Dishwasher Detergent

Hello everyone, it has been a while...but such is life!

I have been wanting to try the homemade dishwasher detergent recipe for awhile. So last night I did just that! My husband and I found that we had to buy the Cascade Complete to get our dishes cleaned. That stuff is so expensive but it worked. On that note I didn't hold out much hope for the homemade stuff. I think that is why I kept putting it off.
So with the dishwasher loaded as usual and more waiting to go in! LOL I tried it. Guess what! It worked great! It work as well as the Cascade! I can't believe it really...I didn't think it would! So I'll list the recipe below and I would love to hear from you!

This recipe can be doubled or halved depending on how much you want.

2 cups of baking soda (I used kroger brand .50 a box. 1 box is just about 2 cups!)
2 cups of 20 Mule Borax (you should have some left over from your laundry soap)

I had a plastic container I had saved from the little dishwasher tablets that I mixed everything in. My Borax had some lumps but I just used a spoon to break them up. Use a Tablespoon in the spot you can close and the open spot. I am using an old coffee scoop (because my aunt got me an awesome one for mothers day!) to measure it out.

Rinse aid. I have been using this already for a while.

1/2 cup of white vinegar
1 package of lemon aid (the kind you add sugar too)

mix and add to the rinse aid container in dishwasher. You may have more or not enough...just add more vinegar if you need more or throw the extra out or save for next time if you have too much.

Egg Shells

Easter Weekend = lots of eggshells!

Cooking the Easter meal...coloring all those eggs....making egg salad. How many eggs can one family go though in one weekend? OK...I don't know, I tried to do a search but nothing came up! LOL....so lets see most people I know get at least 18 to 2 dozen eggs just to color! So people it is a lot of eggs!
What to do with all those shells? Will I hope that you used a natural coloring dye...ok....so you didn't use a natural coloring dye....that's ok, always next year right! I'll post that tip before Easter weekend next year! LOL
OK..so keep your shells....all of them! One tip is to put the shells in a hole with your plants that you are growing in your garden. Oh you're not planting a garden?? Then give them to people who are! The Calcium in the shells helps ward off bugs and gives the plants (blooming ones especially) the extra little something to make them thrive! I will post a list of other things that can be done with eggs shells...like there uses in cleaners (of course!) facial treatments and more!
So save those egg shells please and if nothing else give them to me!
P.S. I love taking these pictures!

Room Spray

Room Spray for Animals (not the one for spraying male cats)

In a spritzer bottle (in plant area at stores) put in rose oil, honeysuckle oil and eucalyptus blend. I buy the Abbey & Sullivan oils from Crafts 2000 for a few dollars a bottle. I used about 10 to 15 drops of each. You feel free and change it to the power of the smell you want, but that should get you started. I then added 1 cup of water to the bottle and mixed.

This spray is to be used as a air freshener would be used. It is not the furniture spray or the spray to be used when you have a male cat spraying. I'll post those separate.

EARTH DAY!!!

Earth Day!!!

I love Earth Day...always have! I remember having a pair of long flowing flower pants that I would wear on Earth Day every year...I still have them! Don't know if I can wear them anymore....but I can't throw them out.

It is one of the those holidays that just speaks to my soul. I don't remember doing anything in school for Earth Day...but it was out in Washington State where I learned of this April Holiday.

So now my family and I get to celebrate this holiday together...it lands on our "frost free" day here in the Mid Ohio Valley too! So a planting we will go! The Earth is getting lots of rain today so our normal Earth Day things will have to be done this weekend sometime. Plus I think because Easter is Sunday it is taking some of Earth Days spot light! We have a scavenger hunt that we do every Earth Day and usually finish the day with a night right on the golf cart.

So today I have some flowers to plant (rain or not) and a little time to thank the heavens above for this great place we get to live!

I will post more homemade goodies later!
Peace, Love and Happiness on this Earth Day!!

Fabric Softener

Fabric Softener
Vinegar and essential oils.

Use the same amount of vinegar that you would use fabric softener. Add a few drops of essential oil to add smell to your laundry. I mix up in a small vinegar bottle and leave by washer. The vinegar smell goes away leaving either a fresh smell or whatever oils smell you put in it.

I buy the big bottles of white distilled vinegar from Sams. Then I pour into a smaller container. Again I let the girls help me pick the smell. I love how my clothes turn out! We have enough animal hair to make a space suit out of animal hair! I'm not sure you would want to do that....but anyway the animal hair is gone after I'm done with the wash! This didn't always happen!

Laundry Detergent

Laundry Detergent

Fels Naptha Soap
A bar or other soap or essentail oil for scent (we used leaver 2000)
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
20 Mule Borax
Water
Grater
Large Pot
Spoon
Storage container

Put 6 cups of water in a pot to boil, grate 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha soap and 1/2 of other bar of soap or the essential oils, add to boiling water and mix. Then add 1 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup borax and mix.

Add 3 gallons of hot water to a large container then add mixture from pot and stir and cover - let sit for 24 hours before use.

Mixture will look kind of lumpy. Use the same amount that you use already in the wash. Can be used in all washers (front loaders and top loaders)

Thanks so much Kim for this and your friendship!

I used a kitty litter container to mix and store this in. I then use a smaller kitty litter container for a smaller amt to keep on my washer. I let the kids pick out their smells so I keep a box of essential oils on washer too. We mix Silo cup full and then pour that into the washer. I do this because the kids seem to put the laundry away better when it smells the way they want it! LOL...whatever works!

Doing what I can for the earth

So many people have asked me to post my recipes of my homemade cleaning products, that I thought I better make a place where I could post them and would be easy for people to find. I would like to say a few things right up front. First I'm a very bad speller! Feel free and correct me...but really it doesn't do much good. Spelling I don't get along! I have spell check but have a hard time copy and pasting from one place to another.


Second is that all of these ideas came from other places. Other friends, websites, grandmas and magazines. I will not steal from anyone! I am just trying to put everything in one place. Most everything I have done I've tweaked in one way or another. I'm not one for following rules so I find that I like to add a little more of this or leave this out. I think you all should do that too...Make it yours!


Please leave comments and feedback. Let me know if you try something and how it works. Let others know some tips you might have. It will be nice to see what everyone else has to say about something. I'm going to post the laundry soap first. I will get them all up but as most of you know I don't have a lot of time. Kim H was the friend who gave my this recipe. She is a great friend who has lots of great ideas about saving money and helping the earth!


Thanks all! And go hug a tree!