Make Your Own: All-Purpose Cleaner

I have had the ingredients to make this for a while now but never fit in the time to get it done. I was cleaning the other day and ran out of cleaner and figured there was no better time than now to pause for a blog break.

I love this all purpose cleaner because it doesn't smell like harsh chemicals and you can make it for a few cents. When I use this, my house smells wonderful. You can customize the smell of yours to your favorite essential oil smells.

Ready????

Cast of Characters:

• Castile Soap: This is an olive oil based soap so no harsh chemicals. It's organic, pure and natural. It's lovely. I found this at my local health food store. I believe HEB sells this also in their organic isle. I use the Dr. Bronner's brand. It comes in several different scents but I chose Tea Tree Oil because I like the clean smell. I have started keeping a bottle of this around too because I have found all the different things I can make with it. More tutorials on that stuff later.
• White Vinegar
• Arm & Hammer Washing Soda- I keep a box of this on hand at all times because I use this in my own washing detergent and dishwasher detergent.
• Water- I like water from a distilled jug or a water machine. I have a weird thing about not liking tap water, but you can use tap water if you don't have a weird phobia about it.
• Essential Oils- Personally I like clean smells like eucalyptus, tea tree, lemongrass, lavendar and things of that nature. This is your all-purpose cleaner so you can tailor the smells to your liking. I also bought these essential oils at my local health food store. They usually run about $8 a small bottle but remember they are pure oils and they only take a couple drops to make a big difference so a bottle goes an extremely long way. At a place that sells essential oils, they usually have testers so you can try out which is your favorite smell before you buy. I suggest you do a little research then look for ways to buy it cheaper online or through a catalog that specializes in essential oils.
• Spray Bottle- I used my empty bottle of cleaner. I just ran it through the dishwasher to make sure it was clean of the chemicals that were in it before. If you go buy a spray bottle, pay attention to the ounces. Most are 16 ounces. If that's the case, just cut all the ingredients in half.  

Ok ready! This is so simple and it smells great.

You will need:
-4 tablespoons of vinegar
-2 teaspoons of Arm & Hammer washing soda
-1/2 cup of Castile soap
-32 ounces of hot water
-5-10 drops of essential oils


Step 1:
I used a tea pitcher to mix all my ingredients in. I put my 4 tablespoons of vinegar in and then put my 2 teaspoons of Arm & Hammer washing soda and mixed them together until the washing soda was dissolved.

Adding the washing soda

In goes the vinegar

It fizzles when both are mixed together

Step 2:
To make my water hot, I ran it through my iced tea maker. Or you can use your coffee pot, boil your water on the stove or if your water from the faucet gets really hot you can use that. Just make sure there are no tea bags or coffee in your makers! That would be bad!

Step 3:
Measure out 32 ounces of your hot water.

Step 4:
Pour in the hot water.

Step 5:
Pour in your 1/2 cup of Castile Soap

Step 6:
Mix in your 5-10 drops of essential oils. Experiment with the mixture. Essential oils are a wonderful thing.

Step 7:
Give everything a good stir.

Step 8:
Pour the ingredients into your spray bottle.
(I must have deleted the picture for this step but I'm sure you know how to pour liquid into a bottle. :) )

So there you have it! Are you ready for your cleaning world to be turned upside down??? Are you excited??? Are you doing a dance? No? Is it just me? Yes? Dang!

Enjoy!
-Kaci

Making Your Own: Dishwasher Detergent and Dryer Sheet

OK, if you haven't noticed from this post and the last, I'm kind of obsessed with making my own household products. Both of these ideas I found on other blogs and I would like to share. Until I started cruising around in Blog World, I had absolutely no idea all the things I have found were even available! Call me naive and maybe a little spoiled to think that laundry detergent, household cleaners other items had to be bought at the store for them to be effective. Boy was I wrong. I also wasted alot of money buying products that I could easily make myself and spend pennies instead of dollars. This is definitely a lifestyle change for me. I've realized not only is making my own products earth friendly because it cuts down on harsh chemicals and plastic waste but it actually works BETTER than store bought products! DOUBLE SWEET!

Here are 2 little recipes for you to enjoy!

