Great Depression Cooking : Pasta with Peas

More of Clara's recipes here.

Financial Lessons from Great Depression Cooking Host Clara Cannucciari

Her book: 

Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression

Austerity Measures in the Home: Cutting Utility and Gas Costs

A few things we will be doing or have already done to cut back on costs in these lean times.

1. Stay home.

We use our creativity and imagination to entertain ourselves. This means lots of family games, crafts/DIY, reading, gardening, and walks. Pinterest is a good place for free tutorials, ideas, and inspiration.

2. Using only two lights in the home at a time.

Using only two lights(CFL 13W) an average of four hours a day will cost only $4.18 per  year.

3. Unplug all items that use standby power lights, or use power strips and switch off when not in use.


Cutting off standby lights saves us about :

Five watts for 5 surge protectors
Eight watts for router
Eight watts for garage door opener
9 watts for older PC
and probably another 8 watts for various electronic items.

Total savings: $36.61 a year.

4. Flush toilets only when necessary.

Flushing our newer toilets uses 1.6 gallons. The average person flushes about six times a day which equals  9.6 gallons per person per day. We have three people here most days, so we use at least 864 gallons a month to flush. This is about $12.00 a month. If we all flushed once a day only, we'd save $4 per month, or $48 a year.


5. Turn on hot water heater from 5pm - 8pm only.

6. Use low energy appliances to cook: such as a microwave, an electric skillet,  and a table top oven.

7. Time showers to five minutes or less.

A shower uses on average 2.5 gallons a minute, so cutting back on the time saves many gallons of water.

In warmer months, we turn the water heater off all together and use tepid water to bathe.  This cut our natural gas bill in half! We still pay for the pilot light that runs continuously. Heating water for only three hours a day, cuts the bill by a significant amount. I'll have to figure an exact amount, if I can, and add this here.

8. Map out and plan shopping trips to minimize gas useage.

9. Order online when prices match brick and mortar stores, or are less expensive.

I use discounted gift cards, online coupon codes, and shop through rebate sites(see sidebar).

10. Thermostat is set at 57 degrees, down from 59 degrees.

Free Contemporary Pantry Labels

See here.

Source: blog.worldlabel.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Free Printable Perfume Labels

See here.

Source: blog.worldlabel.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

And more here:

Source: vintagefeedsacks.blogspot.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Home Energy Use Calculator

This calculator can give you a dollar value per state and item. I'm not sure how accurate(up to date) the rates are, but it gave me a good idea of where to save. You can adjust the kWh rates if you know yours. Mine is .11 cents per kWh. My cost of one hundred cubic feet (hcf) of water (748 gallons) is about $10.26.

Here's one for calculating shower useage(heat and water).

Widgets:

By Green Widgets

By Green Calculators

By Energy Widgets

Free Snail Themed First Grade Worksheets

We did these cute worksheets yesterday:

Source here

Snail dot to dot 1-73.

25 + Tips for Using Borax

From DIY Life:

Last week, we published a story on 25 Household Uses for Borax, and the response was overwhelming! So this week, we decided to follow up with new tips -- your tips -- for getting the most out of this "miracle mineral." So, there's this stuff called Borax. You may be familiar with its full product name: 20 Mule Team Borax. 

Essentially, Borax is a cleaning agent derived from naturally occurring minerals -- meaning it's nontoxic and eco-friendly. Though it's known primarily as a laundry booster, its uses extend far beyond that -- from pest control and weed control to odor elimination. We thought we knew everything about Borax...that is until you, our readers, stepped up and offered even more uses for this powdery wonder. We really had no choice but to publish 10 of your best pearls of household wisdom. Enjoy! 

 Read more here.

Free First Grade Nursery Rhyme Reading Printables and Worksheet

I've got this site, Lit2Go linked on my sidebar. Today we used a first grade readibility level print-out for the nursery rhyme, Pat-A-Cake. At the link is an audio version, a PDF illustrated black and white page of the rhyme, and a worksheet. All are free to print and use.

All grades are represented at Lit2Go, and they offer a good variety of classic literature.

My daughter also made a cake all by herself(mostly) from a mix. She learned to cut the amounts down based on the smaller size. We used a small glass oven-safe bowl. It was very good! She put strawberry yogurt on top for icing.

