Small Victories

Do you want to feel amazing about your weekend? Find some small victories to win in your home. A small victory is a task that has just been bugging you with its existence. You just can't seem to get it done and it's odious and (this is very important) it probably takes less than 15 minutes to complete.

Take that sleepy hour after you wake up on a Saturday and before you get dressed, make a cup of coffee, and tackle a small victory which will make you feel like you just moved mountains.

My small victories from this weekend:

I cleaned my ceiling fan blades. You did not want to see these fan blades before. When I lay in my bed, I could see the solid masses of dust and grime (and probably tiny little creatures…ewwww) and could only imagine how they flung around the room and found their merry ways into my throat and lungs. I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't cleaned my ceiling fan blades since I moved in two years ago. Um, I'm 5'1"… is that a reasonable excuse? Probably not. Bad homemaker. Well imagine my feeling of triumph when I did clean the blades, and it took less than 15 minutes.

How to clean your ceiling fan blades without ruining your day:

1. Spread out a sheet underneath. My ceiling fan is above my bed, so I put a drop cloth over my bed. Put on a hat because stuff will be falling on you.

2. Fill a spray bottle with half vinegar and half water. Get a pillowcase that you don't care about. Also, grab a cleaning rag.

3. Find a way to reach your ceiling fan. I used a large step ladder on top of my bed. I don't recommend it, since I almost fell several times. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

4. Generously spray your first blade with the vinegar mixture. Slide the pillowcase over it, and wipe on both sides of the blade, moving down until the pillowcase is off. Then spray the blade again with vinegar and go over with the cleaning rag.

5. Move onto the next blade. You can use the same pillowcase, just rotate it to a clean spot. Don't even worry about that too much, since the pillowcase functions to get the big gunk off, and then you'll get the rest off with the rag and the second vinegar spray.

No joke, my room looked brighter after I did this. And I felt like a hero.


I cleaned out my freezer

If you have roommates, it's likely that there's stuff in the freezer that doesn't really belong to anybody anymore, because no one knows who bought it. I spent ten minutes throwing out unclaimed or expired items (um, edamame that had been in there since I moved in? ) and ran the trash bag down to the dumpster. There is now so much more room in our freezer, which will come in handy when I start making slow-cooker recipes in advance. TRIUMPH!

Organizing your pantry is also a nice little victory.


Here's some other ideas:

1. Paint your nails.
2. Vacuum your house
3. Organize your paperwork
4. Make an annoying phone call (insurance company, bank, etc.)
5. Clean your toilet
6. Launder your rugs
7. Clean your stove
8. Dust one room
9. Sort the pile of clothes in the corner of your bedroom into "clean" and "dirty." Put away the clean ones.
10. Replace blown out lightbulbs.

The key is that the task be something that has been nagging you, something you don't really feel like doing, and something that takes no more than 15 minutes of hands on time. I promise, you will feel amazing afterward.

Eating More Fruits and Vegetables

Cooking for one or two can be challenging, especially when health and fresh produce are priorities. I'm guilty of throwing up my hands more often than is wise and just calling up someone to go out rather than face the logistical problems of making a balanced meal. But homemaking requires that we make the home the main location of our food preparation. It saves money, helps bring focus to the home, brings us a deeper awareness of what we're consuming, and is fun and delicious.
But you know that. I know that. I know I should cook at home, but I've had to make a conscious decision to do so. Like I described in the Money Saving post, there's noting wrong with going out, but a part of my homemaking education involves learning more about cooking and getting into the habit of creating healthy meals in my own home.

So I decided to attack these specific challenges to cooking before you have a family (cooking for one or two):

1. You know you're supposed to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, but being one person, it's likely that buying more than one kind of vegetable at the store will result in some going bad before you can eat it.

2. Despite that fact, you don't feel like going to the grocery store every single day to buy infinitesimal amounts of a variety of produce.

