Guest Post from "Smile As It Happens": " What to know: From Military to Civilian Life"

I hope everything had a fabulous Fourth and is ready to enjoy the weekend!

Today I am collaborating with Emma Banks, from Smile As It Happens.

Emma is a military spouse who contacted me and offered to write a post with some of her military insight on some of the difficulties of, as well as myths concerning, making the transition from military life to civilian life, particularly in regard to finding and keeping employment. In Emma's words: "The article discusses the importance of helping our country’s service members find employment either during station changes, or once they have either finished their active service, or become disabled while serving and thus been forced to end active duty."

Emma currently seeking a career in life and career coaching and she has some really helpful tips on the matter of going from military back to civilian:

What to Know: From Military to Civilian Life

Here are four myths that, if you buy into them, may kill your confidence in finding a post-military career. I’m here to counter these myths with truths that will make sure that you are as prepared as possible to be successful in your post military transition.

Myth #1: It is difficult to find non-military jobs after spending so many years in the service.

Truth: As a veteran, there are many jobs that you are more than qualified for. There are programs available that are designed to help you in your job hunt. A group called 100,000 Jobs Mission works specifically to provide information on open positions that former military will be well qualified for. This resource also provides job outlook, qualifications needed and salary expectations.

 

Myth #2: Most companies do not care about applicants.

Truth: While employers are definitely looking out for their own interests, they do care about potential employees. Just as you are attempting to make a good impression on your potential employer, the company similarly desires to impress you and make applying for a job as easy as possible. In order to streamline the application process many companies have started to partner with services like JIBE, a mobile recruiting company. These services allow you to upload your resume and various job-related documents instantly from your smartphone or tablet.

 

Myth #3: There are not any companies that are specifically looking to hire veterans.

Truth: Many companies are looking to hire former military members. Companies that are run on-base such as military credit unions or insurances are a great place to start looking. Additionally, several websites annually list companies that specifically look to hire veterans. Among those are GI Jobs and Military Friendly. Visiting these sites regularly will keep you up-to-date with the latest job availability and will help you in your quest for future employment.

Myth #4: Job seekers do not need to promote themselves to prospective employers.

Truth: Even though veterans are highly sought after in the civilian world, it is still very important that you, as the interviewee, sell yourself. Mention any awards and promotions you have received and what you have accomplished during your time in service. Remember, you are most likely one of several people who want the same job, and making sure the potential employer hears about all you accomplished is necessary to give yourself the best chance at employment.

Emma is a mid 20-something year old with a passion for life, love, fitness, and helping others. She loves to be active and get involved in as many sport and community activities as possible. Emma is currently studying to become a Career & Life Coach, and loves to network with people from around the world! Check out Emma’s blog at http://smileasithappens.blogspot.com/! 

Thanks, Emma! Check out her blog for more tips and show her some love! I hope those that info is helpful to some of you! My husband is still active duty air force, but in the not-so-far future he will be making that ever-so-important transition and I bet some of these tips and truths will be helpful to us as well!

Stay tuned for my future guest post on Emma's blog! I'm working on a great summer-time recipe post for her and her readers! Coming soon!


*All article content: Emma. All photo content: my own.

How to Save Money on a Hawaiian Vacation (or any vacation):

My husband and I just recently returned from a 8 day trip to Oahu, Hawai'i. It was our combination honeymoon/anniversary trip. We were so blessed to be able to spend our first anniversary in such a beautiful place!

As you may know, going to Hawaii can be very pricey. There are a lot of variables on the cost of a trip, such as where you are flying from, and the type of place you choose to stay, etc, but overall it can be a rather high cost place to visit as far as the USA goes, because it is an island. Food, especially, can be very costly there as it is mainly imported. Regular grocery items can cost up to twice as much.

I'm not one to normally discuss numbers and finances, but I think this may be beneficial to some, so I am posting it. With some careful planning and budget we were able to enjoy 8 days in Honolulu for $2,000.  Not per person. Yes, total. Two people, 8 days, hotel, food, rental car, activities (including beaches, hikes, jet skis, a catamaran cruise, snorkeling, a luau, and significant historic sites)= two thousand.

