DIY Laundry Soap (And you don't have to grate anything!)

Because I'm super cheap frugal these days, but don't have time for coupons, I've started making a lot of my own cleaners for around the house. One item I despise spending money on is laundry soap (another is trash bags, but I'm yet to find a remedy for that problem).
I made it my mission to make my own laundry detergent. BUT, I didn't want to deal with grating soap. Honestly, that's more work than I'm willing to put into it. Call me lazy if you will.
In any case, it didn't take me long to find a recipe for homemade laundry soap on one of the blogs I read regularly. You can check out the details and exact recipe here, but it is SO CHEAP and SO EASY to make this stuff! You only need a few ingredients: Borax, Washing Soda and Dawn Dish Soap (you can use other scents/varieties of Dawn, as long as they say dish washing soap and not hand soap), and water.

 I couldn't find Washing Soda anywhere near me, and wasn't willing to pay the price of it plus shipping from Amazon, but another one of the blogs I follow happened to have directions to make your own washing soda. So I did. Easy Peasy.

I will never, ever go back to buying laundry detergent again. Seriously. Aside from the easy and inexpensive perks of this formula, it's also a very effective cleaner. So, in less than 5 minutes, and for dirt cheap, I have a fabulous laundry detergent.
Maybe I should start giving it to family members as gifts. Okay, they may not LOVE that, but it's a thought.
Are you going to give this a try? I recommend that you do. Unless you want to keep spending the big bucks on laundry soap that is.
Now I just have to find someone to come fold and put away all of my lovely, clean laundry! Any takers??
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DIY Dishwasher Soap

I hate spending money on dishwashing detergent. I feel like it's so expensive, and I go through it so quickly.
I tried buying the cheap stuff (usually I find "cheap" cleaners to work as well, or even better than the name brand products) at the 99¢ Store, but it was a massive fail. No bueno. Yucky, spotty dishes. I kid you not, I think that the dishes came out looking worse than when I loaded the dishwasher!
So since I've been on a "make your own" kick lately, (Did you see? I made my own Mayo!) I decided to see if I could find a recipe to make my own dishwasher detergent.
Once upon a time, if I were looking for something like that, I would have automatically turned to Google. Of course, now, my first go-to source is Pinterest.
In my mission to find it, I came upon a Pin with the caption "Homemade Dishwasher Soap (Not Detergent) | One Good Thing by Jillee". I had already bookmarked One Good Thing as a blog that I love, so I felt confident that I would love this formula. And the Pin itself shows 3 simple ingredients, Oxygen based cleaner, Original Blue Dawn (of course!!) and Vinegar. 2 of which I already had on hand (the Dawn and the Vinegar).
So I went to the 99¢ Store and picked up some Oxygen Cleaning Product. Now I had everything I needed.

 I followed the directions and quantities given by Jillee, combining the Oxy Cleaner and the Blue Dawn in the soap compartment, and vinegar in a separate area.

Let me tell you friends, THIS STUFF WORKS!! Check out Jillee's blog for all of the details, but I think that you will be pleasantly surprised. And not only does it work fabulously, but it's dirt cheap too! Can't beat that!
Add Dishwasher Detergent to the list of things I never need to buy again!

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DIY Mayonnaise

I will preface this post by saying, if you like to whisk, then homemade mayonnaise is for you!!

If you hate to whisk... then perhaps you should stick to the jar you picked up at the grocery store.

A few weeks ago I made a random decision to start making my own mayo. I really have no idea why I decided to do this, but I've been trying to make more and more things at home lately, so I'll chalk it up to that.

In any case, I spent a while perusing Google for homemade mayonnaise recipes. I found a lot of them, but they all had the same basic idea behind them. 

I came across an article that seemed informative, so I took out my ingredients and got to work.

I had already mixed my salt, water and egg yolk before it occurred to me that I should snap some pictures, so you miss the first bit.

You have to start by adding the oil just a teeny tiny bit at a time. Literally 2 drops or so to start. Otherwise it will separate instead of emulsify. Not good!

Starting to look good and creamy now! After this, you can begin to add the oil with a slow, constant drizzle instead of drop by drop.

I am just really pleased with the way this mayo turned out. And crazy excited that I got it to work on my very first try! YAY for ME!! It's really tasty and I'm excited to try my hand at some different variations on the recipe.
Go give it a try!!

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Food on my Face (and why I'll never need to buy facial moisturizer again!)

My skin is so happy lately because I've been putting food on my face.
Ok, to clarify, I am not putting the mashed potatoes and gravy from last nights dinner on my face. About two months ago, I started washing my face with honey. Raw, Organic Honey.

This jar cost me about $8.00 at a local health food store

I was first introduced to the idea by my good friend Illy. She was telling me about how much she liked it, so I thought I'd give it a go. One difference between Illy and I though, is that she doesn't wear face make-up and I do when I'm not too lazy to put it on. So I wondered if that would make any difference with the honey wash regimen.
I did a little bit of research and found some good information before I got started. Two great places I found info were Crunchy Betty  (GREAT tutorials on the Crunchy Betty site!) and Benefits of Honey.
It's been great! Since I've been using the honey, I haven't had to use a facial moisturizer at all! The honey is a cleansing/antibacterial agent AND it has moisturizing properties, so you get the best of both worlds all in one jar. And you really can't beat the price! Awesome, right?
So twice a day (morning and night) I use the honey to wash my face. In the mornings, I just use the honey. In the evenings, if I wore make-up that day, I sprinkle some baking soda into the honey before putting it on my face. Apply the honey liberally and just spread it all over your face. (You are going to want a headband or tight ponytail, because you seriously do not want the honey in your hair.) You can rinse the honey right away, or let it sit awhile. It's great for your skin, so let it sit if you have the time. Then you're done!
If you had face make-up on, and used the baking soda in your honey wash, you will then need to use some Apple Cider Vinegar to restore the PH levels on your skin. The baking soda is a great cleanser, but can be drying. Apple Cider Vinegar is pretty potent stuff, so I like to take a cotton ball, moisten it with water, and then add 2-3 drops of the vinegar to the wet cotton ball.

Have you ever been washing your face and then some of the icky soap gets into your mouth? Ewww! Well, if you wash your face with honey, it totally doesn't matter if some gets into your mouth! And, it smells super~dee~duper yummy.

 Once I'm done, my face feels so nice and clean. While I can't claim that washing with honey is a magic cure for all skin problems, I can say that my skin is softer, and when I do get breakouts (usually during THAT time of the month), they aren't as severe and they clear up more quickly than before. That's enough to make me happy!

I love the results, I love the price, and I love the product. Can't beat that! It's so nice knowing that what I'm putting on my face is all natural, and that I'll never have to stand in the aisle at the drug store again trying to decide which cleanser or moisturizer I'm going to purchase.


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