2. You are tired at the end of the day and don't always feel like whipping up a serious meal.

My own solutions make sense for me, but of course other people will tackle these challenges differently. All of this may be completely obvious to you, or you may not face these challenges at all. But here's what I came up with:

Eating More Vegetables



My solution to this is roasting. By roasting a variety of vegetables in a larger quantity than you would eat for one dinner, and by adding several different types, you get the benefit of a variety of vitamins and micronutrients rather than just eating broccoli leftovers for four days because a whole head is too much for one dinner. Roasted vegetables keep for several days and are easy to heat up at the end of a long work day.

My Recipe:
Wash and halve a pint or so of grape tomatoes. Drizzle them with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread out on a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper, and put in an oven preheated to 350F, and cook until dried/browned (about 40 minutes). While they're drying out in the oven, take whatever veggies you have handy and wash, chop, oil, salt, and pepper them. I used halved brussels sprouts, broccoli, and the white part of a leek. Spread these out on another cookie sheet, and roast for about 30 minutes alongside the tomatoes. Take out of the oven and toss all together. A delicious side that keeps for several days and is easy to heat up in the microwave.


Eating More Fruits



Apples and oranges will keep for a long time and are easy to keep around as snacks. But I have a hard time eating strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, kiwis, and raspberries before they go bad. We all know that freezing is a good option for fruits, but I'm guilty of forgetting about them in the back of the freezer, so I wanted to get in the habit of using them for breakfast.

My Recipe:
This is now my quick, high protein, high fiber breakfast that I make every day. It takes less time than brewing a pot of coffee. I put about half a cup of Greek yogurt and a handful of frozen mixed fruit in a blender. Since I don't love the texture of still-frozen fruit, I blend it until completely smooth. Yum!

DIY Deodorant

We all have our dealbreakers when it comes to DIY. Kristin and I recently talked about how, try as we might, we will never love "natural" shampoos and conditioners (Hard-to-find L'Oreal Vive inspires me to seek out a Rite Aid in a city conspicuously devoid of them, but that's neither here nor there…). I will always use store-bought toothpaste and it won't be Tom's of Maine, y'all. Until recently, I assumed deodorant fell into that always-buy-never-DIY category. But the recipes I found online sounded easy enough, and I already had all of the ingredients. I figured it was worth a try.

And I'm telling you, I'm converted. This deodorant is so much cheaper than buying, contains no aluminum, and it works as well or better than store-bought antiperspirants I've tried.

So here's the recipe:

8 tbs coconut oil (hard to find at Giant/Publix. Easy to find at Whole Foods/Yes.)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup baking soda
10-20 drops of essential oil (I used eucalyptus because it's what I had on hand)

The essential oil is optional, but I like a scent.

Mix together all the ingredients in a container that has a lid. Put the lid on it. You're done. To use, rub a pea-sized amount between your fingers and then rub on your armpit. The coconut oil is a solid that turns liquid at the slightest change from room temperature (like body temperature). I was initially worried that oil would stain my clothes, but this has not happened.

I've smelled good and stayed dry since I started using this about six weeks ago, and I don't always shower in between going for a run and going to work (don't judge me…). Also, I've used maybe 1/8 of the supply I made from that one recipe.

My Completely Specific, Strange, But Effective New Year's Money-Saving Strategies

Part of homemaking is learning not to spend money on things we don't need. Industrial, toxic cleaners? We don't really need them, and we can make effective substitutes for a fraction of the cost. New clothes/gadgets/furniture every time something rips or breaks? We can learn to be tailors and repair-folks, saving money by refusing to buy into the mentality that everything is disposable and every inconvenience fixable through spending money.

I am not great with money. I'm not a big spender on things, but I spend a lot on going out (or "experiences" as I like to justify them to myself). This is harmful, not only because "experiences" usually translates to "alcohol and food that's bad for me," but because I'm not building my nest egg the way I would like to. We all need a safety net, and while some of that safety net should be made of the intangibles such as community, family, and health, we do need to suck it up and realize that some of it comes down to money.

