John 14:15

If you love me, you will obey what I command.

I love my new Vac then Steam

Product description from Amazon:
"In today's busy world, who has time to sweep and mop floors? Introducing Shark® 2-in-1 Vac-then-Steam™. You start by using the high-powered suction vacuum to pick up dust and particles. Then simply switch to the chemical-free Steam mode for a truly clean, sanitized, and dry hard-floor surface. No more brooms. No more buckets of dirty water. Just clean floors - quick and easy.

Vacuum debris and dust before you clean and sanitize. The Shark® 2-in-1 Vac-then-Steam™ helps you do both. Engineered exclusively for hard floor cleaning, it converts from Vac to Steam in seconds. The continuous powerful suction picks up dust and debris, then the super-heated steam cleans and eliminates 99.9% of germs and bacteria on all your hard floor surfaces.

The unique steam technology turns simple tap water into super-heated steam that infuse the micro-fiber pads for chemical free cleaning. Only this method creates and delivers 212°F steam that is effective enough to clean and sanitize all your hard floor surfaces. The Shark® Vac-then-Steam™ can help you achieve a truly clean and healthy environment for you and your family.

Converts from Vac to Steam in seconds
Safe on all sealed hard floor surfaces: hardwood, linoleum, tile, marble and stone
Superior cleaning, fast drying micro-fiber cleaning pads that are washable & reusable
Telescopic handle with adjustable height
Premium bare-floor suction performance
Floors dry in seconds
Less time spent on hard-floor cleaning
More than 15 minutes of steam cleaning power with one tank of water
99.9% sanitation
Easy-to-replenish water tank
Lightweight system that's easy to move around
Extra long 30 foot power cord
Water capacity: 10 oz.
Voltage: 120 Volts, 60 HZ
Power: 1550 Watts
ETL Listed
Weight: 9.5 lbs.
Dimensions: 45" L x 7.8" D x 11.2" W
1 year limited warranty"

You can buy from Amazon here.

I bought two of these (from infomercial, do not go that route way too expensive that way.) I am very pleased with product. I use it almost every night to do my kitchen and bathroom floors. It is so nice to not be using chemicals and still having a clean floor. Plus I love that pads are washable, as opposed to disposable.

Does anyone else own one?

-Becky

I so want one of these

I want a rain barrel made from recycled plastic or something recycled. I think this will save on my water bill as last summer I was watering my garden every day.

Do you have a rain barrel? Is it worth it?

-Becky

Trying my seeds again

Even though last year none of the plants I started from seed lasted in my garden, I am trying again.

I just started from seed (all organic seeds and soil:)

basil
zucchini
beets
cucumbers
peppers
eggplant

I also have spinach, wheat grass, and 3 types of tomatoes that I need to start as well.

Here is what I have spent so far:

$7.99 seed starting tray with lid
$5.00 organic soil
$8.00 organic seed starting soil
$3.49 basil seeds
$1.89 pepper seeds
$2.69 eggplant seeds
$2.69 wheat grass seeds
$3.49 tomato seeds (one type only)
$3.99 spinach seeds
$37.00 rest of seeds (bought online, with shipping)

$76.23

Plus I still have to buy organic compost (since my own compost is not ready) and mulch for when the seeds are ready to plant.

That will be about $100 for all. Pray my seeds work and I do not have to spend more money on plants in May. If I get a good harvest then $100 is a good price. Also pray Kaiden stays out of my trays that are in my kitchen. He has already discovered the dirt.

Will you have a garden this year? If yes what are you planting? Do you start with seeds or do you buy plants? Do you buy all organic?

-Becky

p.s. I bought these seeds.

Praise the Lord

All March bills (including April 1st rent) are paid in full.

Praise the Lord!!!

The bad news is I used my credit card this month and it is not paid in full. It should be by the end of April though. I bought two Shark Vac then Steam's. One is for my business, so I don't have to lug dustbuster, stick vac (which mine broke), and mop. This product does the work of all of these plus steams the floor killing germs without chemicals (since my cleaning business is Green Clean that is a plus.) I also ordered some toilet brushes (I don't want to use same one at each job, so I ordered one for each job.) I ordered ones made in America because I am sick of all business going overseas. (But this made them $9 each, plus shipping.)

So in addition to my mortgage I have $400 in debt. But like I said I hope to have it paid in full by the end of April (I hate debt.)

How are your March bills?

-Becky

Support a small business

If you like marshmallows, you have to check out this site.
They are homemade by a 7 year old boy. He is so cute. He started making and selling them at 5. He even donates 10% of his profits to charity.

I ordered two bags and they arrived today. One bag is already gone. We even made a fire tonight to roast some. Yum!

I can not say it enough, GO ORDER SOME!!!

-Becky

Yesterday

Yesterday was 70 something degrees outside. It was so nice. The boys played outside all day. I had Kaiden so he got to play outside most of day as well. He loved it.

