Wrapping Up 2011: The Year's Most Popular Parsimonious Posts

I can hardly believe it's New Year's Eve already. What a year it has been! I don't know about you, but it has flown by for me.

It's been an adjustment for us at our house having a new baby. Little Jonah is a dream come true, a perfect and happy little baby (all 22 pounds of him), busy crawling all around the house. Our other son, Max, has really stepped up and become an amazing big brother (though he was already an awesome kid to begin with). We met a big financial goal in 2011 -- we just refinanced to a 15-year mortgage (with our payment only going up $150/month. Hooray for low interest rates!). All in all, we feel really blessed and hope that 2012 will be good to us, too.

I thought it would be fun (at least for me), to look back at the year, glance through the blog statistics, and see what posts were most popular in 2011. You never know what people will find helpful and/or interesting. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 posts on The Parsimonious Princess:

10. The Easiest {and Best} Roast Chicken Recipe
Chicken, lemons, salt, and pepper. Seriously, that's all you need. It's is ridiculous how good this chicken is. Thank you, Marcella Hazan!

9. 8 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Frugally Fatigued
I remember writing this and thinking that I've experienced all eight of those ways. It's easy to get burned-out on living frugally if you don't have the right frame of mind and specific goals.

8. The Latest Concoction: Homemade Bathtub Scrub
A mixture of castile soap, baking soda, water, and vinegar. Makes your bathtub practically sparkle!

7. This Cold House: How to Sew a Draft Stopper
Draft stopper, draft dodger, draft snake. Whatever you want to call it, this easy sewing project can help you save on your utility bills. Now if only I could find mine...

6. Squeaky Clean for Pennies: How to Make Foaming Hand Soap
Just water and a little bit of liquid castile soap. The only bad thing about this experiment for me was realizing how much money I'd wasted buying the stuff before.

5. Meatless Monday: Noodles with Thai Peanut-Chili Sauce
Yum. My favorite go-to meal from the pantry. I make this when I'm feeling too lazy to plan and/or cook anything for dinner.

4. Canned Heat: How to Make an Emergency Heater
Peace of mind for five bucks. I love having one of these in our car in the wintertime, just in case.

3. Functional, Not Fancy: Homemade Nursing Pads
So simple to make and they work really well. I used them all the time during my first few weeks postpartum.

2. DIY Plumbing Project: The Cloth Diaper Sprayer
I will spare you the gross details and just say that this sprayer is a must if you're going to cloth diaper. MUST.

1. How to Make Cloth Wipes & Solution
I'll admit, I was a little surprised that this is the most popular post of the year.  We're still using the same cloth wipes I made back in March and they work great (I personally think they work better than the disposable wipes). The wipes couldn't be easier to make. The wipe solution is also simple: water, baby shampoo/soap, and olive oil.

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I am excited to start the new year (Well, mostly excited. I do turn 30 next year...). I love the fresh start that January 1st brings. In terms of this blog, I've got all sorts of posts planned: more cloth diapering (since those were the most popular posts, after all), Meatless Monday recipes, cleaning concoctions, product reviews (a company actually sent me a sample to review!), Random Reuses, fun stuff for the kids, plenty of canning, and miscellaneous craftiness. As always, if you have any questions, things you would like to see more of, ideas you'd like to share, don't hesitate to shoot an email to parsimoniousprincess(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thank you so much for reading my blog and best wishes for 2012!

Counting the Days: A Fun, Easy, and Thrifty Advent Calendar

The anticipation of Christmas Day is part of what makes the season so magical, I think. That's why I love advent calendars. When I was a kid, I loved those European-looking advent calendars with the perforated windows that held a chocolate behind each one. My mom has a wooden advent calendar with 25 little doors and she puts treats in each for the grandkids to enjoy (my son and his cousin started asking about it a month ago). My sister-in-law makes long chains of candy, sectioned off 25 times. And, of course, there are the classic paper chains we all made in school. I remember how fun it was to tear off a paper ring each day as Christmas got a little closer. Ah, the simple joys of childhood.

There are a TON of ideas and tutorials for making advent calendars. I've seen so many advent ideas on Pinterest (You're on Pinterest, right? Love it.) and I've been planning on making one. There are a lot cute fabric ones I want to make (like this one), but sewing has been kind of difficult for me ever since I had my baby, especially since he's crawling and getting into everything now (He's eight months old today! Time goes by way too fast). So, this year, I decided to opt for a variation on the classic paper chain. In addition, I added some extra features to each link on the chain to help my family fully enjoy all the holiday festivities.

