Homemade Cleaning Products

We have had several busy days here at our little homestead.  The holiday season is right around the corner and both of my girls are expecting little ones.  McKenna, pictured below, is due in the next month or so.

This was taken this past Saturday, hard to believe she is 33 weeks in this picture!

We have been busy washing new little human clothes, putting baby beds together and cleaning the last of the clutter out of 'Coopers' soon to be room.  This past weekend I was talking with a friend of McKenna's, about using coupons and living a frugal, self sufficient life.  She and her new husband have just purchased their first home and are discovering how expensive running a home can be.  I gave her a few tips on how she could cut her budget by  meal planning, couponing, and doing things such as  by making her own cleaning products.  That evening I had her make her very first batch of homemade laundry soap.  She and her husband were so surprised to see how easy and inexpensive it was!


Here are a few recipes for cleaning products that can be made with basic ingredients most of us have on hand.

Laundry Detergent

Ingredients & Supplies:

• 2 cups of Borax

• 2 cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

• 1 bar of laundry soap 

 Instructions:
Grate laundry soap, mix Borax and Washing Soda all together.  Use 2 tbsp. per load.  Please note that this recipe will not foam or suds up.

Fabric Softener
 

Soften your clothes without harsh chemicals with this simple alternative. The vinegar will also help to reduce laundry detergent residue on your clothes, a bonus for members of your household with sensitive skin. 

Ingredients & Supplies:

• 1 cup white vinegar

Instructions: Pour vinegar into the laundry rinse cycle (or the fabric softener compartment, if your washing machine has one).

All Purpose Cleaner 

Use this to clean, disinfect, and deodorize a variety of surfaces. Use it to wipe down kitchen and bathroom countertops, stovetops, appliances, and more.

Ingredients & Supplies:

• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup water
• spray bottle

Creamy Scrub "a.k.a. soft scrub"

Instructions: Mix vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray onto surfaces and wipe with a cloth or sponge. Caution: Improperly diluted vinegar can harm certain surfaces. Always test first in a small area if you're unsure.
 

Use in place of commercial creamy scrubs to clean stained and dirtied surfaces.

Ingredients & Supplies:

• 1½ cup baking soda
• ½ cup water
• bowl or jar

Instructions: Mix baking soda and water in the jar (or bowl) to create a paste. Spread paste over surface, and wipe with sponge.

For stubborn stains, let paste stand for 15 minutes before sponging off.
 

Soften your clothes without harsh chemicals with this simple alternative. The vinegar will also help to reduce laundry detergent residue on your clothes, a bonus for members of your household with sensitive skin.

Furniture Polish Recipe

Ingredients & Supplies:

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• spray bottle

Instructions: Shake well and apply a small amount to a flannel cleaning rag or cleaning cloth. Spread evenly over furniture surface. Turn cloth to a dry side and polish dry.

Strong Glass Cleaner Recipe

Ingredients & Supplies:

• 1 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon clear, non-sudsing ammonia
• Spray bottle
• Recycled newspaper to wipe the glass (works better than any paper towel)

Homemade Glass Cleaner

Ingredients & Supplies:

• 1 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• Spray bottle
• Recycled newspaper to wipe the glass (works better than any paper towel)

Granted, it's an admittedly small step in the right direction, but with the state of world affairs over the last several years, anything and everything helps!

Can You Cook Without Eggs, Milk, or Butter?

Tonight I saw a post of Facebook by one of my friends/family who, by the way, has four children that said   "I have no milk and no cheese!  How do you cook dinner without milk and cheese?"  This gave me such a laugh because I can vividly remember being a young wife and mother and finding myself in the same situation!  Unfortunately for my family, that was before my preparedness skills had been developed.

Having a well stocked pantry can save you in more ways than one.  If you are like us and you are totally busy all day, everyday, then running out to the store for one or two missing ingredients is just a pain.  Many of you have young children and know quite well how inconvenient it is to load the kids up and drive to the store for one or two things, so much so that you would almost rather do without!  What if you could find a happy medium like something that would save you when you realize that you are missing one essential ingredient, like milk, eggs, or butter?

I have the answer for you!  It's dehydrated or powdered substitutes.  I know many of you are turning up your nose at the word 'powdered', but please remember we are using it to cook with, not eat as is.  In stocking my pantry for the unexpected, whether it be the loss of a job, an extra high utility bill, or an unforeseen major car repair, etc., these items are worth their weight in gold when I call them into use.

In my personal research and preparation I came across a company, Shelf Reliance, that sells all the essentials in a long term, shelf stable form which will hold for up to 25 years in most cases!  These items can be costly if you try and use them as everyday essentials, but if they are part of your stockpile or 'back-up' pantry then they are well worth it.  Tonight one of my grown kids turned their nose up at the idea of using powdered milk for their cereal until I told on myself and let them know that I've refilled the milk jug more than once with powdered milk and they didn't even notice!  This is really not my normal MO, but sometimes you just do what you gotta do.  My challenge for you is to look at the staples you use.  If you can find them in a shelf stable version then buy just one of each to begin your stockpile pantry in order to save yourself not only an inconvenient trip to the store, but buy just a little insurance as well.

Sidenote:  We've mentioned this site on one previous occasion on this blog.  In case you missed it, let us know in advance if you intend to actually purchase something from them.  We have a way to get you a discount on the items beyond the normal prices listed on the site.  And, for full disclosure, we have no affiliation or involvement with this site or anything like that, we just happen to think they have wonderful products that are tough to find elsewhere.

A Thrifty Kitchen

I have found that a thrifty kitchen is a busy kitchen!  Not because cooking is so time consuming, but because you begin to realize that half of what you're throwing away could be used in another dish or for another purpose. When you decide to quit buying prepackaged foods and begin cooking from scratch, your time will shift from grocery shopping to meal planning and preparing.

Here are a few tips I have found to be useful in my kitchen.

• Have a gallon size freezer bag handy, and as you prepare your meal toss any vegetables left over into the bag and freeze them.  Continue to add veggies to the bag until it's full and use all the "left over" veggies to make a soup.
• Plan your meals around 'intentional leftovers'.  On Sunday I cooked a ham for dinner, but I planned on using the leftover meat for sandwiches during the week.  By Thursday the meat had been eaten and the only thing left was a nice meaty bone.  On Friday I cooked a big pot of 15 bean soup and used the leftover ham bone for flavoring, and the remaining meat fell off the bone into the soup.  Those are what I call intentional leftovers.
• Designate one night a week as leftover night.  This usually works well for me on Wednesday or Thursday.  By that time I've cooked several meals and have a little of each in the fridge.  I pull everything out and divide it up according to who likes what the most and will cook just enough of something new to ensure that everyone is full.  
• Before you toss something in the trash, ask yourself if it could be used for something else.  If you have no idea, ask the Google (sorry, that's a Bush-ism, lol)!  For example, I realized my lemon and orange peals were great for freshening up my garbage disposable.
• Make your own mixes.  Here are recipes for several I use. (Bisquick, 'Lipton' style onion soup mix, pancake mix, 'Bakers Joy' pan release )
• When using the oven, try to bake several things at once and freeze the extra.  I cooked two meatloaves the other evening and froze one for dinner another night.  Not only does this save me time, it saves money by not using the gas another night.
• When making homemade cookie dough, make a double portion and freeze half of the batch another time.

This isn't an exhaustive list as you can see, it's just a few things that have keep our kitchen going when times were lean.  I would love hearing your personal tips and tricks.  If you're lucky enough to have older ladies in your life, ask them for any tips they might be able to share concerning a thrifty kitchen.