With gardening season just around the corner I thought I would share an easy to make salt scrub that will help clean your hands well after an afternoon of working in the dirt!
Gardener’s Salt Scrub
Crystal Miller
½ cup sea salt
½ cup olive oil
Essential oil or Fragrance oil to scent
Mix altogether and store in a canning jar by the sink. Use a spoon to scoop out a small amount and scrub your nails and other areas of your hands that are in need. Rinse with warm water. It will leave your hands smooth and clean!
Crystal and her husband Tobin, along with 6 of their 8 homeschooled children make their home on 18 acres in SW Washington State. Crystal enjoys caring for her home and family and her farm. You can visit Crystal’s website: The Family Homestead or Crystal’s Country Store where she sells her own goat milk soap, ebooks and more!
Looking to naturally give your wood furniture a little shine after dusting? Try a little homemade furniture polish.
My daughter Emily came up with this recipe after doing some living room cleaning one day and we have used it ever since.
Emily’s Furniture Polish
½ tsp. olive oil
¼ c vinegar
water
In a one quart canning jar add the olive oil and vinegar. Fill the jar with water until you have a total of 1 quart of liquid. To use: Carefully pour a small amount onto a clean lint free cloth and wipe wood surface. If you get too much on your wood wipe with a dry cloth to remove any excess.
Crystal and her husband Tobin, along with 6 of their 8 homeschooled children make their home on 18 acres in SW Washington State. Crystal enjoys caring for her home and family and her farm. You can visit Crystal’s website: The Family Homestead or Crystal’s Country Store where she sells her own goat milk soap, ebooks and more!
I find mopping my floors is daily (or more often) event in my home. Wintertime here in the Pacific Northwest means a lot of rain and when you live in the country and you mix rain with dirt, well you have a lot of mud; mud that seems to get brought into the house on a regular basis. I am sure many of you living in the country can relate to this.
I have tried many products over the years to keep my floors looking sparkling clean. In the last few years I have become more focused on getting away from store bought chemically laden (and expensive) cleaners. I found I can easily make up a batch of floor cleaner that is natural and easy on the budget.
Here is the recipe I make:
Homemade Floor Cleaner
1 cup white vinegar
1 gallon warm water
Mix in your cleaning bucket and use this to clean your floors. You can add a little essential oil to this to give it fresh scent. My favorite oils to add are orange, lemon or rosemary.
Even wood floors can be cleaned with this as long as your mop is damp (not too wet) and no puddles of water are left behind.
What to Clean your Floor With?
The biggest trend I see in cleaning floors is to use those popular “Swiffer” mops. The problem I have with them is that you need to rely on purchasing the little cloths continually (and it is still a chemical type cleaner being used). I also was never very happy with the job they did. I guess with country living I need something that can handle the tough job of cleaning up after kids and pets.
I have discovered a mop that is similar to the “Swiffer” but has washable cloths that can be reused over and over. I have bought a couple of these over the last few years. I found my first one from a cleaning company called The Clean Team. The second one I found at Home Depot. I like the one from the clean team the best. You can see a picture of one HERE. These mops have paid for themselves countless times over the years and I felt were well worth the cost to invest in them.
This is how the mops are used and the process used to clean my floors: I make up my floor cleaner in a small bucket and leave it in my laundry room. When I need to wash my floor I dip the reusable cloth cover in the cleaning water and put this on my mop, then I mop the floor. When the cloth cover is dirty, I take it off and grab another clean one to dip in my bucket and continue the process until my floors are clean. My bucket of cleaning water never gets dirty and lasts me much longer and I never am rinsing mops in dirty water. Then I wash the cloth covers in a load with my other cleaning rags.
Crystal and her husband Tobin, along with 6 of their 8 homeschooled children make their home on 18 acres in SW Washington State. Crystal enjoys caring for her home and family and her farm. You can visit Crystal’s website: The Family Homestead or Crystal’s Country Store where she sells her own goat milk soap, ebooks and more!
From The TipNut blog The tip Nut has lots of great tips on her blog.
Here is a nice stack of different homemade laundry detergent recipes I’ve collected over the years. Do they work? Yes, I’ve had good luck with them. At the time I was using homemade detergent, we had a relative who was in trade school living with us. Every day he was mechanic grease from head to toe–the clothes cleaned up nice!
Making your own laundry detergent is a discipline and it’s not for everyone. But it definitely saves money.