Having money is about having the freedom to make choices that will make your life better. Having money helps you buy the comforts. It also gives you agency to change towns, move apartments, try new - ahem - experiences, reinvent your style, or take care of a health concern.

In the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, I made some very me-specific money-saving resolutions that I hope will inspire you to create your own. Even more, I kind of hope you'll give me more "easy" tips like these because y'all know I need all the help I can get.
(note: I know I make disclaimers like this way often, but I feel they're important. I'm completely aware that these "tips" involve a huge amount of luxury and privilege on my part. Many, many people cannot sacrifice $41 a week to savings or are already not spending any money on books. I'm aware that these are a reflection of the privilege I have as a young, single, childless person with a good job. End of disclaimer).

Erica's Money Saving Resolutions

1. Trick Yourself and Save The Difference. Every week, my paycheck is directly deposited into my checking account. Now, I'm a simple gal with few assets at this point, so I just keep a checking and savings account, both with the same bank (though I'll be switching that soon). In my brain, when I'm estimating expenses and making budgets, I round down what I make each week to the nearest hundred. That means that I end up estimating that I have $41 less coming in each week than I do. Then, I have that $41 directly transferred to savings. I don't miss it, because I was never thinking it would be there in the first place. It's a smidge less than the $50 I ambitiously promised to save every week starting on New Year's Eve, but the difference is I'll actually do it, and it's automatic, and I don't feel deprived or like I'm budgeting for savings.

2. Library, Library, Library. If you've spoken to me in the last week or so, you know I was all atwitter about the DC Public Library's Check It In Amnesty program. From now until February 5, you can return any DCPL materials and pay no fines. If you lost something, you can just tell them and they'll clear your account. I did it, and for the first time in two years I'm using my library (and saved almost $200…don't judge me please).
This brings us to a tried and true money saving technique…USE YOUR LIBRARY. I'm so bad about hopping on Amazon every time I get a new interest, as evidenced by my stack of natural healing/crafts/natural homemaking books that is sitting on my nightstand staring me down with judgement as I type this. Every time, every single time I'm tempted to buy a book or DVD, I check the DCPL website first and see if I can have it put on hold at my local branch. I almost always can. What's better, it takes about the same amount of time usually as getting something from amazon.
If it's a craft book or a cookbook, and I want to save ideas in it, I write it down, put it in a plastic sheet protector, and file it in a binder of my own which is divided into "recipes," "sewing," "housekeeping," and other categories. No longer do I need to order every book I take a fancy to, and what's more, I have a total friend crush on the cute girl at my neighborhood branch.

3. Only Eat Out For A Reason. Being lazy and not feeling like cooking is not a reason. Being bummed and not feeling like cooking is not a reason. Promising to start eating healthily tomorrow is not a reason. Being invited out by a friend, getting a reward at work, celebrating a beautiful Saturday afternoon on a patio are reasons. It's okay for me to go out, and absolutely essential to my mental health and connectedness with others, but it is crucial not to lean on it as a convenience but rather see it as a communion. This means I go out less, cook more, and am healthier.

4. Any Windfall Goes Into Savings. Christmas bonus, tax return, financial aid balance, this all goes right into savings. I do touch my savings (more often than I should), but putting as much as possible into that account helps me watch it grow, which makes me want to save more. I experienced this when I was saving about $2000 to pay off my old University so I could go back to school. It's an addictive feeling.

5. Do The Math. Sometimes I lament that I don't have "any" clothes, or that I'm not dressing nicely enough. Now if I spent a fraction of the money that I do going out, I'd have plenty to look just as stylish as can be. Admittedly, part of this is that I really hate clothes shopping. But it can be fun to splurge and not feel guilty about the money. That's why, once a month, if I have spent less than my allowance for going out, I let myself use the difference for purchasing things that make me feel good about myself and how I look. Next on the list: a proper haircut.