I have done a little research and there is not exact number as far as what a trip/honeymoon to Hawaii can cost you, but after reading several articles and travel magazines I have come to the conclusion that the average for a week is about $1,500 per person. So I think we did pretty alright.

Please do keep in mind we are a military couple, so we did get some great deals related to that. We stayed at a military resort (the Hale Koa, right on Waikiki, if anyone is interested), which was lovely and much lower priced than your average Hawaiian resort. We had a nice balcony room (which we, by favor, got as an upgrade) which we were charged about $90 a night(ground floor price). We also got a deal on the rental car, and were able to save about $200 off the extra fees they would normally charge (due to age and whatnot) because my husband is in the Air Force. But a lot of the money we saved was purely being frugal.

 Initially we had planed on taking a military "hop," but we decided that was a little to risky for us. Planes only went from our base to Hickam once or maybe twice a month and our budget couldn't afford us getting stuck there. As plan B, we got a great deal on plane tickets. We live on the West Coast and were able to fly, without lay overs, straight there. Tickets to Hawaii based on where you are flying from can be anywhere from $300 to $1,500 per person round trip. We flew Alaska Airlines and ours were very closest to the lowest possible price on that scale.  Another huge factor in ticket cost is the season: Hawaii is considered to have its peak season of tourism from November to March. Since we went in the end May, that also saved us a bunch.

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I am not going to give any more exact break downs of what we spent.  On to the frugality tips...

*LUNCHES/PICNICS:
The first day we arrived we hit up a grocery store to stock up on lunch items. Family who had been before had already warned us about the high food prices so we had packed some snack items in our luggage from home and then purchased rolls, cheese, lunch meat and the like from the grocery store (commissary @ Pearl Harbor for you military folk) and kept it in our hotel room fridge. We spent about $30 on lunch goods for the week. Since we planned to spend most mornings on the beach we figured packing our own lunches would save us a bunch rather than having to find a place to eat out or have a meal at the resort. If you figure that sandwiches or your average lunch foods would be about $20 total bill for the both of us for 8 days, that simple move right there saved us about $130. We did eat lunches out a couple times, but overall that plan worked great.

*ACTIVITIES:
While food on Hawaii is high price, activities are fairly cheap if you choose carefully. What is NOT cheap is doing the 800 different tours the resort will try to offer you. We went to some great places: We snorkeled in Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, we hiked Diamond Head Crater, we went to Pearl Harbor and ferried out to the USS Arizona Memorial, we hiked to Manoa Falls, amongst other things. We also enjoyed many different beaches, all of which were free (except for the occasional parking fee). The resort offered all manner of tour packages for luaus, sightseeing, and museums. Heck, they had shopping center tours! But honestly, with the rental car (or with Hawaii's huge bus system) you can easily enjoy the island without paying for someone else to bring you places. Most the places we went parking was about a dollar and admission was $5-$8 per person.

Maybe in some situations would be nice, but we had a great time without them. HERE is a list of some tour options: PRICEY! As a comparison, you can do a "Pearl Harbor Experience" for $119.00. We went to Pearl Harbor. The Arizona Memorial is free to all, you just have to wait for it to be your turn for the ferry. There are other museums, battleships and monuments you can see for a charge, but we enjoyed several hours there just walking around looking at memorials and going through their Valor in the Pacific centers (mini museums). You can also purchase an MP3 tour for about $20. We also visited some other places which the tour covers, like downtown Honolulu, Iolani Palace, the Kamehameha statue and Punchbowl cemetery, all for free. Plus, you have so much more freedom to enjoy things at your own pace when you don't have to worry about keeping up with a group. This is just one example of many. Do your research in advance, use resources like Pinterest, Yelp, or Trip Advisor and figure out where you want to go and what you want to see and then just go do it for yourself! With a rental car and GPS the possibilities are quite endless! Adventures are fun!