Tips:
For the bar soaps required in the recipes, you could try Fels-Naptha, Ivory soap, Sunlight bar soap, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, and Zote. Don’t use heavily perfumed soaps.
Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found in the laundry and cleaning aisles.
Some people with really hard water or well water may have to adjust the recipes if the clothes look dingy.
Although several of the recipes have the same ingredients, the measurements are different–some contain a higher soap to water ratio. Test and see which works best for your laundry needs.
You can make huge pails of this at once, or smaller quantities. Also if you can get your hands on a few empty liquid laundry detergent bottles they work great for storing the detergent. Just make a big batch and pour in bottles, cap then use as needed–shake before use.
Some of the recipes call for large amounts of water. Check with a local restaurant to see if they have any empty large pails from deep fryer oil–that’s how many restaurants buy the oil. See if you can have one or two of the pails after they’ve emptied it–just wash them out really well before using. They’re big, heavy plastic and very sturdy when stirring the soap and hot water.
10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes
Recipe #1
1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (grated)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.
Pour the soap water into a large, clean pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved.
Add 2 gallons of water, stir until well mixed.
Cover pail and use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. Stir the soap each time you use it (will gel).
Recipe #2
Hot water
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1 Soap bar
Grate the bar soap and add to a large saucepan with hot water. Stir over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
Fill a 10 gallon pail half full of hot water. Add the melted soap, Borax and Washing soda, stir well until all powder is dissolved. Top the pail up with more hot water.
Use 1 cup per load, stirring soap before each use (will gel).
Recipe #3
Hot water
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/3 bar Soap (grated)
In a large pot, heat 3 pints of water. Add the grated bar soap and stir until melted. Then add the washing soda and borax. Stir until powder is dissolved, then remove from heat.
In a 2 gallon clean pail, pour 1 quart of hot water and add the heated soap mixture. Top pail with cold water and stir well.
Use 1/2 cup per load, stirring soap before each use (will gel).
Powdered Laundry Detergent - Recipe #4
2 cups Fels Naptha Soap (finely grated - you could also try the other bar soaps listed at the top)
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.
Use 2 tablespoons per full load.
Recipe #5
Hot water
1 bar (4.5 oz) Ivory Soap - grated
1 cup Washing Soda
In a large saucepan add grated soap and enough hot water to cover. Heat over medium-low heat and stir until soap is melted.
Fill a large pail with 2.5 gallons of hot water, add hot soap mixture. Stir until well mixed.
Then add the washing soda, again stirring until well mixed.
Set aside to cool.
Use 1/2 cup per full load, stirring well before each use (will gel)
Recipe #6
2.5 gallons Water (hot)
1 Bar soap (grated)
3/4 cup Washing Soda
3/4 cup Borax
2 TBS Glycerin
Melt bar soap over medium-low heat topped with water, stir until soap is melted.
In a large pail, pour 2.5 gallons of hot water, add melted soap mixture, washing soda, borax and glycerin. Mix well.
Use 1/2 cup per full load.
Recipe #7
2 cups Bar soap (grated)
2 cups Washing Soda
2 - 2.5 gallons hot water
Melt grated soap in saucepan with water to cover. Heat over medium-low heat and stir until soap is dissolved.
Pour hot water in large pail, add hot soap and washing soda. Stir very well.
Use 1 cup per full load.
Recipe #8
2 gallons Water (hot)
1 bar Soap (grated)
2 cups Baking soda (yes baking soda this time–not washing soda)
Melt grated soap in a saucepan with enough hot water to cover. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring frequently until soap is melted.
In a large pail, pour 2 gallons hot water. Add melted soap, stir well.
Then add the baking soda, stir well again.
Use 1/2 cup per full load, 1 cup per very soiled load.
Powdered Laundry Detergent - Recipe #9
12 cups Borax
8 cups Baking Soda
8 cups Washing Soda
8 cups Bar soap (grated)
Mix all ingredients well and store in a sealed tub.
Use 1/8 cup of powder per full load.
Recipe #10
1 cup Vinegar (white)
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Washing Soda
1/4 cup liquid castile soap
Mix well and store in sealed container.
Note:
Soap will be lumpy, goopy and gel-like. This is normal. Just give it a good stir before using. Make sure soap is covered with a lid when not in use. You could also pour the homemade soap in old (and cleaned) laundry detergent bottles and shake well before each use.
*If you can’t find Fels-Naptha locally, you can buy it online (check Amazon).
