Blogging Through the Bundle: Was the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle Worth Buying?

(photo credit: http://ultimate-bundles.com)


So I came upon this ebook deal, called the "The Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle". Being as I am into e-books, and healthy living I decided to check it out.

It includes 73 ebooks, and a bunch of bonus offers. The total price was $29.95, or $39.95 for the Kindle/ebook version (which I bought).

Being that I have to analyze every purchase to death to make sure it was worth it, I am going to be talking about each book and bonus offer here on the blog, so then when the next sale goes live, I can decide if it was worth the price or not (and maybe you want to know if you should buy it too?)

So far I have already read 3 books.

The first book I read right away .

(image taken from http://ultimate-bundles.com)

Crash Course in Natural Parenting by Karli Von Herbulis

This book is just the basics in Natural Parenting, I will say most of it was stuff I already knew so I was a little disappointed. But, it would be great for someone just embarking on natural parenting.

(image taken from http://ultimate-bundles.com)

The 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge Guide

I am no stranger to green smoothies. We were whipping them up in our Blendtec long before it was  cool. But, this book motivated me to actually do it every day. In addition, it inspired me to use other greens besides my go to spinach and kale. I would recommend this book if you like green smoothies. Or even if you don't. :)

(image taken from http://ultimate-bundles.com)

Clean and Simple by Stephanie Langford and Writers @ Keeper of the Home

I'm not going to lie- I stopped making my own cleaners since the birth of my baby well, almost a year ago. I have gotten used to the convenience of buying stuff. I was excited about this book because hey- 7 cleaners and you can clean your whole house! The recipes seem very easy and doable. I enjoyed the book, but since I have yet to make the cleaners I cannot vouch for whether they work or not (maybe I should get on that?)


I have more Books of the Bundle waiting for me on Kindle.... Stay tuned!!!

Katie

The Living Room: Where we do our Living

Lots of blogs show these perfect (white!) living rooms, and I just have to say, they don't live with my husband, son, and baby. My husband treats every room like his closet, my son crushes goldfish everywhere, and baby just likes to spit up on everything. But you know what? I am done feeling bad about my living room not being perfect. Welcome.

Welcome to my living room.

 

This is where my son plays.

This is where I write to you. And do other computery things.

 

This is our media closet.

This is where I nurse the baby, take naps, and hang out with the family.

This is our living room, it is not white or uncluttered or perfect. But, it is where we do our living.

Weekly Spending Report 3.1.14-3.7.14 and Homemade Cleaners

Although I am a "J" type in my Meyers Briggs (INFJ) My "J" seems to be my weakest, and although I like to have things planned and a general outline, I am not rigid in my schedules. Which is why my Friday spending report is being posted on Monday.

Spending Report 3.1 - 3.7

House payment: $900.00
Shower Curtain: $10.00 - I let ours go for too long without cleaning it and now it is beyond hope. I ordered a cloth one from Amazon and plan on taking better care of it.
Book For Son used on amazon- $5.00 - a start to the "sex" talk. I want to make this as comfortable as it can be between a mother and son.
Gas for Me - $55.50
Gas for Mike- $31.05
That is the difference between a tank of regular and a tank of premium.
Groceries: $3.65 - rethinking my dislike of Costco as the only thing I needed to buy this week was bananas. I am definitely down with one shopping trip lasting 2 weeks.
Swim Diapers: $13.28
We have a trial family membership to a local gym and they have family swim night at their indoor pool.
The Honest Company Cleaning Bundle: $41.90

Total for this week:
$1060.38

The last thing on my list is the Honest Cleaning Bundle. Prior to the birth of Son 2, I made most of my cleaners at home. This started because I wanted all natural cleaners but didn't want to pay the price at the store. I decided to give myself a break when Son 2 was born and purchase cleaners from The Honest Company.  
I didn't realize at the time that is a monthly subscription that needs to be canceled via phone call. If I had, I  might not have ordered it, as I hate making phone calls (social interaction! Ah!)
Now that Baby is 4 months old and (sorta) sleeping through the night, I feel I might be ready to go back to my homemade cleaners, but the problem is, not all of them worked. And  my husband HATES vinegar. With a vengeance. And he can sniff it out like a crime sniffing dog. So. Vinegar is out.

What did work:
Laundry detergent
Mirror/Window Cleaner
Soft Scrub
Dish Soap

What did not work:
Toilet Cleaner (still had marks in bowl)
Mold/Mildew Shower tile cleaner (shower looks a lot better since I started using Honest Bath Cleaner)
Dishwasher Detergent (made my dishwasher grime-y)

So, I am trying to decide if the expense is worth it. $35.99/5 products seems like a lot, and I don't know if I can justify the expense anymore. Does anyone have cleaner recipes for those things that work that do not use vinegar?

Happy Monday!

Katie

Photo Friday #6 Home Tour 1

Whenever I see home tours on blogs (which I love, especially tiny houses, and minimalist houses), it always makes me look around my house and think "jeez, what do these people do? my place is a mess!" Is it because I live with 2 males? I don't know. Then I thought hm, maybe the pictures make the houses look cleaner than they are, and maybe if I take pictures of my house, it will look nice and clean and fresh (wishful thinking?)
So, without picking up first, I took some pictures and thought I would give you an "authentic" tour of some of my house.

A little background- we live in a carriage house- about 900 sq feet. The living space is upstairs, and underneath are 4 "unfinished" carriage bays- which house my husband's studio, a laundry room, and a powder room, and junk.