Also on the topic of activities: CHECK GROUPON! This applies to Hawaii or any place you intend to visit. You can get deals on local restaurants, shops and activities! I browsed through the Honolulu offers several times before we left and there were many great offers for things like surf lessons, massages, fancy restaurants, and all sorts of water sport rentals. We personally purchased a lovely catamaran sunset cruise for half off its normal price. It ended up being one of our favorite things we did there!

We did "splurge" and do a luau at the Hale Koa as we felt it was worth it. There are many Luaus to choose from and they can be pricey, but it just seems necessary for the Hawaiian experience. We also splurged a bit and rented a jet ski. Decide what you want to do, save where you can and then spend where you want to!

*SHOPPING:
We aren't shoppers. We do not so much like to browse and wander stores. We do not like to purchase many things. So we save money by not shopping. Honolulu had MASS amounts of malls and shopping centers but we avoided them for the most part. We did get some souvenirs, home items, clothing items and COFFEE but over all this isn't a big chunk of where our money goes on vacations.


*DINNING:
Obviously, the best way to save on dinning is to not dine at super fancy places. On past trips elsewhere we have also gone to the other extreme and dined at places like taco bell too many times and while we saved money, we felt ill. Find a happy medium. Maybe plan for a nice romantic dinner or two, and then for the rest of the trip see what else you can find. We love local food and little less-frequented-by-tourists establishments. Farmers markets or food trucks and sometimes have great deals on local cuisine. The fresh fruit is the best! We also stopped at a flea market and got several different local handmade breads which served as snacks and breakfasts a couple days. Other Tips: Order water. Sometimes we get an appetizer (its always calamari) and split a meal. Sometimes we have salads and a dessert. Or two meals and split dessert. And then there is alcohol: we aren't what you call drinkers, but Hawaii is not really Hawaii without a few fruity rum beverages. Those $8 drinks can add up real quick and take a huge chunk out of a budget, so...just consider that.

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Just as is with any vacation, with a little careful planning and budgeting you can have a great time for a relatively reasonable amount of money. Does anyone have any other tips I missed? I can't wait to post more photos and stories about our lovely trip to the gorgeous island of Oahu!

Hand-Painted Art for My Kitchen: "Where You Invest Your Love..."

This post has been a long time coming. This project was finished a couple weeks ago, but I was waiting to get it hung up (with the help of my husband) before posting.

As you know, I live in a little cook-cutter, white walled, baby house on an Air Force Base. Base housing is far from character-filled...in fact it is a little stark white and very un-personal. We are allowed to paint or hang stuff, but it must be returned to the state we found it in upon leaving, which being in the military, you never can be sure when that will be. Someday we will live in an old house, full of charm and character, but for today we don't. For now, I am trying to make my little baby house as homey, charming and personal as I can without investing to much into it, as it is, after all, only temporary (only probably a year or so).

We were able to purchase plenty of furniture for our house together and now I am left with the task of doing the little ("girly") tasks of decorating. I'm not a huge fan of white walls, and white walls without art are super sad. I, however, have trouble finding art that I like within our budget, so I have therefore be doing the DIY thing (which I do anyway but..).

About a month back on a weekend, my husband and I were at his shop (he works in a Civil Engineering Squadron doing Structures). They have a bin of junk wood and scraps. He was throwing some stuff in there when I spotted this...cabinet door-like thing...

I am still not sure what it was. Looks like a cabinet door, but it has 6 weird little hooks on it, and no signs of and hinges ever being there so...it's a mystery. But I liked it. It looked like it wanted to be painted on. I waited another week of it being in the scrap bin before I ..*pilfered* it for my own.

I decided on painting some of my favorite song lyrics on it. "WHERE YOU INVEST YOUR LOVE, YOU INVEST YOUR LIFE." (Mumford and Sons: Awake, My Soul). If I was the sort to get tattoos, that would already be on me somewhere, but as I am not quite that sort I figured painting it as art for my kitchen was a close substitute. I pondered getting some stencils to make the letters crisp and precise, but that is not really indicative of myself. Instead, I free handed it. I did pencil in some lines to help keep it all straight- I have an horrible inability to make straight lines without ruler guidance.

