This is still in process…but our lights are flickering, so I am going to post this and release it and watch a movie with the family! It isn’t even edited properly…but time is OF the essence! Please send a link to anyone this might help! And do sign up for our free newsletter if you like this! Tomorrow, look forward to a post on ideas for keeping warm all winter in colder climates - with tons of super tips!
Hey everyone! We are getting our first REAL massive winter storm since moving to Tennessee. We have spent the day preparing for the possible storm and trying to think of anything we might need!
Our single biggest concern is electricity, since our home is 100% electric. Not comfortable with that fact, but that is what it is at this point in our lives. What would we do if we lost electricity and how can we prepare? How do we control the controllables and prepare with what we have! If you are caught in a storm, how can YOU control your controllables, and prepare!
The obvious QUICK solution is to go to a hotel and camp out there! However, in a winter storm, roads may be impassible and the whole area may be without power, so that is not necessarily an option. We live in the beautiful foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, so travel can be hazardous.
Hubby could not even make it home tonight, and his truck is stranded on the interstate! He began walking in the SNOW STORM home (8 or 9 miles) and was mercifully given rides from two generous strangers. We literally prayed him home, and the Lord was watching out for him. This is some storm, as a transplanted Southern Californian, it is all new to me! I am used to earthquakes and fires - NOT snow storms!
The best solution is how can we ALL make the best we can out of what we have at home, and prepare to cozy up, batten down the hatches and face this storm barreling down on our area.
To start with, we began washing ALL of our clothes early this morning, to make sure we would have clean clothes, no matter what happens! We made sure all of our fuzzy flannel pajamas were washed and we had plenty of ways to dress in layers if need be! Next came sheets and towels, which were on the laundry list to wash today anyway! I always feel so content when all of our clothing, sheets and towels are clean! We have plenty of extra towels and washcloths in the bathrooms, so we should be fine there.
Warmth would be our biggest concern, so we searched the garage for resources. In came the big bin of fleece fabric that we have, and we began throwing several loads of fleece, one after the other in the washer. Since fleece is the warmest “extra” fabric that we had, we chose that to wash first. Next came a few blankets that are warm, but the wrong sizes for our current beds.
How to light a dark house came next. I had my daughter get all of our candles out of the buffet, and gather the matches, putting them all into a pretty tray on the table. We already have our pretty crystal lamps on the table for Advent. Emily ran out and grabbed the extra lamp oil out of the garage, in case we need to refill everything. Flashlights were found and located near where we sit, so we can easily walk to the table and light candles if needed. Light secured!
Water is also a huge concern during a winter storm, in case you lose the ability to get clean water. We store two types, both regular water, and drinking water.
Throughout the day, we were pulling gallons of drinking water out of our reverse osmosis, filling coffee pots with water, tea pots, and making pitchers of iced tea. If we lose power, I will probably still want my iced tea! Washed the dog bowl and filled it to the brim with fresh water for ClaraBaughn! We also made sure we refilled all the water bottles we had. Yesterday, we made two huge pots of bone building broth, so we have lots of soup supplies ready.
Coming from earthquake prone California, I am fanatic about storing regular water for miscellaneous purposes. The garage has gallons and gallons of water, stored in everything from clean glass juice bottles, old soda bottles, and even old milk jugs. The point is not perfection - it is to have water to wash with IF needed. Begin building a supply!
Food is good to have on hand. Yesterday, I splurged at the grocery store and stocked up on toilet paper, tissues and lots of canned soups and foods. During the holidays there are always great buys, and we took advantage of coupons and sales. I did go over budget on food, but I am also well prepared as we face a weather forecast of 7 or 8 days of snow, out of the next 10!
In the all electric house, we do also have an alternative cooking source, and that is our BBQ. It has the regular grill surface and we always make sure we have a separate burner on it as well. It would be a little hokey to grill out on the back porch as it snows, but it is at least an option! In our camping gear, we also have two stoves, a Civil War stove that burns wood, and we have two different cook tops that use propane. I am sorry to say, we are out of propane, that is one thing I did not think of!