6. Find Soul-Nourishing Things To Do That Are Free (Or Almost Free). I went through a time where I was really lonely, and the only thing I could think to do with that loneliness was go out on the town. Honestly, I don't regret that or think there's anything wrong with it, it was just expensive. I made some of my closest and kindest friends that way, but it's a phase that I was happy to phase out in favor of cheaper and more meaningful alternatives. If you go to meetup.com, chances are you can find a group for any interest you have. In DC, there's "20s and 30s Local Music Group," "DC Knitters" (who knit in the beautiful courtyard at the National Gallery), and a free yoga group that practices on Saturday mornings in beautiful Malcolm X Park. I wanted to make sure I had one weekly and one monthly soul-nourishing thing that I could always count on. I made a resolution to attend church every Sunday in 2012, which gives me community and intellectual/spiritual engagement (even when I'm out of town). Also, my friend and roommate Priyanka started a book club, which (in conjunction with my resolution to use the library), gives me a monthly event with other women (and includes a potluck brunch). Boredom is the enemy of saving money. Whether it's having a standing date with a friend to watch 30 rock every week, or a regular Sunday afternoon running club, knowing you have company and engagement to look forward to helps take the urgency out of filling up every night. By having things to look forward to, I also find myself enjoying my alone time more and getting more things done that are important only to me. This reminds me of a truth: when you're dating someone, alone time is precious. When you're not, you're always looking to fill it up. Hmmm.

There will be more of these, but here's part one. Help a girl out, let me know your own tips for saving money in the new year!

Tell Me How To Use This

Two years ago, I nannied in an Arlington apartment building. In the trash room, I found the most adorable strawberry-red hard-shell suitcases with rosy-pink lining. One is large, one is medium sized. As fancy and retro fun as I would feel checking into my Jet Blue flight with these stylish cases, it's not really realistic when you use public transportation to get to the airport (I need wheels, see).
So I turned the larger one into a place to store my shoes. Lining up my shoes takes up way too much space, and my closet doors don't accommodate a shoe hanger (plus I don't like how they look). I don't mind the cluttered-chic look of a pile of heels and flats in an open suitcase tucked into my closet. So I'm down with how I used one half of the suitcase pair.



Now, I need your help. What do I do with the other one?



I'm willing to get crafty and use tools. If I can't think of anything, I'll probably donate it as adorable as it is.

Home Ec Homeschool Supply List

Learning about DIY cleaning and home care introduces one to a lot of serendipity regarding ingredients. Many, many homemade cleaners have the same ingredients or combinations of them. Even better, each of these ingredients, almost without exception, is inexpensive as can be. With a little familiarity with the functions of your basic ingredients, you can whip up almost any cleaning product you need without finding a recipe. Buying the following ingredients in bulk can save you a lot of money and time. No longer do you need a different, overpriced product to clean every fixture in your house, you can whip up inexpensive and nontoxic solutions to all your household chores.

What Does a Homemaker Need in a Cleaning Cabinet?



The Basics

Baking Soda - Baking soda deodorizes and is a mild abrasive. Suggested use: mix with water to clean bathtub and shower instead of using a store bought, chemical abrasive. Add to laundry to eliminate bad smells.

Vinegar - Vinegar makes everything shiny, and the smell goes away almost immediately as it dries. Wiping down metal or glass surfaces with vinegar will disinfect them and make them shine. Vinegar also kills and impedes the development of mildew. Suggested use: fill rinse aid container in your dishwasher with vinegar instead of store bought. It costs a fraction and works just as well.

Washing Soda - We already used washing soda in a DIY laundry detergent recipe. Washing soda is exceptionally good at cutting through greases and waxes. Suggested use: mix 1/2 cup washing soda with 2 cups water and use to get tough stains out of carpets or crayon marks out of clothes. Note: washing soda should not be used on aluminum surfaces or no-wax floors.

