Homemade Laundry Detergent.

While going through many other people's posts, I have found a lot of them making their own laundry detergent.  I honestly never though about doing this, but the price of laundry detergent is crazy.  

There are many recipes out there and I used a basic one and adapted it to our hard water needs.  Tip:  If you have hard water and your home made laundry soap is not working, add extra borax.  It will soften the water and your clothes.

I grated my one bar of soap, which wasn't too difficult, and heated it on the stove in a huge canning pot with water.  The amount of water you use depends on your preference.  I used 8 cups to start, but ended up adding more as I went.

When the soap was disolved, I added the borax (1 cup) and washing soda (1 cup).  I then added more water to about half full (which ended up making about two and a half gallons.)  I continued to heat it for about 5 more minutes.  I am not sure why, I guess I felt like it blended it a little better, then I turned the heat off and added some lavender essential oil.  Lastly, I poured it into half gallon containers.

I don't think I put enough of the essential oil in.  It isn't required, but I wanted a scent.  There is a very faint one, which is okay, but next time I will add more.

As I used this to wash my first load of laundry, I wasn't really sure how much to use.  I ended up using about 1/4 cup and it worked well.  Clothes came out clean and, although they didn't smell like lavender to me, they did smell clean.  Coming out of the dryer, they were very soft, but there was a static problem.  I have read that if you add vinegar to your wash, it will take care of this problem, but I really don't want my clothes to smell like a salad.  I think I will experiment on making some fabric softener.  I have seen people do this many ways, but I will come up with something fun.

All in all, the detergent ended up costing me about 70 cents a gallon, so I think I did well!

Thanks for reading.  I would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

Make Your Deodorant at Home!

What?  Yes, you read that right.  I am a person who is prone to stickiness.  There, I said it!  It doesn't matter whether it is summer or winter, if I sweat, it doesn't smell good.  Because of this, I was a bit skeptical about trying this.  I usually use the clinical deodorant and have to rotate brands because my body gets used to them.  Well, that is my unpleasant confession for the day.

When I saw the recipe on making this, again, I was skeptical.  I read all of the comments and there was a lot of success.  What do I have to lose?  I have all of the ingredients already in my home minus the coconut oil that isn't very expensive.  If nothing else, I can let my teenagers use it, right?

Here is the recipe that I found http://www.survivingthestores.com/homemade-coconut-oil-deodorant.html.  I found that a lot of people keep the deodorant in the refrigerator and I don't really like that idea.  I like my deodorant in the bathroom and ready for when I need it.  This is the recipe I used to make my deodorant, and it keeps well without needing to keep it refrigerated.  You can break it down as you like, but I made 4 sticks of deodorant.  I bought the containers at http://www.soapgoods.com which is a great place to buy a lot of supplies cheap.  I could have used old containers, but these are cute and reusable.  I will not need to buy them again.

1/2 cup 92 degree coconut oil (this is a lot more solid and doesn't become liquid until over 92 degrees)
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch.
12 drops lemon oil

Melt the coconut oil in the microwave or on the stove (I used microwave)
Mix baking soda and cornstarch together in a separate container
Mix all ingredients together (including lemon oil)
Pour into deodorant container
Allow to solidify

This is my second day using it, and I don't stink!! In fact, I love the lemon/coconut smell.  It smells very fresh and light.  You can get the 92 degree coconut oil at the site I listed above http://www.soapgoods.com  I bought 1.5 lb for $6.70 and it seems to be enough to make about 5 or 6 more batches of 4 sticks of deodorant.  You can use regular coconut oil, but you will probably need use less of it and keep it in the refrigerator.  I have seen recipes use a little bit of bees wax to harden it, but I will stick to the method I have found, because it works for me.

If you try this recipe or a variation of it, please let me know.  It only took about 5 minutes to make and 2 hours to harden completely!  I want to hear what you have to say about it.

Today's money saving idea...DUCT TAPE?

For some reason, we always seem to have an abundance of duct tape around except when we need it.  Does anyone else have this problem?  I think it could be that my teenage daughter steals it to make wallets, purses, jewelry, Halloween costumes (yes, she actually made an entire Halloween costume out of just duct tape.

Well, we had a leak under the sink, and I really would like to wait until we have more than one thing to fix before we call the plumber in and I need to do dishes today. We found the leak two days ago in the kitchen sink, so yesterday when I was at the Dollar Tree, I picked up a cheap roll of duct tape, besides, what do I have to lose?  It only cost $1.00. I was a little leery about whether this cheaper brand of duct tape would work, but I tried it anyway.

I went 2 inches above and began taping the pipe all the way to 2 inches below the leak.  I taped over it several times to make sure the edges of the tape had no wrinkles for water to come through on the ends or over the leak.  My first test...it worked.

I began loading the dishwasher and dumped a pan of water down the sink...DARN IT!  It didn't work! What now?  I needed dishes done, and I couldn't even do them by hand with this sink like this.  What now??

Well where I put the tape, there were clamps that were over the hose, so I decided to take all of the duct tape off and see what the problem actually was.  It took a while to get all of the duct tape off.  I had put several layers, but when I finally got the clamps off, I found that one had gone right through the rubber connector of the hose. This is what happens when someone (the person who installed the dishwasher a month and a half ago) tries to tighten them too much. Without the clamps, I decided to try putting the duct tape right over the rubber connector.  I covered the whole thing with duct tape being careful not to leave any gaps.

I put the clamps back on over the duct tape and found there was just a very small leak through the duct tape.  I taped over that and PRESTO!  It worked, or so I thought.

