Cleaning With Just Water

Are you enjoying your summer?  I've almost given up on blogging these days with three lovely boys, baseball, homeschooling and other joys of life!  But I interrupt your summer to present my new-found obsession and joy... cleaning!

I am not kidding.  I am loving these products.  So much so that I (not born a salesperson or a cleaning lady, let me assure you)  have decided to sell Norwex products because they sell themselves!  Once I show someone how they can clean their windows, walls, floors, sinks, mirrors and counter tops with only water, they are sold.  It works.... it reduces the use of chemicals, preserves the environment and saves you time and money.

Here is the cloth that started it all.  The Enviro Cloth can clean up to 90% of your home.  It lifts EVERYTHING off the surface, leaving a true clean instead of a residue that attracts dust.  When used dry, it creates an electrostatic charge that picks up all the dust off your surface.  When used wet, it will clean all your major surfaces with only water.

Here's what sets our products apart.  When you are done cleaning with the Enviro cloth, you rinse it out with hot water and hang it up to dry.  The micro silver inside the cloth goes to work with its self-purification properties against mold, fungi and bacterial odor and within 18 to 24 hours, your cloth is ready to use again!


Our Polishing Cloth also contains silver and is used to make your windows, mirrors, granite, stainless steel, faucets and more streak-free and shiny.  You can use a spray bottle of water to wet your surface, then follow up with a dry polishing cloth for amazing results.  I have never had my mirrors so clear and and my windows streak-free when the sun shines through!

My husband is so happy with how clean our house is since I've been using Norwex products.  It's fun and easy.  And saves me so much time.  I can clean our hardwood floors in half the time I used to spend vacuuming, sweeping and mopping by using the simple and wonderful Mop.  The dry pad dusts and polishes all types of flooring.  The wet pad (which also contains silver for self-sanitizing purposes) will clean the floor efficiently with ONLY water!  It dries quickly and streak-free and is much easier to push than a Swiffer.

And yes, all these products are machine washable so you can use them again and again!!  And you are saving money because of all the products you will no longer need to purchase.  The Enviro Cloth replaces paper towels and Clorex wipes and you no longer need dusting spray, floor cleaner, window cleaners, and more.

AND the cloths come with a 2 year warranty!

If you are in a two-hour radius of my hometown, I would love to have a show in your home.  You will be amazed at how generous Norwex is to their hosts/hostesses.  You can receive up to $200 in free product, just by hosting a party!  July and August are the Mop months, so you could have the Mop completely free.

Email me at fiveapplesaday@gmail.com or check out my website for more info.

Hope you're having a terrific summer.

~ Katrina :)

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Brighten whites naturally

A friend of mine recently shared this blog with me for a better-than-Oxiclean recipe.  I've tried it twice now with good results.  It's simple and since we make our own laundry soap we already have the ingredients on hand.

Toss 1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide into a load of whites with your regular laundry soap.  Let it sit overnight (or at least for a couple of hours) and run your load normally.  I thought my whites were noticeably whiter.

If you haven't tried making your own laundry soap yet, you are missing out on huge savings.  Pop over here to see the recipe we use.

If you try the whitener recipe, let me know how it works for you.

~Katrina

P.S.  So... I always love sharing book ideas and hearing some from you.  The boys (now 9 and almost 6... what happened?!) have just finished The Wright Brothers by Quentin Reynolds.  They very much enjoyed this book.  It encourages the reader to be inventive and work hard.  Inspirational really.  I wanted to go out and build something every time we read another chapter.  Some days they colored in this book while we read which details the history of flight.  The coloring book was delightfully informative for my fact-seeking 9-year-old and contained well-drawn aircraft that was fun to color for my almost 6-year-old.

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Dynamite Diaper Deal

Everyone appreciates a good deal. Well, Amazon has been providing me money-saving opportunities lately. Not only is this the best diaper deal I've seen in a long time, but they are even delivered directly to your doorstep. Every mother's dream. 

If you are in the diaper season (the grossest of all seasons), you should check this out.  Savings are just a click away!  See my exemplary deal below.

Pampers Baby Dry Diapers Size 4 (176 diapers)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subtotal of Items:	$40.88
Shipping & Handling:	$0.00
Promotion Applied (Subscribe & Save):	-$12.26
Promotion Applied (Parenting Magazine):	-$8.18
Your Coupon Savings:	-$1.50
	------
Total before tax:	$18.94
Estimated Tax To Be Collected:	$1.14
	------
Total for this Order:	$20.08

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That's 11 cents per diaper!!  (17 cents per diaper is considered a good deal.)

Here's how it's done:

• Join Amazon Mom. You'll get 30% off diapers and wipes when you Subscribe & Save.  (You can always unsubscribe.)   Your membership includes 3 months of Amazon Prime free which gives you free two-day shipping on items sold by Amazon with no minimum.  (You get free shipping if your order exceeds $25 even without Amazon Prime.)
• Save an additional 20% with the coupon found in American Baby magazine.  Click here for a free subscription. (I'm not sure how long to expect these coupons but, as of January 2011, these coupons may also be found in Parenting or The Early Years magazines.)  
• Clip a coupon for certain diaper brands through Amazon.  Read the whole screen prior to checking out to make sure you clipped it.

To purchase diapers from Amazon, click here.  We make a little advertising money if you purchase from our link.  Wink, wink.

Thanks for reading!

