13 Uses for Vinegar

Since I started to try eliminate the chemical cleaner and save on the money we spent buying cleaning products, I have been looking at using vinegar. Here are a fraction of uses for vinegar. This edition I will focus on the cleaning in the Kitchen.

1) Clean the microwave by boiling a solution of 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of water in the microwave. This will loosen splattered on food and deodorize.

2) Clean the grease buildup in an oven by wiping with a cleaning rag that has been moistened in distilled vinegar and water.

3) Clean the kitchen faucet and remove hard water stains by put vinegar on a cloth and let it sit on the back of the kitchen faucet.

4) Clean the coffee maker by fill the reservoir with vinegar and run it through a brewing cycle. Rinse thoroughly with water when the cycle is finished.

5) Clean the dishwasher by running a cup of vinegar through the whole cycle once a month to reduce soap build up on the inner mechanisms and on glassware.

6) Clean wood paneling by using a mixture of 1 ounce of olive oil and 2 ounces of distilled vinegar in 1 quart of warm water. Moisten a soft cloth with the solution and wipe the paneling. The yellowing is then removed by wiping with soft, dry cloth.

7) Clean a teapot by boiling a mixture of water and vinegar in it. This will wipe away the grime.

8) Clean and deodorize the garbage disposal by making vinegar ice cubes and feed them down the disposal. After grinding, run cold water through.

9) Get rid of cooking smells by letting a small pot of vinegar and water simmer on the stove.

10) Freshen a lunchbox by soaking a piece of bread in vinegar and let it sit in the lunchbox over night.

11) Clean the refrigerator by washing with a solution of equal parts water and vinegar.

12) Clean stainless steel by wiping with a vinegar dampened cloth.

13) Remove stubborn rings caused by wet glasses being placed on wood furniture by rubbing with a mixture of equal parts of distilled vinegar and olive oil. Rub with the grain and polish for the best results.

So what other ways you use vinegar in your household?

Around The Blogosphere

I know I'm late updating my Carnival around the blogosphere from last week. In the past 2 weeks I was features in a few Carnivals. Here are the rundown.

1) Stop the Ride presents Carnival of Money Stories: Check out the ABC's of Money carnival. After all, you will leave with 25 new ideas about money.

2) Student Scrooge presents Festival of Frugality: This is a great edition for Festival of Frugality #136 - Summer school Edition. A really great round up with over 60 posts of great tips and story about how to live frugally from Philosophy, Environment, Geography (Travel) to Extra Credit. And don't forget to check out the Honor Roll.

3) Can I Get Rich on a Salary presents Money Hacks Carnival: The 23rd Edition of Money Hacks Carnival features great round up

4) Georgia On My Mind presents Georgia Carnival: Check out posts about Georgia or from Georgia bloggers. It's nice to read my neighbor bloggers.

5) Credit Card Low Down presents Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness: The Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness Edition #52 is up. Make sure to check it out. There are 26 great posts out there.

6) Tip Diva presents Carnival of Tips: The edition has over 30 great tips ranging from Finance, Home, Relationship, Travel and Technology.

7) Quiverfull Family presents Carnival of Family Life: See what's going on in the family life around the blogosphere.

8) Not The Jet Set presents Green It! Carnival: This is the first time I have joined this carnival. I'm honored to be part of this great Carnival. I consider myself not-yet-green mom but trying to be as green as possible. It's such a great roundup that I enjoy reading other posts and learn a few more tips along the way.

13 Organic Food We Eat

I have started buying more organic food for several months now. I know.. I am one of those people who like to follow the trend especially if it's a good trend. So here are food that I have replaced with Organic items.

1. Milk - This was my first priority when we started out. Since the kids drink a lot of milk.

2. Egg - I originally went with Cage Free eggs but then my more-informed friend told me that it wasn't that much different between Cage Free and non-Cage Free since the definition of Cage Free means chicken get certain hours of cage free. So I decided to go all the way Organic instead of paying premium for Cage Free.

3. Strawberries - Miss J loves strawberries! And it's one of the top Dirty Dozen list of fruits and vegetables.

4. Grapes - I admitted sometimes it's hard to find organic grapes. But whenever I found one, I grap it.

5. Apples - Apples are great for lunch box. And again it's one of the Dirty Dozen.

6. Salad - I bought Organic salad from BJ. A large box for $4.79 isn't bad. The price is very comparable to normal salad bag from Publix.

7. Pancake - I made pancake in a big batch from organic flour. It's actually cheaper than buying frozen pancake from Eggo.

8. Pasta sauce - I scored a good buy from Big Lots for Organic Pasta Sauces. It is a good quick and easy dinner for us.

9. Blueberries - I bought a big frozen blueberries from Costco and used it for pancake. Sometimes Mr. Z just munched on it like a snack..

10. Frozen Green beans - Costco has such a great selection of organic food and one of my favorite is frozen green bean. I swear it tastes better than conventional one.

