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By Alyssa, January 5, 2011 9:47 pm

I’ve alluded to the Mighty Flood of 2010, but never showed you the end result!  Well, I say end result, but the floor guys are coming back tomorrow to refinish the floor… again.  I’m hoping that by posting this tomorrow will be the last of a long three months worth of construction.

Do you remember the day after the flood…

Can you believe that was the 22nd of September?  Yep, it’s been that long.  Way back in September, they took the floor out:

And for months while we waited for cabinets and flooring, we ate like this:

But then the construction started.  Hurrah!!!  First the cabinets came out:

Oh and then a friend gave me the idea to write on the floor before they covered it.  I wrote this:

That morning they covered it up with NEW FLOORS:

The flooring had to be the biggest step for me.  No more worrying about bits of wood throughout the house, toddlers scuffing their knees with splinters, people tripping on leftover staples… I will never disregard the blessing of having a finished floor again.

After flooring came the cabinets, well most of them.  Order mistakes equaled a couple more weeks of waiting for us.

So they didn’t stain our left upper cabinet to match our right one and the spice cabinet next to the microwave was too short.  At that point I didn’t care.  It was AMAZING to have everything change in a matter of hours after months of waiting.  Next they stained the floors.  Here’s the before pic as you walk into our entry:

And the after pic looking at the entry from an opposite angle:

Once the floors were stained and finished (well, like I said, they will REALLY be finished tomorrow morning), we lined the shelves (because I’m… urrrr… obsessive), and moved our stuff in!

The waiting game started again at this point.  The cabinets that we reordered took a few weeks and the countertop took longer than expected (the last picture has our old countertop that they put in temporarily so I could use the kitchen).  This wait wasn’t so bad with a floor, useable kitchen, and FABULOUS cabinets.

Sooooo are you ready for the final product?

Sure???

O.K., first we put in a new sink and new disposal (SO THIS WILL NEVER FLOOD AGAIN, RIGHT???):

It was the cheapest single basin we could find at Home Depot and it ROCKS!  Wish I would have done this years ago as it’s not that hard to replace on your own.  After the sink came a replacement stained left cabinet and glass doors (Haus’ upgrade present to me for all the kitchen chaos):

And then finally the rest of the cabinet replacements, trim, hardware, and beautimous new counters:

Betcha thought we splurged for granite countertops, huh?  Remember this post… no way we could afford granite and stay debt free.  The counters are actually still formica, just with a bullnose edge to look like a slab.  Love ‘em.

So there you have it, kitchen done!

Another before…

and after…

Was the flood a blessing in disguise?  Still too early to say as those first few months weren’t so fun.  Our home insurance was a blessing, for sure.  The damage came out to over $30,000 and we only had to pay a $500 deductible.

I know I’ve posted a gazillion pictures but couldn’t resist leaving this one out.  It’s a little fuzzy and taken with my phone, but here is our first family meal in the new kitchen.  Little Zeke’s face says it all:

Yeah for kitchens!

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By Alyssa, September 9, 2010 7:50 pm

If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning, you know I’m a little crazy about laundry detergent. When I found this recipe a year ago, I discovered I could save us big bucks while forming an addiction to the crisp scent of Fels-Naptha bars.  So faithful peeps, bear with me.  I’ve found an easier process for the recipe and wanted to post about it.

The Recipe

3 Cups Fels-Naptha Bar granules (1 cup equals about 2/3 of a bar)

3 Cups Borax

3 Cups Washing Soda

In other words, equal parts of crushed Fels-Naptha bars, borax, and washing soda equals pure heaven in your HE washer.  Before I start the tutorial, I’ll add that the entire process of making over eight months worth of my homemade HE laundry detergent took a little less than an hour (double that if you have a 4 and 3/4 year old “helper”).

Here are my tools:

I’ve played around with cutting up the bars with a knife in the beginning, but I didn’t want to burn out my good food processor.  Once I started pre-grating the bars with a rotating tool, I cut my time in half…

… and now never worry about overheating my $9 food processor.