Phones were also high on our priority list, we went ahead and charged all of our cell phones up, then turned them off. We are looking at a cozy weekend at home, enjoying some family time. That way, we can turn the phones on IF needed, or to check for messages, and be reassured that if it snows for three days they will keep their charge. Our end is covered, but whether or not they will WORK is another matter. My husband was stranded on the side of the road a few hours ago, and all circuits were busy and I could not get through for hours.
All of our laptops are fully charged, so whether we have electricity or not, we will all have varying times on our batteries. Not sure if we will have internet, but again, we are controlling the controllables on OUR end!
Finally, we grabbed our sleeping bags off the shelf in the garage, and put them right outside the garage door. If we lose power, the last thing we want to do is stumble through the garage, trying to figure out WHERE our sleeping bags are! We just want to grab them and go!
I am going to include some resources here, for others who might like to prepare.
OSHA on Winter Storms article can be found here, with some ideas on how to cope with storms.
Ready.gov has information on assembling a winter safety kit here.
Wondering how to keep food safe in an emergency, here are some ideas here! Specific instructions on what to do with all your different food items, with food safety ideas covering ANY problem you face! Here is the PDF of the same information. I would highly suggest printing this information and keeping it in an emergency notebook.
How to remove odors from refrigerator after losing power for long periods of time.
We are bubbling with success in the 1st Annual Crock Pot Slow Cooker Month on ThePrudentWife.com! Are we going to have a wonderful month of crock pot recipes to share with our Prudent Wife subscribers or what!? WOW! Some of these recipes will knock your socks off - and definitely help you save money, time and effort, while feeding your family nourishing food! And yes, we have thrown a little comfort food in too!
So far:
Black Eyed Peas in the Crock Pot (part of our Traditional Southern New Year’s Day Dinner!)
Spicy Turmeric Chicken (brain building recipe that is PHENOMENAL!)
Bow Ties and Cheese (or Mac and Cheese)
Black Eyed Peas and Rice Soup (recipe revamp for a hot Sunday lunch!)
Maple Dijon Pork with Sweet Potatoes (bubbling in the crock pot tonight for less than $5)
The best thing about all of these recipes is a hot dinner is waiting for YOU with just a little prep and a whole day of cooking! Second best thing, I have literally not gone to the store since before Christmas, and this is all stuff we have on hand or in the pantry!
You are going to love getting your copy of the “1st Annual Crock Pot Slow Cooker Month on ThePrudentWife.com”
With the economy in a wild sway, the stock market bouncing up and down, escalating prices at the grocery store and gasoline pump, homeschoolers are finding their budgets pinched more than ever. Most homeschool families are single income families.
How do you provide the fun “extras” that homeschoolers love to do? Well, how about a column full of fabulous freebies for homeschoolers! And I have even put this on my blog so you can just click and go www.ThePrudentWife.com/blog
We have bought literally dozens of Dover coloring books over the years in everything from Ancient Rome to the Civil War, they are a wonderful resource for making history come alive. Visit their site at http://store.doverpublications.com/ and click on Free Samples for fun pages that change and can jazz up the cold winter days ahead.
Homeschool Helper Online has a cornucopia of things including of free homeschooling unit studies and lapbooks, free homeschool worksheets, notebooking pages and coloring sheets, free character studies, free computer lessons and other homeschooling helps at http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/index.htm
Everyday homekeeping ideas about at my website www.ThePrudentWife.com full of great FREE ideas for your home to help you save time, money and sanity.
Now, reading this it all sounds wonderful, but who wants to go to all that time, trouble and effort to completely TYPE all of these from a magazine into a browser? Well, to make your life easier, just go to my blog at www.ThePrudentWife.com/blog for live links where you can just click and go!
Enjoy the freebies!
Lisa Baughn at www.ThePrudentWife.com
To save time, money and sanity visit www.ThePrudentWife.com full of great FREE ideas for your home!
For almost a year now, we have making our own laundry detergent at home. I was thrilled, as I have used Melaleuca detergent for years, but realized it was very expensive. We compared the homemade laundry detergent and it is every bit as good. We also purposefully bought an expensive organic brand sold at the HFS, to compare to our homemade. I am content with the homemade and we like the results. After a year of use, we are not going to give up this fabulous Prudent Recipe! It is easy to make and very inexpensive, just pennies per load!
