Monday, May 28, 2012

Dwija Googled...

Tractor Supply raccoon traps

Covering diaper boxes with fabric storage boxes

Making corn on the cob in the oven

Cheapest no contract cell phone data plan

Samsung Intercept reviews

Newborn screening Michigan

Menards picnic table

Homemade dry laundry soap cloth diapers

Growing sweet potatoes

And that, folks, is what's been going on in my brain this weekend.  Feel free to weigh in on any or all.  


Because everyone knows that friends are better than Google any day!

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26 comments :

  1. The homemade dry laundry soap I've been making has been working great on our cloth diapers! They're softer than with the other stuff I was using and no issues at al. It's the laundry soda, borax, and Dr. Bronner's soap one. Let me know if you want the exacts.

    We do the newborn screening (in NY) because I personally don't see any drawbacks and it's good stuff to know. I've always made sure to nurse the baby during the heel prick and none of them have even cried.

    I've done tracfone in the past ...it's all right but since it was just emergency only, the time ran out and I still had a ton of minutes left that I never used. So now I have no cell phone (I know...who am I, Laura Ingalls??) but I'll be interested to see if there are other better options. I felt like tracfone was a lot but I am a HUGE cheapskate when it comes to technology. I still think basic landline phone coverage should be $10 a month.

    The diaper box thing doesn't really appeal to me. It seems like they'd be pretty flimsy and bend very easily...especially if there being used often and by littles but I could be very wrong.

    We bought a Menard's children's wood picnic table years ago and still have it and love it. I miss Menard's.

    That's all I got. The end.

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  2. Yet the shorts you shared on Pinterest were more than my car payment (when I had a car payment...)

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    Replies
    1. Well, one could substitute look-alikes quite easily, of course. Lord knows I would never buy those myself!

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  3. You're not a cheapskate, you're practical!

    I Googled 'toddler acting out because of new baby.' Yes, that. Sigh.

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  4. Don't try to make corn on the cob in the oven. Use a crockpot! Wrap each shucked ear in foil (or you can peel back the husks and remove the silks, then wrap back up in husks, but I've always used foil). Pile the wrapped ears in the crockpot. No water. NO WATER. Heat on high for about two hours or so. Hands down the best corn on the cob ever, and no heavy pot on the stove. I found the technique at the blog Year of Slowcooking!

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  5. I covered boxes with fabric recently. The smaller, narrower ones worked better because, yes, they are a bit flimsy especially if you use them like bins on a shelf like I do. I used some Elmers permanent spray glue and it worked pretty well. I covered them inside and out with light quilting-style cotton. Some of them have peeled off on the bottom where I tucked in under the box a bit. Maybe didn't use enough glue/didn't have enough fabric tucked under?

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    Replies
    1. Okay, interesting to hear from someone who has done it. The issue is that we have absolutely no storage for baby's clothes or diapers...so rather than just piles, maybe some boxes can do the trick for a bit, even if they are a bit flimsy. I guess we'll find out soon enough!

      Thinking about using heavy duty staples in some spots instead of the glue, too...

      Delete
  6. If you have a dollar store near you, you can get plastic baskets that would do the job of the diaper boxes at a cost probably less than buying the glue and fabric.

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  7. I believe I linked the Laundry Soap I made on my blog, but don't quote me on that! I'm in love with it though...took about 5 minutes to make and "cook time" could be cut down if you follow the "microwave shredding" option for Ivory Soap. I've been using it on all of our stuff for at least a month now (maybe 2 or 3) and LOVE it! I'm about halfway through my first batch and have 2 bars of Ivory Soap left, then I'm going to try a Coconut oil-based soap...it's a bit more expensive, but in the grand scheme of things, the price per load will still be under 1 cent! (Under $8 per batch of soap, which is a little over 2 gallons of laundry soap!)

    As far as storage space for baby's things...I'm planning on building a set of "Hamper Dressers"...I found the plans on the Ann White Homemaker site. If I use "top of the line" building materials (not scraps from the odd cuts bin), it'll cost me about $50 per dresser (holds 3 or 4 laundry baskets depending on which one we make) or $100 total, but that price also includes purchasing new laundry baskets. If I build to fit what we already have...I could probably cut the price by 30 to 40%, but then we'd need new baskets for our dirty clothes! Rubbermaid tubs and a label maker would work too...or the clear plastic kind without a label maker, those would stack nicely anywhere! I just like the laundry basket idea because I don't "have" to fold everything, I can just toss it in the proper basket and be done! (I'm lazy like that though...)

    My sister uses Straight Talk...it's a no contract service that you pay for monthly by purchasing "gift card" style cards at Wal Mart..I think the "smart phone" plans are $50 a month...I don't know though, we use Sprint for my cell, my Mother's, and my boyfriend's cells all on one plan ($80 for first line and $20 each for the other three lines)...we got stuck with a "spare" line after my Mom's other half split, but it's cheaper to leave the line than to take it off (per person)!

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  8. So, did you decide to go forth with the cloth diapers? Did you figure out the water situation? I'd love to hear what you think about homemade laundry detergent with cloth if you end up going that route. I use Tide with mine, and I'm Tide obsessed....but my sweet husband has been trying to talk me out of it.

    Also, I have NO insight on growing sweet potatoes, but I'd love to hear how that goes for you too. I loooooove sweet potatoes. With cinnamon. mmmmmmmm

    I'd say go for it with the diaper boxes! What a creative idea! I've used them for moving (and goodness knows we've done plenty of moving) and never had a problem with them falling apart or anything. Way better than piles. And if you can make them pretty, so much the better!

