Exercising, a.k.a. Jillian Michaels is trying to kill me

I've decided, once and for all (I'm not getting any younger!) to get rid of the baby fat that has accumulated in the last 9 years. I've always been relatively active, but I find that isn't enough any longer and I have to step it up to have my body look anything like it did pre-baby.
When my husband was deployed to Iraq, I joined a local gym. They have child care and it was basically my only "me time" that I had. It helped, but I just couldn't justify my monthly membership. Plus, my kids were constantly picking up some virus in the child care.
I recently realized that Time Warner Cable's On Demand has a TON of exercise videos to choose from under the "exercise TV" section. They are included with the cost of the monthly cable bill. I guess we could go without cable TV to save money, but that isn't going to happen here. We don't receive any channels via broadcast because of our location... well sometimes, on a clear day we catch a blurry local San Diego station.
For the last week, I have been following Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Slimdown Program. I can already feel a difference!
If I become bored with the Jillian Michaels Series (or they become too easy, as IF!), there are so many more to choose from that I really do not have an excuse.

Sue

Laundry Day

OK, who am I kidding. EVERY day is laundry day around here. With 3 kids and 3 dogs I almost constantly have a load of laundry in the washer.
I always thought of it as a necessary evil when I would spend $30 (or more) on a big bottle of Tide. I now realize that most of that money went toward colors, dyes and advertising. The homemade stuff works just fine for me.

I read Gail over at the Grocery Cart Challenge, and she has a great tutorial on how to make homemade laundry soap. I can't find the Fels Naptha bar soap around here, I use Zote, and it works well. I fill old, plastic laundry bottles with my soap concoction. When it's time to use it, I shake the bottle a little and use it as I would any other laundry detergent. Because I shake it, I've never had any problem with the soap gelling up and being difficult to use as I have read in other posts around the blogsphere.
This soap works great in my front-loading washer as well.

If you are intimidated about making your own laundry detergent, don't be. The initial investment is less than a single bottle of store-bought detergent. It takes just minutes to whip up a batch. No special tools are needed (I don't even use a food processor to chop the bar soap, I chop by hand).
Borax and Zote can be found easily at most grocery stores and WalMart. The washing soda I found at Albertson's. Most stores around here will order something if it is requested, so try that route if you can't find an ingredient.

By request from my family, I still use regular Downy (although a small amount). I also use Mrs. Stewart's bluing in my white loads. I think the bottle of bluing may last me for the rest of my life. Not bad for a few bucks.

Here are the ingredients, and the costs associated with them:

Borax- Around $3.50 for a large box. enough for over a dozen batches (good for soap and many other uses around the house, including flubber)

Washing Soda- $3.50- enough for over a dozen batches

Zote- $1, enough for 3 batches

Each batch is enough for 64 loads of laundry and costs less than a dollar.
Now I know that I will be making my own laundry soap from now on.

Quick Cookies

My family and I love fresh baked cookies. I use to buy the frozen dough from Trader Joe's at $3.99 a box for about a dozen. Not very frugal. They were good just out of the oven but they did not keep well for the next day. I am not an avid baker so fresh baked cookies were a luxury and my kids were more likely to get one from the supermarket than from me. However, one day I did decide to bake some cookies and I thought of making a double patch and freezing them. Well, I lost steam half way through the dough. I decided to just freeze the dough in rounded teaspoons. I placed them on cookie sheets covered in parchment paper. I covered it with another piece of parchment paper and froze them. After they were hard, I put them in a large ziploc bag. Now, whenever I hear: "Cookies, Mom." I pull about a half dozen and in 12 minutes I have fresh baked cookies for my little monsters. It is also great when you have unexpected guests or you are told by your child that he promised cookies for his entire class. Sometimes, I am on the ball. Only Sometimes. Jen

Part of the Works For Me Wednesday- Back to School Themed Edition