Enjoy the Prudent Wife video – it will show you how to make this super saver in minutes!
1/3 bar soap – Ivory Soap, Fels Naptha (in laundry aisle – but has a fake fragrance smell that we avoid like the plague) Dr. Bronner’s soaps or homemade goat milk soap
1/2 cup NATURAL dish washing detergent (this is giving me my best results and really pulling dirt out)I bought one on clearance at the store -I am not talking about Dawn, but one of the ecologically safe DISH detergents.
½ cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda – Find this in the laundry aisle for about 2.33 for a 52 ounce box. This is not A&H baking soda, nor is it A&H laundry detergent. Watch your labels! Once you buy it, it makes total sense.
½ cup 20 MULE TEAM Borax Powder – look for the horses on the box in the laundry section.
You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size, an old Costco or Sam’s bucket or a Tupperware Thatsa Bowl (and it cleans the stains out of that beautifully!
Save your old detergent bottles, buckets or tubs as this makes a lot.
Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.
Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat.
Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir.
Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.
Optional Natural ScentsAdd a few drops of essential oil and whisk into the egg drop soup mixture if you would like, for a nice clean smell. Try lavender for calming, tea tree oil, fresh citrus essential oil, or sniff bottles at the HFS for whatever your family would like for a smell. Remember that husbands aren’t as crazy about lavender as wives are. Oh for the Civil War gentleman, he would like the lavender!
Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel into an egg drop soup texture. It is a little wild. We take our wire whisk and whisk the mixture several times a day, to get a more even texture. It is not pristine like you get from the grocery store, but you will quickly get used to it. Use a funnel to pour into your bottles, or leave in the bucket. I pour into my old Melaleuca bottles and give a brisk shake of the bottle before each load.
Use ½ cup of homemade laundry detergent per load.
To be responsible, there is some controversy on borax. Read the Material Safety Data Sheet on 20 MULE TEAM Borax and decide for yourselves. We are happy using the homemade detergent and will continue, despite our desire for more children! http://www.borax.com/pdfs/dist/MSDS_Borax_Decahydrate.pdf
Want to clean the air without distressing chemicals? Consider using essential oils to deodorize and clean the air instead of just covering odors with harmful chemicals. A simple recipe includes Rosemary with Lemon, Eucalyptus globulus with Lavender.
2 drops rosemary
4 drops lemon
3 drops Eucalyptus globulus
4 drops lavender
Mix into 1-quart of distilled water. Shake well and put in a dark-colored glass spray bottle. Spray the room as needed to freshen with this delicious and natural scent! You can make many bottles of non-toxic, aromatic room freshener!
We are testing natural, homemade cleaners in The Prudent Wife test kitchens this week, working hard to refine an automatic dishwasher soap that will save you a TON of money each year! We are fighting a battle against hard water, and working to create the best safe, natural homemade dishwasher detergent which cleans the BEST for our members!
Our homemade Windex has been a hit for over 5 years! All of my friends make it with simple ingredients and love it. However, at The Prudent Wife, we are always working to refine and improve our homemade and natural cleaners, so the homemade Windex is being revamped and in vigorous testing to see if we can get that recipe even cheaper. As I don’t have to tell you, ALL raw ingredients have gone up significantly, so every penny counts.
The Prudent Wife’s homemade natural laundry detergent has been going strong for a year! Yes! Amazing results, I can’t wait to share. As ever, we keep tweaking the recipe to bring you the best formula. We are also doing all we can to bring you an inexpensive NATURAL cleaner that is good for the environment, helping Prudent Wife subscribers GO GREEN, saving money and the environment!
Lofty goals for one little family transplanted in Northeast TN! Stay tuned, the natural, homemade cleaning revolution has begun!
This is still in process…but our lights are flickering, so I am going to post this and release it and watch a movie with the family! It isn’t even edited properly…but time is OF the essence! Please send a link to anyone this might help! And do sign up for our free newsletter if you like this! Tomorrow, look forward to a post on ideas for keeping warm all winter in colder climates - with tons of super tips!