Have You Tried?

J. -

look up geek in the dictionary. It used to be a circus guy who ate live chickens : ( egads! I know it has a new connotation, but I am so careful of the owrds I use. I was saying the other day that we were living in "limbo" land. (knew date we had to be out of present home without knowing where we were moving to) My husband said he'd rather I say, "we're waiting on the Lord" From there, I looked up "limbo" Guess what it means - - a place for souls barred from Heaven through no fault of their own!

If you love him, I would not call him a geek.
Blessings
C. aka Grami

J.,

I haven't tried any soap making, but if you are interested inbeing more frugal minded, I can recommend a web site that I have found very helpful. sisterlysavings.net.

She has all kinds of good deals that she gleens from other web sites. These include sales at grocery, WalGreens, Target and CVS.

She also has great freebies as well. Check her out and let me know what you think.

Deb

Well, I used to use my grandmother's homemade lye soap for just about everything. It was no frills but it cut through grease, dirt and crud like nobody's business.
You can find homemade soap at craft sales and online. My mom still swears by it and always keeps a bar on her kitchen sink. I am more the Fels Naptha type because I don't take the time to make or find anything else.
Maybe you can find some made to a recipe you are considering to try it out before you take the plunge and make it yourself.

I get too many great deals with the grocery game to want to do this, but a great site for make-your-own stuff is www.hillbillyhousewife.com . I can spend hours reading through that site!

J.,

I make my laundry detergent. Like you, I am trying to be more frugal. It takes a little while to make (two hours max), but once it's made, I have 64 loads worth of detergent for just a few dollars in supplies. It is also hypoallergenic, so I can use it on my baby's clothes...don't have to buy two detergents anymore! I'll attach the recipe below (along with the link to the site)...it works well for our family. I had a difficult time convincing my husband b/c he likes the smell of our standard detergent. But the smell of this detergent is actually very clean. He has finally admitted that he doesn't mind it at all. Plus, you can add 1/2 a bar of irish spring soap to give it more scent.

3 Pints Water 1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap, grated 1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, NOT baking soda though!!) 1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax 2 Gallon bucket to mix it in 1 Quart hot water Hot Water Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket with hot water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load.

http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCod...

My daughter is in a girl's group called Keepers at Home and the idea is that they learn homemaking skills that are oftentimes not taught to girls anymore. One of our projects this year was Soapmaking and it was a lot of fun. I think that you will find the best selection of glycerin, scents and molds at Hobby Lobby. The tools are simple. All you need is a glass container, a microwave and the glycerin. We chose to use cubes because it was easier to make small batches without having to cut down the big glycerin blocks. You simply melt the glycerin, add your scents and other ingredients (oils, color, rose petals, etc.) and pour the liquid soap into molds. You can use ice cube trays or other household items as molds if you don't want to use the decorative molds available at the craft store. The girls had a fantastic time creating their own soaps and the glycerin soaps are mild and gentle so they are perfect for kids. You can search the internet for glycerin soap recipes and you will find endless options. Have fun!

Janay,

I don't know about you, but I am so busy some days I wouldn't know where to find my head if it wasn't attached. I have found a all health and wellness company that has all natural products for your home and family! Everything is very affordable and 100% money back guaranteed! So you can try everything knowing that if it isn't up to your standards you can get your money back. And instead of having to buy the ingredients, look at recipes, mix and cook. All you need to do is go to the phone or computer, pick out your products, check out and in a few days your products arrive at your door. IF you would like to learn more just let me know!

H. M.

I love making my own soap, I use the Cold Process method, and its not very complicated, but does take a little time and planning. Hot Process soap is just as easy, but unlike CP, it can be used right away (cp needs 6wks to cure ensuring all the lye has been saponofied.

Castile soap uses only a couple ingredients and you don't really need Fragrance or anything else fancy to make it. Be aware that the Melt&Pour soaps aren't really proper soaps, but usually a bunch of surfactants bound together with glycerin and too much use of them can be really drying on the skin, especially if yours is sensitive.
IF you want to learn more about making soap and a bunch of other stuff for bath and body, http://www.craftserver.com/forums/ is a really great community.

Hi J.. I made homemade soaps for christmas presents last year and they were a hit. I use it every day in the shower. It is a hard process though and i will probably never do it again. There are so many things you would need to buy (fragrance oil, extra large pot, candy therm, lye, lard-yes lard!, molds, etc, etc). I had to buy over $100 worth of tools and ingredients. Its extremely tiring too. The first batch took my mom and I about 8 hours to make. One of us was stirring, the other was pouring in ingredients. And if during the stirring process it splashes on your skin, you will get chemical burns. Plus the soap has to "cure" for 6 weeks. Personally, its ssssoooo much easier to buy it in the store.

I'm a soapmaker. My favorite recipe is on the web and called Vaseline soap, although I don't follow it exactly, I do follow the ratio of fats to lye. Then I add essential oils and herbs. It works great.

I make my own dishwasher detergent. 1 c borax, 1 c baking soda and a few drops of an essential oil like lavender or orange oil. (I've heard of someone else using Rosemary oil). There was a really environmental friendly one from Whole Foods that used some part of the grapefruit. It lasted for ever (well, felt that way).

Vinegar where you put jet dry and it rinses really well. Plus no toxic fumes when you open the dishwasher because you need something from your freshly cleaned load.

I don't make my own laundry soap, but use baking soda or Borax and vinegar. Vinegar can be used in the rinse cycle and doesn't make your clothes stink. 1/4 c if you have a front loader. You might have to tinker if you have a top loader.

I use vinegar and baking soda a lot around the house, too. The BBC America show "How Clean is your House?" uses several homemade solutions. I saw the lady use a grapefruit half and salt to clean the nastiest bath tub ever. Once the acid started to go to work she then used a nylon scrubbing pad to get the rest of the gunk off. She also used baking soda, vinegar, and a tea kettle of hot water to declog a sink. (Works fairly well)

www.care2.com/greenliving has more ideas I have been experimenting with.

Thanks to all the moms with your ideas. I will try those out, too.