 Lyrics alone don't make a painting for me, so I bordered it in some Hungarian-inspired flowers. Hungary has some gorgeous embroidery which has always been part of decorating my family's home (my grandfather was from Hungary and one of my sisters is adopted from there), so I decided to bring some into mine.I am incapable of embroiderying such beauty, but painting it is fun.  I considered painting flowers to also mimic Polish paper art (called Wincynanki), to honor my Polish heritaged husband. But it is incredibly detailed and when I practiced on other paper my flowers looked awful in paint, so I scratched that plan and stuck with my own roots. When I finished my couple days of painting it, I sealed it with spray varnish.

I am pretty pleased with how it came out. It's unique, I think. That's probably why I like it so much. JoJo helped me get it screwed into our kitchen wall and it now is hanging over our little dinning area. Just one more little bit of homey charm to our house!

Still a little stark and sad, but getting happier! If you can't tell, I'm a fan of color. You can't see the rest of my kitchen in this photo, but all the colors present in the flowers are basically the color scheme of my kitchen. Anything with a folksy print, bright color, or vintage vibe is welcome. I suppose salvaged cabinet door wall art fits in nicely.

 

Thrifty Thinkin': Healthier Homemade Blueberry Muffins

I am rather infamous for things I can cook in a muffin pan. Breakfast quiches, cupcakes, rolls, pancake bites, stuffed pizza bites, brownies, mini popcorn balls, baked macaroni...etc. A muffin pan is probably my #1 kitchen necessity. However, up until this week I had never made actual muffins in my muffin pan. I had actually never made muffins in my life.

Usually every weekend I try to come up with a reasonably quick and healthy breakfast that I can make in advance and then either quickly heat in the oven of in the microwave before my Airman husband has to get to work in the early morning during the week. Usually it involves eggs (and probably in a muffin pan). But this week I thought I might give something else a go- BLUEBERRY MUFFINS!

I did a little pinterest hunt and came up with this: Blueberry Muffins According to Martha Stewart. Then I did a little tweaking of my own. I followed her recipe exactly except for 3 minor changes. Instead of the 1 1/4 cups of white sugar (something I do my best to avoid in large amounts) I substituted in 3/4 cups of honey.  Because of the honey burning easier than white sugar, I also lowered the oven temp from 375 to 350 instead. Then, instead of the 1 cup of milk (something I also try and avoid in large quantity, especially now since some milk contains unlabeled aspartame), I substituted 1 cup of unsweetened original flavored coconut milk. You could also use soy milk, almond milk, etc.


So:  Here is Martha's Recipe (Martha Stewart Living, July/August 2000), with my changes in bold.

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for tins
• 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling (3/4 cups of honey. I did sprinkle a little white sugar on top though)
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk (1 cup unsweetened coconut milk)
• 1 3/4 cups blueberries

 

I preheated my oven to 350. If using white sugar instead of honey, go ahead and set it to 375.

 

Butter your muffin pan. This recipe makes 6 large muffins or 12 small muffins. I went with the 12.

 

In once bowl, mix/sift together your flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.

 

In another bowl, cream butter and sugar/honey until fluffy, which will take about 3 minutes with an electric mixer, or about 5 with a wooden spoon. As I don't yet own a mixer of any type, I used a google old fashioned wooden spoon for this whole recipe. If you have fancy gadgets like Martha, go ahead and use those.

 

Add in the egg and egg yolks, along with the vanilla to the sugar/honey and butter mixture. Then gradually add in parts of your flour and milk/coconut milk until it is all combined into a dough. This can be done on low with a mixer or by hand. Then gently fold in your blueberries. I used frozen, but fresh would be equally delightful. This is the fun part because you get to watch the mixture turn blueishpurple.

 

Divide the muffin batter between the tins. Sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake until golden. Approximately 45 minutes for large muffins and about 30-35 for small muffins (this would depend on which temperature you set your oven too, so keep a watchful eye on them!). Before removing from the pan allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Once cool, I removed them from the pan and pack them up in a ziploc baggie, ready to go for the rest of the week. Now at 6:30 AM all I have to do it set a muffin in the microwave for about 45 seconds, slap some butter on it and hand it to my husband as he goes out the door. Easy and delicious!





