All Sorts of Changes

Okay, we’ve upped the ante!

Remember that New Year’s Resolution we made about making our home environment more healthy? Well, that coupled with me reading The Happy Minimalist has brought on a strong desire for me to simplify my life.

So now I’m trying to go back to the basics in everything. Home cleaning, self cleaning, and eating.

You read about soap nuts, and our swap meet. But now, we’re going “no-‘poo” – as in, we’re not using shampoo anymore. Oh, we’re still washing our hair, but either just with water, or with baking soda (followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse) if the need arises. For the kids, when they get really dirty, I am thinking about making a soap from my soap nuts when they get here. I will also make a body wash from soap nuts. Stinky/greasy/dirty bodies often need more TLC than just baking soda. But I bet baking soda will be one of the ingredients of my homemade soap-nut body wash! And some essential oils… maybe lavender… mmm.

Today was my first “no-‘poo” day. I washed with baking soda because my hair was pretty greasy. I switched shampoos about a month ago (trying to cut costs) and I have hated hated hated it. So I’ve got to do something else. Going back to my high-maintenance, high-cost salon products is just not going to work, so I figured I’ll go low-maintenance, low-cost, and natural.

I loved it, by the way. At first, scrubbing baking soda paste into my hair was a little… unnatural feeling, but once I rinsed it off, I was surprised! My hair had never felt so clean and natural, without being also frizzy, dry, and coarse. I’m hoping this will help my frizz-headedness as well.

I’m going to try some Vitamin E oil as well for the frizz if it gets really out of control. And Aloe Vera gel for when I want some curls or something a little more intense.

Already I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the best changes I make all year!

I have already made a list of all the parts of my “cleaning” life I want to swap out for cheap, natural, homemade versions. We’re moving in a few months, so I think I’m going to leave all my old chemical cleaners behind (I’ll probably donate them to friends or something) and swap out when settle down again. I’ll keep you posted. It’s sure to be an adventure!

Feeding the Rowleys

I have started this new blog to help me plan healthy meals for my family and to help keep track of what we're eating. We're trying to reform our family's eating habits in hopes that it will help us stay healthier. We will also be including our exercise activities.

I usually make a menu twice a month - once for each paycheck. My menu is mostly a dinner menu, because breakfasts and lunchs are pretty easy to figure out, and I like to keep breakfast and lunch simple - having a few meals that I can just decide to make. Like mac and cheese or PB&Js. Soon you'll see a list of our breakfast and lunch meals on the right hand side of the screen. At the end of each day (hopefully) I will post our food diary for the day. This will include what all of us have eaten (except of course Joseline since she just eats breastmilk every day).

I'll also be posting shopping tips, budgeting advice, and other helps for feeding a family the healthy way.