Optional:
You can add between 10 to 15 drops of essential oil (per 2 gallons) to your homemade laundry detergent. Add once the soap has cooled to room temperature. Stir well and cover.
Essential oil ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil
Traditionally, spring is a time to give the home a good cleaning and a fresh look. Why not try some gentle, effective herbal cleansing blends, instead of using harsh chemicals? Make spring cleaning of furniture, floors, walls, closets and ovens a fragrant pleasure instead of a toxic chore. Not only whil your house be clean and fragrant, but you will get some wonderful herbal aromatherapy in the process.
Many herbs actually have beneficial cleaning properties. Choose the herb with the characteristics needed for each task from the following list. Then use them in the recipes given below:
Basic Kitchen Cleanser:
In a metal or glass bowl (not plastic or wooden!!!). To 1/2 cup baking soda, add 5 drops each of the following essential oils: rosemary, thyme, cinnamon, and a citrus. Blend well. I like to use a fork to work the oils throughout the baking soda. Allow to age a day or two before using. Store in a glass container.
Dried herbs may also be used. Substitute 3 - 5 tablespoons dried (for each herb) for the oils. This will not be as potent as essential oils.
You may also use fresh herbs, instead of concentrated oils. Use 9 tablespoons chopped (each herb) to replace oil. Mash thoroughly with mortar and pestle or food processor. This will not be as potent as essential oils. Use as a powdered cleanser, wiping well with clean cloth after cleaning. Or, add a bit of water, strain, then use to make liquid cleanser.
All-purpose Liquid Cleanser:
Use fresh herbs by filling a quart jar of hot water with chosen herbs. Allow to steep for 2 days in a sunny spot. Strain, then add 2 tablespoons borax and mix well. Cleans hairbrushes and combs. Also good for walls, refrigerators, floors, china, crystal, and counters. NOTE: Do *not* use pine essential oil on painted surfaces as it sometimes removes paint!
Basic Citrus or Herbal Vinegar:
Fill a quart jar with herb of choice, or citrus peels. Cover with white vinegar. Allow to age for two weeks. Discard herbs or peels. Any citrus can be used: grapefruit, orange, lemon, lime, etc. Choose herb from chart above for desired purpose (antiseptic, fungicide, etc.).
Excellent for cleaning ovens. Spray or pour vinegar on burned-on areas. Close oven door. After two hours, wipe vinegar with sponge or cloth dipped in warm water. Repeat if necessary.
Also good for eliminating mineral deposits and soap scum in the bathroom. Cover the area with vinegar. Allow to stand for 30 minutes, then scrub and rinse. Will also remove mildew, etc. from shower curtains.
Can also be used to remove stains from carpets. Test in an inconspicuous place first to be sure that the vinegar does not lighten carpet color!
Degreaser and Glass Cleaner:
To one quart of warm water, add 4 tablespoons citrus or herbal vinegar (recipe above).
Carpet Deodorizer:
Mix 2 cups baking soda, 4 teaspoons ground cloves, 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 4 tablespoons ground mint, 4 tablespoons ground rosemary, 4 tablespoons ground lavender, and 4 tablespoons ground thyme. Dried herbs must be ground finely in blender or processor. Mix well. Sprinkle over carpet. Allow to stand 1 hour, then vacuum thoroughly. It is safe to walk on during the hour-long waiting period.
This is a very simple recipe, with great results and I can adjust it as needed for my family. (I tend to add a dash or so more Borax and Washing Soda, as my husband comes home with grease on his clothes more often than not, and Borax and Washing Soda are great degreasers!). It is literally foolproof, because no matter how I’ve messed up the recipe, it’s always gotten our clothes clean.
Gather Your Supplies
Start with an old pot. I have an old one used specifically for making soaps/cleaners. I wrote "CLEANERS" on it with a sharpie and keep it up high on a shelf in the laundry room. No mistaking it , and accidentally cooking food in it!
Pour in 4Q water
Then put this on the burner, medium heat
½ Cup 20 Mule Team Borax
½ Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
Stir….then add…
1/2 grated up bar of Fels Naptha
Heat on medium high at this point and stir (again with a spoon marked just for this) until it’s dissolved.
This will then need to cool down, so I pour it in a big bucket I use for soaps and such, then once cooled down a bit, ( an hour or so) I fill the remainder of my bucket (3 gallon) with HOT water, stir thoroughly. I then pour 1/3rd or so into an old 100 oz. laundry soap container. They are easy to use and I have 3 old ones that I keep around for whipping up a batch of our own homemade laundry soap & an old funnel to make the job even easier. Do the same with the other containers, and top off with hot water—leave an inch or so headspace.
