The Magic of Vinegar

Every frugal-minded home needs to have a gallon or two of this stuff laying around:

The uses are vast, it's chemical-free, and it's only about $1.00 a gallon! It's great to use around kids/babies because it's edible and harmless so it can't hurt them.  Not only cheap but vinegar is eco-friendly if you're in to that sort of thing.  And... if you think the smell might scare you.... I promise the light smell dissipates very quickly. 

There are books and websites dedicated to the use of vinegar, but here are a few ways we've used vinegar at our home:

Killing grass/weeds:

We recently put in a swing set in our backyard.  We wanted to kill the grass underneath the swing set before we rolled out the newspaper and put in pea gravel.  Round up can be as much as $30 a gallon.  And although you aren't going to use the whole thing for killing some grass- I'd rather just spend a dollar.  My husband put the vinegar in a sprayer and misted the entire grass area.  A day or two later it looked like this:

I also used this next to our short fence in the front yard so that the grass wouldn't grow right next to it. 

Cleaning counters:  I have a large spray bottle of vinegar on my kitchen counter. You can use a washable rag/towel or a paper towel and it has great sanitation purposes.

Cleaning mirrors and windows:  Use equal parts vinegar with water and use just like windex with a microfiber cloth or paper towel. I have a separate spray bottle in our bathrooms for the diluted version.

Un-clogging drains: Pour some baking soda down a clogged drain, then slowly add some vinegar and let it fizz!  Don't use the water for half an hour after so it can do it's job.  Repeat as necessary depending on how clogged the drain was!

Hair rinse:  This is one of those tricks your grandma used to do but it really works!! Get a large cup.  Put about an inch of apple cider vinegar in it and fill the rest up with warm water.  

 

After washing/conditioning your hair as normal.... slowly pour the vinegar mixture into your hair a little at at time and massage into your scalp.  This stuff is great to get rid of residues of hair products, regular dirt build up, and (MY FAV) campfire smell!!! Every girl knows how much their hair stinks after a camping trip this summer.  I actually remembered to use this rinse when we got back from our family camping trip and the smell was gone!  Magic.  And no, your hair won't smell like vinegar because you rinse it out at the end. 

WARNING:   I don't really recommend doing this rinse if you have just shaved your legs in the shower...it will sting a little!

Rediscovering the bakery outlet!

Oh my goodness.
Today, the boys and I rediscovered bakery outlets!! I remember going to Oroweat when I was a kid but honestly didn't even know we had one in town until this summer.  So I packed up the boys and drove out the one closest to us.  Ours is called: Entenmann's Oroweat Foods Company.  They may go by a variety of names and I'm sure you can look online for an outlet near you.

 

I'm glad I rediscovered the outlet because you can get great quality breads (No HFCS!) that are nearing their "best by" date for ONE DOLLAR!  They have some more expensive items, too, but there was a HUGE amount of bread products for only a dollar.  I ended up spending $13 on thirteen items and also got a couple packs of cookies for some guests that we're hosting this week.

 

I got whole wheat hamburger buns and potato bread hamburger buns

 

I got "real" french bread to make french toast instead of just using the regular bread we make toast with.

I got some high fiber bread (which Mateo really needs...I won't go into detail on here ;)

Plus I got sandwich rolls, some bagels, some hot dog buns, and some potato bread.  Quite a variety.  Now the only draw back with buying bread near it's "best by" date is that you need to either eat it within a couple days or freeze it.  I kept out some dinner rolls to be eaten but froze the rest.  My deep freezer is feeling well loved and full right now!  Full of homemade beans, broth, Yumm sauce, and soups, bread, some marked down meat, and LOTS of strawberries I picked last month. 

  

I was thankful to rediscover yet another way to be frugal and feed my family.  It's a big job for me to do meal planning, grocery shopping, food prep, and have dinner ready every day.  Especially with food allergies (did I mention that Aaron can't eat any of the awesome bread that I bought today :(  But there are a couple loaves of Udis (a gluten free bread that actually tastes decent) in the freezer that we ration out for meals. And especially with a skinny picky toddler who needs to gain some weight and has some food restrictions himself.  At least Alex is easy (for now) and will eat any baby food I make for him and still nurses a lot.  Enjoying that stage when feeding him is simple.