DIY Home, Part I

A few years ago I decided to try Homemade Laundry Detergent and I love it. It costs about $30 every year. Depending on how much laundry I do. Two adults, two kids & two dogs... Its a lot of laundry! So it got me thinking why not do everything else homemade? After that I used a vinegar and water solution (about half and half) to clean my kitchen with. I add a few drops of Thieves to it as well. It smells great and helps the cleaning.
Now, a couple years after doing that (after being pregnant and having a newborn to take care of that is) I decided to do a few more DIY things around the house...

I started with Homemade Baby Shampoo/Soap

I didn't use a recipe, I just eyeballed it but I think this is aprrox. what I did:

• 1/2 cup Dr Bronners Castile Soap, Unscented
• 1/2 cup Coconut oil
• 1 cup Distilled water
• Essential oil, I used peppermint and lavender - it smells amazing!! I just did a few drops at a time of each until I decided I liked the way it smelled.

Add it all straight into the container and shake. I only filled it about half full, there are lots of bubbles. Then I put it into an old baby soap container I had.

I had all of this on hand, so I'm guessing I spent less than $3 on this total. It beats $14 for the size soap shown in the picture. (right)

Next was Dishwasher Detergent I got the recipe from Jillee.

I doubled the recipe:

2 cups Washing Soda
2 cups Borax
1/2 cup Salt
1/2 cup Citric Acid
Essential oil, about 10 drops. I used Citrus

I put it in an old cotton candy container from Christmas - I added all the ingredients in and gave it a shake! I also threw in an old formula scoop! Easy!

Since this is the first time making it, I'm guessing it will last at least 3 months. I spent about $20 on all the supplies but obviously didn't use the whole package of any of it. I'd have to figure it out later to get the total cost for this.

*Edit: Add 1-3 drops of dish soap to the soap when you put it in your dishwasher, that'll keep the dishes from getting cloudy after washing them. If you have hard water (I do!) fill your rinse dispenser with vinegar. I also splash a little in before starting it. Works perfect!


Third was hand soap. I was buying these refills for our soap dispensers. I love the dispenser because the kids do not have to touch it, and its nice for when I have meat covered hands while cooking to not have to touch the soap dispenser. Now I just need one of those touch activated faucets! Anyway, I used another one of Jillee's recipe's. Its for her body wash but it seemed to have the consistency I needed for the dispenser I have.  I used 3 Unscented Dove bars to 6 cups of water. I tried the microwave technique as suggested in her blog but two things went wrong there... First, Dove Unscented soap actually means STINKY SOAP. I've used the soap before and never really noticed the horrible stink it had. But once you pop it in the microwave (three bars, one at a time for approx. 90 seconds each) it fills the entire house with the smell of that soap. Everyone was complaining. Second, I have a horrible tendency not to read all the instructions, I just read one thing at a time - its not a good idea. By the time I read the next step after putting them in the microwave I had two of the bars sitting out after being microwaved. So not only did I waste 3 minutes of my life microwaving two smelly bars, I stunk up the entire house. I ended up just grating the last one. After it was all melted I tried adding essential oil into it to make it smell better. It didn't do much, that smell is still lingering in the soap. I will NEVER buy unscented Dove again. Ever.
In short, smell the soap before you microwave it or use it for almost 70 oz of hand soap.

Approximate cost for the soap: $4.00 for almost 70oz.

I am planning on doing Stain Remover, Dish Soap & Bar Soap over the next day or so. :) I will post the results when I finish them!