Happy Healthy Halloween

    Halloween is less than a week away.  It gestures in a new holiday season with all of the temptations that entails.  If you are not prepared yet, now is the time to get ready.  As a kid I always loved Halloween. I really loved to dress up in a costume (still do) and pretend to be something I'm not for a night.  Most of all I loved the candy.  We would always go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and usually had a fall festival at church.  We would come home with those little orange pumpkins stuffed with candy.  One year my sister my sister won a cake walk, so we also carried home an enormous caramel cake (yum!).  Now I am older and finally have to grow up and worry about things like weight and "will this give me diabetes?"  I look at children today and the things they eat and I worry about the next generation.  The question I ask myself is:  Can I in good conscience distribute a food to children that is so profoundly unhealthy?  I have no answer to this.  I do love to answer the door and see all the cute little kids dressed in their little costumes.  I love watching their faces light up when I give them the candy.  Plus it is only once a year.  However, Christmas is once a year as well, so is Thanksgiving, and birthdays, and many other events all of which involve food.  The candy we distribute hopefully will not be eaten in one night, but over a period of days, weeks, or even months.  There is no way to know exactly how many kids will come to your door, so  you may very well have leftover candy, lying around begging to be eaten.
   So what can be done?  I have been trying to think of alternatives to sugary candy, but I don't want to be the woman who hands out toothbrushes.  I want kids to like what I give them.  I remember as a child that some people would give out boxes of raisins.  This is ok, but there are many kids who don't like raisins.  Even if they do, it's a bit of a let down to receive raisins when you were expecting candy.  Another possibility is to buy sugar-free candy.  This is slightly better, but falls short of being called healthy.  Companies such as Oriental Trading Company, offer small toys in bulk.  This way the kids can have something fun to play with, and I would avoid giving them the candy.  One final option comes from something I received in my little pumpkin as a kid.  I seem to remember someone handing out roles of pennies.  I liked this one, because I could do anything I wanted with it.
   Whether or not I hand out healthy alternatives, the kids will still get plenty of sugary snacks from others. And, when I have children, I am sure I will dress them in little costumes and take them trick-or-treating.  But, I do believe that I can make a difference no matter how small it is.

DIY Savings: Detergent

 In the quest to save money, DIY (Do it yourself) can sometimes save a bundle.  I plan on sharing various DIY money savers in future blogs.  Today, I will focus on a recent project of mine, making my own detergent. I have heard of making my own cleaners many times, and finally decided to try it.  About a month ago, I bought my ingredients and tried it out.  So far, it works just as well as the store bought variety and costs a lot less.  If you do a google search for home made detergent, you can find a dozen recipes.  The one I recommend is at a website called DIY Natural.  The directions are very simple and there are only three ingredients.  Plus is is made with simple natural ingredients for those of you who worry about chemicals.
      I also plan on making my own dishwashing detergent once my supply runs out.  Since it uses many of the same ingredients as laundry detergent, I will not have to spend any money.  I found a recipe that looks good at yahoo finance.  I will let you know how it works.
How do you DIY to save money?

Update: I tried the dishwashing detergent and it works great