As of late, I have really been enjoying reading my friend Lindsay's blog: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/
She is a gem. There is no way that you can read her blog and not be encouraged and inspired. Lindsay loves the Lord, and really has a passion for biblical womanhood, homemaking, and living green. Seriously... go right now and explore her blog. Do it! Go! Now!
...waiting for you to return....
Okay, you're back! SO... what did you think?! I told you she's lovely! Anyway...
So I've been enjoying Lindsay's site, and she has totally been inspiring to me to dive deeper into green living. David and I have really been trying for the past year and a half to find practical ways that we can 'go green' AKA be good stewards of the earth that God has so graciously given us! Lindsay has posted here: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/recipe-index all of her recipes. If you scroll down to the very bottom of the page she has a couple links for cleaning products and the like. So I gave them a try and guess what! They work! They're cheap!AND... they're green! So go out and buy some extra spray bottles, or recycle some from your old cleaning supplies, and try these recipes out!
Laundry Soap:
1 cup dr. bronners castile soap, grated
1/2 cup washing soda (I was able to find this at foodmax in the laundry detergent section. Make sure you buy washing soda and not baking soda- they are both made by arm and hammer, but are different products)
1/2 cup borax
mix together in container
*use 1 tbsp for light loads, 2 for medium, and 3 for large to extra large
Fabric Softener:
vinegar
*I know what you're thinking: "ew, thats gonna make my clothes smell nasty." I got news for ya... you're wrong! Your clothes will not smell like vinegar!
Dishwasher soap:
Mix together equal parts of borax, and baking soda (you may substitute washing soda for baking soda if you'd like). I store mine in a easy to pour container.
* Increase amount of washing soda if you have hard water.
All Purpose Cleaner:
large recipe:
1/2 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup baking soda 1/2 gallon water
mix together and store in squirt bottle.
small recipe:
2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsbp baking soda, 16 oz. (2 cups) of water
Window Cleaner:
2 tbsp of vinegar w/ 1 liter warm water OR use
all purpose cleaner
Dusting Oil (only for wood):
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
* if you're using freash squeezed lemon juice, make sure to strain the juice really well, or else you will clog the spray bottle.
*Lindsay gave a great tip to not got out a buy dust clothes, but instead recycle or socks, Tshirts, towels, and use then as dusting/cleaning rags.
Mold and Mildew Cleaner:
vinegar or lemon juice at full strength with small amounts of salt.
7 comments:
what is the cost savings of making your own laundry soap? (cost of all of the ingredients + how many loads it will wash + the time it takes to prepare) I am just curious, with Ethan around, I do SO much laundry!
I'm not really sure how to do the math on this but here are some numbers that may give you an idea...
1 bar dr bronners castile soap $4.49
3 lb 7 oz. washing soda $2.77
4 lb 12 oz. borax $3.00
_________________________
total $10.26
one recipe makes roughly 2 cups of detergent which is about 32 small loads, 16 medium, and 9 large-extra large loads.
I just made the recipe last night, and was amazed at how much product I had left in each of the boxes. I thought for sure I'd use an entire bar of castile soup, but 1 cup is actually 1/2 a bar. There are probably cheaper places to buy castile soup, but I had only ever seen it at longs on standiford. I bought the eucyliptist (however the heck you spell that) scent, but they have many others. Their lavender, and almond scented ones were 50% off, but I'm not a huge fan of either. I'm gonna start looking online for a cheaper place to buy it. I'll let you know if I find a place :-)
i'm an idiot.... i spelled soap, like soup. haha! I did the same thing while typing the post, and I kept having to go back and correct it. Man, I better check and double check before I comment!
Try MotherNature.com for Dr Bonner's bar soap. Really competitive pricing, I think. They have $4.99 flat rate shipping, or you can get free shipping with $49+ in purchases. This website's prices are competitive on just about anything I've ever looked up, so you could buy soap in quanitity or shop for other good stuff.
Thanks for the tip D!
**** UPDATE: some of you requested that I post where I bought borax. I actually bought it at Savemart, for like $4.00, but I saw it at Walmart for like $2.99. I've also heard that WINCO sells it. OH and... trader joes sells the peppermint scent of the dr. bronners castile soap for $2.99- WHAT A DEAL, eh?!
ALERT THE MEDIA: I was quoting TJ's wrong. Their Dr. bronner's castile soap is sold for $2.49- cheaper than I had thought before! Sorry!
this is fun!
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