~ Katrina

P.S.  A friend clued me in to this great deal at Babycheapskate--in case you'd like to bookmark that website for yourself.

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'Tis the Season: Homemade Gifts

I'm hoping to make a lot of gifts this year.  Christmas is a time for secrets, my mother-in-law always says.  So I will be careful about what I tell you.

We've given tons of homemade gifts in the past, but I don't think we will repeat any this year.  We've made granola, jam, hot chocolate mix, ornaments (beaded, clay, clothespin reindeer, yarn sheep), stationery, cross-stitched items, hand prints on cards and in clay, hand-painted birdhouses, photo scrapbooks, whittled and wooden gifts by my woodworking husband, etc.

I have some gifts I've purchased supplies to make in years past and have recently rediscovered them in the move...  That will work for some last-minute crafts this year.  I also plan to make little purses out of recycled old jean pockets.

Here are a few crafty websites to look at for inspiration:
allfreecrafts.com
betterbudgeting.com
BHG.com
familyfun.go.com
food.com
homemade-gifts-come-true.com
marthastewart.com
notmadeofmoney.com
the-best-homemade-gift-ideas.com
tipnut.com

I often find ideas on Disney's Family Fun website.  Check out some of their Christmas ideas here.  Last year we made these cute little puffy sheep ornaments.  Sweet and well-received.

Last minute, I'd love a couple of homemade gift ideas from our readers.  Help me out by posting your favorite homemade gift in the comments section below.

Merry Christmas!
~ Katrina

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A New Family Tradition

Have you heard of a Jesse Tree?  I wanted to start this as new Christmas tradition in my home last year and, due to lack of planning, never got there.  I'd like my children to think about the true meaning of Christmas a little more and about what new toy they are going to receive a little less.  Too ambitious?

A Jesse Tree is a unique advent tree that teaches about the Bible at Christmas.  The name comes from Isaiah 11:1 "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."  Each day of advent, an ornament is added to the tree and a corresponding devotional is read from scripture.  I hope to focus on the meaning of Christmas each day and hope to teach my children some biblical history, as well.

Looking for a template, I came across this post at simplemom which gives some great tips and resources.  You can also buy a neat Jesse Tree kit at Christian Books or Amazon.

Because I'm getting a late start, I plan to use this simple template I found here or maybe this one here.  We'll start on it this Sunday after Thanksgiving and just use a naked tree branch in a pot on the kitchen table.  You can get pretty creative with this:  make your own tree, buy a little tabletop tree, make a poster for the wall or just use a branch.

Perhaps next year we can make our own ornaments to save them to use each year... like those crafty moms out there who have it together...

~ Katrina

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Other uses for a common dish soap

My husband introduced me to Palmolive as a degreaser, a cool trick passed down from his mom.  It is the only thing I've found that removes grease from clothing, but guess what else it removes?  Baby poo!  If any of you struggle to get those yellow stains out of baby clothes, struggle no more.  I know it's not all natural, but we use Palmolive as a dish soap so it's already on hand.  Christian also uses it for removing poison ivy oil from exposed skin after a romp in the woods.

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Saving money on groceries

As I mentioned before, we started a new budget.  Blah.  Well, that's what I thought anyway.  On the contrary, I've found real freedom in our budget.  That sounds silly but the idea is this: if you have money left in the food budget, there is not guilt in spending it.  If it isn't in the budget, we have to hold out for the next month.

Something I'm working on now is a comparison price list of the foods I buy at the stores where I normally shop.  We mostly shop at Aldi , Wal-Mart and now Sam's Club.

Just found out you can share a Sam's Club membership with a family member!  Check it out here.  Although it says "household member", they are more than happy for you to join their club and sell stuff to you even if you don't live in the same state.  I am now sharing a Sam's membership with my mother-in-law and we both only pay $20 per year to be a part of a wholesale club.

I will be happy to share my comparison results with you soon! Preliminary results are: buy canned goods and produce at Aldi; buy frozen chicken and vegetables and on-sale fresh meat and produce from Sam's Club; and buy household goods with coupons (price-matching when possible) at Wal-Mart.

I would LOVE for you to share your tips as I strive to save more money on our monthly grocery allowance.

As long as we're saving money, click over to my friend Meg's blog, 31 Fields.  I especially loved these money savings tips.

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Cheap Laundry Detergent

I only wish I'd started making my own laundry soap sooner.  We already used a fragrance-free, dye-free detergent, so this was no great change in quality, merely cost-effective.  Our allergist also recommends no fabric softener.  Another savings!

This recipe is easy, inexpensive and requires very little time.  Each batch makes about 4 gallons.

Ingredients: Ivory soap Borax Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda Instructions: Shred, chop or shave one bar of soap into small pieces.  (Shreds easily with a cheese grater.) In large pan, heat 6 cups of water with soap pieces. Once soap is dissolved, stir in ½ cup Borax and ½ cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda.  Stir mixture until dissolved. Remove from heat and pour into large bucket. Add 4 more cups hot water and stir until well blended. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of cold water to the mixture.  Mix well.  Let sit for 24 hours. Store in old laundry soap bottle or other container for easy pouring.  Mixture will be clumpy; shake well before each use.  Use ½ cup per load.  For high efficiency machine, use ¼ cup per load.

So... solicit friends for empty laundry soap containers, buy three ingredients, roll up your sleeves for the fun part... and start saving!

~ Katrina

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