How to Cook Whole Trout

"Guess what, I have a surprise for you!"

says the Airman in uniform coming through the door and holding his gym bag.

"Um...a cat brother for Trink?"

Nope. He pulls out a ziploc bag with two whole, fresh trout.

"...where did you get those?"

"Don't you worry about that..."

 

Medium length story made short, someone he works with is really into fishing and apparently caught enough trout to share. My husband was quick to volunteer his wife as someone interested in cooking whole fishes (and he was right).

As part of our life goals, when we grow up JoJo and I have decided want to be Phil and Kay Robertson (Duck Dynasty anyone? We are addicts!). Kay is adorable and can cook anything and Phil is a sardonic, bearded, redneck genius. They have great traditional values and they have been married over 50 years and are completely in love. They are also hysterically funny. Sound like good role models to me!

Cooking fresh fishes seems like a good place to get some more practice for moving toward that goal. I do cook fish pretty much weekly, but typically it is salmon and never does it ever have eyes and fins and all that. Thankfully the guy who gave them to him already gutted them out, so I don't have to worry about that part.

I have been browsing for trouty recipes; I slightly tweaked this recipe I found here. Instead of pan cooking, I baked mine (because I didn't have a pan big enough to fit 2 fish). I also added parsley and oregano.

Anyway:

 

Step 1: Well...I guess you'd have to either buy or catch your own trout and possibly gut it, but I managed to skip that step. (Pretty sure these are Brook Trout and not Rainbow, by the way)

 

Step 2: you might could want to take some photos with your raw trout. At least I wanted to. Bonus points for singing Gollum-like songs. Did I mention "I am different than most women"?

 

Step 3: Heat your oven to 350 and put some olive oil in your pan.

Step 4: Slice lemons thin and stick them inside the fish (which has been slit open due to the gutting and all that). Also insert about 3 cloves of garlic, minced. I also made a mixtue of salt, pepper, oregano and parsley and rubbed that on the inside of the fish. Just a little pinch of each, along with a little more olive oil.

Step 5: Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes (all depends on the size of your fish. The skin should get slightly crispy and the fish should be slightly flakey).

 

Step 6: ENJOY! So fresh and tasty! (Now, if you are wondering how you go about EATING it, like I was, this link here might be helpful!) We served ours up with some brown rice, homemade bread and asparagus.

I hope some of you get a chance to try it! This was our first experience with a fish not purchased in a store (one more step furthering us from being "yuppies"). Definitely very different from our usual salmon preference, but quite delicious nonetheless!

 



Thrifty Thinkin': Repurposed and Painted Jars for Cute Pantry Storage

As you know, I've been trying my hand at attempting to make as much of our food from scratch and buy as little packaged/process/pre-made foods as possible. But there are still plenty of things that I buy that come in some sort of container, like pasta sauce (although, soon I will be making our own!) and salsa. Often those jars, either plastic or glass, can be reused to store something else. Some of them are actually pretty cool too (Classico pasta sauce comes in a mason- type jar!).

 

 I've always tried to reuse containers whenever possible. Typically I remove the labels with hot water and a sponge and then send them through the dishwasher once. Then I use the jars to organize some of my pantry items, like dried beans, popcorn kernels or rice. After a little while though it was starting to look chaotic with a bunch of sharpie-labeled random jars with lids that didn't match the contents (such as Ragu lid on Kidney beans).

That bugged me. Plus, I am always down for a craft project, so I decided to give those jars a little make over.

First, I picked up a can of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor (basically good on any surface) spray paint in my favorite shade- Cherry Red- at Michael's (40% of with coupon, so around $3.00).

This part was quite the process. I guess I over-estimated the power of spray paint. I brought the lids outside and soon realized that it might just take 3 million coats to cover up the lettering on the lids. But with a little patience (and a final coat count of 5) I got them to be thoroughly Cherry Red. In hind sight, some sort of white primer would have been a really good idea. But it worked regardless.

