Rants & Recipes

Hey followers!

I apologize (again) for the huge gap between posts.

I want to apologize in advance if a "no-no word" slips out every once in a while in this post...I'm a little frustrated and need to rant a bit, and I know my incredible followers will not only support me, but be okay with my lack of "okay" grammar. :-)

With that said...let's begin, shall we?!

I've been filling out applications to try and find a full-time job like a mad women.

In the past 2 weeks I have literally applied to over 50 positions.

Out of those 50 applications, I have only gotten a call back for 3.

That's right...I said THREE!

All three, of which, were a complete waste of my time.

Monday:

One was for a marketing sales company that had actually peaked my interest.

I drove 35 miles one-way to go to the interview for a 5 minute interview.

Seriously...5 freaking minutes.

He introduced himself, told me a little bit about the company and the position, and then told me that if the manager liked my resume, I would be getting a call back for the second of three interviews.

That's right, I said 3 interviews.

That's 3 trips to Greenville (remember, 35 miles away).

So, a bit defeated because they refused to tell me the salary for the position*, I leave Greenville and immediately call Chris, my mom, and Jess (one of my best friends here and the amazing person who watched Easton for 2 of my 3 interviews last week) to let them know how it went.

(*Side note: No, I did not want to know the salary because I was being greedy, I NEEDED to know the salary because I would have to make a MINIMUM of $14/hr, working a MINIMUM of 40 hours a week to be able to afford to drive all the way to Greenville 5+ days a week, put Easton in daycare AND still bring home money. Additional Side note: No, I do not need to make that much closer to home...obviously lol.)

Anywho, later that afternoon I got a call from the regional manager of the company letting me know that he was impressed with my resume and the feedback he got from the guy who did my interview earlier that day and I had made it to the second interview! WOOHOO!!!

He informed me that it would be at a different office location in Greenville, but because I was driving I couldn't really write down the address. So being the kind man that he was, he was going to have his assistant send me an email with all of the information for the interview on Tuesday.

Now Tuesday, I already had an interview set up in Raleigh (at the main office for a different company) for 10am, so I requested an afternoon interview, and they were more than happy to oblige.

Monday Evening:

No email yet with the address.

Not too worried yet...as long as I get it by Tuesday morning.

Prepare myself for an interview in Raleigh at 10am (which is an hour away) and the second round interview in Greenville at 2pm.

Bottom line...Tuesday = a LOT of driving!

Bring it on!

Tuesday:

Leave super early to get to my interview in Raleigh (an hour away), but don't you worry...I've got my Starbucks in my cup holder and I'm cruising down the interstate!

Get to my interview 10 minutes early...because I'm an amazing overachiever...well that and I sped like a bat out of hell because I knew I was going to hit traffic (which I did...a little).

Interview went AMAZING!

It was for an insurance agent position with Physicians Mutual Insurance, and I was really interested in the position.

The pay was GREAT! A minimum of $2,000-$2,500 a month, which is a little over where we would need it to be. I would be able to work in Goldsboro and surrounding areas and some days even work from home.

Perfect right?

Maybe a little too perfect.

There was a downside.

I would need to take a few courses to become licensed. Who knew, right?

Well, the course would take about 2 months and would cost about $200, which really isn't bad if you think about it.

Unfortunately, we aren't in the position to wait 2 months for additional income, nor do we have an extra $200 just laying around to be able to take the courses.

I was offered the position on the spot.

I informed him that I would need to talk everything over with my husband and would be in contact with him about the position by Wednesday.

He said that would be perfectly fine and couldn't wait to hopefully work together.

Insert knife into heart and twist.

That WOULD happen.

So, I leave my interview and immediately check my email.

Still no email from the marketing company with the interview address.

Of course, the number they had called from the day before was a blocked number.

There goes that opportunity.

Feeling completely defeated I drive home, fighting back the tears the entire way back.

Tuesday Afternoon/Evening:

I get a call from another company about what I thought was an administrative position.

They have two locations in my area, one in Goldsboro (where I live) and another in Kinston (about 30 minutes away).

Of course, they couldn't have the interview in Goldsboro...it was in Kinston.

At that point I didn't care where the interview was...I just wanted a freaking job.

From what the online job posting said, it was for an administrative position  for a sales company making $14/hr...PERFECT...or so I thought.

Wednesday:

Drive 30 minutes to my interview.

I was told on the phone the day before that my interview time would be at 10am.

I get there at 9:45am, so I expected to wait for a little bit because from what I gathered from the lady who called me the day before, they were going to be doing a bunch of interviews that day.

I waited 45 freaking minutes!

45 MINUTES!

I'm sitting there, playing on Facebook, texting everybody and their mother because I am that bored...for 45 minutes!

Geesh!

So, the time comes for my interview...

A few things about the guy who was interviewing me and the office where it was happening.

I couldn't understand half of the stuff that was coming out of this boys mouth. I say boy because I was older than him...by a couple of years. Here's a little side note...I'm only 23.

The office where I had my interview had a cheap-o desk, 2 metal folding chairs and about 172 nails in the wall...so maybe 172 nails is being a wee-bit dramatic,  but there was a LOT!

So this boy starts talking 90 to nothing in a THICK Carolina accent about the job.

Basically, he wants me to be the Kirby man of air purifiers.

How, in any way, shape or form is that administrative?!

Honey...that's SALES. DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES if you want to be specific, which obviously, you are not.

Needless to say, interview 3 was strike 3.

I've still been filling out applications like a mad woman, but I haven't had anymore calls to set up interviews, so I'm a bit down.

Okay...I'm done ranting...now for the fun part of this post...the recipes!!!!

