It's Not Cheap!

One of my main goals with this blog is to keep myself accountable with how much this is costing.  There is absolutely no way that switching to all organic unprocessed food is going to be cheaper than eating non organic processed crap.  But, I think there is probably a way to do it more frugally; and there is probably a grey area, there are some things that may not need to be organic.  So, here is my first grocery store accountability post.  I bought groceries today for 2 dinner that I estimate will last us 3-4 nights total with leftovers.  I also had to buy some essentials milk, wine, and peanut butter cups.  Unfortunately, the I had to go to two different grocery stores to get all of this food, because the cheaper of the two stores does not carry organic chicken.  Here is the haul:

Not much.  These are the ingredients for crockpot chicken and dumplings, and salmon with a white wine Dijon sauce.

The grand total: $89.07 

If we subtract the milk, one bottle of wine, cheese, and the peanut butter cups that brings us to $16/dinner if this last us 4 nights, $20/dinner if it only lasts 3 nights which is more likely.  It is still cheaper than eating at a sit down restaurant, but that is a lot of money people.  I would say culprit number one in this situation is the chicken.  A bag of organic free range chicken breasts here goes for $22, and it only contains 4-5 chicken breasts.  This is simply not sustainable for most families.  Really, meat and seafood in general are what drives up the grocery bill it seems when buying organic.  Since meat and seafood are two things I am absolutely not willing to buy if they are not free range/organic/grass fed etc, we are going to have to start looking for some vegetarian meal options.

So, there we go, moment of truth, buying organic is expensive.  It may be time for Mrs. B to start clipping some coupons!  Thank goodness we are saving money on my homemade cleaners!

Super Lazy Dinner

One of the hardest things about switching to organic unprocessed foods is that cooking dinner takes a lot longer.  We are currently moving into a new home and time is at a premium around here.  I love cooking, but I simply do not have time to spend 60 minutes making dinner right now, especially since Monkey has taken to hanging onto my leg and screaming the whole time I cook.  Dinnertime is fun at the B household!  So last night I really phoned it in and we had penne with meat sauce, and it was really not all that expensive.  Plus it definitely made enough for two nights.  Any meal that makes leftovers gets an A+ from me.

Here are the players from last night.  1lb of organic ground beef, some organic whole wheat penne (we eat penne because it easy for little fingers to pick up), organic jarred pasta sauce, and some spinach that only had a couple of days left before it turned.

I simply browned up the ground beef in my cast iron skillet, chopped up the spinach and wilted it in with the beef, and added the sauce.  You probably did not need me to walk you through that step by step!  Super easy week night meal, and every ingredient was natural and organic.  Plus, the sauce was on sale for $2.99.  Organic sauce can run up to $8/jar in our local stores!   So I guess my lazy night sort of shows that going organic does not have to be super expensive.  This is a way to work it into anyone's budget.

While you were sleeping

Good morning!  While probably every normal person with a 15 month old child who likes to wake up extra early was sleeping last night I was searching for a solution to streaky stainless steel (and catching up on teen mom, and drinking some wine, but I digress).  Well, I think we have a winner, maybe, only time will tell.  This is the pacific northwest so I really don't know when the next time is that sun will hit some of these appliances, but in the cloudy morning light they're looking good.   

Streaky refrigerator doors are really hard to capture on film, but here is my sad attempt.  The first picture is before and the second picture is after.

All I used to remove those nasty streaks was some olive oil on a rag.  Pour a pretty liberal amount on any soft rag you have around the house, and start rubbing it in.  You might be thinking won't this leave a greasy film on the fridge?  It really does not, I have no idea how or why it works, but it does.  Now, this is not the easiest way to clean a fridge, because it is a two step process.  Straight vinegar to clean disinfect, then olive oil to remove the streaks.  But now I have appliances that I can feel good about Monkey licking (and she will).  Plus, I am meeting my goal of no unnecessary chemicals in the house, while still satisfying my perfectionist tendencies.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not use our expensive organic olive oil to clean the fridge.  We still have some non organic here and I was not gonna waste those organic dollars on something we were not ingesting our rubbing all over our bodies.  If this ends up being the route we go for cleaning appliances I will probably continue to keep a small bottle of cheap olive oil on hand for this purpose.  Other than Monkey's tendency to lick and kiss inanimate objects, no on is going to be ingesting these cleaners, so it is one place we can save some money.

My First Homemade Cleaner

I am about to save you lots of money people!  Listen closely.  When we moved into our new house 2 weeks ago my mom helped me to make my first natural homemade cleaner, and so far I am LOVING it.

All you need:

 White vinegar, a spray bottle (I bought mine for $3.50 at Target), and some water.