Next came the fun part. Painting random designs all over the red lids. They don't actually match, they just sort of...coordinate, which is basically a summation of most things I surround myself with. I love color and these lids are sure colorful now. I used an array of acrylic paints and just fooled around with flowers and patterns until I was happy with my lids.

I allowed them to dry for a couple hours and gave them each two coats of  glossy acrylic Americana Sealer (also from Michael's, 40% off for about $3.00).

After letting them dry overnight, I put them back on my jars and now they are super spiffy and bright!

I still have plenty of spray paint left over, so my plan is to continue adding jars and painted lids to my collection as I empty out store bought products. Now my pantry makes me smile! Art belongs everywhere!

Only caution with these is that they are NOT washable. I don't really care since the contents will be pretty consistent and dried beans don't make much mess, but you wouldn't want to try and store anything wet or messy in them. If cleanup is needed, a damp paper towel should do the trick.

These would also be great for office storage for little bits and pieces like paper clips. Or, great in a bathroom for things like cotton balls and Q-tips too! You can make them match your decor! It would also be a fun project for kids to help out with (adults do the spray painting and varnishing, but let kiddos decorate!). I'm thinking it would be super cute for a little girls room/bathroom for storing little hair clips and dainty whatnots.

It is really fun to find purposes for everyday items, especially if they are cute! Let me know if you give them a try!

Thrifty Thinkin': How to Make Homemade {Potato} Bread

Since moving to Washington and trying to be as frugal as possible, I have taken up making all of our breads. Not that we spend loads of cash on bread, but it is still an improvement and it is so much better for you without the preservatives and chemicals! Plus, it tastes a heck of a lot better.

I don't have a bread machine, and I don't know anything too fancy. My mom taught me how to make bread when I was a kid, and lately I've just been experimenting with different recipes and variations. I am not much of a fan of store bought sandwich bread, but my husband is partial to Potato bread. Often I send him to work with sandwiches for lunch and potato bread is always his preference. After making bread for a couple weeks I started to play around with potato bread recipes. The outcomes have been mighty tasty and the husband is a fan of homemade bread now! Success! My loaves don't look like the store bought (WHY is potato bread always yellowish in the store? Potatoes aren't even yellow...?), but it tastes delicious!

Here is how I make it:

First off, to make bread you need YEAST.
I use an activedry yeast that needs to be "proofed" before you can use it in bread. A lot of people use instant yeasts, but I am not familiar with those and cannot speak for them...

First, preheat your oven to 200. Once it is warmed, shut it off. This will just be a warm area for the yeast and bread to do what they need to do.

For this recipe you need, 2 1/4 tablespoons of yeast. Put it in an bowl and add 1/4 cup of warm water and a table spoon of sugar. Mix it up and put it in the oven (now off!) for 10 minutes. The yeast should double in size by the time 10 minutes is up; this is how you know it is active and ready to use.

While you wait for the yeast to proof put these ingredients in a bowl:
3 cups of bread flour (potato flour can be incorporated here if you have it available, I however, do not have any of that yet),
 2 tablespoons of sugar,
 3/4 teaspoon of salt,
3/4 teaspoon of oil (I use olive),
1 cup of hot water,
1/2 cup of milk and
1/2 cup of mashed potatoes (I just prepared and used the flakey instant kind)
then add in your proofed yeast and mix all the dough together.

The dough should come together into a sort of sticky mess. If it is too dry, add a bit more water.

Then, clean and flour your counter (and your hands) where you will knead the bread.

 Next: knead that dough! I've always been told by my mother that you need to knead the dough until it feels "smooth like a baby's bottom." But if baby butt analogies don't quite help you understand how long something takes, I'd say something like 8 minutes. If you need a little help or refresher on kneading, HERE is a good Youtube tutorial which may help you!

Once you have kneaded the bread, place the dough into a well oiled bread pan and put it in the still-warm oven to rise for 1 hour. (If you want to form your own loaf and not use a bread pan, you should let it rise in a oiled bowl, covered with a damp dishtowel).

Once your hour is up and your bread is fully risen, take it out and heat the oven back up to 350. Bake the bread for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool and slice.

