How To Save Money During a Move

We recently moved and while in the time leading up to the move began to realize how pricey it can be to relocate. You have so many things that just add up plus bills at both places and things don't get back to normal for a couple months. This is from my experience on how you can save some green in a major relocation.

First of all, your going to have to pack up all your things and this is also where you start realizing you have added alot more stuff to your collection of things. Don't throw these things out! We are in a recession and there are still plenty of people out of jobs. Donate your items that you don't need anymore to Goodwill or any kind of charity. This helps you get rid of things, someone now has that one item they haven't had the money to buy, and also helps you on your taxes for the following year (keep the receipt!).

Your going to need boxes to put the things that you can't part with in. Don't go out and buy new boxes when your going to just turn around and recycle them when you move. There are plenty of grocery stores or restaurants that you can ask if you can reuse the boxes that items are shipped to them in. This saves you money and them time from breaking down boxes.

Next is the vehicle that your going to move all those boxes in. Most of the major moving truck companies can get really pricey. You might want to look into small local companies that rent out trailers. I know this really isn't reasonable for all people but if it is it can save you $600 or more. Rent a truck from a local company and then rent a truck or borrow a truck from a friend. We were even so lucky to have a couple friends able to drive out and drive the truck and trailer back. That was just gas money and trailer rental for us.

The small things add up too! So remember to keep your overnight bag with you and pack a cooler for your meals in the travel. Just buying water or coffee can be $3-$5 in one stop. The biggest time and money saver is to plan ahead! Also, sell what items you can before you move to save on the amound that you are moving plus some extra money is always good. You can always replace items later on. Happy moving!!

Rheumatoid Arthritis Cures

Rheumatoid arthritis can be very painful for those that suffer from this autoimmune disease. This disease causes chronic inflammation in joints. No one knows the exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis.

There are many different ways to try to ease the pain. Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties. You can take Ginger in capsule form, tea, or fresh. Even a dish prepared with ginger would give you a reasonable dosage. Garlic and Ginko Biloba helps with circulation which will help bring oxygen to the affected area.

The one that is definitely worth looking into is Nettle Tea which has been used for hundreds of years. This is one amazing plant and deserves its own blog which will come. It is painful to the touch due to the hairs on the stinging nettle plant but it is known to decrease the original pain. It is believed to reduce levels of inflammatory chemicals in the body. You can find nettles in a tea, extract, cream, tincture, and dried leaves.

Most people take painkillers like Tylenol, aspirin, NSAIDS, or ibuprofen which can cause ulcers and kidney damage. These painkillers tend to destroy cartilage and prevents new cartilage. The natural substance glucosamine sometimes combined with chondroitin is known to be the most potent or the miracle drug. Glucosamine is made by cartilage cells in the body which is also necessary to rebuild cartilage. It has been used to treat arthritis in racehorses and many other animals and has also been used in Spain and Italy for treating osteoarthritis since the early 80's. You can follow the recommended doses on the label or if you want more exact for your weight check out a book by Jason Theodosakis, M.D. , called The Arthritis Cure.

Thai massage is another thing to look into. This was developed by Buddhist monks in Thailand as a healing modality. This uses stretching and pressure along the body's energy lines to relieve muscle and joint tension. Thai massage is compared to yoga without any effort since the therapist will use their body to contort yours into different positions. Its purpose is to heal a person physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Baby Time

I have taken a little break due to our new addition finally making her appearance and the holidays right after. But since baby has arrived I can now test out all these ideas I have been throwing out at you.

I am really enjoying the amount of money we have saved using the cloth diapers! Even though some people gave us disposable diapers we haven't used them. I'll probably use them for someone else, for their baby shower. The diaper pail and liner that we have been using is awesome! It's waterproof and the lid to the pail keeps the smell in. The washing of the diapers hasn't really been that difficult either. I have just been putting them on the rinse cycle twice, wash regular, then on the final rinse cycle put in a cup of vinegar to take away the smell. Also, I found out that if your baby starts to get a diaper rash you can boil clean diapers to get the detergent out that is causing the rash.