 Fill the bottle halfway with vinegar, fill the rest with water

Voila!  An all purpose cleaner!  This half and half mixture works great for windows and general cleaning.  If you need something with more power you can use straight vinegar.  I also use my half and half mixture to clean our laminate floors with a microfiber mop/swiffer type thing.

I am absolutely shocked at how well vinegar works to clean pretty much everything.  It is such an easy switch and it is soooooooooo much cheaper than traditional cleaners.  I will admit that while it is wet your house will smell like a salad, but the smell dissipates pretty much immediately once it dries.  Plus this is a cleaner you can leave under the sink without worrying about little ones poisoning themselves, or ruining furniture or carpet spraying it.  The only issue we are running into is Mr. B hates the smell of vinegar, so I am looking for some alternatives that may be easier on his nose.

The one spot that we are not having luck using this as a cleaner is our stainless appliances (so far I have used it on granite counters, laminate floors, ceramic tile, linoleum, toilets and sinks, and bathtubs).  I am currently on an internet hunt for an easy to make stainless steel cleaner and I will report back.

Financial Verdict: While you have the initial start up cost of buying a spray bottle, the vinegar is only $1.99 a gallon.  So overall this is WAY cheaper than buying a natural cleaner, and still significantly cheaper than traditional cleaners.

I Got 99 Problems. . .

Sing it with me now, what you don't still listen to Jay-Z circa 2004? 

Okay, let's talk about problem number one in this experiment:

That's right.  I am an addict.  I believe this is a true addiction because I actually woke up at 2am this morning craving a diet coke and had to go drink a mini can.  I know it is not good for me, so why am I having such a hard time letting it go?  The two cans in the picture?  I finished those before 11am today.  So yeah, it is going to be a struggle.  I will try and hold myself accountable and fess up when I slip and drink some of this sweet nectar of the gods chemical engineering.  So before I bid adieu to my dear friend and probably first love, let's recount some of the reasons I should not be consuming this like water.

1.  Aspartame is a chemical, there is nothing natural about it, and this year is all about being natural.
2.  It has been correlated with all types of terrible things like increased risk of heart attack and stroke.  I went to college so I know that correlation does not mean causation (my Psych 111 professor would be so proud), but still probably best to avoid it.
3.  It has not nutritional value.  Food and drink should fuel your body.  Last I checked Potassium Benzoate was doing nothing to keep me going.
4.  On a more personal note I get absolutely devastated in restaurants when I find out they serve Diet Pepsi instead of Diet Coke, cheers to less disappointment!
5.  On the most personal note.  There was a time in college when I was consuming roughly 4 20oz bottles of this stuff a day.  I actually started to lose strength in my hands and thought I had multiple sclerosis.  Like, I could not pick up the phone at my part time office job, it was too heavy for my fingers to grasp it.  I went to the doctor and was told that aspartame can cause these types of symptoms in some people.  I swore off the suds for a few months and was totally back to normal within a week.  SCARY!

So, now you know my weakness.  Say goodbye to diet coke!  As soon as I finish the can I am drinking while typing this post ugh!

Introduction

I am a military wife and stay at home mom to a fascinating 15 month old girl.  We just moved to a new location and we have decided it is time to make a major life change.  For the next 12 months we will be going organic and natural in as many aspects of our lives as possible.  I will blog about the cost, our health, and the impact on our daily lives. 

The main players in this experiment will be me, my husband (the Mr.), and our little spitfire (Monkey).   

I do not claim to be an expert in this field.  I am sure I will make mistakes along the way and fall off the band wagon at times.  I am going to use this as a way to document our journey to a healthier lifestyle; and to help myself understand what works for us, what doesn't, and why.

Here are the details (or at least as many as I have figured out right now, we are still unpacking so my life and mind are a bit of a jumbled mess).

*We will only buy organic produce, dairy, and meat.  For all other foods we will buy organic, or the most natural option available.  We will only buy wild caught seafood. 
*There will be very little processed convenience food.  I do buy the organic mac n cheese and organic chicken nuggets for monkey.  She is 15 months old and I have to make sure this experiment does not cause her to starve to death.
*We will make our own cleaners.  This is hopefully the money saving natural option, the food sure as heck isn't saving us any cash.
*I will document our grocery bills on the blog.  Eating organic is expensive, I am hoping this will also help me clean up my act when it comes to wasting food.
*As of right now I am not switching to cloth diapers, this might seem hypocritical, but we are getting very close on potty training and financially I cannot justify the investment.
*Monkey and myself are switching to as many natural toiletries as possible.  I will review their effectiveness and let you know what sticks.

I am sure there will be more along the way, but let's go ahead and get started!