What have you STOPPED doing and not missed a bit!

[FarmerChick]

homemade laundry soap just didn't do well for my clothes. I tried to help the whites but they got grayer and grayer for some reason.

(is that how you spell grayier or grayer or more gray) HAHA

 

[Beekissed]

Still using it...just stopped buying white stuff. What whites I have like sheets, pillow cases, etc. I just wash with bleach and no detergent. Comes out fine because they aren't really dirty like socks, underthings, etc. I can't begin to calculate just how much money it has saved me by making my own laundry soap but I've been doing it for 7 years now and I really can't see myself giving that up...too easy to make, too much savings to ignore.

Now, Aly is a busy mother of a squad of kids, so finding time to make it vs. just buying a jug could be the deciding factor and I understand that completely. Sometimes you just have to make those choices in life. When my boys were home, as a working mom I decided that disposable plates and cups were the sacrifice I would make to save me time and worry...and it was a good choice. I'll never regret that choice, environmentally correctness be darned!

I think that is one key to SS that some folks miss...that it's not all about doing something cheaper. Sometimes it's in finding ways to do something cheaper AND still have what you want.

Like the rising prices of feed. I've explored fermenting the feed/grains this year and find it really extends the feed and increases the nutritive value enough that I'm getting by much cheaper by just implementing that extra step...and increasing the health of my flock at the same time by feeding the fermented foods. Decreased feed costs, increased flock health = a cheaper, better egg/meat end product. It's a win/win.

Next experiment will be in developing a flock that can still maintain high egg production on a diet they have foraged themselves, with very little need for feed supplement. I didn't have a place that was conducive to good foraging opportunities before but now I do, so why not use that free food and cull any birds that don't thrive on it?

FYI: Grating the soap can be as easy as placing the soap in the freezer for awhile until it's hard and brittle, then putting it in a ziploc bag and smashing it with a hammer. No knuckles involved, no grating needed. Kids love to smash things, so this can be an activity they can enjoy and will help you with this chore.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

and the Good Lord knows my kids love to destroy things. I just may have to try the freeze and smash!

 

[terri9630]

Bekissed, I have California Whites and they are great at foraging and laying. I've got one right now with half CW and BO chicks running behind her and she is doing great with them. They are fairly small birds (large white eggs) and was trying to set 22 eggs. She couldn't cover them all so I took all but 10 and she hatched all of them. I live in the desert and they eat very little feed and do a great job of spreading horse and rabbit manure and keep the flies way down.

 

[Beekissed]

I'll keep that in mind! Never heard of that breed and doubt if it can be had around these parts but I found that the CX I raised this spring were excellent foragers as well and could have survived pretty well off of just what they foraged here. I'm thinking that RIR, BAs and WRs will do pretty well for this purpose...just have to find the individuals in each breed that don't do as well on just foraged feeds.

I'll look up that breed...sounds interesting! http://www.cacklehatchery.com/califwhitepage.html

Leghorns! Of course...I'm familiar with the breed and agree that they would be great at this endeavor.

 

[terri9630]

I'll keep that in mind! Never heard of that breed and doubt if it can be had around these parts but I found that the CX I raised this spring were excellent foragers as well and could have survived pretty well off of just what they foraged here. I'm thinking that RIR, BAs and WRs will do pretty well for this purpose...just have to find the individuals in each breed that don't do as well on just foraged feeds.

I'll look up that breed...sounds interesting! http://www.cacklehatchery.com/califwhitepage.html

Leghorns! Of course...I'm familiar with the breed and agree that they would be great at this endeavor.

Yep. Half leghorn half Cali grey. The CWxBO made some really pretty chicks. I bought them from Whelp hatchery. They are much smaller than the leghorn but very productive. They started out flighty but an occasional gift of left overs fixed that. I can call them and they will come running or I can walk across the yard and they will all be following.

 

[Beekissed]

I like flighty chickens! Those are the ones who survive free range conditions. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[terri9630]

Your welcome. They are very cautious and I haven't lost any in 2 yrs.

 

[Dawn419]

I thought/wish I had a better list but our biggest "don't miss" is television!

We had Dish TV back in TN and always complained about it...crappy options for the $$$.

When we made the jump to AR in '09, we had no electric or internet and relied on amusing ourselves and loved the evening playing Cribbage, Backgammon and several card games in candle/oil lamp/LED headlamp light when we weren't reading books and magazines under the same conditions!

I've promised my mom to help her get her canning shed straightened up and we'll be working towards making our own soap and hopefully laundry detergent, too. She's recently bought a HE washer and is worried about homemade detergent use in it...need to do more research on that one.

 

[Denim Deb]

I stopped making my own laundry soap as well. Truthfully, for the amount of time it took to make it, I didn't really see a savings. I buy the Arm and Hammer when it's on sale, and it only costs me about 6 cents a load. It gets my clothes clean, and doesn't bother hubby's skin.