Orange Infused Vinegar

Last week I mixed up some orange peels together with some vinegar and let it sit in a mason jar on the counter to steep.  I originally made this to add to my all purpose cleaner to use on my floors but I found that it left my floors sticky.  I'll just continue on using the original solution plain since it works so well for me.  

Not wanting to throw this great smelling stuff away I decided to use it as a cleaner/deodorizer in our garbage disposal.  Previously I'd use a lemon and it worked well.  But there is something about the vinegar mixed with the orange peels that really makes our disposal smell awesome!  

Best of all, it's free~!

Mondays~ 

I Should be Mopping the Floor 

Homemade Mondays

The More the Merrier Monday 

Motivate me Monday at Keeping it Simple

Making your Home Sing Monday

Tuesdays~

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Rednesday 

Frugally Sustainable (first Tues of every month)

Wednesdays

Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home

Thursday

Grace at Home at Imparting Grace

Creative Homeacre Hop

Friday

Flaunt it Friday 

Food Waste Friday

Fellowship Fridays

Feathered Nest Friday

Weekend Potluck at Country Cook

Saturday

Show and Tell Saturday 

A Favorite Thing at Mockingbird Hill Lane Cottage

Sunday

Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop

Women Living Well Monthly Link Up  

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

Ive been making my own hand soap and, wowser, every time I make it I am impressed! The scent is great and the texture is just like a namebrand softsoap.
It's so much more economical than buying in the stores.  

 

Best of all it's easy!

1 bar of your favorite hand soap
Boiling water
1 Tbsp Glycerin (purchase at health food stores or online)
1 Tbsp Honey

Grate your bar of soap or throw it in your food processor (makes it much easier!) 
Add 1 cup of boiling water and whip till mixture is thick.  Let mixture cool for 15 minutes and add glycerin and honey.  You can also add some moisturizer if you like especially during the cold winter months.  

Add water up to 6 cups and whir in food processor, adding water bit by bit until desired consistency.
Running your soap through the food processor (or better quality blender)  really makes your soap thicken up and not a watery mess.

Before pouring into container let sit overnight since it will thicken. If you store it in a plastic container the soap taste and smell will be absorbed so it's best to store in glass or metal.  If you put it in too early it will be too thick to run through the pump.  Add enough water and whir in food processor again if neccesary.

 I was very pleased with the results and will use this recipe time and time again!

Here's the cost breakdown. For my last batch of handsoap each bar of soap cost .45 cents and the glycerin cost $4.50ish.  (If you use a more expensive soap it will cost more)  I've used about 1/16th of the bottle of glycerin so I can safely say that each batch of soap makes about 4 bottles of hand soap and costs approximately 70 cents.  If I were to buy the generic hand soap it would cost approximately 4 dollars for the amount I made.   One bottle of soap in the store runs approximately 90 cents to a dollar so it's quite a great savings!

Since this has honey in it (and possible moisturizer)  I wouldn't use this on your glasses.  :)  Ask me how I know!  After running this through my food processor the plastic absorbed some of the smell of the soap.  I ran some baking powder mixed with vinegar in my processor and it remedied it.  I'm going to be on the lookout for a cheapy food processor at the food processor for when I grate soap with it.

My inspiration for making this hand soap came from this video.

Mondays~ 

I Should be Mopping the Floor 
Homemade Mondays
The More the Merrier Monday 
Motivate me Monday at Keeping it Simple
Making your Home Sing Monday
Tuesdays~
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Rednesday 
Frugally Sustainable (first Tues of every month)
Wednesdays
Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home
Thursday
Grace at Home at Imparting Grace
Creative Homeacre Hop
Friday
Flaunt it Friday 
Food Waste Friday
Fellowship Fridays
Feathered Nest Friday
Weekend Potluck at Country Cook
Saturday
Show and Tell Saturday 

A Favorite Thing at Mockingbird Hill Lane Cottage
Sunday
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop
Women Living Well Monthly Link Up

Homemade Stain Remover~ It really works!!!

I can't believe I haven't shared this yet!  I've always hated buying Commercial Stain Removers.  They are expensive and most of the time the stains were too set in and I'd end up tossing the garments that were soiled.  

While thrifting, I was constantly seeing the same fuschia skirt that had a huge grease stain on the front.  (It looked like someone dropped a half pound of bacon on their lap!)   I tried the skirt on to check the fit but put it back on the rack due to that old stain!   That silly thing kept catching my eye every time I visited and I finally gave in and bought it in hopes of getting the stain out.  

