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It seemed like a really good idea to go four weeks without posting. Actually, we’ve been winding down summer and gearing up for school in the Budgetess household, so there hasn’t been much time for anything but what absolutely has to get done.

One of the things I have been focusing on is vermicomposting, or using worms to turn kitchen scraps into nutrient dense fertilizer. The entire idea is wholly amazing, since I hate wasting anything and enjoy the prospect of a steady supply of all-natural fertilizing for my houseplants.

1 pound of worms + the homemade bin came in at just under $40. Here’s the investment breakdown

• $23.00 – Worms
• $7.50 – 35 gallon Rubbermaid bin
• $1.00 – Windows screening
• $1.00 – Duct tape
• $3.00 – Paving blocks to elevate bin
• $3.00  – Drip catchers for under bin

Glue Gun Annie has a great article on making a bin out of styrofoam cooler. My design was a bit more complicated, with screening all over the place, because we’ve had an issue with houseflies in the extremely humid summer. I took a few pictures, but will hold off until my wormy friends get here!

I’ve been absent in updating the results of the baking soda shampoo experiment. I last updated on Day 2 that I was considering using dark ale to soften up my hair. Well, that was a mistake.

It’s not that it didn’t soften my hair – it did indeed – but it also puffed it. I had Dolly Parton hair for a few days. Unless it goes limp, I think I’ll avoid it.

With the ale, I tried a “soak” to add a bit of extra shine and softness. I need to try it independently next week to see if it actually does anything, but, in short, it was heavily brewed chamomile tea (allowed to cool) with honey. If nothing else, it made my hair smell good.

Tonight, I tried out my mom’s suggestion for mayonnaise as a conditioner. I think it probably worked better than “real” conditioner! I beat up eggs with a drizzle of lavender-infused olive oil and a bit of ground cloves. This doubled as a really nice shaving cream, too, which left my legs silky smooth. I think next time I’ll leave out the olive oil, though, since my hair looks like I added a bit too much styling gel.

Back to the topic at hand, the cleansing. Tonight, I did pretty much the same thing as last time. Soaked my hair under warm water and combed it straight. Soaked it again, since it got a bit dry during the combing, and combed it into a center part. I mixed a tablespoon of baking soda with a cupful warm water, turned off the shower and poured it over my hair. Then I combed it through, making sure to break up all the clumps and work it over my scalp.

I needed three rinses of 1 part apple cider vinegar to 4 parts water. My hair fluffed up very nicely. Then, a rinse with cool water and (you guessed it) more combing. If nothing else, I won’t be constantly shedding throughout the day, and (I think) I finally got rid of all the little soap beads that were taking over my scalp.

The really unfortunate side effect of all this is my hair-line skin is having a tough time adjusting to my hair’s new-found natural oils. I have a mini-breakout up there and am none too happy about it. But, I am resisting the urge to reach for the Clearasil and will wait this one out. It’s already better than it was two days ago.

Day 2 is going significantly better than Day 1. My hair is still fairly oily, but not nearly as bad as it was yesterday. I changed up the way I washed a bit, so that may have had something to do with it.

This morning I woke with fairly “funky” hair. It was heavy and blah. I jumped in the shower, soaked it and combed it straight. Then I dumped about a tablespoon of baking soda into the cup. I added enough water to make a liquid – not a paste – and poured it down the center part of my hair. (It was here I discovered baking soda in the eyes HURTS).

Next, I used my wide toothed comb to run it from crown to roots. Maybe I should have used a bit more because my hair is still a bit oily at the bottom. I rinsed with 2 rounds of 1 part vinegar and 4 parts of water, combed again, and did a final rinse with cold water. And another 5 minutes of combing brushing.

I think this evening I’m going to acquire a bottle of dark ale and use that as a rinse tomorrow. It may help even things out. I remember using it way back when to make my hair softer when it got too dry.

For a long time, I washed my cloth diapers in the conventionally suggested way. I soaked them in a bleach/water solution until I had enough to run through the wash, threw in a bit of hypoallergenic detergent and tumble dried on low. The diapers came out “OK” – a little crisper than I’d like and they always had that faint smell of bleach. C’est la vie!

