Making your own shampoo...

I recently decided that I wanted to stop buying shampoo and start making my own.  I hate all the packaging that comes with store bought shampoo.  Plus all that garbage that gets absorbed into our skin and then goes into our water is just gross.  So I started researching it and there are some really easy and cheap alternatives to shampoo. 

My favorite is a combination of baking soda and apple cider vinegar.  You can find the full page at my website.  Enjoy!!

Homemade cleaners....

I have been making my own homemade cleaners for awhile now and will never go back!  Not only are they better for the Earth, but they are much better for my budget too!  Homemade laundry soap is only the start.  Check out my new page on the website for more info.

Home made dishwashing detergent follow up...

Just wanted to let you know I used the dishwashing soap yesterday and it worked fine.  Now we have a portable dishwasher so I am not entirely sure if this is ok for it.  I am going to do a little research...even though it seems a lot of people use this without any problems.  I just filled one compartment with half Borax and half washing soda. 

Update:  I forgot to mention I that I spoke about baking soda in the last post but I used washing soda.  I read you could use both so I chose washing soda since...well since it has washing in the title!  Also you can read here about making your own detergent.  It seems many people have had mixed results depending on their dishwasher.  Please check it out :)

Fruit and Veggie Wash

I have been looking for a better way to clean my produce lately.  Since we have to buy a lot of our produce from the store in the winter it is really important to get them as clean as possible.  I remember my grandma cleaning her produce with vinegar and when I did a little research I found this page which claims that if you spray hydrogen peroxide (the household kind, it will say 3% on the back) and then vinegar it is ten times more effective than vinegar by itself.  I just want to say that you should never mix these two in the same bottle as it is very dangerouse.  I bought two new spray bottles to keep these in so I can have them out to use when I need them.  Just spray one then the other and rinse under water.

Making our own cleaners has been a big step for us.  They are usually safer, cheaper, and use less packaging. 

Well we just got our first seed catalog in the mail! Baker Creek Heirloom seeds catalog is by far the most interesting. If you like to grow unusual heirloom plants this is the catalog for you! Also a lot of these plants are endangered so you are doing some good at the same time. I just got finished making some laundry soap. This small thing has been a surprisingly big step for us in becoming more self-sufficient. It costs around 90 cents to do 30-40 loads! I can't imagine all the packaging waste this eliminates which is a huge plus. There are many different "recipes" for this soap online. The first I did was a liquid recipe. It was MUCH more difficult than what I do now but I guess if you really like the liquid kind you could do it. The ingredients are Fels Naptha, Borax, and Washing Soda...all of which I get in the laundry aisle at Kroger's (Wal Mart does not have it...you can buy it online if you can't find it anywhere else). I do 1 cup Borax and Washing Soda with 1/2 bar-1 bar of Fels Naptha. I really just grate as much Fels Naptha as I can. It is kind of a work out. I then put it in a container and shake it up. We clothe diaper so this saves us a HUGE amount of money over a year. I wear glvoes when I do this since Borax is a little harsh.

(The Fels Naptha is not in the picture but is is just a bar of soap...like I said you can probably find it in the laundry aisle or online)