This is what you see when you open the door at the top of the steps. Straight ahead looks into the family room, or "the big room" as we call it here, since it is the biggest room in the house. My son fills this room with toys.

If you look right, you see where we hang coats and things. And further right, are the 2 bedrooms and bathroom, which we will not be visiting today.

 

 

To the right is an "L" shaped dining room and living room with a galley kitchen.

At the far right you can see a little table that is a catch-all for crap stuff like mail, etc.

And if we keep walking we can see the kitchen:

Hello kitchen! Nothing to shout about, but it gets the job done.

 

Standing by the table you see the small living room area, that's our "creative space"- easel, bookcase, piano, etc.

 

A rope rocker and a baby seat, getting ready for the new baby due in (gasp) 10 days....

The view when sitting in the rocker- you can see over the by the table was a crafty thing I made that I was proud of- a hanging clothesline to display my son's artwork. :)

It's funny, looking at pictures actually helps me see the areas I need to declutter (what's with all the bags laying on the floor? oh right, baby gifts. and that random fishnet??)

Stay tuned for the rest..

Do you like looking at other people's home tours? 

Katie

The August No Electric Dryer Outcome

For the month of August I finally stopped using my clothes dryer. I wanted to see how much electricity/money I could save (I explained in this post). Our electric bill was outrageous in June ($134.00).

My husband hung some rope we use when we camp to hang out clothes, and my mom had a container of clothes pins I was able to snag. So, the cost of the line drying operation was free.

Between the thermostat being turned down 2 degrees (this post) and not using the clothes dryer, my electric bill was $90.00 this month. But, most of the savings was from turning up the air conditioner.
The dryer only saved about $10. $10.00 is $120/year, which is better than nothing!

Even know it wasn't a big chunk of change, hanging wash out on the line is surprisingly cathartic. I like being outside, and being out there hanging clothes gave me time to just be. Finding beauty in the everyday is so amazing. I would take my time to stare at the sky, feel the grass in my toes. Things I don't normally do, especially when just shoving clothes in the dryer.

I plan on hanging my wash outside until the weather is no longer suitable, and then I will hang it inside (I hang all the undies inside. I'm not there yet). But, I know once the baby comes I might be turning on the dryer.

Do you line dry your clothes?

Katie

Better for the Environment and Your Wallet

I tend to put saving the environment above saving money. Not because I love to spend money or anything, (spending actually tends to make me nervous) but you know, good planets are hard to find.

I attribute this also to my strong INFJ Meyers Briggs, ( This postwhere Jacob from ERE describes "NF" personalities and their "save the planet/save the animals stop consuming " describes me to a T.)

But I know you're like okay, get to the point. I have been experimenting to lower my energy usage while simultaneously lowering my outrageously high electric bill of $134.00.  So last month (July) I took it upon myself to push it to the limit of how far we could go temperature wise. My family was not totally cool (pun intended) with letting go of our window box air conditioner (for reference, I live in Southeastern Pennsylvania, temperatures around here in July are usually between 85*F-95*F and loads of humidity). But, our air conditioners do have thermostats, which have been set at 80. I bumped them up to 82*F for the month of July.

It wasn't very comfortable at first, but surprisingly the new normal becomes comfortable quite fast (especially coming inside on a day it is 90 out with 100% humidity.) My already wild curly hair rivals a crazy rodent's nest.

But, my electric bill was $35.00 less this month (and I was still using the clothes dryer in July in case you were wondering, I stopped using it August 1.) I consider this a definite win.

Plus I consumed less, so it wasn't just a win for me, but a win for the environment. Score!

P.S. What's your Meyers Briggs?

Things that seem normal to us but has friends and family members thinking we're not..

Over the course of time my husband and I have made changes in our lives. These were due to budget concerns, environmental concerns, etc. They have become normal and routine for us, but I find friends and extended family members think we are a little "off". Here are just a few.

1.) No television

We own a television. It is hooked up to a vcr (yes, we still have one) and a dvd player. But, we have no channels. We used to have the basic channels, but when things went digital, our 1995 model tv no longer broadcasted them (and we were to lazy to get a converter. No regrets.) My son watches shows on the computer (and so do we), and we rent dvds from the library. This seems totally routine for us, but often I get, "you don't have cable?" "no." "Basic channels?"  "No". "??"

We do have and pay for the internet, that was non-negotiable (except when we couldn't afford it, and we didn't).

2.) As long as were on technology, neither one of us has a smart phone. Or a GPS. We each have a cell phone (and we have a family ipad). We survive with the phone and maps. Really. We do.

3.) Paper towels

I stopped buying paper towels about a year or so ago. I had an old flannel sheet that I cut up into rags. Is it gross? Yeah, sometimes it's gross. But you get over it and get used to it, and now I refuse to spend money on a paper towel when I can use a regular towel just fine. We have a "rag bag" system in our kitchen, there is a clean bag of rags, and a dirty bag of rags. When the dirty bag is full, I wash them.

4.) Tissues

Once again, like paper towels, I use a hanky. If our snots are really bad, we use a roll of recycled toilet paper. It works fine.

5.) Homemade yogurt.

Yogurt is like the gateway to making things from scratch. Once you've made yogurt, you get the "heck, I could make anything!" feeling going. The funny thing is, it is pretty easy to make, and cheap/ I make a half gallon of yogurt for $2.50 (the cost of a half gallon of local farm fresh hormone free milk sold in returnable glass bottle).

Do you have things that you do that have become routine but have people thinking your a little off when you tell them?

Katie