Ye Ol’ Bucket and Old Jugs do the job and cost nothing!
That’s really about it. This recipe will generally ‘gel up’ and become quite thick, so that is why I like to put it into old laundry jugs, as they have tight fitting lids…and I can shake it up or add more hot water if needed. Old gallon milk jugs or an old bucket (with lid!) will work here too. You really can’t mess this soap up—it IS that easy.
At this point I occasionally will add a little rose water, or a favorite essential oil for a little light fragrance. (Otherwise there is not a whole lot of ‘smell’ to this which can be nice too.) I usually ‘eyeball’ my measurement into the wash, but approximately ½ cup works very well, and gives a nice clean to the clothes without the chemical residue that commercial brands leave behind. This amount will last us a month or more, give or take, as I don’t strictly measure for each load, and it ranges in price from ONE TO THREE cents per load!
Lisa, her husband Marc, and their 3 children live in Washington State on their little homestead...with Cooter the Dog, Beauty the kitten and lots of wild critters. They pray for more critters, and more children and love the quiet country life amongst God's creation! Check out their website, Homestead Originals, where they specialize in All natural Soy Wax Candles, books and gifts .
1/4 cup Fels Naptha*, grated 2 Tbsp. fine sand or pumice 1 cup water 2 cup plastic container (16 oz. cottage cheese container works great)
Place soap and water in a saucepan. Place over low heat; stir until soap is melted. After mixture cools, add mason's sand or pumice. Store in a cottage cheese container or margarine tub. Dip fingers into soap mixture and lather hands. Rinse well.,
*Any grated bar of soap will work but Fels Naptha removes the stains better.
Lisa, her husband Marc, and their 3 children live in WashingtonState on their little homestead...with Cooter the Dog, Beauty the kitten and lots of wild critters. They pray for more critters, and more children and love the quiet country life amongst God's creation! Check out their website, Homestead Originals, where they specialize in All natural Soy Wax Candles, books and gifts :)
With spring cleaning being on everyone’s mind this time of year I thought I would share the recipe for my homemade household cleaner.There are many reasons why making your own household cleaner is a good idea.I have read a lot of information on the dangers of common store bought cleaners. The list of dangers seems to encompass everything from breathing toxic fumes, the harmful effects of the cleaners on your skin to some cleaners being carcinogenic.
Aside from the health concerns there is also a financial consideration.Cleaners can be quite an expense on the budget.If you purchase a separate cleaner for everything from wiping down counters to cleaning floors, polishing and dusting, tub cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, the list goes on, this is a fairly large slice of the family’s budget.
You can make many of your own household cleaners utilizing some very basic and common ingredients.This does not have to take a lot of your time with mixing and making.Sometimes it is just a matter of a change in habit and a little preplanning and you can reap the benefits of both health and budget!
I make a large batch of my favorite household cleaner regularly.I use a gallon size container (like a plastic milk jug) to mix it in and then fill spray bottles as I need it.
Crystal’s All-Purpose Homemade Cleaner
In a clean, empty gallon milk jug put:
2 Tablespoons ammonia
1 teaspoon dish detergent
1 pint (2 cups) rubbing alcohol
4 drops food coloring – optional
a few drops of your favorite essential oil for a nice fresh scent.Some of my favorites EO’s to use for this are orange, lemon, lavender or rosemary
Fill the rest of the gallon jug with hot water.Pour into spray bottle to use.
Crystal and her husband Tobin, along with 6 of their 8 homeschooled children make their home on 18 acres in SW Washington State.Crystal enjoys caring for her home and family and her farm.You can visit Crystal’s website: The Family Homesteador Crystal’s Country Store where she sells her own goat milk soap, ebooks and more!
I have had sooooooo many people ask "WHERE can I find Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, or FELS NAPTHA....or 20 Mule Team Borax....." and a host of other soaps and such to make your own laundry soaps, etc.
I have had to just say--check out stores in your area.....cause I didn't know of anything else.
Wellllllll........I have stumbled across a place online (NO ENDORSEMENT intended here- I have NEVER purchased from this site) but I thought I'd share for those of you who do not have a store near enough or that carries these items you're looking for.
Check it out....it's "Soaps Gone Buy" and they carry a slew of these type products and old timey soaps that are hard to find. FYI!
