BellaOnline Forums Money Frugal Living Lori's Suburban Homesteading Journal

Per Jilly's request, I have started this thread to record my efforts of earth-friendly living. I live in suburban OC in a housing tract, and there are limits to what is allowed. But Jill is so inspiring so onward I go:

May 20, 2012 (3 AM)...I couldn't sleep all night and spent some time in the forums around 3 am. I also started my "homesteading" journal while I was wide awake!

Do you think it is worth it to make your own laundry detergents? I decided to buy earth friendly brands and use only half the recommended dose. It's not like we're farmers with heavily soiled clothing!

My week's goals:

1. Unplug and sell/donate the extra refrigerator, freezer, washer and dryer.
2. Line dry all laundry. I am fortunate to have a clothes line on the side of my house--for now. Scott does not like it there!
3. Hire someone to upturn the soil on the other side of the house for my mini-farm (garden, hen house, rabbit cage). This will go in in stages. It is a very small area but will do nicely. Actually, it is too hot for the animals. I will find another location in my backyard for the animals. It is a small backyard but sufficient.
4. Put in my container garden herbs and tomatoes. I have mint, basil, rosemary and yellow pear tomato plants to put in. I am recycling my aunt's containers in which she now has old, spindly, neglected succulents.
5. Start my compost heap. Will find a way to use the cement bricks to hold it all in while looking somewhat nicer than a heap.
6. Take pics so you can see my progress!!!
7. Start my notebook to keep track of plantings, recipes, etc.

Jilly, this is so fun--and useful. Thank you for your inspiration!

Lori, you rule. Much rulage you do.

Some comments:

Yes, I think making your own laundry detergent is a fab idea. Soap, washing soda and borax are cheap cheap items. Either making a powder or liquid detergent will cost pennies compared to buying what they sell in stores. You can be phosphate free, dye free, and add whatever scents you like via essential oils. You can control the entire process to get to the ratio that works best for your local soil. In frugal terms, this is a huge win.

I also think it looks pretty to have your own stuff in nice jars or bins instead of a big box of Tide on the shelf.

I am still using up my pre-bought laundry detergents (bought free with super couponing skills, lol). But I have my washing soda, borax and fels naptha soap ready to go. Although any real soap will do fine once grated down.

Yes, a half dose works fine. Suds don't equal cleaning power and the large companies don't care if we add too much to the washer! We can get away with only once rinse cycle with lower amounts of detergent anyway. Save on electric AND water.

Line drying. I love it. I don't miss having a dryer at all. I am not very formal about it - i hang stuff everywhere and then take it down whenever. I often just lay the damp clothes around the house to dry. They smell nice and cool off the air as they evaporate. Best for dry climates though.

Ok, enough on laundry! More comments to come. I love this thread. Thank you for sharing.

Okay, today's efforts:

1. Unplugged and cleaned out the box freezer! Yay!
2. Started my compost heap! A LOT of great stuff went in.
3. Talked my son into doing the urine composting thing! LOL. I wanted to kick-start the decomposition process. NEVER would have considered it until you posted about urine composting, Jilly!
4. Put in some container plantings: mint, basil, rosemary, yellow pear tomatoes.


One of my goals is to reduce going out to eat. We eat out a lot, even though I enjoy cooking. Time is the main culprit--and the after cooking clean-up. I will begin to have healthy, quick and simple meal ideas.

For tonight, this is not quick but I had already bought the onions to make French Onion Soup. I might save that for another day as it is warm out and I got overheated already when I put in the plants. Oh, I don't know what I'm going to fix for dinner now.

Phew. That was 'nough for a day's work. Well, half day's work anyway.

YAY! I am so excited about your efforts, Lori! You got a tremendous amount started. I'm hugely excited about your compost and especially the urine additives.

I was so shocked at how quickly the nitrogenous compounds reacted with the rest of the materials in my own compost. It's like a super charger. I am told the fresher it is, the more nitrogenous compounds are in it, along with phosphorus and potassium. My compost had only been slowly tooling along before i started this a couple months ago. Wish i'd done it sooner. There should be no smell if you keep adding leaves, grasses, paper, yard wastes and kitchen food. Urine only smells if it has no bacteria to work with. It starts volatizing and becoming concentrated and leaving salts behind. That's when it becomes yucky. Composting eliminates that issue and turns a waste product into a resource.

Did you use the cement bricks? I like to cover the top of mine with a piece of clear glass to make it as hot as possible inside, but that isn't necessary.

Thank you, Jilly! You're the reason why I began all this.

