Thankful for Your Inspiration

November is loaded with Thankful posts everywhere...so I'll just add one more to the mix. (oh yeh, I already did the thankful turkey post)

I am overwhelmed (in a good way) with the response to Norwex®.  I knew it was a good opportunity, a great company, and high quality products when it came my way this past August....but I didn't really know how others would respond, you worry about what people will think.   But every week, I am encouraged to keep going...I'll admit being a Stay at Home Mom, homeschooling, running 2 businesses and trying to run a home is a lot of juggling.  I just keep hearing God say, "I'll give you what you need, you just need to obey".  Maybe you don't hear God talk to you like that, maybe you don't even have a relationship with Him, but apart from Him I can do nothing and it all seems in vain.  So walking with God, I'm so thankful for the customers and friends that I've been given.  Here are just a few of the notes, texts, messages and phone calls I've received:

"I love my Norwex® Mop...kitchen floor clean" ~Jaime

"Thank you for opening up the conversation about stuff that we all do everyday, it can seem so monotonous and difficult at times, something that we do alone.  It's great to be able to share things that can make cleaning a home and keeping up with the housework easier" ~Lisa

"My family thinks I'm crazy, but I just love how many things I can clean with these cloths and how easy it is" ~Carol

"Enviro cloth on our cooler, looks bran-spankin' new" & "Enviro Cloth use # nasty yellow mesh on a baby packnplay....clean" ~Christa

Another reason that I'm so thankful is that in 2 short months we've been able to donate over $600 to various people/organizations directly because of what I am sharing through Norwex®.   

Thank you for coming to a new type of home party, trusting me, making the investment 

and encouraging me.  I hope that I can continue to encourage each of you through this business and seeking to Live Simply and Love Fully.

Want to join me on this journey?  Consider hosting a show or joining my team.

Thankful Turkey

There I was, my husband made the offer to take 2 of the 3 children out so I could get some "work" done.  You know how it goes stay at home/half crazed mom....where do I start and the list starts to whirl through your head!?  Well it started with a phone call...and my mind starts racing...really I'm on hold for 15 minutes so that you can find out if you can email me a form instead of snail mail it, don't you know I have this this and this to do I don't have time to be on hold!!!!...more crazy thoughts, that I will spare you of, mostly because I keep hearing in my mind, "But what are you thankful for?" "How are these thoughts keeping you trapped instead of thankful!?"  You see we started, thank you Pinterest, hiding a little turkey around our house this month, having the kids find it each day and tell us what they are thankful for.  And while on days when I'm so tired b/c I was up every 2 hours with a child and all I want to do is nap and things seem dismal, I must CHOOSE gratitude, these are the days when its really hard, grey days.  Ann Voskamp taught me this two years ago through One Thousand Gifts.  And here I am again, grumbling because I don't have enough time to do all things that I want to do and get that nap that I'm longing for.  SO here I am. Thankful...choosing to be Thankful.  And remembering, this life is not just about me.

This picture is truly worth 1000 words, but I'll keep it brief.  

I have 3 kids and a dog and life gets messy!

I am thankful because I am able to blog about everyday things that need to get done....like the dishes.

I don't LOVE doing the dishes!  But I do love sharing great products...

And sharing ways to better steward our precious time and resources.

This is my kitchen sink: 

left side $3.99 lovely lavender scented brand 10 pumps of soap. 

 Right side-Norwex dishwashing liquid 2 small squirts and I only filled my sinks about 

1/4 way up with hot water.

After said dishes were done. 

How I did the experiment?

I split up the dinner dished trying to keep what I could equal.  I'm not sure if you can tell but after the first round of dinner dishes the Norwex side has a lot more bubbles. I then decided I'm going to really put it to the test.  I had extra dishes from our crockpot chicken dinner and bowl of mashed potatoes.  So I kept washing in the Norwex side. 

I continued and did 3 times the amount of dishes in the Norwex side and then let both sit for 20 minutes.....Norwex side still had more suds.

The bottle of Norwex claims to have longer lasting suds and using 40% less product..I definitely saw MORE and longer lasting bubbles.  I used 2 small squirts of the Norwex soap and 10 pumps of the other soap into my sink.  You tell me what the better value is!!!???  

that is not a halloween decoration, that is my netted dish cloth,

 no stink no smell like your ordinary sponges

Done dishes, drying on my dish mat!