Thankfully we just bought used clothing off of www.craigslist.com and received some outfits as gifts because she was a big baby and didn't fit into newborn clothing anyways. I'll continue to buy used since babies just grow so fast and will be saving her sisters clothes for her.

Now, I'm just waiting to recover completely to get to my detox program and exercising to get the little weight that's left off. You always learn with your first child so I have made huge changes this time around. I will keep you updated to what you can do to help yourself save money even if it is your first child, or your trying to live healthier, or you just need some advice to make it through a tough economy.

Wet Bags

Since I have made the decision to go with cloth diapering and save tons of money I figured I might as well save on all of the other products that I will need for cloth diapers. This includes wet bags. I just got a new sewing machine (early Christmas in our house) and was very eager to try anything out so besides my nursing pads this was to be another one of my projects.

I wanted one to have in the diaper bag for on the go and of course one to go into a trash pail for easy moving to the wash. For those of you that don't know what it is, it holds your cloth diapers from the time you change diapers to the time you do your washing of the diapers. However, these bags are even useful to those that don't want to use cloth diapers. They have a waterproof liner and can be used for wet clothes from accidents or going to the beach.

I used PUL fabric which is waterproof and really isn't the easiest to find. I had to go to a local fabric store instead of Walmart which was a little more costly. I also picked out cute fabric that was cheap for the outside to make it look better since the PUL selection at the fabric store was just white. You can close the bag many different ways like zipper or drawstring. I chose drawstring as I haven't done much with zippers. I looked at many different websites for patterns and kind of just came up with my own style. However, one of my favorite sites now is www.make-baby-stuff.com which was very helpful in making my to go bag. I just finished it today and still need to do my one for at home but I just had to share since I'm extremely excited about it! I think I'm even going to make one for a friend who is expecting in a couple months.

Just updated the pictures to show my at home bag which was a little bit more difficult but its all done now and ready for baby.

Green Nursing Part 2

This idea will save you money and the environment! I was at the store looking for some nursing supplies and the cost of nursing pads caught my eye. I thought it was just outrageous for disposable nursing pads! You can only use them once! Are you kidding me?! Maybe its just me and my pinching pennies ways but it got me thinking.

Couldn't you just make these? I know they use to have reusable pads. Turns out I'm not the only one that had the same question. There are tons of websites and blogs to help you decide what is best for you. There are differences in size and how thick. But really all you need is a little fabric or even receiving blankets you have already and a sewing machine.

I started with tracing a large mason jar lid on the fabric using flannel and fleece. I used two layers of flannel and one of fleece then sew these two together. I tried many different ways of sewing trying to decide on contour or flat since I can't test these out yet as the newest addition has decided to take her sweet time to join us I can't tell you which ones work the best for me. I only made six for the time being to see if they are even thick enough. If you have any other great ideas I would love to hear them!

Smelly Bath Toys

I don't like the way bath toys can hang on to water and then have this musty smell to it. Apparently I wasn't the only one. My friend called me the other day to ask if I had tried vinegar and water with bath toys like I already do with my towels. Why hadn't I thought of that!? So now it was time for me to experiment.

She asked if I would put them in the washer and run the wash like usual with a cup of vinegar. I haven't tried it that way yet as it was already laundry day for me and my washer was full. I decided I would soak the toys in the sink with water and vinegar then let them dry on a towel. This way worked great. The smell was gone and I could throw them into a clean basket. I do plan on trying out the washer next time. If you have already tried this let me know how it worked out for you!

Acai Berry

I'm sure you have seen all the different products that include acai berry now. This fruit has just swept the nation in a short amount of time. So what is it about this fruit that everyone just has to have? What are the benefits? What are the side effects? Well, I'll tell you what I have found and then you can make the decision for yourself on if you want to join in on this new craze.

The benefit list from using acai berries has a wide range of things including:

• increased energy/weight loss
• reduces cholesterol levels
• reduces risk of heart disease
• improves mood and cognition
• improves blood sugar levels
• helpful in controlling blood pressure
• lessens possibility of cancer
• helps in digestion
• slows down aging process
• and the list continues to grow

The list of side effects have very few things to be very concerned about. It can reduce appetite but then that also helps in the benefit of weight loss. Excessive consumption can cause messy stools or an acidic taste in your mouth. This is caused by excessive vitamin C and E in the berry. The only major side effect I could find was that you may be allergic.