Borax - Borax is best known as a laundry booster. It can also be sprinkled at the bottom of your dishwasher to eliminate problems associated with hard water. Suggested use: use it instead of color safe bleach by adding 1/2 cup to your ordinary wash.

Hydrogen Peroxide - a general disinfectant. I once knew a woman who swore that a mixture of half hydrogen peroxide and half vinegar in a spray bottle was better than Lysol. I happen to agree.




Getting Fancy

Essential Oils - You can add essential oils, such as eucalyptus, lavender, or peppermint, to the cleaning products you make to give them a delightful scent. Many homemade cleaning products are more effective deodorizers than store bought, in my experience, but I sometimes miss the added smell of "spring rain" or "thai dragonfruit" or what have you. Using essential oils gives a fragrance without the chemicals and headaches.

Tea Tree Oil - In homemaking circles, I'm learning that tea tree oil is held up as some kind of panacea. It's anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-everything bad apparently. It is more expensive than almost anything else you'll by for home cleaning, but a little goes a long way. It's used in a lot of recipes for homemade beauty products.

Citric Acid - You can buy citric acid online or at a beer-making supply store. Spoiler alert: we'll be using it in a recipe for DIY dishwasher detergent.

You Don't Need To Be A Mother To Make A Home

My life is really good right now.
I have a job that starts at 2pm and rarely goes past 7:30. I'm paid fairly and get a lot of fulfillment from my position. I'm young and healthy, and I make enough money that I can take a bus up to New York as often as I ever care to. I live in an exciting city and have a wonderful, goofy, positive group of friends. My apartment is beautiful and affordable. I can go out to eat if a friend invites me without worrying about overdrawing my bank account. I have direction and ambition, and I'm in college.
Between the cash-strapped, confused, and depressed years of my late teens and early twenties, and the future I'm confident I'll create with husband, children, and home, I'm in a happy place right now where I'm confident, cared for, well-rested, and independent. These are the years I'll be describing to my kids sometime as those thrilling times one should really enjoy.
But I have a confession. Sometimes, I wish I could hurry this all up. I've never been a fan of the in between times, whether it's between boyfriends, colleges, jobs, or Metro trains. I find myself thinking "I'm so ready for my real life to start! I want to meet the love of my life and start my real job and have everything figured out! I don't want any more mysteries!" Lately I've tried to make a conscious effort to enjoy the mysteries. One thing I like to remind myself of is that when I moved to Washington, DC, following a really tough time in my life, I had no concept of how happy I would be in a few short months. I did not truly believe that it would be possible for me to make a living, return to college, or start over in a new city and even be admired for it. I'm about one wine spritzer away from waltzing around my house in a marabou-trimmed peignoir with a champagne glass lilting "if they could only see me now!" "They" being "me from three years ago." Yeah, you got that.
Right now I can't wait to learn who I'll marry, where I'll live, what inside jokes and funny traditions I'll have with my children. I feel like I have so much affection to give that I nearly throw a tantrum and pout about not having anyone to lavish it upon.

But, that's where I'm wrong. Dead wrong.

You don't have to be a wife or a mother to make a home. You, at this exact moment, wherever you are and with whomever you have in your life, have the ability to be a "homemaker" in the most radical, tender, expansive sense of the word. Being a radical homemaker isn't about picking petals off daisies while waiting for your prince to come sweep you off your feet. Yes, I truly believe that prince will come and that it will be life defining, but the spouse and the children do not make the homemaker. The homemaker makes home wherever she wants it, and in doing so is constantly turning the world into a kinder, more interdependent, more environmentally responsible, more caring, more honest, more welcoming home for us all.

Being a radical homemaker is creating a space where people feel nourished and cared for. I have all this caring energy, and like a lot of people with my personality, I went into childcare. But my affection and tenderness has a darker side. If it feels like it's not recognized, or needed enough, it turns into loneliness and shame, and even occasionally self loathing. "Clearly I'm not lovable enough/not good at relationships/not pretty enough or else I'd have the love part of my life figured out by now" is the general jist of the hiss from the natural homemaker's evil twin. So I'm going to tell you the biggest secret and the realest truth of this situation:
Your life is happening right now. And you can make someone else feel more like this world is his or her home every single day. And once you do that, you're going to feel comfortable in your own skin too.