I got the idea for the tree-shaped paper chain on Pinterest, pinned from the blog, Make and Takes. Not only was it cute, but it also looked easy to make (hooray!). The supplies to make it are minimal (read: super cheap) and it doesn't take long at all. Today would be a perfect day to get yours made in time for December.

Materials Needed:

• Construction paper -- a few sheets of green (I used four), one sheet of red, and one sheet of yellow
• A ruler
• Pen/pencil
• Scissors
• Tape

I'd also suggest printing off the page from the Make and Takes post for reference when you assemble the chain.

Once I had all my supplies, I started measuring and drawing lines on the construction paper so I would cut strips that were the same size. I started with 2-inch wide strips, but scaled down to 1 1/2-inch wide strips. As for length, I did the entire length the paper. If you want to follow the tree chain on the Make and Takes blog, you'll need 19 green strips, 5 red strips, and 1 yellow strip.

Here's where I added my own features to the paper-chain tree.

The other day, I saw a post on Simple Mom about doing a simple advent countdown with Christmas activities attached to each day. I thought that was a great idea and I wanted to incorporate it with my paper-chain advent. Then, I saw a list on Pinterest, pinned from Tip Junkie, of scriptures to read each day of December. I thought that was a great way to keep the true meaning of Christmas in our thoughts, so I incorporated that into the paper chain, too. I wrote both the scripture of the day and the activity of the day (the scripture and the activity have nothing to do with each other) on each strip of paper before assembling the chain, as you can see below.

The activities are nothing grandiose, by any  means. Just the fun, simple things that go along with the holiday: classic movies (A Christmas Story, anyone?), making cookies (Try my gingerbread recipe. It is THE best.), making popcorn chains, building a snowman, driving around and looking at lights on houses, reading Christmas books, making ornaments, visiting Santa, and more. I kept mine really simple and realistic -- before I wrote any activity down, I made sure it was something I could do, even when the days are busy (as they inevitably are during this time of year).

I also took the activity aspect a little further and kept our calendar in mind. Early in the month, for example, one of our activities is to make ornaments. It wouldn't make much sense to make them a few days before the tree comes down. Closer to Christmas, I want to take the kids to see Santa one night and watch A Nativity Story just a couple nights before Christmas. Also, my husband's birthday is in December, so I wanted one of the links on the chain to be centered around celebrating his birthday.

Anyway, to help me not get all mixed up since the links aren't in a straight line, I kept them as in order as possible (the month starts at the bottom, of course) and wrote the date on the outside of each link so I'd know when to tear off each link. Plus, it helps with the scripture list since that follows a specific order, too.

Once all the scriptures and activities were written on each strip, my son and I taped them into loops and assembled the link as shown in the Make and Takes post. I was glad that I didn't have to figure out that part -- I just checked and double-checked the picture I was following. I tied a little ribbon on the yellow loop on top and hung it from a hook that was already in the door.  Really easy. Each day, we'll tear off a link and hang it on the fridge to remind us of the activity and scripture of the day. I can't wait for December to start!

'Frugalizing' the Swiffer, Part 2: How to Make a Cloth Wet Jet Pad

Yeah, I'm back. I took break for a while there. I could chalk it up to October being a busy month for us (my firstborn's fifth birthday, hosting the annual Halloween party, making costumes at all hours of the night, etc.), but, really, I just needed to take a break. When life gets crazy and overwhelming, it's best to just cut back, I think.

I apologize if you've been waiting on the edge of your seats (ha ha) for Part 2 of my attempts to 'frugalize' the Swiffer Wet Jet.  The wait is over!

When we purchased the Wet Jet, a few of the disposable cloths were included. They work really well. I understand the appeal of the Swiffer. I'll be completely honest, my homemade cloth ones aren't quite as nice as the Swiffer cloths, but they do the job. And really, the Swiffer cloths, as handy as they may be, aren't good enough to make me want to spend over $10 for a package of them -- especially since they end up in the trash. This homemade alternative (inspired by a post I found on Pinterest) helps me keep my floor clean and saves money. Plus, they're really easy to make.

What You'll Need

• 1 package of cloth diapers -- You can get the Gerber padded prefolds at just about any store. The ones I used were flat cloth diapers that were on sale (understandably so -- as I was using them, I couldn't help but think over and over how terrible these particular diapers would be for actually diapering a baby!). The prefolds are easier for this project because you don't have to fold them as much, but if you find some cheap flat diapers, go with those --  I'll show you how I folded them later.
• Sew-on velcro -- two 10-inch strips (fuzzy side only) for each pad.
• Thread, pins, scissors, a ruler, and a sewing machine.