I had to go in to school to test some elementary school kids until early afternoon, then ran an errand for my aunt and delivered her mail and stuff, so I didn't have a chance to work on my "list." While preparing our dinner, however, it brought me great joy to see that I have more kitchen waste to add (lemon peels, onion ends, cucumber seeds, etc.) I want to pick up some sawdust at the feed store tomorrow to add "brown" additives to the heap.

I also covered my heap with a tarp overnight to discourage critters from digging, and since I didn't remove it before leaving this morning, it heated up the compost all day long.

But isn't it important to aerate the compost pile, too? I read that turning it often hastens the decomposition. The cement bricks did get used to partition off the compost area.

Tomorrow, my daughter has an EKG and echocardiogram, but when we return, I'll work on the other appliances (fixing, donating, etc.) I talked my husband into letting me return and cut the service of two cable boxes in the house. Might do that tomorrow, too!

I will return and report! Every day I plan on doing something "homestead-y" and green...just for Jill...and Mother Earth.

Lori, also good job on the box freezer. having extra fridges is one of those things a lot of people forget about. Esp an old fridge - they use a ton of energy.

This link shows that a sample 1990 fridge uses 1514.83 kW�h/year. A 2010 energy star fridge uses 248.2 kW�h/year. That is a massive difference. Six times less. Literally hundreds of dollars a year in the balance.

And if you had two fridges going plus a stand alone freezer, think about that for a moment. I don't think any amount of fancy coupon shopping would ever make that much fresh/frozen produce worthwhile. You probably live close enough to a grocery store to run out and get some steak if you wanted anyway - no need for a freezer just in case. Unless you are a deer hunter.

Most people just use their extra fridges for soda, beer or bottled water anyway. If you think about it, that's paying a huge premium for what works out to be an extravagant indulgence: ie, the ability to grab a cold soda from the garage.

Anyway, I speak in generalities. The point is GOOD for you!

What stuff did you pull out from the freezer?

Oh! In AZ you get a $30 rebate for turning in your old fridges to the electrical company, and they even come get it. Do you have something like that in CA?

Another fridge comment: if I had an old fridge, i'd pay a kid to dig a hole deep enough to bury it on it's side and use it as a small root cellar. This is not uncommon. The door opens up like a large cooler and you make sure there is lots of earth around it. Or hay bales, if you can't dig.

It's best to have the hole in a shaded spot if possible, but people in all kinds of places have made this work.

I'll talk compost tomorrow! You are doing amazing already.

That is a great idea! A root cellar. Although it would have to be really deep to keep cool in our area. And our soil is very sandy and not as great an insulator as clay.

The electric company does rebate us for turn-ins. We also can donate that $$ for those who can't pay their electricity bills. That is what we will probably do. Not that we are rich but {shrug} cast your bread upon the waters...We live in a generous and abundant Universe. Plus, people have blessed us with generosity so it is like paying it forward.

Jill, you're right about the freezer. I moved away from freezing meats as freezing really negatively affects the texture. Anyway, we are eating less meat and more veggies. We are moving toward vegetarianism slowly. I pulled out a lot of dry beans, oats, flaxseeds, seaweed, oat flour, rice. Stuff that didn't need to be frozen anyway.

My only homesteading efforts today:

1. Went to feed store to pick up a bale of straw for the compost heap. I meant to get sawdust because it smells better, but it was a serendipitous error. Straw breaks down faster than the wood cellulose!

2. I keep telling my husband please to pee on the heap. It also saves us water indoors. He says he feels exposed urinating outdoors and gets performance anxiety. LOL.

3. My latest kitchen scraps got pulverized in the food processor. By practically liquefying them, they will turn into compost faster!

I spent the day getting my daughter to the cardiologist then ran a lot of errands (bank, dry cleaner, feed store, medical office, post office). That makes me think: How can I reduce my errand-running? That will be another post!

Compost bins/heaps can be covered or not covered, turned or not turned - it's really a matter of whatever is easiest for you.

It's best if heat builds up inside, that browns and greens are mixed in there somewhere, and that things are mildly moist (like a well-wrung out sponge) inside.

If you have an entirely airtight bin, you will still get compost; it will just be through anaerobic processes. There is a such a wide variety of ways things will decompost on this planet! We are lucky that way or we'd be buried in dead matter long ago.

Anyway, don't worry about the tarp - lots of air will still get in.

There is a art to making perfect, fast compost, but i don't worry about that. I toss things in my bins and forgettaboutit. Sometimes I stir things with a broom handle. Mostly I let nature take over.