 If left out or in the fridge, because the bread has no preservatives, it will go stale if not eaten in a day or two. If you have a big family, eat it up quick! Or, you can do like I do for just my husband and I. I place the slices in a freezer bag and freeze it, thawing it out as we need it for toast and sandwiches throughout the week.

Hope you enjoy this scrumptious bread! Be sure to have a nice thick slice with butter or cheese when it is fresh out of the oven and still warm! Nothing better!

Thrifty Thinkin': How to Make Your Own Fabric Softener

Confession: I am a fabric softener and dry sheet ADDICT. Like...seriously. I love, love, love the smell and feel of fresh, soft laundry (folding it, not so much though) and I use way more of both than any set of instructions on the packaging usually call for.

But as it turns out:

 #1- it is getting to be pricey using them at the rate I do and
#2- liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheets are full of chemical and toxins. That concerns me. Ingredient lists can include ethanol, chloroform, and phthalates, just to name a few. Some ingredients have been linked to cancers and nervous system disorders. Basically, you are wearing and breathing harmful toxins all the time when you use these products. Dont' believe me? Read more here.

Because of these two things, I decided to seek some alternatives. I am trying to create a more frugal, as well as healthier, lifestyle for my husband and I, and this is just another small step.

 I'm sure anyone with a pinterest account has seen some of the tutorials on ways to freshening and soften fabric in cheaper and more healthy ways. I've been trying a few out, and as I run out of laundry products I intend to try some more. But so far, what I have encountered is so much cheaper and works just as well!

First off, homemade fabric softener. (I'll be posting my dry ball alternatives next!)


I compared some various other bloggers recipes and suggestions and simplified them all into my own concoction. WHITE VINEGAR+CHEAP CONDITIONER and some WATER.

Me and Snuggle were buddies for a while. Boy, that stuff smells good, but the list of nastiness in the ingredients isn't as enjoyable. Have you ever noticed a lot of fabric softeners have a warning to not use on baby clothes? Its cause they can be harmful! I also have really sensitive skin and easily react to chemicals and fragrances.

At first, this new idea had me a little concerned. Vinegar and conditioner? Really? I was especially concerned because my husband hates (with a passion) the smell vinegar (I mean, to the extent I can't eat things like salad dressing, pickles or salt and vinegar chips while he is home). And I have to agree, it smells pretty bad. But I promise you, once it goes through with your laundry cycle there will not be a trace of vinegar smell left on your clothes.

To make the softener I simply used an empty bottle of my prior fabric softener, 5 cups of hot water, 4 cups of white vinegar, and half the bottle (between 2 and 3 cups) of Cheap Conditioner that I picked up at the dollar store. I used Suave, in the Ocean Breeze scent, but any brand or scent of conditioner you like would work as well. The conditioner is just the scenting agent and also helps with static clinging. Some sites recommend mixing it in a big pot on the stove, but frankly I didn't want conditioner and vinegar on my pots, and knowing me, I'd spill it all in the transfer anyhow. I just dumped the ingredients into the empty (cleaned out) plastic bottle and gave it a good shaking.

When I do laundry (which I do a lot of thanks to the US Air Force and its uniforms) I simply use the existing fabric softener cap, about half a cap full, and add it into the fabric softener area of my washing machine. The initial smell is vinegary, but as promised, after the cycle it through the clothes smell fresh!  The cost is great too! $1 for the conditioner and some vinegar out of the over-a-gallon- jug a keep on hand (about $2). I intend to experiment with other scents of conditioner (lavender!?) to see which I like best.

 I've been using this new softener for a month now and I, fabric softener addict that I was, am surprisingly pleased with the results!

Stay tuned for a post on dry ball alternatives! Also, as soon as I finish up what I already have in my laundry room, I am going to try my hand at making my own laundry soap! Let me know if you guys give it a try!

End note: Of course, there are some bad chemicals and frangrances involved in conditioner as well, but it is the lesser of two evils here. I am going to keep researching and see if there is something else that can be added to the vinegar instead of conditioner that would serve the same dual frangrance/softening purpose, but is more natural. Buying expensive natural conditioner seems to defeat the whole frugality side of this project, but I so far haven't encountered any other options. (Any ideas?) For now, this is an improvement.

