals, but the entire kitchen can now be cleaned to a spotless shine in less than an hour because we simply don‘t own too many plates or pans or utensils.

Closets have been gone through and then thought through before anything went back on a shelf or rod.  We know what we have in there.  Nothing lurking in corners neglected or forgotten. 

The front and back yards have been purged of broken toys and random shrapnel (tools, plastic plant pots, wood scraps, etc.) so all that remains is the beauty of Creation, swings, slides, a playhouse, garden beds, and room to romp.

Eight months.  It has been a long time.  I look back in review and see this long string of starts and stops and steps backwards.  I have done huge things that ultimately made little impact, and tiny tweaks of things here and there that resulted in monumental improvement in the way our home operates.  Lots of trial and error.  Plenty of one-step-forward-two-steps-back.  Eight.Months.

I also peek back over my shoulder at the gal who started out on this winnowing endeavor and sort of chuckle and roll my eyes at how easy (or at least quick) I thought the challenge would be.  I actually and truthfully remember thinking around the first of February something to the affect of, “What will I do in a month or two when all the winnowing is finished?”  Ha.  Foolish, ignorant lass.  If she only knew then…

But I’m glad she didn’t.  Like everything else, this has required process.  Birth, death and burial, and rebirth.  And just looking at the components of the life-cycle and these elements of process, I see now there isn’t any one of them that in some capacity isn’t messy or hard or painful.  If I remembered that at the beginning of this quest, my own resistance to discomfort or hard work or change would have potentially locked me down.  I perhaps would have settled and “kept the peace”, a counterfeit, instead of “making peace”, the authentic, in our home and family.

I have stuff left to do.  There are things that remain to be learned.  Mistakes are still going to be made.  Thinking-it-through will continue to be requisite.  And I’ll still need some changing.  That’s good.  It’s all good.  More process.  Once again I am reminded that the process is likely the point.

Eight months later.  Who knew we’d be here?

Eight is great.

Who Takes Pictures Of Their Groceries?

Um, that would be me.

Not always. Just this time.

In another move of utter self-exposure, I am telling (or showing) you exactly what I got at the grocery store(s) yesterday. There is actually a point to this.

One of the entities I perpetually try to winnow is our budget. Well, let's be honest. Perpetually is definitely a wrong word choice. It evokes in my mind images of constancy; toiling without letting up until something's accomplished or achieved. I whimsically buy enough overpriced 20-ounce beverages when I'm out and about, lah-dee-dah, to rule out using "perpetually" to describe my budget-winnowing efforts. So to be a realist about it let's replace perpetually with "frequently".

Okay, whatever. I frequently try to winnow our budget, looking for where we can cut cost or spend less, or even shift spending from one area to another. And I love when the trying actually materializes into doing and we find new ways to loosen up some funds we may be wasting or overlooking or putting towards the wrong things. My SisterFriend isn't much different (of course, we do share DNA). Along these same goal lines, she started the epic adventure of extreme couponing around two months ago. She is pysching all of us out with her ridiculous savings and huge hauls of depletable resources for her zoocrew of six to use. Her kids have recently commented on her couponing adventures saying the deals are so good it's like she flat-out stole the stuff.

Alas, as is often sometimes the case with siblings, I took the ol' big sister's cues and started my own journey into the vast dimension of couponing. Believe me, it is another dimension and I hear Twilight Zone music every time, but it's starting to pay off.

I have no desire, and even less the energy needed to explain all of the ins and outs of couponing methods (Ma Luffin' Mayun is out of town for this from Tuesday through Sunday, thus leaving me with...well, everything...thus the lack of energy, verily I say unto thee). I certainly can do that at a later time if any of you show interest. But I do want to just whet your appetites to see what an awesomely great couponing experience can look like and result in.

If you enjoy the recap, thank you, thank you very much. If you don't, blame it on SisterFriend. She started it.

Let me show you everything I got. Then I'll tell you what I spent.

FRUITS & VEGETABLES
19 bags of fresh-frozen veggies

2 bunches of fresh asparagus
3 cartons of prewashed sliced mushrooms
3 heads of broccolli
2 bunches of bananas
5 cameo apples (and since they're cameo apples they came with a free bright red thingy that I'm not sure what to do with...here's how this dude decided to use his...and a cassette tape of "Word Up!")

DAIRY PRODUCTS
1 dozen eggs
2 gallons of milk
2 blocks of natural cheddar cheese
26 containers of yogurt

BREAD
6 loaves of wheat bread
4 bags of pita bread

MEATS
2 icky, disgusting lunchables Brilliant Beauty couldn't be more thrilled about
3 packages of sirloin steak
4 packages of all-natural boneless, skinless chicken breast
4 packages all-natural sandwich meat

PANTRY MISCELLANY
1 bottle extra virgin olive oil (I can't call it "evoo". Actually, I refuse. I also can't pay $137 for a bottle of it just because Rachael Ray's face is plastered on it. Uh, oh. Did I just alienate some readers? Do I have readers? Did he just call himself "the talent"?)
1 bottle vegetable oil
5 cans soup (I actually think I lost a can somewhere between Here and There)
2 boxes instant oatmeal
2 pouches single-use dried potatoes