11. Strawberries Jam - Ok.. I admitted I bought this on a whim at Whole Food Market but I think it's a good buy. Since strawberry is on the list, I figured the jam will be too. Plus we don't use it a lot so one bottle last us for a while.

12. Chicken Broth - The price for conventional chicken broth vs organic one is very comparable. I think it's worth the investment.

13. Diced Tomato - With great coupons and sale, I stocked up on Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomato. We used that in a lot of our recipes so it's a really good buy. After all, I paid less than buying conventional diced tomato.

Attention Organic Shoppers!

I have been shopping for organic food for a while. I think it started when I picked up coupons and see that the saving I have on my grocery budget allows me to be able to buy more organic food.

I learn a lot along the way on how to shop organic without breaking the bank. Here are a few tips I have learned.

Shop even at the unexpected place

If your area has Big Lots, I suggest you at least check it out. There are several organic items on sale consistently. Keep in mind that Big Lots is like Marshalls of all things. What you see this week might not be there the next week. Also check the expiration date before pick it up. I have found Organic Mac & Cheese that won't expire till 2009. For $1 per box of Organic Mac & Cheese, you can't beat that price

Check out online source for coupons
You don't need to be a price expert to know when it's a good price. Just let your finger do the work for you. Check out online forum or blog ranging from Hot Coupon World, Organic Grocery Deals, Fiddledeedee, Money Saving Mom, The Centsible Sawyers.. These are my main site that I check each week to see what deals are out there. They have done a great job in compiling all the information for you. Then match those deals with your coupons and head to the store to stock up on sale items. This week I paid $1.50 for a half gallon Organic Valley milk. That's $3/gallon for an organic milk.. You can't even buy that for a conventional milk.

Don't buy only brand name
With the push for more Green and Organic products, grocery stores come out with their own generic brand of organic food.. Good news for you! Look for those products when you can't find coupon for national brand.

Wait for sale and stock up

This week the organic milk is really a good deal for my area. I am experimenting in freezing my millk. I will let you know the result later.. If you have frozen milk before, please let me know.

You don't need that Organic Lollipop

It will be nice if we all can afford all organic in our pantry. But the fact is it's too expensive. So shop wisely and don't get caught up in all organic for those junk food. I mean come on.. do you really need that Organic Lollipop? If you can only afford one organic item, then pick the one that you eat the most like Milk, Bread, Poultry, or anything from the Dirty Dozen list. It will be different for each family so you should be able to take the list and see which one your family tends to consume the most.

How about you? What are things you know or learn along the way shopping organically?

Be a Hero. "Save the Cash, Save the World"

Earth day is everyday as we should put it. We live on this Earth so we must treat our home with respect. Ok.. I may sound like a treehugger. Please take no offense. I love them! But I'm not totally green. I can't forego travelling just yet or eat everything that is organic. But I believe that helping to save the Earth can also save your money as well.

I found several money saving tips that can be used as tips to go green.

- Pack your own lunch : By packing your own lunch you can save at least $10 a meal. In addition to the money saved, it will cut back on the usage of the food packaging used by fast food joints. For example, the cafeteria in the company I work for does not offer biodegradable plastic utensils and serves the food in styrofoam packaging. Both will clog up the landfills. I might need to get on my soapbox at my company and push for biodegradable utensils.

- Change to CFL light bulbs : If everyone just changed one (only one) light bulb to the CFL light bulb in every household in the US, it will reduce the pollution as much as taking 1 million cars of the road for a year. That's a huge impact! From our personal experience, I can say that our energy bill is less once we started using CFL light bulbs. I still have several light to change. If I can just get Mr. Rojo to get over his fear of heights, I'll get those last few bulbs changed.

- Turn down your thermostat by 1 degree or more : We don't need to set the thermostat to 74 degree during Summer to feel comfortable and we don't need to set it to 70 degree during Winter to feel warmer either. By adjusting your thermostat by 1 degree, you will find that your energy bill will be reduced. The less energy you use, the less pollution generate from power company.

- Use less water : I live in Atlanta area where drought was and is a big deal for us. So I have become more conscience about water usage in our household. I wash the dishes by hand. I do our laundry in full load with cold water. I take a quick shower. Quite frankly, I wouldn't water my lawn if Mr. Rojo doesn't insist or the HOA won't send me any letters reminding us that our lawn looks so pathetic.

- Wrap up water heater and lower temperature setting : A water heater blanket costs less than $15 from Home Depot. It took me about 10 minutes to wrap it up and I can see the difference in our gas bill from the previous year. We also lowered the hot water temperature to 120 degree. This is done to save money as well as for safety reasons. It will reduce the risk of our kids burning themselves if they play with hot water.

- Grow your own herb garden : This is one of my newest experience. I don't have a green thumb. Unfortunately, I think every plant would rather die instead of live with me, but it's worth the try when you can buy a $0.99 seed bag and grow your own herb like basil, cilantro or tomato. You will have your own organic veggies and save a ton on your grocery. Plus it's a good science project to do with your school kids as well.