Besides the side effects the major concern is the scams that include the acai berry. This berry is perishable and will start decomposing with in 24 hours of being plucked. You can only find this in the Amazon region. The only way to export to the U.S. is in juice or pill form. Because of this, you should read all labels and you should only buy acai berry products imported from the Amazon region. Most juices in the stores are diluted with water taking away from their nutritional value. Also, you shouldn't buy the juice in plastic containers as the nutrients will stick with the plastic instead of the juice when exposed to high temperatures like sunlight.

If you want to buy a juice you should shake the bottle to see if it seems watery. It should seem sort of thick with solid pulp. Sugar is a leading cause for inflammation. If the juice includes sugar it takes away from the benefit of an anti-inflammatory in acai. So you should always read labels and look for 100% organic since any pesticides make the antioxidants of acai ineffective to fight.

It really comes down to the acai berry is a fruit not a drug so we need to be more worried about the scams than the side effects. Its just like anything else right now everyone wants to make money off of the biggest newest thing right now. If you pay attention to the labels you should be fine and get plenty of benefits from this product.

Green Nursing

So as the time draws closer for baby, the more I am looking into what can be reused and recycled with breastfeeding. I went to the store to find somethings that are reusable. Unfortunately, they don't offer these at just any store. So I did some research into what I may already have around the house.

Some nursing containers that you can find in the store can be made of PVC and can leak toxins into the milk, such as BPA. They are getting better at making storage bags that don't do this but think of all the plastic waste by the time you are done breastfeeding. The chemicals that can leak into the milk have been associated with hormone disruption, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and other health concerns. Plastic bags made of polyethylene show no chemicals leaking but have shown that some nutrients from the milk cling to the plastic instead of going into the bottle where you want them to be.

Glass canning jars, which are already in my kitchen, can be cleaned out in high heat and be a perfect way to have a cheaper and greener way of storing breast milk. The jars can be bought in many different sizes. Only fill them a little over halfway and store in the fridge. They can be put directly into hot water to heat the milk too.

If you have a large amount of breastmilk and want to freeze you should check out milk trays at www.sensiblelines.com. They aren't too expensive and you can freeze breast milk in 1 ounce cubes. After putting the milk in the trays and freezing, pop the cubes out and place into freezer bags which are probably already in your kitchen and then date it. Now the tray is ready for another use.

Hopefully this helped you as much as it helped me. Now to find out what else I can make reusable to save money, waste, and make safer for the new addition.

7 Dirtiest Areas In Your Home

Yesterday I was out running some errands with a friend when we got to talking about the dirtiest and germiest areas in a persons home. This had me thinking the rest of the day of what I thought they would be and what I would find when I would research it. Every website you go to has a different list of their top ten or top five so I have put my personal list along with some that I found and I'm going to tell you how to keep those areas cleaner and safer for your families without the use of chemicals.

1. Kitchen Sinks-so lets think about the last time you cleaned your kitchen sink. You probably can't remember when that was considering people think that its clean since you wash dishes there. This is at the top of almost all lists. Use a mixture of vinegar and water (I already use one for about everything in the house) spray down and wipe down the sink to kill bacteria.
   
2. Kitchen sponges-my thought was I use these to clean with so they have soap in them but let think about how they sit in their compartments with water still in them so the mold and bacteria just spreads. You can easily fix this problem with putting them in the microwave for ten seconds or putting them in the dishwasher on sanitize cycle.
3. Carpets-Carpets collect not only odors from cooking or pets but also all the dirt and little bugs that like to live on your pets. To clear the odors you can pour baking soda on the carpets and vacuum it up after you have let it sit for awhile. To get rid of all those lovely bugs and dirt that comes from traffic through the house you can choose to have them steam cleaned which is probably the best choice but more costly or you can mix 1/2 c. baking soda, 1/2 c. borax, and 1 c. cornmeal sprinkle the mixture over carpet and rub with cloth, then you need to let it set for a couple hours or overnight then vacuum.
4. Beds-Bedbugs are real! You should wash sheets once a week or more depending on if your a person that sweats while sleeping. Wash them in hot water and use a mattress cover that you should also wash often. Vacuum the mattress while the sheets are being washed.
5. Bathtubs-Yes, I said bathtubs before toilets but if your like me anything in the bathroom needs to be sanitized regularly. Just think of the bacteria growth when the water just sits in some spots of your bathtub. And we put our kids in there?! Use the mixture that you use for everything 1 part vinegar and 1 part water, spray and wipe down. You can use this mixture after every shower/bath.
   