FROZEN NONSENSE (a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men)
5 bags frozen biscuits
2 bags cinnamon rolls
2 bags mini cinnamon rolls

JUNK (read: What My Butt Won't Thank Me For Later But My Us-es Will)
2 boxes of brownie mix
2 bags of cookie mix
3 cake mixes
3 cake frostings
2 2-pack single serve desserts
4 packages of ready-to-bake cookies
2 bags of flavored snack mix
2 boxes of crunchy granola bars
2 boxes of popcorn
5 boxes of chewy granola bars
1 bag of tortilla chips

TOILETRIES
3 bars of kid soap
4 containers of floss
4 deodorants

HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES
4 bottles of dish soap
1 box of trash bags

Pretty good looking pile o' stuff. I shopped at Kroger and Publix. Here's my spending breakdown per store:
Publix
$125.99 total retail value
$ 58.28 total spent
$ 67.71 total saved
That's a savings of 54% off of the retail value.

Kroger
$207.91 total retail value
$108.33 total spent
$ 99.88 total saved
That's a savings of 49% off of the retail value.

My combined totals are:
106 items
$333.90 total retail value
$166.61 total spent
$167.59 total saved
That's a savings of 50% off of the retail value.

Wowzers. I saved more than I spent, and stuck within the amount I wanted to spend on groceries. And actually, $166.61 is LESS than what we have been spending the last several months on groceries without couponing, buying virtually nothing name brand, and absolutely not stockpiling any items. Nice.

So I've winnowed some grocery cost. I aim to get even better at it. I know I can reduce the spending even more as I figure out what I'm doing a little more in this surreality of couponing.

How about you? Are you saving money in some way? Saving time? Winnowing your own "too much" of something, making room and space for something better? Let me hear from you.

P.S. Laundry's backed up. Dishes are dirty. I'm stepping over toys and clothing the us-es seem to teleport out of. BUT my pantry's full.

Don't despise the process...

Frugal Friday

It's been a busy week, but I can't put my finger exactly on what made it so busy. Just life, really. Ma Luffin' Mayun had a huge event this past weekend, gone from Friday to Sunday with 600 teenagers (gulp), so there was family time to catch up on. Brilliant Beauty had her first project to complete for her SCOPE class. Little Big Man is progressing well on the PottyTrain, and Pretty Baby is eating Jethro portions of homemade fruit and veggie dishes and cereals. All the while clothes are being worn, dishes are being used, and toys are being strewn to and fro.

Phew. Maybe I can put my finger on what made the week so busy.

A long time ago, even before I ever actually did it, I decided I wanted to make my own cleaning products to be used around the house. I have a few reasons:
-I wanted products that aren't laced with chemicals that could potentially hurt these babies we continue to add to the family. I may not be able to explain the harmful effects of each unpronounceable chemical in the store-bought products, but if they burn your eyes and singe your nose hairs I'm thinking it doesn't hurt to replace them.
-In my staunch stubbornness to not spend the money, I am always determined to find ways to just do or make things myself. I once again refuse to spend a huge chunk of the ol' paycheck on over-priced cleaning supplies. Now that I know a little more what I am doing in the cleaning-product-making department, I know I'll NEVER spend the money on the store-bought stuff. (P.S. why are the foods and products that are best for EVERYONE so flipping expensive? Probably because we'll pay, we who have lost the art of thinking through, growing, preparing, and using the stuff on our own...but I'll climb that soapbox on another day, perhaps.)
-I like to do the mixin' (read: pretend to be a scientist).
-It's extremely gratifying to look at the finished product(s), use them, watch them achieve their intended purpose, and know I made them with stuff I had right in my pantry.

I took some time this morning to mix up new batches of my standard cleaning products, so I thought I would take you on a little tour, show you what goes in them and how incredibly easy they are to make. Too bad we don't have smell-o-blog because they also smell super great.

Let me first say I have picked up cleaner recipes here and there for years from books, the internet, and friends. My eternal and golden pal WagStat has been in similar pursuits for years and started a blog of her findings and sometimes foibles as she works towards "green"ery that's just her right fit.

Here's my little army of cleaners. Don't they look like a formation of soldiers standing at attention?


In order from left to right they are:
window cleaner
mildew remover
heavy-duty cleaner
all-purpose cleaner


Here are my recipes for each product. If you're like me, you'll have at least a vague recollection from childhood of these ingredients being used to clean. Again, I am not original, nothing is new under the sun, and women and men smarter and wiser figured out the uses of these items long before me. These are just my recipes.

window cleaner
You need: one spray bottle (I got mine for $1.00 and it has measuring marks down the side which is helpful when mixing proportions), white vinegar, essential oil (whatever smell you like), water

Mix the following:
50% white vinegar
50% water
30 drops of essential oil

Shake it up, and there you go. That's all you need. I will say that even with the essential oil this stuff still smells pretty vinegary, but it is an excellent cleaner (I remember Tunan using vinegar and newspaper to clean windows and mirrors when I was a kid. I think of that when I use this).