Bleach is toxic. Just read the back of the bottle and you’ll see warnings about inhalation and irritation. Don’t even consider ingesting it. So why are we using it on something that touches baby’s butt? Probably because it’s the most expedient way to clean a diaper. Bleach literally strips everything from the top of cloth…including the top of the cloth. When my flat folds (which I use as an “extra” soaker inside prefolds) started developing worn spots and little rips, I put 2 and 2 together.

Here’s the better way. Remember, I use the “about that much” measuring system. This applies mainly to wet diapers. There’s a note on soiled diapers afterward.

Get a bucket. I got mine at a local donut shop, which sells it’s empty 5-gallon buckets from Boston Creme or Raspberry Filling for $2.50 a piece (side note: after a run through the dishwasher and an air drying session, these work well for long term storage of bulk flour, sugar and whatever else you keep a lot of). Then pull out the industrial size box of Borax (about $2.75 at Wal-Mart).

Fill a bucket with water and add a half-cup of Borax. Use this to soak your diapers until the bucket is full. Then, use a paint stirrer, large spoon or something other long, flat device to swish around the diapers for a few minutes. Drain off the water.

Add the diapers to a laundry load with barely dirty whites, such as towels and undershirts. Add a quarter cup of Borax instead of detergent. Run the load on a normal cold-water cycle with an additional rinse. If you don’t have access to a washing machine, or just don’t want to use one, add cold water, swish, drain and wring out the diapers.

Throw them over a clothes line/drying rack/porch railing/etc. Sun-drying is a good idea, as it will “bleach” the cloth and let any existing scents “air” out. It also costs less than running a drier and doesn’t generate heat (good or bad, depending on your climate).

Soiled diapers need to be washed first, so remove any solid waste. You may want to do these separately or wash them by hand in a sink-full of hot water to remove any stains, since Borax isn’t guaranteed to remove the soil spots. You may also want to skip the hand washing entirely, depending on how many soiled diapers your baby generates. Just remove any solid waste and run it through the wash. Soiled diapers usually need two runs through the washing machine, though. I run one load on a heavy-duty cycle with hot water and a second cycle on a short/casual with cold water.

After watching The Story of Cosmetics on YouTube (yikes) I decided to look into alternatives to common products I usr everyday. I’ve always been “low maintanence” – much to my husband’s joy – but I am mildly addicted to my shampoo and conditioner. A quick search for alternatives yielded numerous reports of one successful option: baking soda and apple cider vinegar.

Now, shampoo may or may not be the big evil of our time, but it’s expensive, chemical-laden and natural-oil stripping. The modern idea of “squeaky clean” hair is counter-productive to hair health and, according to some au natural mom’s, actually causes more oil production. My hair is always a bit dry and frizzy, so if this offers any hope for avoiding defrizzers on humid days, I’m game.

You need baking soda (about $5 for a 5 pound bag at Sam’s Club), apple cider vinegar (about $1 for a 12 ounce bottle at Wal-Mart) and a cup for mixing. I’m using a mason jar. Before I hopped in the shower, I put about two tablespoons of baking soda in the mason jar. Then I dipped my toothbrush in and brushed my teeth (sidenote: baking soda left my teeth cleaner and whiter than the $4 “whitening paste” without the fake-mint taste).

The actual hair washing is something that will take getting used to. Sources say to add just enough water to make a paste. Spread the paste throughout your roots – I guessed these are the same “roots” as those used in a dye touch up – and massage it in small, circular motions with your fingertips.

I did this for a while, possibly longer than necessary, until I didn’t have any more clumps of paste. The next step was more gratifying than the lather of shampoo.

Mix a tablespoon of the apple cider vinegar with one cup of water (I used “about that much” measurements). Slowly rinse the baking soda out and rinse the remainder of your hair with it. The baking soda vinegar mix resulted in a satisfying bubbling sensation as the base and acid interacted. It was like a mini-effovescent massage for my scalp. I used more vinegar-water mix until the bubbling stopped.

Finally, I rinsed with warm water, towel dried and combed the tangles out.

Day 1 results aren’t so great. My hair feels heavy and oily. It’s hard to comb, but not as prone to tangles and frizzing as usual. I’ve read hair needs at least a week to adjust to normal oil production, so I plan to keep thos up for about two weeks before making any real decision. I’ll also be playing around with different methods, like a baby pwder shaker for the baking soda and a squirt bottle for the vinegar.