For those of you who are expecting to see a recipe for my famous Chocolate Chip Cookies or for my mother-in-law ridiculously amazing Chicken Spaghetti...sorry...these aren't those kinds of recipes.

Prepare yourself for recipes for everyday things in your house that's going to save you TONS of money!

I have TONS of recipes, but I'm just going to give you the ones that I have tried so far and how well they work.

GET EXCITED!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!

This past week...after my interview blahs I sulked and spent an entire day on Pinterest (which is my newest obsession).

While drowning my sorrows in Pinterest, I come across a recipe for homemade Febreze, so I decided to give it a try and let me tell you...it's cheaper and BETTER than regular Febreze.

That's right...I said better!

Homemade Febreze

This recipe is for a batch that will fit in an actual 32oz Febreze bottle.

- 1/8 cup of your favorite liquid fabric softener

- 2 Tablespoons Baking Soda

- Hot Water

- Pour liquid fabric softener and baking soda into your empty Febreze bottle.

- Fill the Febreze bottle with hot water.

- Shake and spray the odors away!

Like I said before, I personally think that this works better that regular Febreze...it's AMAZING.

I've been using it like a mad-woman!

I just made a batch on Monday and it's already almost gone!

Maybe I'm a bit Faux Febreze happy, but that's okay because it didn't cost me a single penny since I had everything I needed on hand already.

Here's the breakdown of costs:

Faux Febreze ($0.15 or less for 1 oz Fabric Softener and 2 Tbsp. baking soda)
Total Cost: $0.15 Each

Compare to Actual Febreze ($5.59 Each...which I find absolutely ridiculous that I EVER paid that much! SHAME SHAME STEVIE!!!)
Total Fake-It Savings:  $5.44 Each*

*Let's say you purchase 1 Bottle of Febreeze per month, that's a Savings of $65.28 per year!

Ummm...yes please!
*(If you would like to see the original post for the Faux Febreze click here.)

Now for the next recipe...Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent...AMAZING!!!

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

This recipe will made 2 gallons of laundry detergent.

- 1 bar of soap (Any kind you use...my favorites are Dial Cranberry and Lever 2000 with Aloe. The Dial makes a pretty pink detergent and smells delicious and the Lever 2000 smells super duper clean).

- 1 cup of Borax (You can find this in the laundry aisle at most grocery stores by the Oxy-Clean and other stain boosters...I was able to find it at the Commissary and Wal-Mart).

- 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (This, also is found in the laundry aisle with the Borax by the stain boosters).

- A big pot (that holds more than 2 gallons...I had to split the recipe into 2 pots)

- A cheese grater

- A funnel (I didn't use one, I just pour it into a mixing bowl that had a lip and it worked perfectly fine)

- A long spoon

- 2 empty gallon jugs/container

- Grate your bar of soap into the pot.

- Pour one gallon of water into the pot with the grated soap and cook until the grated soap completely dissolves.

- Add the Borax and the Washing Soda.

- Bring mixture to a boil. The mixture will start to thicken.

- After it starts boiling, take mixture off the heat and add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir.

- Pour 1 gallon of mixture into each jug (this is where the funnel of lipped mixing bowl comes in handy).

- You now have 2 gallons of homemade liquid laundry detergent!

- Use 1/2-1 cup of detergent per load of laundry.

* After about 24 hours the laundry detergent will turn to a jello-like consistency...that's what it's supposed to do. Just shake it up before you use it and you're golden!

The estimated cost is $6...that's for 1 box of Borax, 1 box of Washing Soda and soap.

This could be a little more or less depending on the type of bar soap you use.

If you make enough laundry detergent to go through both boxes of the Borax and Washing Soda, you're paying $6 for 576 loads of laundry (again, depending on the type of bar soap and the amount you use per load). Either way, MUCH cheaper!!!

*(For the original post click here)

Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

- 1 Box Borax

1 Box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

24 Packages Lemondade Koolaide (*Side note: Lemondade will stain the soap dispenser yellow, another option would be to use citric acid instead of lemonade.)

-3 Cups Epsom Salt

- All you have to do is mix everything together really well. I didn't have a bowl large enough for it so I mixed mine in a giant Rubbermaid box. Looking back I probably should have done a half batch in 2 bowls and then mixed them together, but I didn't that about that until afterwards.

* A cheaper solution for a rinse aid like Jet-Dry...vinegar. Just pour a Tbsp in the bottom of the dishwasher. :-)

- Oh...I guess you need to know how much to add, huh? Add 1 Tbsp. of your homemade dishwasher detergent to your load of dishes! :-)

*(For the original post click here)

Homemade Baby Wipes (Can Also Be Used as Makeup Remover Wipes)

- 1 roll of paper towels (Viva and Bounty Select-A-Size are the best)

- 2 cups of water

- 1 1/2 Tbsp. baby bath

- 1 Tbsp. baby oil

- Spill proof container

- Cut the roll of paper towels in half with a non-serated knife.

- In container mix water, baby bath and baby oil.

- Mix well.

- Take one half of the roll of paper towels and place in the solution and let it sit to soak up the solution.

- Occasionally flip the entire container over or just flip the paper towels over so that both sides soak up solution.

- After a few hours of the towels soaking up the solution, take the towels and gently sqeeze the extra solution out. Pull the cardboard paper towel roll out and place towels in a container like an old diaper wipes case, lysol wipes container, or Germ-X wipes container.

- Place the other half of the paper towels in the solution and let it soak like the first half did.

* You can also make antibacterial/all purpose cleaning wipes using this same method, the only difference is the solution mix. For that, you mix 1/2 cup of Pine-Sol and 2 3/4 cups of water. Mix and continue on like you did with the diaper/makeup remover wipes.

Thanks for sticking with me through this ridiculously long post!

I love my followers!