*UPDATE: I found a more natural method HERE. Baking soda, vinegar, water and essential oils. I'll have to try this one next!

Thrifty Thinkin': HOMEMADE BROWNIE MIX

My husband loves brownies. Loves them.

During our long distance days, I packed up a lot of brownies in boxes and sent them to various Air Force bases throughout the world. Now that we are together, the brownie making has continued on.

We aren't big sugar eaters, but he likes a dessert in his lunches so we average a batch of brownies a week.  I have attempted other desserts, like peanut butter cookies or raspberry cake, but he asks where the brownies are. Apparently, he doesn't get sick of them so I am not allowed to be sick of making them.

I did, however, get sick of buying brownie mix every time I went to the store. I was able to stock up a couple times on 99 cent boxes, but I knew I could do better. One of my goals for this year (or life) is to avoid paying convenience and just do things myself. Plus, I try and avoid ingredients that I cannot pronounce whenever possible, and I know to flee when I see "partially hydrogenated soybean oil" on the list.

Not sure where you get your brownie mix, but mine contained some of these: niacin, thiamin mononitrate riboflavin, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, artificial flavors...Now, I am no nutritionist, but I don't know what that crap is, so we are probably better off without it. General rule.

I had some extra time on my hands this week so I browsed the Internet (Pinterest!) for homemade brownie mix recipes and then compiled them all to create my own. Very simple, and I made a large batch of it so it is all ready for next time!

 I'm storing mine in a big vintage glass jar from England that I picked up at a local thrift store for $4.

Without further ado...BELLA'S BROWNIES!

First, the mix:
1 large glass jar or pantry storage container.
4 cups of sugar
3 cups of all purpose flour (most recipes called for unbleached flour, but I only have all purpose and bread flour on hand and I figured there must be a reason they call it "all purpose," right?)
3/4 Teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 table spoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of cocoa powder

**I mixed mine up by sealing the jar and shaking/spinning/dancing with it. You could be civil and use a spoon and a mixing bowl and then pour it into a jar, but I try and avoid pouring powdery things when at all possible. I tend to make a cloud of culinary dust all over my kitchen.

The mix is now happily residing in my pantry for more brownie making fun at later dates. Now, onto making THE BROWNIES!

Preheat oven to 350*

 

2 1/4 cups of brownie mix

2 Eggs

1/3 cup of vegetable/canola oil

(probably could be healthier and use coconut instead!)

1/4 cup of water

*look! You could pronounce all of it! No mystery!*

Whisk all that deliciousness up in a bowl. Add in any additional ingredients for a twist (suggestions below!). Pour into something like an 8x10 pan which you have greased. (Confession: I do not yet have such a pan in my kitchen arsenal. So I used a larger baking dish, which because of the size resulted in thinner in width brownies. Nothing to do with the mix, just my poor choice in pans.) Stick them in the oven for ~30-35 minutes. Allow to cool and cut. MMMM deliciousness!


Variations:
Because I *have to* make brownies every week, I at least try to mix up things a little bit by adding different stuff to them. Some delicious options include:

Add in 1/2 cup of your favorite chopped nuts for a little crunch!
1/2 cup of chocolate chips of your choosing or M&Ms
1/4 cup of Nutella
Substitute the 1/4 cup of water for 1/4 cup of COFFEE for Mocha Brownies (My favorite!)
1/2 cup of chopped up reeses peanut butter cups, or 1 mini cup per brownie square (Husband's Favorite!)
Add in 1/2 cup of shredded coconut and a teaspoon of coconut extract (smells soooo good!)
2 Teaspoons of vanilla extract, or any other extract you like
3/4 cup of mini marshmallow (like smores!)
Add your favorite frosting to the top when they cool. Add Sprinkles!!

Yesterday I made the coconut ones, and my, my, my they were something glorious. Hope you guys enjoy this and have fun customizing the recipe to your favorite flavors!