Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Here's another CHEAP & EASY idea.  Of course, it's not really my idea.  I have no clue what genius put this all together but my friend Ashli is the one who told me about it.  She's a very environmentally friendly and money savvy girl.  Once, while catching up on the phone, she told me she made her own laundry detergent.  At first I kind of scoffed it off thinking it wouldn't be worth my time.  She then told me that it lowered her costs of laundry detergent down to 1 penny a load.  1 PENNY! Maybe this was worth my time.  You see as a mother I feel like I'm always doing laundry and always running out of detergent.  Most families spend anywhere from 10 to 13 cents per load of laundry and do on average 6 to 10 loads per week.  Those pennies really do add up.  And remember if it wasn't also easy I wouldn't be doing it.  

Here's what you'll need:

One 5 oz bar of fels-naptha soap
1 cup of washing soda (this is not the same as regular baking soda, you can find it in the laundry isle)
1 cup of borax
4 cups of hot water
One 5 gallon bucket with a lid

Grate the soap with either a cheese grater or just use a paring knife to shave the bar.

It should look something like this.  (My two year old was quite upset when I didn't let her sample it because she thought it was cheese).

 Add the shaved soap to the 4 cups of hot water and cook over medium heat until all the soap is melted.

Then fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water, add the melted soap and the washing soda and borax.  Mix the solution until all the powder is dissolved then fill the bucket with more hot tap water to within about 2 inches of the top.

And there you have it! You can now go do a load of laundry for only a penny!  You only need about 1/4 cup per load and this mixture will last you a long, long time.

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Dinner Group!

This brilliant idea can really save you some MONEY plus your TIME.  It's also a lot of fun!

A few years ago my friend, Karie, came to me with the idea of starting a dinner group. Here's the quick run down.  Everyone in the group cooks the same meal for every other family in the group.  So, if I was making Chopped Pizza I would make enough for my family and also for the three other families.  Yes, it's more work that one day but then less work during the week.  Then you trade meals and come home with 3 other ready to go meals. This gives you 4 meals for the week all done in one day.  We would eat the leftovers or something super easy like pancakes the rest of the week.  I went from cooking almost everyday to ONCE a week.  Karie had done a dinner group in the place she had lived previously and loved it.  She convince me and two other friends to join by telling us all the benefits here's a list of a few of them;

 * Saves MONEY, because you can buy in bulk and less ingredients.  I also found I went to the store  less and therefore didn't spend as much filling my cart with things I thought we needed.
 * Saves TIME, because you cook ONCE a week instead of 5 to 7 times.
 * Adds VARIETY to your monthly meals because you get to try other's recipes.
 * No more asking yourself "what's for dinner tonight?"  Who doesn't get tried of this?
 * We ate healthier because we ate less easy frozen stuff and ate out less.
 * You get to see your friends a little more :)

To get started you'll need find a couple of friends who want to join you.  We had four families in our group which worked out well.  You'll want to find people who;

* Have a similar size of family as you
* Are dependable
* Are a decent cook, it helps if they like to cook.
* Are honest and you can be honest with them.  You need to be able to tell the person if your family didn't like a particular meal or else you might be wasting food, which is not the point.
* Has similar eating style.  For example if you love meat you might not want to invite your vegetarian friend to join.
* Are willing to eat leftovers.  A lot of meals can be completely done so you just reheat and serve.

Once your group is assembled you'll need to have a meeting.  We met once every 2 to 3 months to plan meals.  We would fill in a calendar with what we were going to be making and receiving.  This helps you be more organized.  When deciding what to make we would make sure the other families thought it sounded good and that we didn't make similar meals in the same week.  You don't want Baked Pasta 3 times in one week.

We used Glad Ovenware for all our meals.  We liked them because they stack well in the car, cupboards and fridge.  They are both oven and freezer safe and the lids come with them.  They also aren't too heavy or expensive.  Because we used them so much they didn't last forever.  It seemed like once a year we had to buy a few new ones to replace the few that were a little beat up.  I found they still came in handy even if they got kicked out of dinner group.  Go here for more ideas on that.

You might think that using these handy dandy dishes might limit what you can make.  We didn't think so.  We exchanged everything from normal casseroles to soups, salads, crock pot meals and pizzas.  Most of the recipes in the main dish section on this blog have been part of our dinner group.

Once you have your meals planned out just decide on a time and place to exchange every week.  We found Tuesdays worked well for us so we could shop and cook on Mondays.  When you exchange it's good to mark the dishes with what is inside and instructions for cooking or reheating.  

Then go home and enjoy looking at your fridge full of  yummy already prepared meals.  You are now set for the week!

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Homemade Baby Wipes

For the past 3 1/2 years my husband and I have been in graduate school.  Since we pretty much have NO money, we count our pennies.  I'm always looking for ways to stretch our small budget.  Last summer my good friend Aryn told me that she makes her own baby wipes.  With four small kiddos running around her house she told me that doing so saves her money and that she loves them.  I was curious and asked for her recipe.  Once I got home I gave it a try.  At first I was doing it only to save money.  I figured I could do a little extra work to save some change.  Well, that change started to add up and I realized I even liked these wipes BETTER than the store ones I had been buying before.  I cut my wipe costs in half with these.

Here's what you'll need:

1 large roll of good quality paper towels

A 1 1/2 Quart size of canister

Baby Wash

Water

Here's what you do:

Cut the paper towel roll in half, my husband uses a hand saw. (We cut a bunch at one time and store them cut in halves so they are ready when we need them.)

Put one half into the canister with the cut side down.  You'll have to squeeze it some to get it to fit.

Mix 2 tbs of baby wash with 1 cup and 1 tbs of water.

Pour the water/baby wash mixture over the paper towels in the canister.

Let it sit for about 10 min so that the water can sink in.

Remove the cardboard center.

Find the end of the roll and pull it slightly up so they are easy to use.

And there you have it.  EASY & CHEAP two of my favorite words together!  I use these of course daily on my little ones' bottom, but also to clean their hands and faces and to clean up the many spills we have at our house.

This post has been linked at Ginger Snap Crafts!

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