mildew remover
You need: one spray bottle, hydrogen peroxide, water

Mix the following:
1 part hydrogen peroxide
2 parts water

Shake it up. Spray this on anything with mildew (window seals, kitchen, bath), let it sit for fifteen to thirty minutes, and then wipe away. Works great.

heavy-duty cleaner
You need: one spray bottle, borax, liquid soap, essential oil, water

Mix the following:
*1/2 cup borax
2 tablespoons liquid soap
10 drops essential oil
water - enough to fill bottle to the fill-line

Shake it up. This cleaner is really good for the tougher-to-clean messes around the house, great for greasy messes, and for thoroughly cleaning places that tend to get the dirtiest like bathrooms.

all-purpose cleaner
You need: one spray bottle, liquid soap, essential oil, water

Mix the following:
2 tablespoons liquid soap
20 drops essential oil
water - enough to fill bottle to the fill-line

We use this for EVERYTHING around Quaint Cottage; counters, tables, walls...you name it.

Here's one more product that I use. This is a scouring paste.

I use this when I need to scour a surface. It works great in combination with the window cleaner because the vinegar reacts with the baking soda, making fizzy cleaning goodness (that is the scientific explanation of the chemical reaction, I'm quite sure).

scouring paste
You need: one wide-mouthed mason jar, box of baking soda, liquid soap, water (you can scent it with essential oil if you like)

Mix the following in a bowl:
box of baking soda
3 tablespoons liquid soap
2 tablespoons water

Combine all of these until it forms a nice paste. Transfer it to the mason jar. Just scoop out what you need when you need it (I just use my hand to scoop it out). That's all there is to it.


Here's a little more miscellaneous information . . .
I use liquid castile soap and I love it. It goes a super long way in the amounts I'm using it, is scented with all kinds of great natural fragrances, and completely safe for all the us-es. This link also includes a recipe for using castile soap in an automatic dishwasher. I just discovered it, and we'll be making a batch of that soon. One of my bottles is scented with lavender, and the other with tea tree oil. I actually didn't use the essential oils this time because the soap smelled so good by itself.

Remember, you can use ANY liquid soap you choose. It doesn't have to be castile soap. Basic dish soap works fine.

*Borax is awesome and amazing stuff. I do find that it tends to clump, so when I make the heavy-duty cleaner I pour the borax in and use a potato masher to thoroughly break up the clumps before funneling it into the bottle.

Another thing you can use the heavy-duty cleaner for is spraying around baseboards and door entries for pest control. How awesome is that?!

Make sure you pick essential oils that you can stand the smell of. There are a million to choose from and a few drops go a long way. I picked a smell one time, though, and used it in the all-purpose cleaner which meant I smelled it often. Blech. It was a nice smell in theory, but not in practice. Choose wisely according to your taste.

The window cleaner can also be used as a finishing spray if you feel there is a soapy residue from the scouring paste or the heavy-duty cleaner. It will take it right up.

This time around in my mixing I decided to "color code" the cleaners to make it easier for the us-es to identify the cleaners. I simply did this with literally just a couple of drops of food coloring. Presto. Colored cleaners.

I also write the type of cleaner and it's recipe on the plastic bottles with a permanent marker. I never have to remember the recipe.

I'm not sure if I remembered everything I wanted to say, but one never does, do they? Let me know if you have questions. There are all kinds of places online with recipes for cleaning products. You know me...just google it.

Here's to frugal Friday. I'm off to clean. With this FabFive, the mess possibilities are endless. Buh-lee dat!

Happy sifting!

Topic Tumbler Thursday

I realize it would be better illiteration to have "Topic Tumbler Tuesday", but I just thought of it. And it's Thursday. And I want to do it now. So there.

Maybe I'll also implement "This-n-That Tuesday" just to be contrary.

Probably not.

I've been blogging here for just under a month and I thought I would take a post to give you a chance for input. Here's what I'm thinking: I've got a list of topics to post about rolling about in my knucklehead and wonder which in your opinion (if any) would be the most interesting to read about. All of them in some way pertain to this process of winnowing. Have a look at some choices. . .
-feeding the FabFive for $300.00 a month
-Bosak Buttsacks
-Project Kitchen Cleanout
-Ma Luffin' Mayun and my 13th anniversary (note: this would not be a post about the winnowing of clothing leading to unsolicited images of nudity, so don't be afraid)
-wardrobe
-photography, family memories, and keepsakes
-spare time, down time, and self-care
-diet and health ("butt weight, there's more!")
-trashcan on wheels (read: family vehicle)
-various and sundry homemade cleaners

Those are just some things I've been thinking about. They may sound interesting. Then again, they may smack of mind-numbing boredom. I don't actually know. What do you think?

I'm open to suggestions. Tell me what you think of these options. Tell me what you might want to see on here that I haven't thought of. Or tell me if you think this blog stinks and should be shut down and deleted from the collective conscience of every person who has suffered through one of my posts.

I'll work on the calibrations of the memory eraser in the mean time.

How's my driving? Leave me a comment, whoever you are...