Homemade cleaning products....

So, my friend Lorrie is a very frugal mommy, she shares all her gems with our local moms groups and well, I decided that I want to save money somehow. In fact, I'm always looking for EASY ways to save money. Don't tell me to clip coupons because well, I forget I have them.

For example, I've had the same $5 coupon for Zyrtec in my bag for the children's bottle. I've bought THREE bottles of the stuff at $11 a bottle.....and forgot the coupon every.single.time by the time I got to the cash register.

Yesterday, I had another $10 in coupons in Duck's diaper bag, bought items specifically because I had a coupon, but because it was just me and Duck, I totally forgot about the coupons because I was too busy loading groceries into the cart. (NOTE: I really do enjoy grocery shopping by myself, but I hate bringing the crap into the apartment by myself....I'll be glad when Duck is a little bigger to carry things in.)

Anyway, Lorrie recently reposted the following recipes and I thought, what.the.heck.I'll.try.it.

I've given my own little 5-star rating to each recipe I tried and a reasoning afterward.

HOME MADE LAUNDRY SOAP ****½
*2 bars of soap-grated (something like Ivory)
1 cup WASHING SODA
1 cup BORAX

Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.
Use 2 tablespoons per full load.

It's only ****½ because it took me a bit to figure out that I was grating the soap wrong. The only direction I would add is to grate the soap using the large round circles of a cheese grater, mix with the soda and borax, then blend in a blender or Magic Bullet. (I used my bullet and it's FANTASTIC!)

The stuff really works too. Ever tried to get watermelon stains out? And you don't need much of it. And, you can still add OxiClean, Lysol or a pre-treater to it!

next time it will get *****


ALL PURPOSE CLEANER NA-haven't made it yet
1/2 tablespoon washing soda(baking soda will work)
2 tablespoons BORAX
1/2 tablespoon dish soap
3 cups HOT WATER

mix all the above put in a spray bottle..works like 409...only cost about 50 cents to make VS.3.00 a bottle



FABRIC SOFTENER (mix three parts to 1 part) *****
3 parts water
one part fabric softener
a small sponge or a wash cloth (I'm using one of Duck's baby washcloths)

use just like a dryer sheet...put sponge in the MIX wring out good toss on clothes in dryer.

Okay, I don't like having to wring it out each time and have to repeatedly wash my hands, especially since I don't have a sink in my laundry room. But, the clothes come out smelling SO SO GOOD! This one gets a full ***** stars to start because I cna make a bottle of Target softener last three times as long now!

Best part about this stuff, though? NO MORE FIBERGLASS in my dryer from dryer sheets!


OATMEAL BATH SOAP *****
1 bar of ivory soap
1/4 cup uncooked oats

Run the oatmeal thru a blender to make it FINE

grate the soap and then heat the soap for a few seconds in the microwave to soften it add the ground oatmeal and form into whatever shape you would like. Be careful to check it often so you don't overheat and burn yourself. you want it warm and pliable.

I was told after I made this to add a little bit of water to help with the initial consistency. I took mine and divided it up into four small balls, then flattened. I have nice handsoap now.

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Moral of the blog today: Make what you can! It's super easy and you'll use stuff you have anyway.

Oh, and I probably only spent $15 on all the stuff I needed and it will last me months and months.