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Thread: Upping our efforts . . .

  1. #41
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    Re: making yogurt. I started making my own a few months ago. I know a yogurt machine is not necessary but, I invested in a yogurt maker (basically an item that simply keeps a constant appropriate temp.) because I wanted it to be fool proof. I purchased the item on amazon for about forty dollars. I also get the yogurt starter from Amazon (it was cheaper than health food store) again because I wanted it to be foolproof. However, you can use yogurt as a starter. I don't eat dairy so I make my yogurt from soy milk and my husband's from skim milk. I figured we save about 1,200 dollars a year by making our own. We are heavy yogurt eaters and the soy yogurt is so expensive to buy. The item I purchased came with two different sized covers so that you can use the small 6 oz yogurt jars that come with it or you can use large mason jars. I always make the soy yogurt in the small jars so my DH doesn't confuse it with his dairy yogurt. He is deathly afraid of consuming soy because he believes the estrogen in it will cause him to grow breasts. but i regress. The item is
    http://www.amazon.com/Tribest-YL-210...2898894&sr=8-6 Wow, it's gone up four dollars since I purchased it.

  2. #42
    Senior Member fidgiegirl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cindycindy View Post
    Re: making yogurt. I started making my own a few months ago. I know a yogurt machine is not necessary but, I invested in a yogurt maker (basically an item that simply keeps a constant appropriate temp.) because I wanted it to be fool proof. I purchased the item on amazon for about forty dollars. I also get the yogurt starter from Amazon (it was cheaper than health food store) again because I wanted it to be foolproof. However, you can use yogurt as a starter. I don't eat dairy so I make my yogurt from soy milk and my husband's from skim milk. I figured we save about 1,200 dollars a year by making our own. We are heavy yogurt eaters and the soy yogurt is so expensive to buy. The item I purchased came with two different sized covers so that you can use the small 6 oz yogurt jars that come with it or you can use large mason jars. I always make the soy yogurt in the small jars so my DH doesn't confuse it with his dairy yogurt. He is deathly afraid of consuming soy because he believes the estrogen in it will cause him to grow breasts. but i regress. The item is
    http://www.amazon.com/Tribest-YL-210...2898894&sr=8-6 Wow, it's gone up four dollars since I purchased it.
    LOL, cindycindy . . .

    My mom gave me a yogurt maker, but I need to clean it up and try it. Thank you for sharing yours!! The one she gave me isn't as versatile (I like the idea of being able to make 3 qts at a time - mine can only make small jars) but it will get me started! Maybe this weekend.
    Kelli

    My gluten free blog: Twin Cities Gluten Free
    Our house remodel blog: Our Fair Abode

  3. #43
    Senior Member fidgiegirl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mrs-M View Post
    It's funny, the beliefs and misconceptions some people have Re: washing reusable pads and diapers (and things) in a modern day washing machine. Such a sanitary process. No need to worry over germs or things afterwards.
    Strangely, DH is fine with my pads and our hankies going in with every manner of laundry, but he just about died when I mentioned the pee pee cloths. Still . . .
    Kelli

    My gluten free blog: Twin Cities Gluten Free
    Our house remodel blog: Our Fair Abode

  4. #44
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    I think it's all a matter of what you are used to.

    DH is totally against using cloth for bowel movements -- but i use them for myself and DS and do the rinse and it's easy enough. It's what I did with his wipes when he was a baby-baby, why would it be different now? I dunno.

    Also, DH is weird about pee because he's a "shaker" -- he doesn't use paper for it. So the idea that we would have to clean pee out of cloths is weird for him. Of course, whenever DS wets the bed, we use the washng machine straight in the washing machine -- to wash those. So, I dunno.

    Husbands are weird.

    Mine won't let me compost my own waste. What's up with THAT? lol!

  5. #45
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    OK, so here is my yogurt making experience.....It was successful and so very easy! I was following the instructions from Root Simple. Yesterday afternoon I heated up my milk to 180 degrees, then let it cool to 110 degrees. I was using a quart of milk so added 1 Tablespoon of already made yogurt, whisked it in and poured it into my prepared quart jar (wide mouthed). I had already cleaned the jar, then to keep it hot I placed some boiling water in it and let it set during the time the milk was cooling. I placed my jar into a small cooler I have, wrapped extra towels around it and zipped it up. This morning, around 6AM I brought out the jar and placed it in the refrigerator. I just now took it out.....the yogurt was/is delicious!

    I will not be buying those plastic containers from now on. Thanks for this thread for giving me the "umph" I needed to get this going.

  6. #46
    Mrs-M
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    First things first, welcome to our community, Cindycindy! So happy to have you! (Joining Fidgiegirl, in laughing over your husbands concerns)!

    Yogurt making is something I have been wanting to start. When I'm ready, I'm going to consult with you, to help walk me through the process and get me going on it. P.S. Please stick around, we need newcomers like yourself!

    Fidgiegirl. Not to encourage a TMI post, but, whether your DH admits to the fact or not, his underpants (probably) have absorbed the same amount of drops of urine in them at the end of a typical day, as what an average pee-cloth would at the end of it's day. I know this, because I have 5 boys in the house!