Home Made Dishwasher Detergent
Shopping List:

• Borax (Found with the powder laundry detergents) 
• Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (Found in laundry detergent section) 
• Lemi Shine (Found in the dishwasher detergent section) 
• Kosher Salt (Found with the baking ingredients) 
• White Vinegar (Found on the condiment aisle) 
• Canister of your choice (Found in the Tupperware section)
• Tablespoon or Scoop

*Remember, you will make a couple batches out of items you bought. You will however have to use the whole can of Limi Shine each batch  you make.

Directions:

Step 1: Pour 2 cups of Borax into your canister.

Step 2: Pour 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda into your canister.

Step 3: Pour 2 cups of Lemi Shine into your canister.

Step 4: Pour 1 cup of Kosher Salt into your canister.

Step 5: Mix together ingredients.

Usage: You only need to put 1 tablespoon into your wash cycle of the dishwasher. You can put one capful of the white vinegar into the pre wash for added cleaning power.

And done! How easy was that??

The next little tip is so easy it's ridiculous!

Homemade Dryer Sheets
Shopping List:

• Your favorite type and scent of liquid fabric softener
• An old hand towel or rag

Directions:

Step 1: Pour a couple of ounces of liquid fabric softener into a bowl.

Step 2: Soak your hand towel or rag into the bowl.

Step 3: Lightly wring out the hand towel or rag.

Step 4: Lay hand towel or rag onto a the counter or in a dry bowl and let dry.

Usage: Toss your hand towel or rag into your dryer with your clothes. Your rag can usually get up to 40 usages.


There you have it folks! What I love the most about these 2 things is that they are SUPER easy to make, I'm cutting down on enviromental waste, and the money I save is totally awesome! You can't get much better than that.

I guess y'all have noticed that the last couple of post have been DIY projects. I don't intend for this blog to be solely a DIY blog but these past couple things I just couldn't resist. Do y'all have any DIY tips that you use around the house or use often? Let me know and I will share my faves on the blog! Comments on this blog or welcome or you can email me at kacijohnson@live.com.

Until Next Time!
-Kaci
"The Little Pioneer Girl"

Make Your Own: Laundry Soap

I've recently gotten into this money saving kick. I like the fact that a little effort can save some serious cash over time. Whether it's cashing in my coupons, price matching, recycling, or even making something of my own that we use. If it saves money, I'm all about it. With gas prices being ridiculously high and other economic factors, it's forced a lot of us to re-evaluate our spending and adjust our budgets to the economy because the economy sure as heck doesn't adjust to us! I found this idea on Pinterest . And if you haven't discovered Pinterest.com yet, it's a must. I can't even describe how awesome this website is. I feel the need to share this idea because if it is as good as everyone says it is, then I have no idea why I haven't discovered this way before now. So today, I'm going to make my own laundry soap. This mixture of ingredients is supposed to last several months! And you only have to use 1 Tablespoon per wash load! If those last 2 sentences are not music to your ears then stop reading and wait until the next post because I just heard Slash rockin a bad A guitar riff in the background!

Ok, here are the ingredients you will need and how much I paid for them at Wal-Mart:

1- 4lb box of Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda                      $2.16
1- 3lb 7oz box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda           $3.24
1- 1.87lb tub of OxiClean (generic store brand will work fine)   $1.96
1- 4lb bag of any laundry soap (generic is the way to go)           $3.42
3- Fels-Naptha Bars                                                                 $0.97 each

That's $13.69 to make what I am hoping to be several months worth of laundry soap! SWEET!!!

You will also need a 5 gallon bucket. I reused an empty laundry soap bucket that I had gotten from Sam's. You will also need a cheese grater.

Step 1: Pour all of your powder ingredients into the bucket.

Step 2: Taking your cheese grater, you will grate the Fel-Naptha bars into the bucket. I just grated the bars right in the bucket so I didn't have to dirty another bowl.

Step 3: Mix up all your ingredients!

And, Viola!!!!!!

You only need to use 1 tablespoon per wash load because all the ingredients that you use make it SUPER potent! As an added bonus, while you are making your home-made laundry soap, your house smells AMAZING!

Hope you like this little tip! I know I will!

Until Next Time!
-Kaci
The Little Pioneer Girl