My love hate relationship with my Swiffer...

I love my swiffer but have to say even with coupons I still dread buying the refills. After googling and searching Etsy/Pinterest I thought I could make these and here is what I came up with. I am still not that great with the sewing machine and thought while I am out being a dance mom I can sit and crochet.

Crocheted Swiffer Cover
I love to use my Swiffer, but I hate the disposable covers. So last night I made a pattern out of 100% cotton yarn, that fits on a swiffer. I thought some here might be able to use it. Its machine washable, and it works great.

Re-usable Swiffer Cover

Size I hook and Sugar n Cream yarn - any color (its a *really* good use for scraps)

Measure your swiffer width, and add 4 inches. (my swiffer is 10 inches across.. so I crocheted 14 inches worth).

Chain 18 st. In the second ch from hook, sc in each st - 17 st across.
Repeat this row until you reach your measurement. I stretched mine out before I measured, because the cotton stretches as is, and I wanted a snug fit.

Fold over short edges 2 inches on each side(wrong sides together), and sew the edges closed, so the cover can slip on your swiffer and stay on securely.



Here is how to refill it with homemade solution.

WHAT YOU NEED:
An empty Swiffer bottle
A small pot
A dish towel
Fingernail clippers

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Fill the pot with about 2 inches of water, just enough to cover the lid on the Swiffer bottle.
2. Bring the water to a boil. Once the water has reached a boil turn off the heat and hold the Swiffer bottle upside down for 90 seconds.
3. After 90 seconds remove the bottle from the water and use a towel to twist off the lid.
4. Now that you have the lid off, notice the little teeth inside the lid. Simply take your fingernail clippers and cut them off. Voila, now you can remove the lid from your Swiffer anytime you need a refill! No more tossing those bottles in the garbage and harming our environment. You can be green while saving lots of green!

HOMEMADE SOLUTIONS:
For wood floors, I use 1 part white vinegar and 1 part vegetable oil.
For my linoleum and tile, I use 1/4 Cup white vinegar, 3-4 drops of lemon essential oil (optional) and fill the bottle with warm water.
Of course, if you have a store bought floor cleaner you’re in love with (or got super cheap with coupons) just follow the directions on the bottle for the ratio of cleaner to water. Pour the floor cleaner in the Swiffer bottle and fill the bottle with warm water.

No picture

I forgot to take one before sending Adriana to the basement to put everything away. Here is a break down of what I bought this week.

27 bottles of Pantene pro v
% bottles dawn dish soap
5 bottles of Tide
12 small tubes of Aquafresh (to be donated)
10 oral b dental floss (to be donated)
16 nivea lip cares
3 packages of pull ups
2 bounty paper towels
16 up2u oacks of gum.

I also was able to score some amazing 90 percent off deals on Christmas stuff for next year including teacher gifts which totalled a 1.80 each. Thats the plus side of having the same teacher for three consecutive years.

Donations

One of my 50 goals for the year was to get the kids more involved with charity work. While blog hopping I stumpled across a woman who is donating 100 shoe boxes full of personal items. My goal is to fill 50 boxes of supplies for our local homeless shelter. Which will include free things I obtain from couponing. Tomorrow will be my first purchase. I am also thinking about teaching a mini class for the teachers at the school. We must learn to pay it forward. I am a big believer of not being greedy. Which stems from being a spoiled child who married right out of high school. Learning what a drastic change it was to have to baby your own things. Considering I had never even washed a load of laundry before moving out.

Tomorrow I will be off to stock up on free aqua fresh travel toothpaste and floss. I ony have 14 coupons for each but hey you have to start somewhere right?

Downside of hubby being home

Is no blog time. Today was a very busy day. Lets Hope tomorrow I will have a little more time to sit down and make a post. This friday begins my saving for... Not quite sure yet. I am following couponing to Disney but would rather use the money towards a few mini vacations.

Sundays

There are really many reasons I love Sundays. One is because My hubby always has it off. Two we usually go to church then have family lunches.( Which I have to say lately I have been horrible at)Third would have to be COUPONS!!!! Some weeks are more exciting then others today was Amazing! I love proctor and gamble weeks. If you are a beginner couponer or are not too serious but would like to save a little money this would be the week to buy the newspaper.

This week I am trying something new. I ordered inserts from a clipping service. Which will send me the whole inserts. My problem is I did not do the math and am paying more for it then I should have. I noticed today that there were coupons I did not recieve that could have been regional so my hopes are I ordered from the region that has the. At the end of the week I will post a picture of everything I ave bought this week along with a breakdown of what I paid out of pocket. These first few weeks are really going to show I am spending more then I should but I am trying to build back up my stock pile. Not couponing for two months and sure make your stockpile dwindle down.

Last day of 2011...

equals epic fail with being frugal. I was confined to bed all day yesterday and knew I was taking them skating today. Last minute decided to throw going to lunch in the mix which ended up costing half my grocery budget for the week.We will keep that our little secret. We always go skating on days our local rink has specials.Todays was a little different because they have a ball drop party where baloons fall down that have prizes in them. We ended up getting 5.00 and two soft pretzels for the next time we go. Usually on the way out when its over they pass out free admission tickets for the next time you come. Which is why we go there as often as we do.

Ok here is my best 20.00 I spend every year. Well technically 40.00 because I buy two books. I buy the enjoy the city coupon books. Our school had them as a fundraiser last year but I am always looking for someone selling them. They are great for date nights with the hubby and also kid/parent night. Which I will get into at a later time. Heres the rundown of the books. two large pizza's one medium one small all for FREE. Which more then pays for the book in my opinion. also atleast 20 buy one get one free coupons for pizza. It also has a lot of buy one get one free dinners from nicer restaraunts which we use on date nights. We rarely go anywhere anymore without a coupon. I know some men may have an issue with it and Travis did before but not anymore. another plus is the burger king coupons buyu one get one free on whopper and chicken sandwhiches.It also has skating,museum and laser tag and bumper bowling coupons. WIth free laser tag/bumper bowling again perfect for one on one kid time.

I know its a small up front investment but lasts a little over a year before they expire and saves a Ton in the long run. When you can go on a date and spend maybe 15.00 plus not pay fpr a sitter you are doing fantastic in my book.

Introduction.

My name is Kristina. I have a rather large family My husband and I have ben married for 10 years. We have four beautiful children. (I know I may be biased)We married right out of highschool and have had our ups and downs. In 2005 our son was having medical issues and I was pregnant with our third child. I was having to miss a lot of work and we were begining to realize that paying for our kids to be in day care a decent center was going to cost more then I was making in week. Which meant I would be quitting my job as soon as Corina was born. We continued to go through medical problems then after Corina came a whole new set of issues were put on our plate. I wondered how we would make it. Sometimes thought we did not stand a chance. We struggled with money often not having enough. Thats where couponing came in.Not only for groceries. Now everything we do has a budget. I try tp give my children all of the opportunities theior friends have without going into debt. I just have to do it a different way. I spend hours trying to find deals. Juggling money around trying to find free or inexpensive things to do with our kids. For awhile I thought I was failing at it but this Christmas my broyther in laws girlfrined gave me a memory frame whichmeant more to me then she could possibly know. Seeing my kids eyes light up at all the places we have gone in the past year was amazing. It inspired me to write this blog. A few of my close frineds have been asking me tips I figured this was the best way to do it.

IN this blog I will post amazing coupon deals,once a month cooking ideas,free/inexpensive family fun and other randomn money saving tips. There are a fewnew blogs I am going to be following to try and save for a vacation. More dteails to come later on that. I will post my progress though.