On The Road Again

Well, summer is finally here and that means lots of fun things! Which also usually means lots of travel. After spending a week with our friends in Ohio the next two weekends were filled with White Water Rafting with the youth group and a trip to Philadelphia with our church. And this week many more miles will be driven! We are heading out again...West Virginia then Ohio. I am SO excited, but as I think about making trips there is a part of me that gets stressed thinking of how Aiden will do. He has mostly done extremely well on all our travels so far. But I am afraid of pushing his limits. New sleeping areas, new cars, new people...etc. And I think I am still learning how to do everything with a child, things that used to be no big deal are all of a sudden draining because of the little one that needs my care and occupies my mind constantly. :)

But then I am reminded of something that is true all the time but I so easily forget...I need God. It's way easy for me to feel stressed and tired, and sometimes I wonder what living by faith actually looks like. But I am thankful for this opportunity where I can see more clearly how to walk by faith, needing God to come through in my life. He will be my supply, my peace, my rest, my strength, my joy, my trust will be in HIM.

HERE WE GO!!!

On to Baby Wipes!

I have been making Aiden's baby wipes since about week two and have loved it! Once again...saving money!! And I know what exactly the ingredients are and they smell better than the store bought ones!

As with other things there are SO many homemade wipes recipes, so you may just have to look around to find one you like. I chose this one because it's easy and uses ingredients I will always need to have! I haven't had any trouble with the wipes molding or anything like that. Once I added lotion and that didn't really work. So I've stuck to this....

Ingredients:

-Baby Soap
-Baby Oil
-Bounty Paper Towels (I use the "pick-a-size with no print)
-Water

Step 1: Bring 2 cups (I usually do a little less than two, seems to work better) of water to a boil. Turn off stove and let cool to room temperature.
Step 2: Cut roll of paper towel into half. And remove the cardboard center.
Step 3: Mix 1 tbsp baby oil and 2 tbsp baby wash with the cooled water in whatever container you are using.
Step 4: Place the paper towels in container with the cut side facing down.
Step 5: Turn the container upside-down and sit for 10 minutes.
Step 6: Open container and start the the roll by pulling a towel from the inside of the roll.

As far as the cost goes. One roll of Bounty Paper Towels is $1.99, which is of course two batches. Baby soap and oil depends on the ones you buy. I use the Johnson's Head-to-Toe Baby Wash for Aiden's bath so I just use that for his wipes. Baby Oil lasts forever. I have not had to buy any since Aiden was born and am not even halfway through it.

How fast do the wipes go? It all depends on how many you need to use, which of course changes as your baby grows. Now that Aiden is older I probably use one batch per two weeks. So that is one roll ($1.99) per month.

Now I have found what I believe is the perfect container for these wipes. It fits a half-roll perfectly (you have to smash when you first get them in for it to seal), it has a top you can open/close with one hand and it hasn't given me any trouble!! It is from Target, click here to see it online. It's around $7.

Goodbye Tide

I am not a big all-natural kind of person when it comes to products. My goal is usually to get the best I can for the cheapest. :) There are a few things I really don't like buying things like toilet paper, napkins, tissues, laundry detergent, dish detergent...etc. I feel like these things are over priced but they are necessities so there's not much I can do about it. Now I have read about using washable toilet paper things, but that is way too nasty for me. haha. So I will continue to buy those dreaded paper products.

BUT- I have recently discovered making my own detergents! I know people have been doing this forever probably, but it's new to me and I am PUMPED! Why- because it saves MONEY!! :)

There are so many different ways to make laundry detergent, I went with one that seemed the easiest! I got this recipe from this link.

Here are the ingredients:
- Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
- 20 Mule Team Borax
- Ivory Bar Soap (mine had Aloe in it just because that is what they had, I don't think it matters)

I had never even heard of Borax or Washing Soda, but sure enough they were in the detergent isle at my grocery store and by reading the boxes they have many good uses!!

The costs of mine were:
76 oz. of Borax - $3.69

55 oz. of Soda - $2.79
4 bars of Ivory Soap - $2.50
Total - $8.98

Now Arm & Hammer laundry detergent is around $6. So that's savings already!

Recipe:

Each batch yields approximately 32 ounces (between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load).

• 1 bar of shaved bar soap
• 1 cup of borax
• 1 cup of washing soda

Step 1: Shave the bar soap. (I used a cheese grater and it was surprisingly easy!)
Step 2: Add 1 cup of borax
Step 3: Add 1 cup of washing soda
Step 4: Mix, Mix, Mix

Store in sealed container.
Use 1-2 Tbsp per load.

I am currently washing my first load now. And I have no idea how long this batch will last OR how long the boxes of borax and washing soda will last. But, I do believe it is cheaper!