    Zoebird. In retrospect, I'm happy diaper duty (in it's entirety) fell to me (and occasionally my daughters), because what my older boys and husband didn't see, didn't hurt them... But truth be known, I was so conscientious and dedicated over always ensuring "like items with like items" were always laundered together. (Reusable cloth pads, diapers, and pee-cloths, were always run through together). Never did I wash diapers, pads, or cloths, with dish or body/face/hand towels, nor with regular clothing. So all this fuss over germs and contamination is the result of nothing more than an overactive, wild imagination.

    Jania. Going to be hitting both you, and Cindycindy, up for advice and tutoring when yogurt making time comes!

  7. #47
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    I don't have enough laundry to divide loads. We do jeans, heavy-duty stuff, and towels together -- often with undies. And then t-shirts and the like together. then I do my hand wash stuff (which is to say wool sweaters, cloth wipes, and menstrual pads). I don't wash them together, that's kinda three loads. LOL But they are so small, it takes no time at all.

    Honestly, it takes quite a while for us to get a load together -- we do one load about mid-week and then a second load later in the week. This is why I thought I could do it all by hand, because on a given day, we have very little laundry.

    I think that I could, but I'm so busy these days that I can hardly keep up with anything at all.

    Today, for example, I got up, wrote three blogs for work plus some more marketing copy, then got off to work to get there by 9:30. We had the guys coming today to haul the stuff out of the one room -- and boy was I ticked since they charged me 4x the estimate! Well, they got there at 9:15, and then for some reason left and said "we'll be back in a few minutes."

    I got there at 9:30 and set DS up with his books and breakfast stuff, and started to clear the things out of the room that we wanted to keep, so that they could haul the rest. By 10:30, they hadn't returned, so I called the office and they got there around 11. It took them just about 30 minutes to clear everything, and then I had a MASSIVE clean-up. I borrowed the industrial vac from the landlord, and got to work "ghost busting" (since you wear it on your back and let me tell you it is awesome and now I want one! LOL). That took me until 1:00 when I had to teach yoga.

    AFter the class, I did some more vacuming because it's awesome when it's on your back like that. Seriously. It's like, the BEST way to vacuum. And because there was white powder from the wall boards EVERYWHERE. It was so messy.

    And then I put everything back into the room (i need shelves, man, shelves!!!) and it looks really great to not have so much crap in there anymore and actually have a functional room. DS was so excited he kept showing people "see? this is MY office, but you can use it to change your clothes if you want." We saw 32 people today, so he said it at least 32 times. lol

    Then I had to go through and clear out the other rooms as well, because I like to declutter on a regular basis. I find it vitally important. So, I decluttered and dusted and washed walls in each room, and then dressed the massage tables and so on and so forth and the whole place is sorted.

    But my house is a mess because today was house-cleaning day and I had to come and clean the offices at 9:30.

    Which means my house won't be cleaned until the weekend.

  8. #48
    Mrs-M
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    Fidgiegirl. I do believe many of us tend to (at times) place more emphasis on the short-term, rather than on the long-term, which IMO, equates to more beneficial return than the short-term approach. Placing way too much emphasis in wanting to always do more, can sometimes (I think) sidetrack us, and in doing so (being sidetracked), we loose sight of the good we are doing to curb the reduce in the areas we are, and that's a shame.

    It's easy to always want to go the extra mile and do more, and more, and more, but there is a breaking-point to all this that can result in the demise of ones interest and dedication towards wanting to continue. I believe finding a comfortable and happy balance is key, where one is able to reach a happy-medium, knowing that whatever we are doing is contributing to the betterment of our home and planet. P.S. You're doing exceptionally great! Sometimes you just have to say to yourself, "we're doing all we can do, and there is no more room for expansion".

  9. #49
    Mrs-M
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    Zoebird. I did a little handwashing, but very limited. Not at all the form of handwashing in the true sense of actual "old-fashioned handwashing" as many people know it. Handwashing in my home equated to rinsing out a baby bib (or two) after mealtime (when I used cloth ones), a pair of rubber pants (or two) throughout the day (mostly hand-washed/line dried those anyways), and if I was doing laundry on the day of/morning of finding someone had awoken with wet pants (pyjama bottoms), instead of tossing the pants into the diaper pail, I instead, would whisk them off to the bathroom (because I almost always missed catching the washing machine wash cycle), give them a quick hand-wash in the tub, wring them out, then pin them up out back on the line to dry, or drape them over my wooden drying rack. A nice alternative in eliminating a single soiled item sitting around until the next laundering day.

    Gee whiz, Zoebird, just reading about all the things you accomplished today makes me tired! Whew! Yes, indeed, the pack-sack styled vacuum sounds totally nifty! P.S. Give your son a peck and a hug (from me)! Such a sweetie he is.

  10. #50
    Senior Member fidgiegirl's Avatar
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    Hey all, I thought of another one. A few weeks ago I instituted a new frugal, but forgot to share it on the frugal thread and then that ship kind of sailed. But it applies here, too. So I bought two bags of dried beans and soaked them and made them in two crock pots, then rinsed and froze in mason jars. A little putzy, but now I have beans ready to go in the morning (I am adding them in to breakfast, yum) without rinsing or anything, just a nuke. And no cans with yucky lining. And a lot cheaper! I got about 8 jars out of the two bags, which would have cost about $12 pre-canned. I paid about $3 for the dried beans. So between the waste and the savings, it's worth doing again.
    Kelli

    My gluten free blog: Twin Cities Gluten Free
    Our house remodel blog: Our Fair Abode

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