After the processing of the bars is complete, the only steps left are mixing in the other ingredients.  I mix equal parts of the borax and washing soda in this 4-cup measuring glass…

… and then add it to the Fels-Naptha bars.  The easiest way to mix together the three equal parts of the ingredients is to shake the closed container until the detergent looks like this:

One hour of work equals this much detergent:

Easy-schmeasy!  With only 2 tablespoons needed for each load of laundry, you can’t beat it!

Be sure to check out this post if you’re curious about the ingredients or other specifics. Mmmm… I can smell the Fels-Naptha now!

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By Alyssa, August 4, 2010 9:01 pm

Some of you may be wondering why I haven’t posted an update to my little gardening experiment since May. Remember how fresh and new my garden looked right after the seeds were planted?

Sadly, the reason I haven’t updated you is, well… I’m embarrassed.  It seems my thumb isn’t quite as green as I thought it could be.  My back row of cucumbers all died, even after reseeding them twice, and the only thing that really seems to be growing in this area is basil.  I’m really good at growing basil.

I’m not giving up.  After reseeding the carrots and lettuce, I have some good sprouts and I harvested enough beets today to feed… me.  But really, you should have seen Bubba’s face when he pulled them up. Definitely worth it.

Ignoring my attempts at square foot gardening, I’m actually pretty darn good at growing squash and tomatoes.  Check out these before pictures:

Now they look like this:

Nice, huh?  Yep, bring it tomatoes and squash.  I’m keeping hope alive even though my first harvest looked like this…

I’ve learned some great lessons like watering your garden regularly means more than once a day when it’s 90 degrees out, lettuce really is a cold season veggie so don’t expect great results in July, and remember to tell your 4-year-old that those 2 cm carrots aren’t quite ready yet BEFORE he pulls half of them out.

So my first harvest was kind of puny, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be up to my ears, literally, in squash before this gardening venture is done.  And even if it isn’t I promise to provide updates more regularly, even if I’m embarrassed!

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By Alyssa, May 26, 2010 2:52 pm

Welp, I’m a gardener now.  I have a garden.  Don’t mean to brag, but man did I work hard on it!  Remember this area?  And that box I picked up for free on Craigslist?

I painted it, along with a few scrap wood boxes Haus made for me (we enlisted the neighbors to help move the big box into the backyard)…

Then I drilled 1/4″ holes in the bottom for drainage and stapled black weather guard to the bottom of the scrap wood boxes (I heart power tools)…

I put a 1/2″ of peat rock in the bottom of each box and then mixed 1/3 assorted compost, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss (only place I could find Vermiculite in Denver was the American Clay Works and Supply Company.  $20 for that huge bag.) …

In the last step, I filled all of the boxes about 8-10 inches full of my soil and planted!  Here’s my main square foot garden with cucumbers (in the milk jug “hot caps”), herbs, lettuce, beets, carrots, and marigolds in the corners:

Craigslist box

In the scrap boxes I planted winter and summer squash with a marigold border (on the left), and tomatoes with a basil border (on the right):

I used old milk jugs without caps and bottoms cut off to make hot caps for the tomato and cucumber transplants.  I didn’t think they would survive the current Colorado night temperatures or wind without them.  As soon as summer really hits around here, I’ll phase them out.  Next time I’ll post about my transplant mistakes and tomato cage discovery (Did you notice the cages are upside down?).

Please post tips for me if you have them. I’ve spent $50 on seeds/transplants and $80 on soil and Hubby Haus is kinda hoping to see a return on the investment.  Your gardening secrets would help!  Happy gardening, friends!

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By Alyssa, May 10, 2010 5:32 pm

Why pay full price?  That is the question I ask myself whenever we are in need or want of a new item around here.  I found buying and selling on Craigslist to be extremely profitable for our family, but I think you need to have a few ground rules before starting to use the website.

