Tag Archives: by Elizabeth

For the past six months I’ve been researching, mixing up and trying out different recipes for cleaning products that are easy and economical to make. Here’s what I’m now using:

Homemade Dishwashing Detergent (Powdered):
2 cups of Borax
2 cups of Baking Soda
1/4 cup of Lemi Shine

Lemi Shine is simply crystalized citric acid. I had never heard of it but found it right in the dishwasher detergent aisle at my regular grocery store. It helps to cut grease and is anti-bacterial. It also helps to prevent water spots on the rinse cycle.

Homemade Laundry Detergent (not safe to use on cloth diapers)
3 cups of Super Washing Soda
3 cups of Borax
1 cup of Oxygen Booster
3 Bars of Ivory Soap, grated

I am also using soap nuts which I really like but I wanted to try making another option just to see how … Read More

All three of my children have been breastfed exclusively up until around 5 months.  At this point I started offering rice

cereal, which was mostly breast-milk with a little rice cereal mixed in for texture. None of them were crazy about it and I only fed them a little here and there when I was in the mood. Rice cereal has very little nutritional value and I didn’t want to fill them up on empty calories so I found that I rarely felt like it was worth cleaning up the inevitable mess created when they spit out it anyway.

Once Lauren, our first who is now seven, was old enough to start trying fruits and vegetables, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at making my own baby food. While perusing a popular parenting magazine, I came across an article about preparing and freezing individual portions of … Read More

Last week my blog was about the challenges working moms face as they try to successfully manage both housework, childcare and getting themselves dressed and out the door on time. This week, I address the balancing act of simultaneously doing household chores and round-the-clock childcare. Or as a recent Facebook post of mine said “Maybe I’ll drill a few holes in the bottom of a bucket and then spend the next two hours trying to keep it full of water. Or I’ll just clean the house while the kids are at home. Equally fulfilling tasks, really.”

Stay-At-Home Mom:
Usually after the girls are out the door and on their way to school I take about 20 minutes or so to make the beds and clean up the kitchen from the breakfast-eating and lunch-making mess. Then I use the time that I have only one child at home (as opposed … Read More

I am a full-time Stay-at-Home-Mom (SAHM). I have days that I love what I do and days when I wish I had a job that would take me out of the house, and yes, away from the kids for a while.  My days consist of multi-tasking and more multi-tasking. But would it be any easier to go to work during the day and then have to do everything else at night or on the weekends? Here’s a snap-shot of what a morning looked like when I needed to get out of the house:

Working Mom:
Now, I don’t actually work outside of the house but I did have an 8:30 a.m. appointment last week about 20 minutes from where I live. This meant, that in addition to getting two kids ready for school and a toddler ready for the babysitter, I had to get myself dressed and put … Read More