Foam Soap = Money Saver

Foam Soap = Money Saver? I know what you are thinking. "The soap in the foam pump bottle is more expensive at the store than the regular pump soap, and you go through it in half the time." True. Another quick fact about these foam soaps is that most of the liquid in the bottle is water (and cleans your hands just as well). So how is this a money saver?

1. Keep the bottle and rinse it out.
2. Buy (or make!) liquid hand soap to refill the bottle. (Try to stay clear of the soaps with moisturizer in them).
3. Pour about an inch of soap into the foam bottle.
4. Fill the rest with water and mix (with a knife or by tilting side to side).
5. Wash hands.

If I buy the 7.5 oz softsoap for a $1, I can probably get about 5 foam pumps out of it, making each refill $0.20.

I recently made my own hand soap as part of the Real Crunchy Summer that I am participating in. I still had some store bought soap to get rid of, and tried the foam soap with that, but I am excited to try my homemade soap with it. It will make each bottle around $0.04 if I use the homemade soap. (To read about how I made my hand soap, click here)

Summer: Week 2 Highlights

Our week started with a BBQ at Joann and Jason's house where we got to spend some much needed time with many of our Church family and friends. Joann showed me that you can peel a watermelon (with a knife).

On Tuesday, Caura, Aubree, and I went to the $1 10am movie at United Artist Theater in Sewell. We saw Yogi Bear.

Barrington had their 4th of July parade and fireworks on Tuesday night. We watched the parade, then stood out front of my Mom's neighbors house to see the fireworks.

Poppy drove his '31 Model A pick-up in the parade, and Mom, (cousin) Jessica, Me, Danny, My girls, and Luci watched and collected candy.

On Wednesday, we visited Nanny, Grandpop, Julie, and Ava who were vacationing in Ocean City. It was Saige's first time on the beach, and she was a fan.

On Friday, we went to Adventure Aquarium with new friends.

Saturday was a scorcher and Caura and Aubree spent at least 6 hours in the pool! We were so proud of Caura because she can confidently swim in the deep end.

We had a great week!

Moms N Tots 2012

Every year during the last week of June, my girls and I go to Mom 'N Tots camp at Camp Hebron in Halifax, PA. We had so much fun!

We went creek stomping.

We went boating.

We swam.

We made crafts.

Caura was old enough to ride the horses!

We enjoyed a fiesta theme.

We spent time with lots of friends, including 10 "Haluwasa" Moms and our 27 children.

We bonded.

Aubree funny for the week: "Mommy, I can feed God! He can eat what I eat because He's in me!"

Real Crunchy Step: Freshener

Click here to read today's Real Crunchy Step! Shannon made her own air freshener, and it has made my trash can smell good!

Real Crunchy Step: Homemade Lunchmeat

Today's Crunchy Step is all about how I made my own lunchmeat. Read about it here !

Crunchy Step #1

Click here to read the first post of the Real Crunch Steps!
Crunchy Step#1: Loco Taco Seasoning.

Crunchy Steps

Over the past couple years, I have found myself becoming more "crunchy." Crunchy to me means a healthy and more natural way to do things. The "Crunchy Steps" I have taken have also meant a less expensive way to do things, which was always my number one reason to do them. For instance, I bake my own cookies instead of buy the ones in the package, we have a garden of vegetables and fruit, and this year we bought chickens so we could have fresh eggs (and fun, and a great learning experience for our girls). A few weeks ago I was sick of spending $20 a month on laundry detergent, so I found a recipe and made my own (and it actually works!). I promised my friend, Danielle, that becoming "crunchier" did not mean I was going to start making dresses out of tree bark, but I was very happy with the "crunchy steps" I had already taken, and started deciding what else I could do homemade.

Last week I visited one of my best friends, Shannon, and while we let our seven children play together, we started talking about different "crunchy" things we have been up to. She told me about freezer jam and vegetable stock, I told her about my laundry detergent and plans to make my own raisins. The next morning I had a great idea! Why don't we challenge each other to do at least one "crunchy" thing each week, and make a little extra of whatever we are making, and then swap that extra with each other? That way, we can get through testing methods and recipes more quickly, and also end up spending less money than if we did all the methods and recipes ourselves. Plus, it would be a lot of fun! She was in, and decided we should blog our way through this experience this summer. We decided to just put it on her blog, so I invite you to visit her blog for the first "Real Crunchy Steps" post (click here), then follow her blog so you don't miss any of this experience.

We hope you are inspired to take some of your own "Crunchy Steps."