Hair Detangler for Cents

I don't know about you, but I really struggle to pay full price for kids and babies "necessities". So often items are sold to us as essential, when in reality they are merely an advertising gimmick sent to us by companies whose entire purpose is to make money from parents who are desperate to do the best for their kids.

In walks hair detangler!

My daughter loves her hair. It is long. It is straight. It is proof that she is a princess.

However, when she gets up in the morning, my little princess looks more like a little bramble bush. Her hair is incredibly knotty and difficult to brush.

And so begins the daily battle of readying ourselves for school. She fights. She yells. But every morning the result is the same. Long, straight hair that looks as if no one ounce of effort has gone into creating that princess effect.

One day, in desperation, I went to the supermarket looking for anything that would help tame the tangles that we faced every morning. I went from shop to shop, and eventually found something called "hair detangler". Perfect! At not so perfect a price. It lasts 2 months. Every 2 months I am expected to fork out $6.99 for something that can be made at home for less than a dollar.

Here is my money-saving solution. Its really quite simple. All it needs is two ingredients and very little time.

Simple Hair Detangler

You will need:
A good quality conditioner - we use Tresemme bulk conditioner
Warm water
Strong arms

Method:

1. Squirt 3/4 inch of conditioner into the bottom of a spray bottle. I used the original hair detangler bottle once we had emptied it.
2. Fill the rest of the bottle with warm water, leaving an inch of air.
3. Close the lid and shake until the conditioner has melted into the warm water.
4. Fill with warm water to the top and seal.
5. Your hair detangler is ready to use!

Enjoy having smooth, shiny hair that brushes easily!

Frugal Baby Play

Today I'm feeling tired.

And a tired mummy is not a very creative mummy.

So to keep Mr T busy and stimulated, I came up with an activity that taught lots of skills, cost nothing, and kept him entertained for a VERY long time!

All I needed was a ball and a bowl.

My goal was for him to explore the sound of the ball rolling around in the bowl. Boy was I wrong! Mr T was not particularly impressed with my plan of events. He picked up the balls one at a time and threw them away, then turned the bowl upside down.

 

Mummy fail.

Until I had a brilliant idea. Why not hide the balls UNDERNEATH the bowl???

Bingo!

After showing him where the balls were and how to lift the bowl up, I stepped back and let him create his own learning.

I almost needed popcorn. The entertainment was priceless.

First, Mr T circled the bowl, pushing it around and growling when he was unable to flip it over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next he tried banging on it.

He then spent almost 5 minutes pushing the bowl backwards and forwards, enjoying the sound of the ball hitting the bowl.

 

 

And repeat. Many times.

Eventually he just sat back and gave me this look....

 

 

So before you think that you need high tech, expensive toys to keep your little one entertained....look no further than your kitchen!

 

 

What items from around the home does your little one like to play with?

Dairy-free Alfredo Sauce

We eat a lot of pasta. Its what the kids will eat so we all eat it. Its cheap, tasty and so versatile that we can adapt it easily to an allergy-friendly dish.

 

The problem isn't pasta. Its the sauce. Cupcake has been allergic to tomatoes since she was young. When I say she's allergic to tomatoes, I mean that she is allergic to the pesticides used ON the tomatoes.

 

Needless to say, she is afraid to eat tomatoes, tomato sauce or anything resembling a tomato.

 

But dry pasta is soooooo boring.

 

Enter: dairy free alfredo sauce.

 

 

Our local green grocer currently has enormous cauliflower for only 79c each!! When I say enormous, they're bigger than my head!

 

Dairy-free Alfredo Sauce

 

Ingredients:

• 1 large cauliflower or 2 smaller cauliflowers
• 1 carton of alpro soy cream or milk alternative
• 1 tsp minced garlic or 2 garlic cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Roughly chop cauliflower and place in large saucepan along with garlic, salt and pepper.
2. Fill saucepan with water to 2cm depth and boil cauliflower until soft.
3. Let cool on the stovetop.
4. When the cauliflower has cooled, place in a blender or food processer along with soy cream, and blend until silky smooth. This took me approximately 3 minutes.
5. Store in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months in the freezer or 3-5 days in the refridgerator.

 

There you have it! Nice and easy, and tastes almost the same as alfredo sauce containing dairy - and much better for you!

Frugal Friday - Family Fun on for Cents!

This week, Opa took Tinkerbell to the Bach for a sleepover. It was special time away from Cupcake, who, often through her natural exuberance, tends to steal the show.

To give Cupcake a little special Mummy and Daddy time, we decided to have a fun dinosaur themed night, based on the recent release "Dino Time".

This was $1 from the local Video Ezy on weekly hire.

 



I then had a look through my time-wasting friend, Pinterest, for dinosaur themed party ideas. Nothing was really sticking out, given we had a budget of....well....nothing. So I decided to get creative!

 

I decided, that since dinosaurs are green, I would make some green jelly and sprinkle some chocolate sprinkles on the top once it had set. Cupcake called it her "Dino Jelly". Then I made some meatballs wrapped in scone (biscuit for you Americans!) mixture and named them "Dino eggs". Add some watered down lime juice, and you have......

 

 

And look at the smile on her face!

 

All these things were made with items from in the pantry and freezer, so the cost of the entire evening was $1, time and lots of love.



Baby Discovery Bottle

This week, I have been teaching Toto about the concept 'in/out'.

 

To do this, I made a simple toy with items from around the house.

 

All you need is an empty milk bottle, scissors, and items to put in the bottle.