- Use reusable water bottle instead of plastic water bottle : I admit that we use to buy a case of water bottles for Miss J to pack for her school snack. With all the plastic bottles we went through with just one child in school, it would probably take 1,000 years for those bottles to decompose. So, we switched to use filter water and a reusable water bottle for her. A small step to take and a good opportunity to teach the new generation about the impacts of their choices.

- Use reusable grocery bag : Ok.. This option might not save you money but it sure helps save the environment. Plus you don't need to spend an arm or a leg for a reusable bag. You can pick it up from virtually any grocery stores now for $0.99 in most stores. Plus you can get a free bag from various sources. I got 2 free bags from Whole Food Market from their Earth Day. I also waited for another free one from Earthbound Farm. You can get one by taking a quiz here. Or you can use your artistic ability that has been hidden to good use and submit a design at Kroger for a free bag here. You must have a Kroger card and the free bag will be loaded to your Kroger card for you to pick up at the store once you have submitted the design.

- Consume less : Oh.. What a concept! Consuming less, saves you money. Also consuming less will produce less waste. It's like killing two birds with one stone. Except killing two birds wouldn't be very nice of me and to do it with a stone would be so barbaric. Plus my hand and eye coordination is horrible. The likelyhood of killing two birds with one... Sorry...

So there you have it. Some ways to save your wallet and save the world at the same time.

My Small Part for this Big World

So Earth Day is tomorrow and I typically don't even realize about it until it's about 2 weeks after the fact. But for some reason, this year I have been reading and educating myself more about the movement. I won't say that I'm anywhere near a greenie person at all.. But here are some of the small ways that I do in my house to help within my mean.

We switched several of our light bulb to CFL light bulb for a couple years now. I can't afford to do the whole house so I did on the room that we use the most. The kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, outdoor light by the patio. I was never one of the type who can show you the real $$ saving so don't ask me. Since I did it when I moved here so I don't have a base line to compare anyway.

I bought Miss J a bottle water so she can use that at her snack time instead of plastic bottle. Not only it will save the environment, it will also save my money.. Woo hoo!!

When we went to Whole Food Market this past Saturday, we got free lunch bag and a few reusable grocery bags. I already had 2 reusable grocery bags from Publix. But this will help me to remember to use it in more stores not just in grocery store.

Also today I packed my lunch in my new lunch bag. Reduce the use of plastic bag. Checked! Oh! Now this one my friend will be proud. I took it from her idea to bring my own utensils to work. Typically, I will use plastic spoon and fork providing from my company but today I use my own. And I feel good to eat from real utensil. Thanks, Sue!

I also decide against my better judgement to start an herb garden. Ok.. All my friends who know how brown my thumb is you can stop laughing now. I have my secret in my back pocket. My MIL is an incredible gardener and she enjoys it tremendously. So I figure I have my back up for this. :) I will post more about this little project on my progress. But right now our little basil start to show sign of life. So that's a good start!

Five Finds For Friday - Earth Day

In honor of the Earth day celebration this week, I would like to add five blogs that I have been reading about going Green.

I'm not a crunchy mom by nature. But I do my best to work on incorporate more environmental friendly products into our house. It's not cheap I can say that. But somehow, it's doable if I do it little by little. One baby step at a time. So today, I have links for 5 blogs that have great info or just plain fun blog to read.

1. Organic Mania - I love it when I can find information about going green on a budget. I think it will help the Earth more if this alternative is more affordable. I think everyone wants to help but not everyone can.

2. Big Green Purse - Full with info on going green. She also has a book that talks about how we as a woman has a power to pressure the big corporation to be more eco-friendly. Now that's my kind of gal.

3. Nature Mom's Blog - A great blog with lots of green living tips and info.

4. No Impact Man - Tell it likes it is blog. With a very interesting experiment to live a year with No Impact. The project is done but there are a lot for me to read and catch up. Very fun reading.

5. The Green Baby Guide - A great blog for down-to-earth way to save time, money and our planet. I love the honest writing and so down-to-eart of this blog. It makes me feel like I'm not the only one who is struggle to balance between saving money and the planet at the same time.

There are more blogs out there but these are my favorite. What's yours?

Recycle my old cell phone

If you are anything like myself, your old cell phone will be in one of your junk drawer. Ok.. you might not be like myself and I think it still will be in one of your junk drawer.

This morning on the way to work, I listened to a radio and heard about a good organization called 'Help Them Call Home' that help recycled old cell phone to prepaid minutes for our troop.

I'm sure some of you would rather sell it on ebay to make some money. But I am not good at selling my stuff on eBay and by the time I want to do so my cell phone is too old to sell it anyway. So it ended up in my junk drawer.

This way, I can accomplish several things at once. One is being greener by recycle. Two is to be able to show my appreciation to our troop by helping them to be able to call home with the prepaid minutes. Three is to get rid of my junk. Like they said.. one person junk is another treasure.

So this is what I tackled this Tuesday.