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    Replies
    1. I am gonna go forward with cloth and, at least at first, wash in cold. There are a lot of posts out there about washing CDs in cold, so I'll just hafta try and make it work. Unless the Holy Spirit moves my husband to do so some plumbing, which he hates with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

      The disposable diaper boxes really are sturdy, aren't they? And we already have a ton of extra fabric....otherwise I'd totally buy bins. But since this will be a zero $ investment, I think we'll give it a shot. I'll keep you guys posted!

      Delete
  9. For a no-contract phone, the Tracfone Monthly Value Plan is hard to beat. If you buy a phone with "lifetime double minutes," you'll end up getting 100 minutes a month for only $9.99. The automatic charge renews your expiration date each month and allows you to keep your previously purchased minutes. Minutes can be used for talk, text, and data. I had that plan for over a year at one point and couldn't have been more satisfied...the data was EXTREMELY slow, though, so I finally jumped onto the iPhone bandwagon and haven't looked back. Anyway, I can't imagine you'll find a better deal on the planet for a simple phone plan that covers all the bases...https://www.tracfone.com/direct/ValuePlans?app=TRACFONE&lang=en

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  10. Heck, they now even have phones with triple minutes for life! 150 minutes for $9.99/month...solid.

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    1. That's awesome. Might be just what we need- at least just what Tommy needs! He won't care bout data. He just needs to be able to make quick calls when he's out on a job. Seems perfect and WAAAAAAAY cheaper than stupid, I mean, "feature-filled" Verizon...

      Delete
  11. You're not a cheapskate...your thrifty. A cheapskate is not a generous person, but a thrifty person is generous with everything (including money if she had any)!

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  12. I'm definitely thinking about doing the whole box covering thing for cuter storage. Also, I'm on Virgin Mobile for my phone and it doesn't get any cheaper than that. i can't complain about their service either. It's been really good and easy on the ol' budget around here.

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  13. You know, that all seems par for the course. I have TracPhone from Verizon which I use for travel (since we don't have cell service where we live) and it seems to get the job done. Not sure how much for the minutes are though. Haven't used enough where I've had to buy more!

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  14. Okay, I am finally bidden to come out of lurking to respond to this post. I have been blog-stalking you since I stumbled across your blog during a click-fest last week. I have finally realized that we have far too much in common for me not to comment...

    * just gave birth to my fifth child
    * with the very same midwife you are also using
    * we are renovating an ugly house on 10 acres
    * in southwest michigan

    That's just a start.

    For the googles:

    * Cell phone - I use Tracfone, too. I got a cheapy phone that came with triple minutes for life (!) and I pay about $150 each year (with taxes) to get 3000 minutes, I think. Can't really beat that.

    * We have both had and skipped the newborn screening before. Decided to just have Linda do it this time since I'd rather skip an extra trip into the hospital to do it. She is as gentle as she can be, as well.

    * We bought a Menard's picnic table kit a couple of years ago (one with no treated wood) and finally put it together this year. It was super easy, and the kids had a great time painting it.

    * I have been cloth diapering for almost 10 years now, and we use Charlie's Soap for all our laundry, including diapers. I calculated it once, and if you buy the big bucket, you can't even make it cheaper than buying it. It works great, but we have a water softener.

    * We grew sweet potatoes the past two years (but aren't gardening this year - new baby and all) with slips purchased from Sand Hill Preservation. The plants were great and grew like weeds. We bought the northern special of 50 slips. If you keep the greens from re-rooting (like by using mulch), the yields are very nice.

    Wow, that was an epic comment for someone who rarely comments on blogs. I will now quietly fade into stalk/lurkdom...

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    Replies
    1. Nooooooo! Don't fade away! I can't believe you live close enough to me to be using the same midwife. And you actually used the same midwife! She's coming again on the 6th...can't wait to tell her. She'll love it! She loves everything, of course, but still.

      Lovin' your tips. I think hubby will be going with Tracfone for sure. I might go with Virgin (for the unlimited data at just $35. Pretty awesome). I'm gonna go stalk your blog a bit now :)

      Delete
    2. I will try my best to comment once in a while. I'm a serial blog reader, but notsomuch a commenter. My blog is very content rich because of it's age (I've been blogging forever), not because of my recent activity. Have become blog lazy in recent years.

      Love Linda. Tell her I say hello.

      Delete
  15. If you have standard size boxes that you will get more of from time to time, then you could sew a box cover. That way, when the box is kaput, you can just replace it with a new one...and wash the cover if need be. Just sew a fabric tube 2x the height of the box, plus 2-3 inches, and big enough around to just fit the box. Then sew a rectangular piece of fabric (to match the inside bottom of the box) to one end. On the other end, put some elastic in the hem, or run a string through the hem to cinch and tie when it's on the box to keep it from falling off. I've done this before and loved it, but didn't make sure I'd be getting more of the same sized boxes, so it's kinda useless now.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, that is pretty genius. I knew I'd been procrastinating for a reason!

      Delete
  16. Sorry, somehow I just stumbled across your blog, and now I'm completely obsessed. Not in a creepy way of course. ;-) But the whole, buying a house unseen on the internet is something I could see my family doing, and we have four kids, and if I'm not mistaken from the pics, it looks like you have a Red Merle Aussie like us, etc., etc. It's sort of like finding an alternate universe. (though I'm not pregnant)

    Anyway. We had iPhones till one was stolen and the other left at the park by one of our kids. We switched to Walmart family plan. I think it's actually through TMobile. I don't *think* there's a contract (not sure because hubby set it up), and it was $40 for his and $30 for each additional line. And we get unlimited talk, text, and data. It's not the iPhone, but I got the HTC One and it's okay.

    ReplyDelete
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