Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 cup grated ivory soap (the pokey side of the grater works best to make a powder)

1 cup Borax

1 cup baking soda

This recipe can be used in both HE and top loading washers.

Use approximately 2 tablespoons per full load.

If you find that your darks are coming out with white soap spots on them then use a measuring cup and hot water to create a liquid detergent before adding it to the wash. There is no need to wash in hot water.

If this problem persists you may want to melt your soap ahead of time and store it as liquid laundry soap instead. It will thicken into a gel like substance and must be stirred or shaken. Then add 2 tablespoons of the gel to your wash loads.

For cloth diapers I personally dump my diapers into the washer (top load) with this mixture and hot water to soak overnight. Come morning I run the spin cycle and the rinse. Then I add my 2 tablespoons of detergent and wash as normal.

*If your diapers come out hard or have an odor soak overnight in hot water with ¼ cup of vinegar, then spin and rinse and add detergent as normal, the baking soda in the detergent will return your diapers to the proper PH balance for your baby’s delicate skin.

Many people use a recipe similar to this but replace the baking soda with washing soda. However, the washing soda can be rather caustic and damaging to clothing, it can also cause rashes if not rinsed completely because it does not have a PH balance that is as close to our body’s PH like baking soda.

Another trick to saving money is to always use a rag instead of paper towel for your basic cleaning. My rags include dishtowels, washcloths, and old t-shirts. When done, rinse thoroughly and place your rags in their own bin or pail beside or on top of the washer. When it is full wash your load of rags using my laundry detergent recipe.

Window Cleaner

A new trick I stumbled upon that gave me an “Aha!” moment is to use up the old Windex, rinse my spray bottle well and purchase windshield washer while it is on sale. If you live in a northern area like I do purchase the -40 washer fluid.

Fill you old spray bottle and wash your windows inside and out all year long.

A bottle of windshield washer from Walmart or a bulk store is far cheaper than the gas station, about 2 dollars for a jug, which is cheaper than the small bottle of Windex and it can be used year round and since you know it is for your windshield you are guaranteed a streak free shine every time!

Another trick to saving money is to always use a rag instead of paper towel for your basic cleaning. My rags include dishtowels, washcloths, and old t-shirts. When done, rinse thoroughly and place your rags in their own bin or pail beside or on top of the washer. When it is full wash your load of rags using my laundry detergent recipe.

Ant Problems

While reading the directions on a name brand ant trap I noticed that the main ingredient was Borax, so instead of purchasing the very expensive ant traps, I purchased a box of borax, which can be used for MANY things.

I asked the local produce manager at my grocery store for any rotten/bad fruit. He gave me a bag of apples.

When I arrived home I mashed the apples up slightly to make them even softer.

Then in the bag they came in I put approx. one cup of Borax and shook it until the apples were well coated.

Then I went outside and placed the apples near ant hills, the ants were attracted to both the Borax and the apples.

The ants carried the apples back to their hills as food, the way the expensive ant traps claim to work.

After a big rain I noticed many small ant hills in the cracks of my sidewalk and I gently sprinkled some Borax on my sidewalk.

Since then I have only had to kill 2 ants in the house and this was the beginning of June. Before I had done this I had ants all over the house and on me, biting me in my sleep, biting my dogs and trying to take over my house. All of the plants and grass that the Borax touched survived.

I offered this advice to a friend at the grocery store and she sprinkled Borax where she knew the ants were entering her house and has told me with extreme thanks that the ants are no longer a problem for her either.

Another trick to saving money is to always use a rag instead of paper towel for your basic cleaning. My rags include dishtowels, washcloths, and old t-shirts. When done, rinse thoroughly and place your rags in their own bin or pail beside or on top of the washer. When it is full wash your load of rags using my laundry detergent recipe.

Homemade Air Freshener

Homemade Air Freshening Spray

Purchase or use a non-aerosol refillable spray bottle that has a mist setting. Using an old cleaning bottle, like Windex, will do just fine.

Add about a quarter of an inch of mouthwash to the bottom of your bottle and fill your bottle with water.

Gently mist the air as needed.

Fabric Sprays

Use a bottle similar to the one used above.

Place several drops of your favorite essential oils or perfume to the bottle and fill with water. Gently mist your linens, rugs, furniture etc. for a fresh smelling home.

For a more organic scent use lavender or your favorite flower pedals (I use peonies) and add them to the spray bottle. Add water which will bring out the scent that you have chosen. You can leave the pedals in the bottle or strain them out.

Mist your fabrics and the air as needed.

Another trick to saving money is to always use a rag instead of paper towel for your basic cleaning. My rags include dishtowels, washcloths, and old t-shirts. When done, rinse thoroughly and place your rags in their own bin or pail beside or on top of the washer. When it is full wash your load of rags using my laundry detergent recipe.

Being Frugal

I recently posted on a "how to save money" question on a money saving website and thought I would post here my writing on ways to save money.

Make the initial investment (because thats what it is) in bins that seal well and fill your pantry with bulk items like flour and sugar (both can go in a big bin and stay fresh) buy bulk spices and pasta's. Use powdered milk so you can run to the store less often, powdered milk can be used in most recipies the same as other milk, if your recipe calls for a cream use condensed milk, if you want whole fat milk use condensed milk and add water. The savings are immense and having a full pantry and spending a few extra minutes at home preparing these things keeps you out of the store. Preparing food from scratch is expensive for the initial ingredients but when you realize you are making bread for 50 cents a loaf instead of the dreaded 3+ dollars that most stores charge you realize just how important those ingredients can be. If you dont know how to cook from scratch there are MANY websites that offer free scratch recipies.

For most cleaning tasks you can use old rags and not paper towel, you can make your own laundry soap with borox, washing soda and a bar of grated soap for only pennies on the dollar. http://theprudenthomemaker.com has many recipes for a lot of these ideas.

Borox has been arround forever, add some to a wash pale with hot or warm water and clean your cabinets, walls and most furniture. It has directions on the side of the box for "other uses". The only "neccessary" cleaners for your home are bleach, borox, dishsoap and ammonia (for cleaning glass).

If you have an infant breastfeed if you can, if you cant, buy the store brand of formula because it is cheaper and it has to, by law, meet the nutritional requirements for your infant. Use the powdered formula instead of premade or liquid that you add water too because powdered is far cheaper. Use cloth diapers, this is not only a very simple thing to do, but they will last through several children, are easy to wash and will save you a lot. Most babies use around 3000 diapers before they are potty trained, if you buy good quality all in one cloth diapers that are adjustable from 9 to 35 pounds (about 20 dollars each for quality) you will only need about a dozen and possibly a few spares and this is obviously going to save you a boat load over time. If anyone wants information about cloth diapers feel free to message me.
Keep a grocery list that is premade on the fridge so when you do need something you can put it on while your in the kitchen thinking about it. http://grocerylists.org has wonderful lists that can be downloaded and printed as required. They even have a vegetarian list available. Watch the ads and flyers of stores you do your shopping at, they often have great sales and when combined with coupons you save even more. In September Walmart usually has an anniversary sale that offers food as well as household items at great prices, I got my microwave 5 years ago for 40 dollars and I got my coffee pot last year for 12 during their anniversary sale.
Finally, if you live in a town that charges you for garbage and not for recycling look for the recycling symbol on the packaging of what you purchase. I normally have about 1 bag of garbage per month which costs 2 dollars a bag and i always have my recycling out and ready to go usually consisting of a bin of cardboard, paper, shredded documents, cans, cleaning bottles, shampoo and hygeine containers etc.
I hope my list helps some of the more frugal people out there!!!