Johnson Home of Eastern North Carolina

Homemade Laundry Detergent   After reading somewhere that a household can spend close to $700 a year on various cleaning products, I decided I could do better. I am a huge Gain laundry detergent girl. Got it from my Mama. I've never used anything else. Well, since we're down to one income, I'm willing to put my brand-snob aside and give this a try.    I believe in giving credit where credit is due. This is not my recipe. I got the idea from  http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/ . I did, however, change somethings up.  Here's how I made my first batch: 1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax 1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Fels Naptha 1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda 1 (13.2 oz) Bottle of Downy Unstoppables Optional Ingredients that I did not use: 1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean 1 more (13.2 oz) bottle of Downy Unstoppables 2 bars...

DIY Coasters   Living on one budget makes life a little tight, especially around the holidays. I love to shop for people, wrapping their gifts, and watching them open them. I'd rather enjoy this than opening my own gifts… even though I AM appreciative of their gifts to me. This past Christmas season was a little depressing knowing I wouldn't be able to spend much money on gifts. So I had to improvise and seek out the help of Pinterest. Duh.   I kept seeing my friends post the DIY coasters. Use scrapbook paper, your own pictures, wax paper, print sayings, etc. I couldn't figure out which one would be the best and actually work as a decent coaster. Let's be honest, drinks condensate and that's precisely the reason for your glass needing one. So I didn't want to make these simple "just use scrapbook paper and mod podge and presto! You're done!" They didn't seem legit to me.   So I began experimenting and eventually came up with a great gif...

   The Junk Drawer might be the greatest or the worst drawer in your house. For me, it's the greatest. At least since I organized it. I know you're thinking why organize a junk drawer, it's suppose to be unorganized, chaotic, and crazy. I could never find what I needed that I knew was in that drawer. It wasn't until after I cut.my.finger! that I decided that drawer needed a good cleaning. Of course I went to my trusty Pinterest to see what I could find.   Here's what I found:  Take everything out of the drawer. Yes, everything. Leave only the dirt and dust. Vacuum out said dirt and dust. Use a wet cloth and disinfect the drawer (my vinegar mixture did the trick). Decide how you need to sort things. Pens/pencils, batteries, note pads, miscellaneous, etc. Save boxes such as cereal, rice, whatever (these types are easier to cut with regular scissors.) Cut the bottoms off of those boxes. Wrap boxes in pretty scrapbook paper… or wrapping paper… or anyt...

  Well, this wasn't fun! Definitely had a trial and error moment.   After researching several blogs on how to make these money-savers, I decided on the paper towel ones. Apparently I should have found the blog with pictures before attempting this. I followed the directions, so I thought.   Here's what went wrong and where I went wrong: Cut the paper towel roll the short way; not the long way. AKA cut the fat way, not the skinny way. Do not take the cardboard piece out until after the paper towels have soaked.   I wish I had taken a picture of the disaster. Sorry!   When I was ready to use a wipe, I opened the reused diaper wipes container to find a big pile of mush. Basically I wasted an entire roll of paper towels. Awesome.com   So I went back to the drawing board… or the other blogs, and found another recipe. This time I decided not to waste any more Bounty since the idea is to SAVE money and not waste it. I had my husband clean out his whit...

  Instead of adjusting our monthly budget plan like I should be, I'm procrastinating and blogging. I'm not ready for the automatic depression that is sure to come as I try to figure out where to subtract $80 a month from our already tight budget. Thanks, lawmakers, for tightening the EVER SO TIGHT ALREADY belt of the middle-working-class.   Anyway, since I've been staying home with my little man to save money on daycare costs as well as because he has been on 3 daycare waiting lists for 10 months now, I've had to go green, homemade, penny-pinched, etc. I've always been quite a bit frugal with my money but now that we are down to one income, I've had to get resourceful. I cannot take all the credit for some of these ideas as I've found them on the Internet. Who doesn't Google/Pinterest these days? These are all money-saving things that I have tried and still use to save money. No, I haven't figured out exactly how much you'll save, but use your i...

Vinegar is the new duct tape. You can use it anywhere for anything! I use vinegar to cook, clean the bathroom, disinfect, wipe down countertops, degunk the garbage disposal, etc. Not to mention, it is super cheap! Once you quit being a brand snob and train your nose/brain to think the vinegar smell is a disinfectant, it'll be one of the best money saving experiences of your life. I'll just paraphrase some things I've read about household cleaning products. Do not quote me. Google it for the "facts". Everything on the Internet is true, right? Ha! Household cleaners do not have to put what's in their products on the label, only the active ingredients and "other ingredients" which are not listed. So, who knows what those actually are. Don't get me wrong, there is always a bottle of knock-off Clorox under the sink because, let's face it, somethings just need to be Cloroxed occasionally. I actually just got that bottle out from under the s...

Well, never say never but I found these two gems on Pinterest and haven't looked back. It's so nice knowing what your food is made of, not to mention being able to pronounce the ingredients. Most of the ingredients were already staples in my kitchen and I'm not much of an adventurous cooker or baker. Did I just say "cooker"? Wow. Chef is probably the term I was looking for. Simply Brownies- though no brownie is healthy, these are great and you can substitute the oil and egg for other healthier options (Google it!) 3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup sugar Play around with the sugar and flour if you want them more fudgey or cakey. 1/3 cup cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 2 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Bake on 350 for 20-30 min or until the toothpick comes out clean. Disclaimer: I don't like measuring. Eyeballing it is more my thing so good luck. Taco Seasoning 1 part cumin 1 part garlic powder 1 part onio...