6. Hand-held Appliances-I had to put this all in one category to fit all my personal choices for dirtiest places down to 7. This includes phones, remotes, mouse, keyboard, and anything of the sort. People chew nails, eat, sneeze, and who knows what else before touching these appliances so you can imagine the bacteria. Use a microfiber cloth, spray your vinegar/water mixture on the cloth, then wipe down. You can use a pin or toothpick to get the small areas. Be careful with toothpicks near the microphone/speaker on phones as you can puncture them.
   
7. Wooden Cutting Boards-Most people wash these but are you washing them correctly? Do not immerse in water as this will cause cracking when it dries. Clean off with hot water then use a soft cloth to wipe down with vinegar to kill the bacteria.

For some reason I now feel this need to clean the entire house!

Cloth Diapers

While looking into some ways to reuse and recycle items for children I kept running across cloth diapers. To my surprise cloth diapers today aren't like the cloth diapers I remember my mother using. The new and improved diapers seem easier and much cuter! However, I wasn't convinced right away. I thought it would cause more work and how am I going to have the time for more work with a new baby? I have since then looked farther into using cloth diapers and am currently adding to my collection every chance I get to prepare for the little bundle of joy that will be joining us shortly but now that I am convinced I thought I should show you the information that convinced me and hopefully everyone will see how easy it is.

Cloth diapers are beneficial to babies, your pocketbooks, and environment. 78% of babies that have been in disposable diapers get a diaper rash compared to 7% of babies using cloth diapers. The cotton used for cloth diapers let the skin breath when disposables diapers are made of plastic. Also, using cloth diapers the child is more uncomfortable when wet and will want to be changed more than a child that is in disposables which then helps when potty training time comes around. Children using cloth diapers have been known to potty train easier and sooner.

The effect on the environment is huge. Solid waste is typically kept in the disposable diaper after changing which are then sent to the landfill and the waste could contain intestinal viruses. These viruses are then put into our air, groundwater, and the insects that then transport the viruses. When using cloth diapers the waste is shaken into the toilet and disposed of. About 16 billion disposable diapers are put in the United States landfills alone! These are made from plastic and trees which could still be standing if more people used cloth.

Not knowing how the economy will be day to day made the savings of using cloth diapers stand out to me the most. The average savings for one child is around $1,500 depending on when your child is potty trained. You can also reuse these diapers for your next child which then increases the savings.

Now, if all this useful information has helped you make up your mind you are probably still a little uncertain about washing and storing dirty diapers. While, our newest addition hasn't yet arrived and I can't tell you from personal experience what has worked for me, I will let you know what I have found and will be using once she does decide to arrive. When storing dirty diapers you can use a dry pail or a wet pail. A wet pail is used to soak dirty diapers in water. This can be a drowning hazard around toddlers. I will be using a dry pail which can be any kind of pail that works for you. I will be using a kitchen trash can with a diaper pail liner. The diaper pail liner can be used as a laundry bag, emptied into the wash, and washed with the diapers. You shouldn't use fabric softeners as this will cause the diapers to stop absorbing and also shouldn't use bleach as it will break down fibers. I currently use vinegar in the rinse cycle of my laundry especially with towels to get rid of the musty smell and will be using this same technique with wet diapers. To deal with stains you can hang the diapers in the sun. If you will be using formula instead of breastfeeding with your child you might need to rinse a couple of times before washing.

I am also looking into cloth wipes as the wipes you buy in the store have additives you are putting onto sensitive skin. I am looking forward to finding many other ways to help the environment and our pocketbook with a small child. I have already saved on my cloth diapers by watching craigslist.com and ebay.

{picture via greenbabyguide.com}