Saving money, one mouse click at a time!

So as you're all well aware of, we're all about saving money. Over the summer, Stephen's sister Jen mentioned that she buys all her household stuff online, so today we tried checking out drugstore.com for our household cleaning stuff (that is, the stuff we don't make ourselves). We thought you might be interested in seeing our savings:


Buying things at Target (based on what we've payed in the past there):


2 Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Liquid Hand Soap: ($3.99 ea.) $7.98

1 Tom's of Main Whole Care with Flouride Natural Toothpaste: $4.25

1 Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Room Freshener: $4.99

1 Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid: $4.99

1 Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwashing Detergent: $4.77

1 Organic Wear Duo Eye Shadow: $9.74

1 Seventh Generation Natural Liquid Laundry Detergent: $29.99

Total: $66.71 plus sales tax = $72.05



Buying it at Drugstore.com: 

2 Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Liquid Hand Soap: ($2.99 ea.) $5.98 (a $2 saving)

1 Tom's of Main Whole Care Natural Toothpaste: $3.99 (a $0.26 saving)

1 Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Room Freshener (instead of febreze): $4.99 (same price)

1 Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid: $2.89 (a $2.10 saving)

1 Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwashing Detergent: $4.39 (a $0.38 saving)

1 Organic Wear Duo Eye Shadow: $6.39 (a $3.35 saving)

1 Seventh Generation Natural Liquid Laundry Detergent: $19.99 (a $10 saving)

And, we got free shipping - hello bonus.

Total: $48.62




And that means that by buying online, we saved $23.43, which in our book is completely and totally awesome. Plus, we got to shop from the comfort of our couch while everything is shipped to our front door, saving energy, time, and gas money. Win.

Do you guys buy anything online? Are you planning on starting? Has anyone switched to organic products lately?

Love,
Vanessa, Stephen, and Anya 

So Fresh and So Clean Part 5!

This is one of my favorite organic cleaners, because it accomplishes something that I've always desired - germ-and-icky-free food. That's right, this is your recipe for a fruit and vegetable wash.

Fruit and Vegetable Wash #1

1 c. water

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. baking soda

spray on produce; wipe off after five minutes.

Fruit and Vegetable Wash #2

1 c. water

1 c. white vinegar

1 T. baking soda

20 drops grapefruit seed extract

spray on produce; wipe after five minutes.

Combine the ingredients into a spray bottle, spray the cleaner on any fruit or veggie, and let it sit for five minutes before wiping it off. The first time I tried this I almost cried when I saw all the grossness that came off the apples and bananas I was cleaning. It's always disgusted me that I'm just supposed to eat an apple that's been handled by who-knows-how-many people after going through machinery that hasn't been cleaned in who-knows-how-long-if-ever after growing on a tree. So. Much. Nastiness. And then this cleaner was brought to my attention and sweet, sweet relief for a germaphobe like me! Now, whenever we buy veggies and fruit, I wash them with this cleaner before throwing them into our designated "fresh produce" container in the fridge (a colander). We don't keep it in a drawer because we tend to forget about it, resulting in the delicious produce going bad before we use it. This way, we always see it first thing when opening the fridge. :)

Happy (clean and sanitized) Eating!

Love,

Vanessa

Falling Into Place

Today was a typical fall day at Casa Waters. I spent the day cleaning the house and baking while Stephen raked and tended to the yard (we're so 1950's-domestic). We all know he has the worse end of that deal. Wanna see why?

The left side of the fence is the backyard brush and
the right side is the front yard. Keep that in mind for later. 

 The leaf pile is looming.

And the best part is, this is just part of what's left in the back yard...

And here's the tree in the front yard. (Remember, everything on the right side of the fence is from this tree...) 

It's a joke, right? That tree doesn't even look like it's lost any leaves. But, in completely related news, if anyone wants to jump into enormous piles of leaves help Stephen bag all these suckers, well, you know how to reach us. 

Also, Anya wanted to say hi: 

Happy raking! 

Love,

Vanessa, Stephen, and Anya

Les Toilettes

So I'm not 100% sure why this is the third remodeling post we've done, because it was the first room done. But it is, what it is, so let's just get to it.

The Main Bathroom.

BEFORE (aka terrifying):

The floor and the tub give me the heebie-jeebies. 

Okay - the whole bathroom gave me the heebie-jeebies. 

So we thought we could just do cosmetic stuff to fix the bathroom, but as tear-out continued, we realized the bathrooms just needed to be redone completely. 

So Stephen tore it all out - both bathrooms actually - so that at one point you could stand in the hallway and see to the backyard. And this was two months before our wedding. We're awesome. 

Stephen's dad, Richard, doing the plumbing!

I mean, you don't even have to know anything about plumbing and home stuff to know this is bad:

Stephen says there's something like over 120 2x4s in our two bathrooms (which are right next to one another). It's undoubtedly the sturdiest part of our house. We have a constant debate about whether or not we'd be safer in the basement or in this bathroom during a storm. 

And naturally he did all the re-wiring and plumbing stuff necessary for two bathrooms. He also tore out the ceiling to give the bathrooms more height since they're so tiny - that helped immensely. 

It was a good day when the tub walls went up. 

This picture was taken from our hallway probably a month (or less) before our wedding day. 

Thanks to Aaron's help, Stephen was able to get the drywall up pretty quickly. 

And my man is an expert tile-er (Official term? I think not). Seriously, he's good. The tile in that bathroom is perfect. Oh, and we moved the toilet to the other side of the bathroom because this bathroom got small to make room for a shower in the second one (more on that later). 

He ended up setting the toilet the night he moved into our house (Thursday night before our Saturday wedding), and then the bathroom went without a door for probably six months (meh - at a certain point you just don't care about silly things like bathroom doors). But it's been completed now for over a year:

Yes, that is a picture of Carl, Nathan, and I (childhood friends) dressed up when we were young.

The extra lighting Stephen installed definitely helps brighten up the small bathroom. 

And here's our pocket door (which, admittedly, still needs to be painted...). 

And as usual, the before and after shots:

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

It's nice having a clean, fresh bathroom (especially be the germ-freak that I am). Now I'm just waiting on that second bathroom... ;)

Love,
Vanessa and Stephen