You can check out my website to see what other great tools Norwex has to help you in the kitchen.

Now its off to do the laundry....I'll write about that another time.  

Full Circle and swishing toilets

As I approach almost 10 years of being out of college, I've often found myself wondering about those many hours spent writing research papers for my Environmental Studies and Sociology degree...what did it amount to?  In the last few months I've started to see things come in to a bit of a full circle.  Joining in with Planet Green Team with Norwex, I've found myself challenged to again do research and write about how we are exploited as consumers.  I find myself going back to Ken Gould's field trip to the local supermarket to stand in the Cleaning Aisle (sarcastically refered to as the chemical aisle) only to be challenged to stand there for 2 minutes without getting a headache.  Any of my SLU sociology friends recall this?  Anyway, back from memory lane...I sit here and think about how I avoid that aisle especially when I have my kids with me in the grocery store.  

As I promised from the Another Bathroom Upgrade post, I want to share How and Why I clean my bathroom.  Well maybe not the why I clean my bathroom because that is quite obvious, but rather the Why I clean it the way I do.  See these beauties down below, yes even the frogs.  

 We are part of an Earth much larger than ourselves and we are all interconnected and dependent.  Our ecosystem is flooded by toxins and the food chains become affected by what we flush down the toilet and our showers.  Some of the products you might currently use in your bathroom cleaning are toxic for you and the environment...it's beyond me how these chemicals are approved.  Have you ever read the labels?  Yet, middle of winter, windows closed we clean the shower, thinking that putting the overhead vent on is going to help us.  We tell our kids to get out of the bathroom, when we really could be training them to clean alongside of us.  If you look at the picture below you will see some of the new ways I clean my bathroom.  This is all we have under the bathroom sink!  Not only are you saving your lungs and the environment, you are saving space underneath your cabinet, clearing out the clutter!  These 5 products, Ergonomic Toilet Brush, Scrubbing Bath Mitt, Enviro Cloth (blue), Window Cloth (pink) and the Blue Diamond All-in-One Bathroom Cleaner are all I need to clean my entire bathroom, and some water on my cloths.  Save yourself some $ by investing in the products once, the Enviro Cloth has been tested up to 500 washings to be Antibac (say you wash it once a week, you will have this little guy for 10 years), Save time because these products are effective, you clean less often and have better, easier results.  Leave a comment if you need step by step cleaning instructions :)

PS.  The microfibers have a 2 year warranty! 

Blue Sparkle Duo on Sale for November.

www.jenniferfrost.norwex.biz

Another bathroom upgrade....

This upstairs main bathroom was ok, livable to say the least, 80ish decor....well except for the stick on tiles that were peeling off the floor, the horrible taupe paint job and the seashell border, not to mention when we pulled up the DISGUSTING bathroom rug that the previous owners glued down (oh I hope it was glue) to cover up an "issue" with the subfloor!  This has been my favorite upgrade thus far to our home!

 

With minimal cost and materials we were able to go from very unlikable, to a breath of fresh air!

I'm so happy with our renovation.

We used "city retreat" paint color from Lowes, approx. $35.

  A light fixture on clearance $50 from Lowes.  

Recognize the paint color on the vanity? Yes, same as the previous Frugal Powder Room update. 

3 new pull drawer fixtures approx. $8 from Lowes. 

Spray painted knobs and outlet covers (yes from the same bottle of spray paint as before) 

A Big Mirror on Clearance at Walmart $40.  

New sink faucet from Home Depot $90

Shower head (not pictured) $40 Lowes

Some beautiful tile from a local tile store (not big box store), a new toilet and some labor and skills from a man from our church.

$4 rob hooks and $10 towel holder from Walmart.

Wall art, $8 picture frame from last years Lakeshore MOPs junk n trunk sale! 

reused fabric from pillow project and a saying I found online and printed to go over it.

The whole project start to finish cost us under $2000.

We reused the vanity as that would be a big piece to replace and have end up in the landfill.  It's not perfect but I'm very happy that all we did was change some drawer handles and replace the faucet that was truly broken.