The boys cleaned the yard of "waste", and fixed the trampoline and cleaned all the leaves off it. Then they jumped on it with friends and cousins for some time.

At 5:00 Josh had soccer practice. He has a game today and he gets to be the goalie, so he was practicing being goalie last night.

After soccer we went to our deacon's house for dinner. They made the best chicken over rice, with spinach. Even my boys enjoyed it (Josh had like 7 pieces of chicken.)
After chocolate cake the boys played pool with the men and the other ladies and I chatted. It was so nice. I have not hung out with friends in such awhile (outside my house.)

Today we have soccer and then work.

Tonight I hope to have a fire outside, but we will see.

Have a great day!

-Becky

declutter update

bagged up for clothing drive:
22 items
also gave away 2 duvet covers

24 new items given away
174 previously given away

198 items given away in 2011. Only 167 left to go to meet my goal of 365 items given away in 2011.

-Becky

Where have I been?

Not really sure why but I have been so busy lately. I have had no time to sleep in or blog.

This week's schedule so far:

Sun.
10-1 church
1-2 lunch with cousin, my sister, my nephew, and my kids
2 went to open house (my mom is a realtor)
then home
we did something else but I forget what

Mon.
11:00-1:00 dentist (ended up being an insurance issue, so we were there a long time)
1:00-3:00 home schoolwork
3:00-5:30 babysit
6:00 stepfather over to hang a jewelry box/frame
6:30 dinner at my sister's
7:00 home to do school work with Josh
snack, put kids to bed
made $12

Tues.
10:00-2:00 clean half a house (a huge job, I thought would take me 4 hours, I was only half done)
2:00-6:00 home, dinner, and schoolwork (had to cook dinner at my sister's as my stove needed to be cleaned)
6:00-9:00 self clean on oven, had to leave with dog
6:30-7:30 Joshua basketball
7:30 went to Wholefoods
9:00 went home
snack, put kids to bed
made $47 (I had agreed ed on $85 for entire job, but still had 1 bathroom and 4 bedrooms to do)

Wed.
10:00 pick up sister and nephew
drop sister at appointment, drop all kids at mom's
take sister to another appointment
5:00 finally done
5:30 pick up kids, quick dinner at mom's
6:38 arrive at church to teach kids
8:30 leave church
home, snack, put kids to bed

Thur.
am-2:00 schoolwork
2:00 leave to bring kids to sitter
3:15 pick kids I babysit up from school
6:15 leave work, go back and get my kids
8:00 watch wipeout with sister and kids
Kaiden sleeping over
will make $30

Fri.
11:00 leave for doctor's appointment
11:30-12:15 appointment
2:00-5:00 co-op
5:00 Josh soccer practice
home, snack, kids to bed

Sat.
10:00-2:00 basketball
4:00-10:00 work
get kids, home, snack, to bed
will make $60

One thing is without hot water we have to go places (moms and sisters to take showers, which takes more time.) Plus I had cooked a turkey and got grease all inside stove, but I had nothing to clean it with. So I couldn't cook here for days. So I was cooking at my sister's, again taking more time than needed. Finally did self clean (we all, including dog, had to be out of house 3 hours, which is why it took me so long to do.)

I have to get off computer so I can finish up Josh's school work with him so I can bring them to their Grandmother's so I can go to work. I am really grateful for all the babysitting jobs, but I wish I had more cleaning jobs. I make about $10 an hour babysitting. With cleaning (with the exception of Tues.) I make about $20 an hour. But some money is better than none.

-Becky

Returning Stuff

WholeFoods lets you return any product that you are not happy with for any reason. The other day I bought Coconut milk, but both my sister and I did not like it. Plus a box of crackers tasted weird. I just returned them both, no questions asked. of course I returned $9 in products and spent $39 on snacks and milk (so it is a smart move on the stores part as well.)

This is one of the reason I shop at WholeFoods. I also shop Amazon for the same reason. They are very good with returns as well.

Having a limited amount of money I need every dollar to count, so if I buy something that doesn't work for me or my family I really need to know I can get my money back.

Also by returning, I am letting my voice be heard to the company. And hopefully they will try and improve so they don't get returns and have more satisfied customers.

How are you with returns? Do you shop stores / brands with money back guarantees? Do you take them up on those offers?

-Becky

more decluttering

1 set of bed risers
21 videos
10 pieces costume jewelry
5 dvds
2 pairs shoes (I bought these for the boys to wear to church, they hated them)
1 baby seat
2 bottles sleep pills (over the counter)

42 more items
134 Jan.-Feb. total

174 total items given away in 2011. 191 left for my goal in 2011.

Plus I threw away more stuff this week as well.

-Becky

Praise

My brother Kevin got a job offer and will start work March 7th. Yippee!!!

-Becky