I make a home by opening my apartment to out of town friends and making sure there's something vegetarian and spicy simmering in the slow cooker when they arrive. I make a home by drawing a comic book for a friend's Christmas present, telling the story of our amazing friendship through a funny fable about a vicious owl/bear hybrid. I buy flowers for a girlfriend who has had a fight with her mother and doesn't know how to start feeling better.
And you know what happens? I end up being cared for in return. Like everything relating to radical homemaking, this is most certainly not a calculated transaction. This isn't tallying up favors and carefully making sure everyone you know is in your debt. This is allowing yourself, as you grow and enjoy different phases of your life, to count on and be counted on. There are always risks in forming interdependence, but these are the dearest risks worth taking.

When I first met a lot of my friends in DC, I wanted people to hang out with. I basically wanted people to entertain me and make me feel less lonely, and I was perfectly willing to do the same for them. But that's not what friendships are, unless they are the most casual and perfunctory types of relationships. When my friendships took root, it was with the folks whose natures and priorities are the most similar to mine, and I realize why. I chose positive friends over negative ones because I become extremely uncomfortable when people are unkind. I chose people who have come to my house in the middle of the night after I hit my head so hard I lost consciousness. I chose people who have instincts toward the forgiving and tolerant - none of my friends is teased or mocked for foibles, and no one feels as though a few silly choices will accumulate into rejection. My friends are mostly young men, who have the added perk of reminding me how many truly wonderful young men there are. They give me a family to care for, and a way to see how far I've come.
My friends have shown me extraordinary care. The love and support I hope to grow with my future family is already weaving its way into my life.
-Chris bought me a thoughtful gift for Christmas (a Dungeons and Dragons starter set!) after hearing me talk about wanting to play (don't make fun).
-Ray drove me from the Orlando airport to Gainesville (100 miles) just because I asked. We hadn't seen each other in two years.
-Andrew helped me deal with a stalker and comforted me through a crisis.
-Jim listened to me freak out over loneliness and fear, and listened. He listened kindly and then said "you know what? You need to come to my church." And I did, and the music made me cry, and he bought me a bourbon afterward.
-Lindsay and Kristin took time out of their busy lives to mentor me through a tough time, and I owe so much of my current happiness and clarity to their help and the work we did together.
-Chris makes me laugh in a way I haven't with anyone else besides Marthe and Eric.
-Meaghan and Marthe give me a solid base to come home to in Florida. I have a lot of fun daydreaming about us all being best friends and seeing each other all the time again.

How could I ever feel like I'm waiting on real love to start?

Make a beeline for the happy. I forget where I heard this line, but it rings true. I don't want to spend any time wishing my life would hurry up. As I told my friend recently "it's easy for me to get baby fever from the comfort of 9 hours of sleep per night and the luxury of all the alcohol I care to drink." There will be time for family, home, and marriage. Right now, I want to (and hope you will) embrace two goals:
1. I want to enjoy the moment. If you have kids, enjoy the ages they are. If you are married, enjoy the person you found. If you're single and childless, you better enjoy that, because I have lots of friends with toddlers who are happy to trade places with you for a week or a month or two. At the very least, I hear a lot of "I wish I'd enjoyed that time more."
2. I want to make a home and demonstrate care for as many people in my life as possible. I want my actions and words to always be ones I'd be proud to be known for. Homemaking isn't reserving your best love and care for little progeny who don't exist yet. It's not saying "I'll start acting better when I have children watching me all the time." It's being the person you are proudest of as much as humanly possible.



At this point, my life is a really thrilling book I don't want to put down. I really can't wait to see how it ends, but I definitely want to savor it as it's happening.