Top 5 Tips for Buying on Craigslist

1. Research, research, research.  Price check the item on Craigslist, Ebay, and Google shopping before buying on Craigslist.  I usually do my new item shopping on Ebay or Google shopping and my used item shopping on Craigslist.  Sometimes I’m shocked at how cheap I can find used items like my bread machine I found a few weeks ago.  It’s a few years old, works perfectly, and I bought it for $15.  The new model is selling for $250!

2.  Bartering is acceptable.  Craigslist correspondence is done mostly through email so don’t be afraid to barter. I was looking for a table for the boy’s school/play room and sent out three or four emails asking for dramatic discounts before I got the table I wanted for super cheap.

3.  Say no.  I learned this tip the hard way.  I found a super inexpensive play kitchen for the kids, gave the cash to the seller at her door and then stepped into her pig sty (Hubby was grossed out, that’s how bad it was).  When we got the play kitchen, it was gooey and gross.  I don’t like making mistakes, especially $30 mistakes (I think we’ve established I’m, uhh, frugal), so I scrubbed that kitchen for about 2 hours when we got home and it actually worked out.  I won’t do that again, however.  EXAMINE the item before you bring out your cash and be prepared to say no thanks if it isn’t up to your standards.

4.  Free is the best price.  Think of the top five things that you can’t afford to buy right now but kinda want.  I always have this list in my head and every once in awhile find the item in the Free section of Craigslist.  My amazing planter for my garden was a free find that I stumbled upon after typing planter in the search engine once a week for a month.  I won’t pay for a trampoline, swing set, landscaping material, or pool table in the future because I see them all of the time for free on Denver Craigslist.

5.  Luck favors the prepared.  Don’t expect to find great deals by looking on the Craiglist website once.  My best finds, usually in the free section, are a result of prior planning.  For example, I found a truckload of really clean free sand in January for a sandbox we were building in April.  Sure, I had to store the sand for a few months outside, but I knew that in April EVERYONE would be looking for sand for their sandbox.

Top 5 Tips for Selling on Craigslist

1.  What to sell?  You can sell almost anything!  Check the Craigslist rules here as there are some prohibited items.  I’ve sold a car, clothes, furniture, cameras, computers, children’s items, appliances, you name it.

2.  How much should I list the item?  When I’m going to sell an item, the first thing I do is search for it on both Craigslist and Ebay to see how much similar items are going for.  If after this research, Craigslist seems like the best option,  I describe the item accurately and always list it with pictures.  I don’t like waiting for items to sell and would rather have my time saved instead of getting a few extra bucks, so I also cut about 10% off my listing price after doing the research.  If I find through this research, that the item is only worth $10 or less, I give the item to Goodwill or the Salvation Army for the tax refund.  If you have a ton of these $10 or less items, you may want to consider a yard sale.

3.  Be available.  Look out a week or two on your calendar before listing on Craigslist as you’ll need to be somewhat available to sell items.  That doesn’t mean you need to be home.  I prefer meeting in public areas, parking lots, etc. around town.  If you have a hectic week coming up, however, like family visiting, work projects, etc., you may want to wait to list your item.

4.  What about Ebay?  If your item is unique and easy to ship, you may want to list it on Ebay as you’ll make more for your buck with a larger buyer’s market.  The advantage to selling items on Craigslist is that all purchases are made with cash and you don’t have to ship them.

5.  Be safe.  There are some yucky people that use Craigslist, although I’ve never run into any of them as I ONLY deal locally.  Only accept cash.  Avoid having someone come to your house if you can and be careful about sending your address out until you’ve had some correspondence with the buyer.  If someone is coming to our house, I always have Haus, a buddy, or a neighbor with me when they arrive.

This guide doesn’t describe every single thing you should know about Craigslist (Here’s a link to their fact sheet), but it’s everything that’s helped me over the years.  Craigslist keeps my junk out of the dumpster and definitely boosted my cash income so I’d say it’s perfect for green living.  I’ve also found some amazing stuff on the Free Craigslist page.  Comment with your questions and Happy Hunting!