Here is a quick, hopefully update on what I have been up to.
On the homestead front my last project was to learn to use more natural cleaning products. We already worked to buy things from the health food store that said things like all natural on the bottle but I have learned that doesn’t necessarily mean that things in there aren’t considered possible cancer causers or polluters of the ocean. I followed the suggestions in my Urban Homesteading book and am basing our cleaning products off of vinegar, water, castile soap (which is a combination of oils from natural products), and baking soda. In our kitchen for general clean up, dishes etc we have been using a bottle filled with half water, half vinegar and a tablespoon of castile soap and that seems to work well for all things. I think overall its the scrubbing that cleans more than the products anyway. We use the baking soda, which we made a shaker for which was quite fun, an old glass jar which we drilled holes in the top of, for harder projects requiring extra scrubbing like the shower. Overall this transition has made cleaning more fun because I feel like I am doing something good for our family and environment.
My next project will be to make a self watering container garden. I found some awesome food grade buckets on craigslist, for $1 a piece so I bought 10! I hope to have enough area to have a big garden some day!
That is my project for another day, perhaps this weekend.
Our other project has been to prepare an emergency kit which has been quite fun. We used these two sites: http://72hours.org/build_kit.html and http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html. We have water, food and a lot of the other essentials. We still need to make a trip to the hardware store from some additional items although I feel much better prepared now then we were before and it has been a fun little project to check stuff on the list.
Lastly, I just finished book The Power of Full Engagement and I really loved this book. I worked with a coach for awhile and she recommended it, I am so glad I finally got around to reading it. I have been working on an accountability log which has really helped me focus on those things important to me and it provides me with great structure to see how my decisions affect my energy and my ability to do the things that are important to me. I have only been working on it a week so it isn’t quite a habit yet although I know what gets measured gets done so I am pretty excited to elevate a few of the things that are important to me to getting done status. The book is about managing energy instead of time and I really like the that concept.
