I like to do a lot of things home-made because usually you come out a mile ahead in the saving$$ department.
For example, with the home-made laundry detergent I make (<---click), the last time I checked I was only spending 35 cents a gallon (as opposed to over $3 for the cheapest brand!).
You ask why I do this? Well, the simple answer is that I am choosing to pick my battles. I would much rather spend the time than the money. It balances out. I can either go to work or work at home.
Here is a site with almost an overwhelming amount of household recipes!
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/house/house.html
Personally, I like to keep it simple. I have three main cleaning products in my home:
1. vinegar 2. baking soda & 3. bleach
I do buy furniture polish. I haven't found a recipe that doesn't produce oily tabletops.
For mopping linoleum I use a couple cups of vinegar, a squirt of dish detergent, and 25 drops of essential oil (my favorite is lemongrass which acts as a disinfectant).
Simple. Cheap. This same recipe can be poured into a labelled spray bottle to use
for counter-tops too.
The main question I ask myself before buying anything is this: Can I make this cheaper?
Also, I keep paper products minimized. I am learning to make cloth napkins (although I still use paper),
I use cloth diapers to clean (works great for mirrors and windows and they last forever so the initial investment is worth it!). I hardly ever buy paper towels.
Here is a link for home-made convenience foods: Take special note of the chocolate & maple syrups. Big savings!
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/homemadeconveniencefoods.htm
6 comments:
A low cost, green eco friendly, natural healthy cleaner can be made into a homemade liquid from soapberry which grows on the Chinaberry tree and has been used for thousands of years. It works very effectively.
I'm not quite as frugal as you yet, but have recently started using vinegar a lot more. It is the only thing that works on my laminate floors.
This is cool!
Thanks, Ira!
Kayla,
There is a book out there called "Vim & Vinegar" that I bought for my mom. It has literally hundreds of things to do with vinegar. But... I am too cheap to buy it for myself so I just google "uses for vinegar" or "uses for baking soda" , etc. I didn't used to be "this" frugal either but it became a hobby. LOL The library has lots of books on the subject.
Vonnie, thank you for being so faithful to comment. You are so sweet.
Hi Kim,
I just found your blog from someone else's and love this post! I can't wait to sift through more of your site! A great book for homemade cleaners is Clean House Clean Planet, but I'm also too cheap (er, thrifty) to buy it and have just gotten the recipes for scrubs and others products from someone else I know.
You may enjoy the post on my blog with my recipe for homemade toothpaste, it's just baking soda, lime zest and peppermint essential oil, you probably already have these things on hand, and it's cheap, and free of chemicals! (if you look at my post from a couple days ago called "Favorite things" there's a link to the toothpaste under homemade, and then the recipe is in the comments).
Shannon
Thanks for commenting on the nuns. Oh, it was probably good for us. I guess....
Believe it or not, I started our 2 boys out in Catholic school back in the early '90's at my husband's suggestion. It was nothing like when I went to Catholic School!
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