The How-To

1. Fold and Pin
If you're using prefolded diapers, lay the diaper out flat. Fold the top 1/3 down to the middle (if you're not familiar with prefolds, the diapers are divided by seams into thirds). Do the same with the bottom third.  If you're using a flat diaper, I've outlined the steps to folding it into thirds in the photos below. 

It's a little hard to explain (I hope the pictures help) -- you basically just fold the edges to the middle so they meet (step 2) and then repeat it again (step 3). You don't have to do it this way exactly, but it worked for me.

Your goal is to have a rectangle that is around 5 inches wide. Pin in place, if desired.

2. Measure and Cut

Once the diaper is folded, you'll have a long strip. Fold it in half and cut on the fold.

Each diaper makes two cloth pads.

3. Pin the Velcro

Cut two 10-inch strips of Velcro. You'll only be using the soft, fuzzy side. With the help of a ruler or measuring tape, pin the Velcro on the diaper about an inch from each edge. It's a good idea to place one of the Velcro strips on top of the folded-over edge of the diaper so you don't have a flap that catches as you mop.

4. Sew the Velcro and Edges

Using a zig-zag stitch, sew down each side of the strips of Velcro. Use the same stitch along each short end of the pad. 

5. Mop Away!
Stick the pad onto the Wet Jet and mop. When finished, peel it off and throw it in the wash. Enjoy your clean floors and revel in the self-satisfaction of your 'frugalizing' efforts.

Note: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have disclosed.

'Frugalizing' the Swiffer, Part 1: How to Refill the Wet Jet

I hate mopping. At least, I used to.

There's always been two options when it came to mopping for me: using a soapy, wet rag (done with the classic push-it-around-with-your-foot method) or with a drippy (and, might I add, gross) sponge mop. So, yeah, it didn't get done as often as maybe it should. Problem is, I'm married to a guy who's a little obsessive about having really clean floors. Sigh.

Now add into the mix a six-month-old baby. He's not crawling yet, but it's not too far off. With that comes extra vacuuming and, you guessed it, more vigilant floor mopping. Double sigh.

A few weeks ago, we were shopping at the local Walmart and we passed a display of Swiffer Wet Jet starter kits. My husband, the aforementioned clean floor fanatic, grabbed one of them. "This would be so much better than what we've got!" (Enter the gross sponge mop.) My instant reaction to it, although I could see how much better it really would be, was, "No way. It seems great now, but then you have to buy the special cleaning pads and their cleaner, which is full of chemicals..." 

Yeah, we got it anyway. As expected, it made cleaning the floors so much easier. Yet part of me, the part that swore off paper towels and that uses vinegar to clean just about everything, still wasn't a fan. That is, until I did some research and found that there are a bunch of Swiffer Wet Jet hacks out there, using all types of methods to make this handy dandy mop more budget-friendly. 

I looked through a few of the ideas, watched a video or two, and I am happy to report that I have found the easiest ways to, as my husband put it, "frugalize" the Swiffer.

Today's post is about refilling the Wet Jet bottle...

Before I even looked anything up, I tried to unscrew the lid so I could refill it. No way. That lid is sealed on tight. Some of the methods I came across involved making holes in the plastic lids, using tiny funnels to fill it, and so on. I get not wanting to pay $8 for cleaning solution, but it seemed like a pain. Then I found this super-easy method:

Fill a small saucepan with enough water to submerge the cap of the bottle and bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, dip the cap into the water (as pictured above) and hold it there for 90 seconds. Heating the cap makes the plastic soft enough that a good, hard twist gets it off. I'd suggest doing this with a dishtowel since the cap will be kind of hot.

Once you get the cap off, you'll see that all along the edge are some little notches/prongs (aka, the things that keep you from getting the lid off in the first place).  You can clip the prongs off easily with a nail clipper. Once the prongs are off, the lids screws on and off without any trouble at all. Refill the bottle with your usual cleaner of choice (hooray for vinegar!). 

Coming soon: Part 2 -- Making Your Own Swiffer Cloth Pads. Seriously easy.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

Canning Cucumbers, Part Two: Dill Pickle Spears

I may not be too fond of sweet pickles, but I love a good dill pickle. There are a variety of ways to make dill pickles -- fresh pack, brined, cooked, canned, refrigerated, lacto-fermented. For my foray into pickle making, I decided to try a simple fresh pack recipe.

Although this recipe doesn't produce the crisp dill pickles I like most (I'm determined to make this recipe next year), they are still delicious and work well in a variety of recipes and on a hamburger or in a sandwich.

