Nunsense and Laundry Detergent

First:
Last weekend Spencer and I went to see Nunsense which was being done by ERCT.  It was the most fun I have had in a long time!  The writing for this play is really funny, but without a talented cast much of it would have been missed.  The erct cast was indeed talented! I laughed my butt off and had a big smile on my face nearly the entire time!  It wasn't just the comedy, the singing was also wonderful!  I think it's rare to find a play that can be gut-busting funny for adults and still be family-friendly, Nunsense is one of those gems!  There's a few "hells" and an "ass" or two if I remember correctly, but it's a pretty clean show.  I can't say the same for the after party with the cast and friends though! :o)

Thank you to everyone involved in Nunsense for the fabulous entertainment!

Now, Second:
While Friday night was spent laughing, eating, drinking, and telling dirty jokes about a local bbq place... Saturday night was spent making soap.

Laundry detergent to be specific.

I've known it was possible for years, but never tried it.  I thought it would be too hard to find the ingredients, too hard to make, and didn't trust it to work.  I was wrong on all accounts.

I could have taken pictures of the process, but the blogger which posted the recipe that I followed already did that for me, so you can see her full post by clicking here.

What you need:
1 5-gallon bucket with a tight-fitting lid
Borax
Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap
After driving around and searching Walmart I ended up finding all the ingredients at Cub Foods in the laundry isle, and the bucket I got at Lowes.  Making the detergent was pretty easy, but I thought I had done something wrong because the next morning when it had cooled completely it was gross.  It was lumpy, slimy, and gloppy.  Not something I wanted to be messing with.  After posting a question on the above blog, and doing some internet research, I came to the conclusion it turned out exactly like it usually does... watery, slimy, and gloppy.  This really isn't an issue though because I used a funnel and a measuring cup to fill an old laundry detergent bottle up about 3/4 of the way, and I shake it up a little before each use just to make sure it's all distributed evenly.  I use an entire cap full (2/3 cup) plus a little more in each load, and have been really pleased with the job it's doing!  There was a blanket that the dog had been laying on and then had been left outside for weeks that was really stinky, one washing and it smelled fresh and clean!

The best part, and only reason I'm making it, is that it is SO cheap to make! For my initial batch of 5 gallons, I spent $16 (8 for the soaps and 8 for the bucket).  Since I only needed 1 cup of the borax and arm and hammer washing soda for each batch, those will last me quite a while.  The only thing I'll need to replace will be the Fels-Naptha soap... which only cost me $1.09!  That means in the future I'll only spend $1.09 for 5 GALLONS of laundry detergent! 

So to wrap all this up, if you get the opportunity to see Nunsense... go!  And if you'd like to save money and practically do your laundry for free, try making your own laundry detergent!

The one where I show you our toilet paper

January of 2009 I found myself unemployed.  People all over were losing their jobs, and this effected me... the daycare provider, since if there was no job to go to there was no need for childcare.  I was getting calls from parents looking for daycare, but I was due to have a baby less than 3 months later, no one wanted to enroll until after my maternity leave. 

Suddenly down an income and expecting our third child, it was time to cut costs.  We cut down on a lot of things like going out to eat, entertainment, cable, auto insurance (yay Progressive!), almost everything we could, including finding ways to stretch a dollar at the grocery store.

My husband is a sewer and drain cleaner and has insisted on 1-ply toilet paper since we moved in together, so I found myself the perfect 1-ply - Cottonelle.  I loved that toilet paper because it wasn't like the stuff you find in public bathrooms and schools, but it made my husband happy.  The only problem with that stuff is the fact that we have a lot of people going to the bathroom everyday at our house, and we were burning through toilet paper like nobody's business!  In the spirit of cutting back I bought a big pack of Scott toilet paper.

I was adamant about not using this stuff before.  It was thin and flimsy and it takes more sheets to...um...do what it does than other toilet paper.  I can't believe I'm talking about this!!  But we were cutting back and I was going to sacrifice.  What I found out was this:  A roll of Scott toilet paper lasts forever compared to my precious Cottonelle!!!  I used to buy toilet paper all the time, but no weekly pack of toilet paper anymore!   And this giant pack I bought recently (that I haven't had to open yet) will last us about 14 years or so!   Well, maybe a little less, but, you get the idea!

I generally buy store brand whenever I possibly can, and I've found that several of the Target brand items I buy - I actually prefer over the name brand!   One example: I am a big fan of the Market Pantry milk at Target!

Also while trying to pinch pennies I gave the plain looking loaves of bread at the bottom of the shelves a chance.

I wasn't expecting to like this bread, it was only about 74 cents per loaf, but I was pleasantly surprised! I actually like this bread just as much as the bigger brands of wheat bread and it's dirt cheap which is good since we go through about 4 loaves per week!

I've also recently switched Little Man from Luvs diapers to Target's Up and Up diapers, and I like them better for him!  I think they fit him better than the Luvs did.  I'm not a fan of Huggies at all, but I do like Pampers diapers, but when you look at the price difference per diaper Pampers are just ridiculously expensive for something they're going to wear for just a couple hours or less before it gets changed.  Little Man also drank Up and Up formula back when he was using bottles.  I want to say the Up and Up formula was about $10 cheaper per can than the name brand can... with identical nutrition info!!

I also tried to be a coupon user, but haven't gotten myself disciplined enough to find them, print them, remember to use them, etc.  A huge money saver was planning all our meals for the week and making one trip to the store rather than 3 or 4!

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings about toilet paper, milk, bread, and baby stuff!  And just for the sake of keeping with the toilet paper topic... I changed 7 poopy diapers today between the 2 babies!  SEVEN!

Goodnight.

Why I Hate This Time Of Year

Tax time... Blech.  I was so not born to be an accountant, it isn't even funny.  I've been stressing out about taxes for over a month now.  It wouldn't be this hard if we had any kind of a better organization process for our finances and all of the tax stuff that goes along with owning a daycare.  Some of the business end of running a daycare I actually do like, but keeping track of all of the expenses and deductions for tax time I do NOT like.  I've always kept excellent track of my pay checks. A few months ago I switched over to the accounting program through my childcare food program, but before that I had every check written down in a notebook AND recorded on a spreadsheet on my computer, backing myself up either way.  It's just those pesky expenses that give me trouble.  I guess I haven't figured out the best way to make keeping track of them easy.  I'm so busy all the time that the last thing I think of doing throughout the week is closely itemizing my Target receipts and keeping track of my business mileage, and writing down somewhere that I bought bandaids and they can fall under medical expenses.

On top of the pain of preparing for our tax appointment, is the actual cost of the appointment.  Ever since I opened my daycare we've gone to H&R Block since there is so much put into our tax preparation.  The woman who's done our taxes every year since our second year with H&R Block does an excellent job and we've always gotten back a nice rebate, but they are expensive.  Just today I went ahead and made an appointment with a different accountant.  She's not with a financial giant like the other place so their costs are lower, which makes our costs lower.  I'm just hoping there will be a great big fat rebate check coming our way to make it all worth it!

I really want your input on this one... What/who do you use to file your taxes?  What software or record keeping devices do you use to manage your general or business finances?  Do you have any links to great financial management websites or blogs that you would care to share?