 

 

Firstly, I showed Toto where the toys were. Then I let him explore.

 

 

Following that, I showed him how to put the toys into the hole in the top of the bottle.

He struggled a little bit more with this concept - more with the co-ordination than with putting it into the hole. To help him, I guided his hand to the hole and he would let go of the toy. After a few times, he was able to do this alone.

 

 

After that, I let him play by himself. He enjoyed turning the bottle around and re-finding the holes to take the toys out and put them in another area.

 

Toto was able to extend himself further by taking toys out of the bottle, turning to a nearby basket, and depositing the toy into the basket, then returning to the discovery bottle and repeating the exercise.

 

What an entertaining half hour we had!

Quiet Time Workstations

Every day, at approximately 10am, Toto has a sleep. Not a nap. A sleep. 2.5 hours of bliss spent in the land of Nodd.

 

Except for when the girls are home.

 

Then, he wants to join in the fun. And the noise. And there is usually a lot of it!!

 

One day I was struggling with this (and a very overtired, grumpy 8 month old baby) when I came across a solution.

 

Workstations.

 

I talked with the girls and discussed their favourite quiet-time activities. Then we picked three, and set up a 60 minute rotation. The children had 20 minutes per activity, with special mummy time doing each one to keep them ontask.

 

Here they are:

 

Laminated Playdough Mats

 

 

Colouring Station



 

Puzzles

 

 

 

What quiet time activities do you do with your children?

Allergy Alert

Where to start????

 

We have had a crazy fortnight with the children. We took Toto to the doctor to find out where to begin looking at intolerances and allergies, and were referred to the same specialist Cupcake has been seeing at the Specialist Centre in St Heliars Bay.

 

Pretty straightforward, right? Ring the specialists, make an appointment, wait for the appointment, attend the appointment and get some answers. Right?

 

A few days later, Plunket visits to look at Toto and asks what weight Tinkerbell currently is. The children all started to plateau in their growth at approximately 9 months so we look at her old growth charts to get a view on what to expect for him. Hang on a second, you said she was 11.4kg?? But last time we weighed her 5 months ago she was 11.9kg. Oh dear....

 

Another doctors appointment made (happening tomorrow).

 

To make a long story short, we visited the specialist for Toto and certainly got some answers.

 

Toto

 

 

Toto is officially intolerant to oatmeal. Because his reactions are delayed and a skin prick test came back completely negative, the specialist does not think there will be allergies. He has a 7% chance of having the same allergies as Cupcake. So the way that we will go forward is to give him a piece of bread (causes eczema around Toto's mouth within the hour) every day. Hopefully that will help him become more tolerant of wheat/gluten. We are to avoid oats and start introducing him to egg, peanut butter and other high allergen food ASAP as per latest research findings.

 

 

Tinkerbell

 

 

Upon being asked whether Tinkerbell had shown any allergies, we mentioned the really horrible nappies she has experienced since having a 6 week bout of runny tummy when she was 15 months old. And the important fact that she also experiences this after consuming even small amounts of milk. The specialist confirmed that this could be her body having a learned lactose intolerance from that bout of sickness. But. Big but. I hate big buts. A lot of her symptoms are also signs of celiacs disease so we are to ask to have her skin prick tested, RAST tested, and also screened for celiacs. In the meantime? Take her off milk immediately. See if that helps. And get to the doctor.

 

 

Cupcake

 

 

So how is Cupcake going? I asked if I could please have the email of the immunologist who we saw at Starship Hospital. Why, can I help you, she asked? So I explained the long doses of antibiotics we've had her on and the struggle to keep her staph infections at bay. Apparently it shouldn't be returning so quickly. Really?? So we need to get her nose swabbed to figure out if THAT is what is causing the infection to continue. Certainly the easiest outcome.

 

 

Wow. A lot of things to get through in my busy little mind!

 

Can you see why things have been so quiet lately!!

 

Look out, dear readers, as I've got a lot to catch you up on what we've been doing!!

Kia Ora from the Land of the Long White Cloud!

Kia Ora and welcome to the Land of the Long White Cloud - otherwise known as Aoteoroa, New Zealand.

I guess since this is my first post, I'll begin by introducing myself and the goals of this blog.

I'm a lot of things: mother, teacher, student, budgeter and creative genius (well, I like to think I am!). I live in the growing town of Pukekohe, which is 40 minutes South of Auckland, near the Bombay hills.

I live with my darling husband and my three gorgeous children. Obviously I won't use thier real names, so we'll get creative. Cupcake (4 years) is my boisterous, clever, bundle of mischief who loves using her imagination and dancing through her life. Tinkerbell (3 years) is a quiet, loving girl, who loves exploring the outdoors, babies and helping out around the home. Toto (8 months) is a small ball of energy who loves laughing, talking, drinking milk and snuggles with anyone who will give them to him.

© Sharp Shooter Photography Limited

I was trained as a teacher and taught for 7 years before beginning my journey as a homemaker and full-time mummy due to the health problems of my little Cupcake. Its been a hard journey, but I don't regret a moment of it as I've had the priviledge of watching my beautiful children growing and changing for a year and a half now.

I've decided to write a blog detailing this journey and how we've gotten to where we are. I want to explore living with a child with food allergies, asthma and high health needs. I want to share recipes, tips and tricks to make your money go further. And I want to share the joy of learning that I have been priviledged to share with my children as we grow and learn together.

I hope you enjoy reading and contributing to this blog and that it helps you or those you know as you learn and grow along with us.

xxx
Chelles