I tried a commercial stain remover and it didn't work.  I almost threw it out but kept it just in case.  It was then that I made the homemade Stain Remover and it took the entire stain out!   I mix it up in a spray bottle and pretreat the stain and let it sit overnight.   If it's a stubborn grease stain I scrub it with a scrub brush that I keep specifically for that purpose.   It smells bubbly and fresh.  The total cost for the bottle of Dawn was .98 cents and the bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide cost .86 cents.  

Here's the recipe~  It's Easy Peasy!  

1 Part Dawn Dishwashing Soap to 2 Parts Hydrogen Peroxide.  Yup~  that's it!  

Combine in a spray bottle and work stain remover in with a nylon brush on heavy stains.

Farmgirl over at Patches of Blue Sky sent me a message as follows~ 
"I wanted to let you know about the olive oil stain status on my son's shirt.I made up the stain remover, sprayed it on that stain and I am proud to announce that------the stain is.....GONE!
Ya----Hooooo!"

If you give this a try I'd love to hear how it work for you~!  

 

 

A Favorite Thing at Mockingbird Hill Lane Cottage

Homemade Glass Cleaner

I tried my hand at making homemade Glass Cleaner last week.  I've just started using it and find that it doesn't 'dry' as fast as a commercial cleaner would so I added more alcohol to remedy that. 

Empty gallon jug (Mine is an recycled OJ container)

Ammonia

Isopropyl rubbing alcohol

Dawn

dish detergent (not shown) 

Fill the empty gallon jug 1/2 full of water.Fill the half gallon jug half full of water.  Add 1/2 cup ammonia and 16 ounces of alcohol. Add 1 tsp. Dawn and fill with water till full. 

Sharing at The Thrifty Home

Homemade All Purpose Cleaner

I've been trying many cleaning products for my white tile kitchen floors since we moved in.  Pine~Sol left smudges and left the floor slippery.  Fantastik and 409 type cleaners left it sticky and noisy to walk on.  I even tried Murphy's Oil Soap highly diluted and it, too, was greasy and slippery.  I promised myself that when all of my products were gone (besides the Murphy's because I do use it for my wood)  I'd try my hand at making a homemade solution. 

 In a spray bottle I mixed together:

1 cup of White Vinegar

2 cups of warm water

1-2 Tbsp of Dawn Dishsoap

The results?  I'm very impressed!  I've used it on my floors in the kitchen and they look great! 

I've even used it on the kitchen counters with great success.  It does smell like vingar but that's okay with me.  Vinegar is supposed to be a natural disinfectant since it's a mild acid and is more gentle than household cleaners and bleach.  I read that vinegar does NOT kill foodborne bacteria so I'd clean all surfaces that come in contact with meat appropriately. 

If you try this I'd love to hear how you like it!

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Hubby and I do ALOT of laundry! 

I don't know how TWO people can do so much laundry but we surely do~ about a load a day! 

A good chunk of our weekly budget was going for laundry soap so I

started looking into making my own. 

I've never done anything like this before and, honestly,  never felt the need to either. 

I'd heard people talk about it before so I told my hubby what I'd planned and he was leary and I understand why.  It's just plain ole easy and convenient to buy laundry detergent!    Another factor was cleanliness and we both worried (him much more than myself) that since there wouldn't be heavy perfumes lingering in our clothes that they wouldn't smell clean or be clean. 

I purchased the ingredients at a local Wal~Mart and Jewel and made the detergent on a Saturday morning.  After using the detergent for a week we've decided to continue using our own detergent at a fraction of the cost. 

I use about double the recomended amount of detergent and the hubs  probably is using triple  but counting the cost that we would be paying for purchased detergent we are still saving a good chunk of money.  Maybe part of the reason is that this is a low sudsing soap. 
I've got to remember also that it isn't the suds that do the cleaning but the ingredients in the soap.

Here are the ingredients and here's how I made it~ 

4 cups water

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap

1 cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax 

Grate the Fels Naptha into a saucepan.

Boil about 4 cups of water and add soap to water.

Stir with whisk over low heat until all of the soap is melted.

 

Meanwhile, fill up the industrial bucket half full of warm water. 

When all soap is melted pour into bucket with the warm water.

Measure out and mix well~

1 cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

Fill with water to 5 gallons~  or nearly to top of bucket.

Cover and let sit overnight.  Soap will gel up. 

Break up soap  with stirring stick or use your hands.  

It is normal for there to be clumps and they will dissolve in the water with the wash.

 Put in containers for storage. 

The consistency is gel~like.  Give it a good shake in container before you add it to your laundry.  

I use 1/2 cup.  

 For all supplies and ingredients it cost me $12.75.  

After I purchased the Borax at Jewel's, Walmart restocked and it was a dollar cheaper. 

The next time I make detergent again I won't have to buy the borax or super washing powder so I will only have to buy the Fels Naptha. 

My next batch will cost about a dollar and ten cents!