OH and what are those pink and blue cloths hanging up on our new robe hooks you might ask?  Well, those my friend are how I keep this sparkling gem of a bathroom upgrade clean using JUST WATER!!!  Look for an upcoming post about my new favorite Norwex cloths!

NOTE:  sorry for the generalities and not direct links for all the products....kids are tugging ;)  Remember what I said in my first post of getting this party started :)  

Live Simply, Love Fully,

Jen

Frugal Powder Room Updates

 Maybe my interior updates won't save the whole world, but it makes me feel good to think that they aren't "in excess". They aren't top of the line OR extravagant.  They are simple, low cost, use what you have and an easy way to freshen up a very dull and semi-dated space.

I used minimal materials to do the updates and also there was very minimal output OR waste.  I didn't or should I say haven't reused the flower-like bulb covers and the hardware on the vanity.  If you have some cool ideas for those or you want to use them yourself let me know I'd love to hand over some brass hardware to you!  Also there were some shelves in the corners that I took down.

So here is the breakdown of what I did:
-spray painted the existing light fixture & outlet covers, faucet ...they were brass and oak
 (I know, bad for the air, especially when you do it inside your house)
-purchased new globe covers at Lowe's for about $10 each
(one unnamed child knocked a globe off the shelf at Lowes and they insisted I not pay for it, thank you customer service!)
-purchased 3 new hardware pieces for vanity approx. $6
-purchased towel holder @ local discount store $4
-mixed blue and yellow paint colors from kid's room updates: free
-purchased chocolate chip, kitchen & bath enamel, satin, low VOC valspar paint $20
(this paint allowed me to do another vanity and I still have lots left over)
-created my own artwork on a small canvas (not pictured) $2

It's not perfect but it makes me smile.

 

Live Simply, Love Fully.

Jen

Lets Get this Party Started

I'm finally realizing/coming to terms with the fact that I will likely never have a blog that looks like all those fancy ones that you read and recommend to all your friends.  But what I also realized is that I love SHARING (well maybe not my dessert, but I'll at least give you the recipe). In all seriousness, I love sharing when I get a deal, I love sharing ideas about an easier way to do something, concepts from good books and I love sharing ideas about loving life more (through God).  So SHARING is not one way right!?....I want you to share too. I want this blog to be a place where I can "feature" you and your ideas as well as share some of the ones I've stolen...I mean pinned and actually tried and/or tweaked. Here is the disclaimer: Please give credit where credit is due, share original links, mine or others and give yourself credit.  This is not a perfect site, so if you see a typo...ignore it, don't judge it or complain to me about it.  The fact is I have 3 kids, and they might be tugging at my leg as I type and my brain might be fried!

Our family is not perfect *and I love them that way* and to be totally honest you might think I'm a hypocrite.  I might post something someday and then if you come to my house you might see that its not that way here. WHAT you ask!?  I'm not being misleading or lying.  Truth is we aren't millionaires, I'm a stay at home mom/wife, who would like to do and try many different things but sometimes the finances don't allow.  Also, I tend to be spontaneous, blurt things out, and am a little haphazard. I want to be more intentional and disciplined so I'm hoping this blog helps me as it helps you.  We're in this together, right!?

If only I had the money to do all the GREEN things and ECO options out there I would.  Do I think this money would buy me eternal happiness and ultimate health? NO, but they are options that I think are good and worthwhile... maybe you don't so take it or leave it, no offense taken.  I realize too that there may be better and/or more options than what I mention here...so that's where you come in again too, share with us.

Here's the other part of this site.  Maybe you do happen to have the money to want to try to put more eco-friendly or green options into your home but just don't know where to start. I'd be happy to have you pay me for a CONSULT and we can identify some areas in YOUR HOME that can help you be REsourced.  Let me know.  Hourly Rates available. $35 an hour  We can assess areas such as: Grocery Shopping, Home Decorating, Upcycling, Gardening and more.  Determining what areas you want assessed will not count in hourly rate.  That's the freebee ;)  And of course this blog is the freebee too, enjoy & share.

Live Simply, Love Fully,

Jen