Fresh Pack Dill Pickles - from The Ball Blue Book of Preserving

Yield: about 7 pints or 3 quarts

8 lbs. 4- to 6-inch cucumbers, cut lengthwise into halves (we cut ours into quarters)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canning salt (can be found in the canning section in your local grocery store)
1 quart vinegar
1 quart water
3 tablespoons mixed pickling spices (also can be found in the canning section)
Green or dry dill (1 head per jar)
Cheesecloth and kitchen string or a store bought spice bag (For instructions on how to make a spice bag, check out this link -- it's really easy.)

Wash cucumbers; drain. Combine sugar, salt, vinegar, and water in a large saucepot. Tie spices in a spice bag; add spice bag to vinegar mixture. Simmer for 15 minutes. Pack cucumbers into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Put one head of dill in each jar.

For those who are wondering what a head of dill looks like, there it is. The head is made of up the flower at the top of the plant, the part with several stems and little buds at the ends. These heads of dill came from my mom's garden, but you can also buy it in the produce section, by the packaged fresh herbs). You can also use dried heads of dill. (After a little research, I've learned that you can can substitute 1 Tablespoon of dried dill seed for 1 head of fresh dill.)

Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles by running a rubber spatula around the inside of the jar, between the cucumbers and the glass. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints and quarts 15 minutes (be sure to adjust for altitude, if necessary) in a boiling-water canner. 

Allow 4-6 weeks for these pickles to cure and develop the best flavor.

Have you ever made pickles? What's your favorite kind -- to eat and/or make?  Any recipes/links I should know about?

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

Canning Cucumbers, Part 1: Sweet Pickle Chips

Yet another reason why I love this time of year: people sharing the bounty from their gardens. I mean, isn't that such a nice gesture? We joke about people unloading all their extra zucchinis on neighbors, but I think it's nice.  Like the lady in my mom's neighborhood who gave her eight pounds (eight!) of pickling cucumbers a few days ago. Free homegrown produce? Sweet!

Until this latest endeavor, Mom and I had never canned pickles. Never. But seeing as we had to do something with all those cucumbers, we decided to give it a go. Hooray for learning and trying new things, right? So, I took the kids up to my parents' house (hence the different setting for all the photos in the pickle posts -- I even used my dad's camera) for the day and we canned a bunch of cucumbers  I'm happy to report that pickle-making isn't too difficult. So, for the next couple posts, I'm going to share the recipes and techniques we used to make pickles.

Pickle Post #1: Sweet Pickle Chips

I'll be totally honest: I'm not a huge fan of sweet pickles. I don't hate them, but I definitely don't seek them out. But my mom likes them. Plus, she has this childhood memory of eating homemade sweet pickles with a neighborhood friend when she was a kid and she's always wanted to try making her own. My motivation for me to make these: they are an ingredient in my grandma's potato salad recipe (ridiculously good).

This recipe we used was one of the simplest we found (we found it on cooks.com). Many recipes for sweet pickles call for a ton of spices and seasonings. While this one had only a few ingredients, the results were quite tasty.  Mom says they're as good as the ones her neighbor made all those years ago.

Sweet Pickle Chips
- yield: 6 pint-sized jars -

4 lbs. pickling cucumbers - washed, blemishes removed, stems and blossom ends removed

Brining solution:
1 quart distilled white vinegar
3 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. mustard seed
1/2 cup sugar

Canning Syrup
1 2/3 cup of distilled white vinegar
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp. whole allspice
2 1/4 tsp. celery seed

{Note:  I don't know if we reduced ours too much during the cooking process or what, but we ended up having to make extra canning syrup. This may or may not be the case for you, but I think it'd be a good idea to have enough of the ingredients on hand to make another batch, if necessary.}

Once your cucumbers are washed and the ends have been trimmed off, cut the cucumbers across into 1/4 inch slices.

In a large pot, mix together the ingredients of the brining solution. Add the cucumbers and stir.  Cover the pot and let the cucumbers simmer in the brining mixture for about 5-7 minutes, until the cucumbers lose their bright color and look more dull. 

While the cucumbers are cooking, make the canning syrup by combining the vinegar, sugar, whole allspice, and celery seed. Heat mixture in a saucepot until the syrup comes to a boil.

Once the cucumbers are done cooking, drain. Pack the cucumbers into the hot pint-size canning jars (again, we ended up using 6 pint-size jars).  Cover the cucumbers with the hot syrup, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove the air bubbles by running a rubber spatula around the inside of the jar, between the cucumbers and the jar, moving the spatula up and down. Adjust lids and bands and process for 15 minutes (be sure to adjust for altitude and add on extra minutes, if necessary).