A little literature arts and math(fractions and measurements) for afternoon fun. : )

Getting Organized, Homeschool on Wheels: Easy Curricula Storage

I got this cart, Household Essentials Jumbo 3-Tier Metal Cart with Wheels, White, on Amazon for my daughter's homeschool items. I store it in the corner when not in use, and pull it out to where we decide to do our work - it changes from day to day. I can even roll it outside on the concrete. The trays are deep enough to hold standard sized paper and workbooks, and wide enough to store paper and workbooks on the same shelf. I've got them going two different directions to fit(see picture).
 The price is relatively low because it is not a heavy utility card, but a light weight cart designed for light weight items. We have solid surface floors and the casters work just fine on these - no scratches on the floor. It is also light enough to pick up by the handles to carry .

Cart is white wire with measurements of 24-inch width by 32-1/2-inch height by 14-inch depth.

DIY: Brewing Herbal Floral Water

First Grade Math Worksheet Freebies: Cupcakes, Hearts, and Aliens Addition

Source: 1stgradefantabulous.blogspot.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Click here.


And this one:

Source: 1stgradefantabulous.blogspot.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Dollar Store Inexpensive Stuffed Animal Storage

I got two of these large mesh storage(laundry) bags from the Dollar Tree for stuffed animals. So far they have held up well. They hold about 20 small to medium sized stuffed animals and have a cinch hold drawstring. This is so easy for my daughter to pull along while picking up. It is also good for giving the stuffed animals a good shake out(dust) , and easily moves out of the way for cleaning. Mine are stored behind a door.

Not bad for $1.00 each.

Hacking a T-shirt - Adding Length and Style

Source: discovercreatelive.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Tutorial here.

Planter on Wheels: Repurposing a Galvanized Tub

I love this idea. I'm going to try to make this for inside the house. Tutorial here.

Source: indulgy.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Fuller String Mop Update

So we must be very dirty because my Fuller String mop head needed replacing in only three months time! I had to go with a commercial looped string mop which really works well and is lasting longer. It is large and heavy, and requires a professional mop wringer, but the weight of the mop does much of  the cleaning for you. I also tried a stronger cleaner, LA's Totally Awesome concentrated cleaner(ammonia and bleach free) from the Dollar Tree. This put a shine back on the painted concrete floors and got up a lot of my daughter's glue and paint. I used it on the laminate floors and got good results as well. About a four of a cup of it in a bucket with hot water is all I needed for heavy floor cleaning.

Winco 800g Blue Yarn Looped End Mop Head 32 Ounce See how the strings are looped and tied across at the end? This makes them last longer because they don't unravel and tangle. The string mops that are cut across tend to fray and disintegrate.

GJO60466 - Mop Bucket Wringer Combo, four 3 inch Casters, 26 qt., Yellow

Free Multi-grade Homeschool Worksheets

This site has a ton of quality worksheets to download. There is a free sign-up to access them. Last night I downloaded and printed 20+ sight word worksheets! There is so much more...check it our here.

Source: education.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Easy DIY Painted Concrete Floor Update

Source: atelier-st.de via Alexandra on Pinterest

We pulled up our first floor carpet and painted our floor white some time ago. I love the way they look; however, my daughter has made short work of them - they are stained from all her projects and heavy play. We never sealed them with poly, which would have been best for stain resistance. The polyurethane smells horrible, and I didn't want to deal with the fumes. I thought about floor wax which I still might try. So I need to repaint them, and was inspired by this olive color for the floors. As soon as it warms up, I think I'll try this color! Despite the need to repaint, I am very glad we have concrete painted floors. If we still had carpeting, the messes would have been incredibly difficult to clean. As it is now, all I have to do is mop with a heavy commercial looped string mop and it's clean - minus paint stains and heavy wear areas(computer bench seat area). When you homeschool, the house gets a lot of wear! This is especially true with younger children who tend to be very hands-on and free spirited with their learning.

Another option would have been to stain the concrete and seal it. If you don't mind fumes and dealing with caustic chemicals, this is an excellent option for hiding stains and reduces the chance for scratched paint.

If you can rent and use a commercial sander, the concrete floor will be less pitted and much easier to clean. I tried to get the husband to do this, but we are both too old and tired to tackle this. ; ) Our surface was fairly smooth, so we just painted over it.

We have had laminate in our kitchen for 14 years, and it has held up beautifully. Laminate or some other solid surface overlay would have been a much better choice, but we were looking for the least expensive, least time consuming avenue to DIY easy-clean solid surface floors. I'm happy to continue this option for now, and maybe when the children are older, I'll deal with laying down polyurethane. It's nasty stuff...we'll have to leave the house for a few days while several coats of the stuff dries. I'm not ready for this now.