Lisa, her husband Marc, and their 3 children live in Washington State on their little homestead...with Cooter the Dog, Beauty the kitten and lots of wild critters. They pray for more critters, and more children and love the quiet country life amongst God's creation! Check out their website, Homestead Originals, where they specialize in All natural Soy Wax Candles, books and gifts :)
Lisa, her husband Marc, and their 3 children live in Washington State on their little homestead...with Cooter the Dog, Beauty the kitten and lots of wild critters. They pray for more critters, and more children and love the quiet country life amongst God's creation! Check out their website, Homestead Originals, where they specialize in All natural Soy Wax Candles, books and gifts :)
If you still are not sure you could do this then perhaps today’s step by step picture tutorial will show you just how easy it is to make your own laundry detergent!
In the following pictures my daughter Emily and I are making a double batch of soap, so there will be more volume from all the ingredients than if you were making a single batch. Also I make my own soap instead of using the Fels Naptha, so my soap is white, not brown.
First gather together the needed items.
Washing Soda and Borax:
A soap of some sort.
A bucket. When I make laundry soap I make a double batch and I use a saved Costco laundry detergent bucket from the last one I bought (over a year ago now!). :
And a pot of some sort to melt the soap/water in.
First begin by getting everything measured out ahead of time. I find this makes it much easier.
I start by grating my soap:
Then I measure out the washing soda and borax into a small bowl and setting it aside:
I also pre-measure all the needed water. You will need to have 4 cups of hot water to add to your soap as soon as you pour it into the bucket. I put those 4 cups into a canning jar and put them in my microwave to heat while I start the rest of the process.
I mix the grated soap with the water:
Leave this on a medium burner and stir now and again until the soap melts:
Then remove from the heat and add the washing soda and borax:
Stir until all is dissolved:
Pour this mixture into your bucket:
Add those 4 cups of hot water:
Now add the remaining water. I saved a few gallon jugs for this purpose. I can have the jugs filled with water and waiting to be poured into the bucket. The recipe calls for a gallon of water, plus 6 cups.. I have those 6 cups also measured out and then pour them into the bucket:
Stir and let it sit until the next day:
It should turn into a water/gel type mixture. If it does not gel up for you, you can still use it. Next time add a little more soap (like half the bar of Fels Naptha) and see if that helps.
Crystal and her husband Tobin, along with 6 of their 8 homeschooled children make their home on 18 acres in SW Washington State.Crystal enjoys caring for her home and family and her farm.You can visit Crystal’s website: The Family Homesteador Crystal’s Country Store where she sells her own goat milk soap, ebooks and more!
Earlier in the week I posted a recipe to make your own laundry soap. I have been making my own laundry soap for over a year now and when I started making the soap I wanted to know if it was really worth my effort.Was it saving me money?Was it really less expensive than the big buckets of laundry soap I was buying at Costco?
So I set out to find the answer to my question.Is the laundry detergent a cost saver? How do the numbers on this add up? We do a lot of laundry and I make double batches of this soap and knowing that the time spent doing this was a savings for my family was important to me.
Here are my calculations:
The cost of making the above recipe of laundry soap was .71 cents. That was amazing to me! With this 2 gallon size recipe you will have enough to do 64 loads of laundry. That translates to about .01 cent a load.
How Did I Figure This Out?
Here is the breakdown of my costs and how I came up with those numbers (I am using the prices I paid for these items and you may find your price varies some based on what you pay):
Fels Naptha: $1.12 for a 5.5 oz bar. The recipes says use a 1/3 of a bar. I calculated 2 oz. just to make the math a little easier. The cost of the Fels Naptha per batch is: .40 cents.
Washing Soda: $2.23 for a 55 oz. box. This came to .17 cents per batch. I calculated how much per oz (2.23 divided by 55) and then weighed a half cup of washing soda (4.2oz.) and multiplied my per oz. price by 4.2
Borax: $3.27 for a 76 oz. box. This came to .14 cents per batch. Did the same calculations as above, however a 1/2 cup of borax weighs 3.5 oz.
For the final numbers I have .40 + .17 + .14 = .71 for 2 gallons of laundry detergent.
Two gallons translates to 64- 1/2 cup portions and .71 divided by 64 = .01109, etc... or about .01 cent a load!
Crystal and her husband Tobin, along with 6 of their 8 homeschooled children make their home on 18 acres in SW Washington State.Crystal enjoys caring for her home and family and her farm.You can visit Crystal’s website: The Family Homesteador Crystal’s Country Store where she sells her own goat milk soap, ebooks and more!
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