Product Review: Tattler Resuable Canning Lids

I first learned about Tattler reusable lids last fall, right after I finished canning numerous quarts of pears, apple pie filling, salsa, and peaches. I remember reading about the lids on a blog and thinking, "Now you tell me!"

In all my years of canning, I only knew about the metal ones that came with the jars. I had no idea there even was an alternative. That said, I always wondered why lids could only be used once. Wasn't there any way around that? That's where Tattler reusable lids come into play.

Tattler reusuable lids are just that -- reusable. The lids are made of a washable, heat-resistant plastic. When used with a rubber ring (which come with the plastic lids) and the regular metal canning rings, Tattler lids can help you preserve your food year after year.  The best part is that once you buy them, you never have to buy canning lids again. Even the rubber rings are reusable, so long as there are no signs of damage or wear on them (you can buy replacement rubber rings for a couple bucks). The company says that if the lids ever wear out, they'll replace them for free -- and according to the website and the pamphlet that came with the lids I bought, they've never had to replace a single lid. That's pretty awesome.

These lids are a guaranteed money saver. There is some initial investment (three dozen wide mouth lids for $23.95; $20.95 for three dozen regular mouth lids), but even that isn't much. It usually costs about $4-5 for a box of 12 of the one-use metal dome lids. If you do a lot of canning, the price for lids can really add up. Plus, once they're used, they're trash. With the reusable lids, you get years of use and they eventually pay for themselves. It goes almost without saying that Tattler lids are a much smarter choice. Plus, the lids contain no BPA like the metal dome lids do. Even more reason to use them!

So this is my first canning season with Tattler lids -- I ordered mine about a month ago and couldn't wait to try them out. I only bought the wide mouth ones, but I'm going to place an order for some the regular size ones soon. I've used them with both salsa and jam so far and I can definitely say I won't go back to the old lids for the majority of my canning (I'll still buy a few of the metal lids now and then so I can share jars of my canned foods. No way am I giving away my reusable lids!).

The lids took a little getting used to for me since I've learned with and have been using the metal dome lids for so long. You can't fill the jars as much as you would with the metal lids -- you need about an inch headspace in each jar so that the lids can seal. After a few jars, though, I got the hang of the Tattler lids. You heat the lids and rubber rings like you would with the metal ones. Once heated, you put rubber ring and lid combination on the jar, screw the metal rings (as I said previously, you reuse your metal rings with the Tattler lids) on loosely to keep the lid in place, and then process the jars as you normally would. Once the jars are done processing, you have to tighten the rings on the jars immediately.

My only complaint: I like the way you can tell that the metal dome lids are sealed. When the jars cool, you just have to tap the metal lids to make sure they're sealed. Plus, I love that popping sound of the metal lid sealing into place. With the Tattler lids, you have to unscrew the metal rings (once the jars have cooled, of course) and lift gently on each lid to see if they sealed. It's not a huge bother, but it takes more time. Still, that's not enough to make me even consider going to back to the dome lids.

I definitely recommend Tattler reusable lids. To me, they're one of those frugal no-brainers.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

The Return of Canning Season: Some Recipes, Reasons, and How Canning is Sexy

I've said it before and I'll say it again: one of the main reasons I love late summer-early autumn is canning. I love canning. It's not easy and it can make a big mess, but I love it. It's just so satisfying to rows of beautiful glass jars full of delicious summer produce in the pantry. And opening a jar of some of that in the winter? Lovely. 

For the next couple weeks or so, it's all about canning here. Before we get started, though, I thought I'd share a few links to past posts of mine, along with other blog posts about canning that I've enjoyed.

To Get You Started:

Yes You Can! -- My motivations for canning and why I love it.

All You Really Need -- A list of supplies to get you started.

The Fruits of My Labor:
Apples -- Applesauce and Pie Filling
Jam (Pluot jam!)
Peaches
Pears
Peppers

Other Helpful Sources and Inspiration:

Roasted Tomato Salsa -- Doris and Jilly Cook {Mom and I just canned a batch of this. It is the BEST!}

9 Good Reasons to Can Your Own Food -- Simple Bites

Preserving Summer: A Round-Up of Inspiration -- Simple Bites

Preserve! - SouleMama {My favorite blog}

And if you still haven't caught the canning bug, watch the video below. If you're a big canning geek like me, watch the video below. It made me kind of giddy. Classie Parker tells you why you should can. After all, as she says in the video, "Canning is sexy, baby!"


The Canning Queen of the Desert from Etsy on Vimeo.