Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Homemade Cleaning Products are CHEAP!!!



I came from a Money Group meeting last night, with some amazing women. I was reminded about how cost-effective and eco-friendly making one's own soaps and cleaning products are. When I first learned about them, the first thought in my head was, "I just don't have the time to make that stuff..." True, I was working 70 hours a week at the time. But now that my work week hours have been reduced, I really have no excuse anymore. One afternoon on a slow day off is all you need. Most of the recipes I'm featuring will last you 6 months to a year, so it's not like you even have to spend much time making the stuff! All of these recipes are also eco-friendly. We're going back to our roots - the simplest cleaning solutions are often the most effective, cheapest, and eco-friendliest. Hard to believe with all the crazy products out these days - but it's so true! They all have the same effectiveness, if not better, of standard market cleaning products.

Without further ado...




LAUNDRY SOAP

Ingredients (most of these are found in the laundry and handsoap sections - if the borax and soda are hard to find, they sell them on Amazon.com, too):
1 PURE BAR SOAP - Ivory, Dove, or your own homemade soap
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
1/2 cup Washing Soda (not to be confused with baking soda)
grater
medium sauce pan
2 gallon bucket (preferable with lid, unless you plan to put the soap in other containers)


Grate the bar soap into the sauce pan. Add 6 cups of water, and heat until soap dissolves. Then add the washing soda and borax, stir till dissolves. Remove from heat. Now pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket. Add the soap solution to the bucket. Then stir in 1 gallon and 6 cups of room temp water. Let the soap sit for 24 hours. Use 1/2 cup of soap per load of laundry. Makes approximately 64 loads. This ends up being about 1 cent per load!!! CRAZY COOLNESS! Your clothes will come out looking and smelling clean, though you can add some essential fragrant oils if you want, though I haven't played with this, therefore don't know how much to put in.
Note: The soap solution will not consistently gel. It will look kind of like a weird, curdley solution. You can even youtube it to see exactly how it looks (because it's too hard to photograph). But this is natural. Just make sure you take some gelled parts and some liquid parts in each 1/2 cup per load. Also, this is a low-sud soap. If you don't see many suds or none at all, it's okay. It's still working hard for you!





DISH WASHING SOAP (2 recipes!)

RECIPE 1:
Ingredients:
2 c. grated bar soap (Ivory, Pure & Natural, Pears, etc.)
2-3 c. hot water and some more to dilute
lemon juice or vinegar
few drops essential oils for scent (opt.)
large container or bowl
squeeze bottles

Cover soap shavings with 2-3 c. hot water. Let sit for several hours or overnight to soften. The mash the soap solution till smooth. Add more hot water to dilute to desired consistency. Add lemon juice or vinegar to cut grease when washing. Add essential oils (like orange or lemon), as optional fragrance. Pour into squeeze bottles. Shake well before each use.

RECIPE 2:
Ingredients:
2 c. castile soap
few drops essential oil (orange or lemon)
1/2 c. warm water
squeeze bottle.

Combine castile soap and water in squeeze bottle.. Add essential oil. Shake well before each use.




TOOTHPASTE

Ingredients:
6 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp glycerin
7 drops peppermint essential oil
7 drops spearmint or wintergreen essential oil
stevie or xylitol (as sweetener)

Mix ingredients except for the sweetener thoroughly. Should be toothpaste consistency. Add stevia or xylitol to taste. Store in container with lid. You'll be surprised how fresh your mouth will feel. Flouride and chemical-free!

You can even play with this recipe - using different essential oils, such as cinnamon, vanilla, etc. Perhaps you can even add tea tree oil for added cleansing action. Be careful when experimenting, always remember - LESS IS MORE!!! TOO much of these oils CAN be toxic! So don't sue me for putting too much!! Peaz?




BEAUTY PRODUCTS!

I personally haven't tried these, but I found a link to many natural homemade beauty products. If you try them, please leave a comment and tell me how they work. Thanks, and happy soap making!

Click here for Ultimate Cosmetics' Recipes to Homemade Beauty Products!

Love,
Jenny Bunny Bunns!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Jenny! I just purchased a book on how to make cleaning products with essential oils, herbs and other items, including the borax and a lot more. its called "The Naturally Clean Home"
I'm making stuff for my home and my work!!