Today, Billy and I have been working on a fresh start. We went to church this morning, which has been difficult recently (it is super hard getting a baby to church on time)! Plus, we've had some difficulties finding a new church. We left our home church over the summer and started visiting another church. We went there for about a month and a half, and also attended Sunday school, and then Ellie was born. We were considering joining the church right before everything happened. We didn't go back to church until Ellie was 2 months old. I was afraid of her getting sick, and it is so hard to make yourself go to church when you're sleep deprived and you don't feel your best. When we went back to the same church, all the college students were back and it was completely different. No one remembered us. We felt like we weren't valued at all, so we stopped going.
We've been visiting random churches ever since, but never felt at home anywhere. And it's hard to be a visitor when you have a baby. I feel like I shouldn't let Ellie get fussy, because people don't know us and it's not our church. That's a silly way to think about things, but it's just how I feel. And I refuse to use the nursery until I'm a member. I don't know those people, and I don't know their security procedures. I don't feel comfortable leaving Ellie with people I don't know.
Anyway, today we went to a church and I think we're going to stay there. I don't think it's what Billy and I had in mind, but it's a doctrinally sound, biblical church, and that's the most important thing to us. And I think it's best if we just pick a church and stick with it. Eventually, we will meet new people and start to feel at home again.
Another fresh start included taking down the Christmas decorations. We're always a little late on that, so we had to get it done today (our Christmas tree was very crispy lol). We also cleaned the house and shredded old bills and papers. We also ate lunch at home, which we never do on Sundays, but now that we're in financial-penny-pinching mode for 2011, it is a must.
Billy and I made homemade laundry detergent today, which was an adventure. It was very easy, I just hope it works! I'm not picky about it being scented or not, since I use dryer sheets and fabric softener anyway. I saved two old laundry detergent containers and filled those, and we still have some detergent left in the mixing bucket. It was very sudsy, which always seems promising, and it smelled nice like Ivory soap and Borax. I was going to add some essential oils to it, but decided that it smelled nice the way it was and thought I would give it a try in its original form first. I really hope that it works out. This is the recipe I followed:
1 quart of boiling water
2 cups of grated soap (ended up using 1 and 1/2 bars of Ivory)
2 cups Borax
2 cups washing soda
Mix soap into boiling water and stir until melted. Pour mixture into large bucket and add Borax and washing soda; stir until well mixed. Add 2 gallons of water and stir until well blended. Use 1/4 cup per load.
I already had a box of Borax, but I had to buy the soap and washing soda. I bought three bars of Ivory soap for 50 cents, and the washing soda was $2.50. For what I used today, it probably cost $1.50 to make a little over 2 gallons of laundry detergent. If this works well, it will be a great way for us to save money in the future. Plus, I guess I'm being a bit more eco-friendly making my own!
I'm really hoping to learn to become more creative with saving money. I have to say that Money Saving Mom is a great inspiration to me, although most of the time the great deals she relates would be a waste of time and money for me. However, I have learned so much about couponing and saving money from her blog, as well as others. I am very thankful to have so many online resources that are not only reliable, but can also be spiritually uplifting!
My goals for later this evening will be to put away about a gazillion photos that I printed a month ago, as well as create my January dinner schedule and create a cleaning schedule, which I plan to share later this week.
Blessings to you and yours.....Kristen
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