Well, there still is a little drip, but I can handle a little drip until I can get a plumber in to fix it.  I put a pan down there and that does the trick for now.  Maybe if I had used better duct tape it would have worked completely, but as for now, I am happy with the temporary results for today.

Why am I waiting to call a plumber?  Because I am going to first try and find the piece at the hardware store to fix it myself...that will be a later blog.

Couponing Doesn't Have To Take a Lot of Time.

Well, today was a little busy, so I haven't had a lot of time to try a money saving idea today, but I want to share something that I have been working on over the last few days.  Many people hear of couponing and they think of the crazy people on the show.  I am not sure about copyrights, so I will not say the name of the show I am referring to.  I am sure most of you know what I am talking about.

Anyway, I have found a couple of websites I would like to share with you.  The first is couponmom.com and the second is thecrazycouponlady.com.  What do these sites do?  They pair up coupons with store sales and tell you how you can get your best deals on items you may need at the store.  They do all of the work for you, so you don't have to do it yourself.

I went out Sunday evening and Monday to get some of the "FREE" items myself and did very well.  I did have to spend money on these items initially, but I received coupons to be used like cash on anything I would like on my next trips to the store.  I can handle that.  It all works out in the end.  The drug stores are best for these deals, but don't rule out the others.  I plan on using my reward coupons to purchase next week's "FREE" deals.  This will make them truly free!  In the end, I purchased over $180 in different items including vitamins, cough drops, and personal items and have that amount to spend next week.  I did have to go to several stores, but I live in an area with lots of them very close together, so.  Some of the items are not things my family will use, so these items will be going to local charities.

Another little tip that I found while looking around Ebay, you can buy the Sunday coupons for a very low price online!  Not only do you get all of the coupons that came in Sunday's paper, many times, they are clipped for you!  You can also choose the ones you would like and purchase several of something you will use.  Make sure you check for expiration dates, though.  Some come a little too quickly to allow time for you to use them after you receive them.  I carefully checked the coupons I ordered and had some come in the mail today.  The cost is very close to or less than what you would pay for the paper to be delivered, and you get to choose the coupons you will use.

Save on Popcorn!

Ok, so I tried something else today and wanted to share with everyone.  I got the idea from one of the many blogs I have been reading lately on saving money.  Our family goes through a lot of microwave popcorn and the cost is pretty high considering what you get.  I also don't like the imitation butter flavor that you get and the crazy amount of salt.

Well, here is what I did..

Took half a cup of old fashioned popcorn kernels and poured it into a paper lunch bag.  That's it, nothing else goes in.  I folded the bag over a couple of times and placed it upright (opening at the top) into the microwave for just over two and a half minutes.  I stopped it as soon as the popping slowed down and there it was...beautiful, mouth watering popcorn.  I poured a little real butter and sprinkled some salt.  It tasted just like the popcorn we made before the invention of microwave popcorn and it was all natural.  Jes liked it too!  I encourage you to try because it is really yummy! 

Intro

To begin with, I wanted to tell you a little about myself and why I am doing this blog. First, my husband and I would like to take on a challenge to pay off our house in a much shorter time frame than the 30 years we signed to just last month. We also have another mortgage for a house that we are currently renting out and although we are getting rent payments that more than pay for the property, our debt amount is quite high and we would like to do something about this.

As we have looked at our monthly spending, we have found that food has made up a huge percentage of our spending in the form of groceries and going out to eat with the latter being the biggest culprit. Those little drive through stops can really add up, not to mention the date night twice a month eating out. Don't get me wrong, we do need date night a minimum of every other week, but when we can easily drop well over $60 on a meal, most would agree is a little excessive.

There are some other areas we are finding that we can cut our spending and I plan on sharing those here with you. My goal is to share daily during the week. (probably no Saturdays or Sundays). I don't want to share just the ideas, though. I want to share my experience. This will keep me accountable to try and actually DO something each day to save money.

So here is today's money saving activity...

We are usually in a hurry in the mornings much like other people these days. We don't always have time to cook a meal for breakfast and I have found myself going through drive through for breakfast a lot more than I should. I know, I could eat cereal or something like that, but sometimes I just need protein. Not only because I crave it, but I tend to have a blood sugar drop around 10AM if I don't have protein in my breakfast.

Well, today I made a large batch of easy breakfast burritos. I would have liked to add a few more ingredients, but I have some picky eaters in my house and I am trying to please everyone.

I started out with a whole 18 count egg carton of eggs and scrambled them up with a little milk. (You will find that I rarely measure anything) I would say 1/4 cup or so. I added them to a lightly buttered non stick pan along with about a TBSP of onion soup mix (easier to hide than onions and peppers, but not quite as good...) Added some soy churrizo sausage (1/3 the package), salt and pepper and cooked them until done. I then wrapped them up with some cheese in tortillas. I individually wrapped them in paper towels and then placed them, two each, in sandwich sized freezer bags and labeled them with the date, what they were and the main ingredients.

This ended up making 17 burritos that I threw in the freezer for a quick meal on the way to church/school/work for my family.

My cost of making these 17 burritos???

Eggs - Roughly $2.00

Churrizo - about $2.00 (because we didn't use the whole package)

Cheese (I used half slices of american cheese) - less than $1

All other ingredients, I had in my pantry

Total cost - about $5

Cost per burrito - less than 30 cents.....

Wow, when you think of the amount you spend going through drive through, the savings is huge! Especially when you add the drinks and the hash browns (which I don't need, I can drink water at home and skip the hash browns)

Hmmm...I am starting to think that this venture may not only save money, but help me loose a little weight...we will see.