Well, had some issues with tracking the loads of laundry that one batch of laundry soap washes because the tick marks accidentally got rubbed off. I think that it does about 40 loads for about $2.80, which works out to about 7 cents a load.

I gave up on the baking soda and vinegar shampooing and the non deodorant deodorant. My hair was just too greasy and somedays the deodorant worked and others it didn't.

I just found out how to cook dried beans and make them taste good! its soooooooo easy, put 1 c of beans in a pressure cooker with about 3 C water (or more) then put the lid on cook @ 15lbs pressure for 10 minutes and they are perfect. Yay! I finally know what to do with that shelf of beans now! Plus bags of beans or tupperware filled with them take up so much less room than all of the cans in the pantry/laundry room.

Homemade Home and Family Stuff

Home Made Laundry Soap
So I've made homemade powdered Laundry Soap before, but I've had difficulty with it dissolving fully in a top loading washer. When we bought our front loading HE last fall I gave up homemade laundry soap completely. Until a week ago, I made up a batch of Liquid Laundry Soap and its working great. I checked out a ton of different recipes and basically just did what I always did for powdered. I grated a bar of Ivory soap. This time I dissolved it in 2 cups of water, then i stirred in 1 cup each of washing soda (the yellow box, not baking soda in the orange box) and borax. Then I stirred in about a teaspoon of lavender essential oil and enough water to make a gallon. Once it cooled some, I poured it into a wide and deep bowl, because you will have to stir it up every couple of days. Wait about 24 hours before using, it will be a thick gloppy gel. So far it takes about 1/4 Cup per load and I love it. I'm still figuring our how much it costs per load, but a box of washing soda and a box of borax (from Meijers) cost around $7 for both, and Ivory in the 10 packs at Walmart are less than $5.

Home Made Hand Soap For Mom
I told Mom that I would make her liquid hand soap the next time she needed it, and well she was just about out so here it is. Again I checked out a bunch of different recipes and just kinda winged it. So here is my recipe for my first batch. Walgreens had the Yardley soaps on sale for $0.69 each and mom loves the Oatmeal and Almond. So I grated one bar, melted it in 2 cups of water on the stove (I used a whisk). I now know to let it cool until it thickens and then blend in another 2 1/2 cups of warm water, I used an attachment for my immersion blender that I don't normally use. It makes a thick, creamy, kinda whipped handsoap that will still pump from one of the many handsoap pumps that we had around the house. It made enough to fill one hand soap pump and 3 small peanut butter jars. So for $0.69 I made quite a few refills for mom.


Personal Care Stuff
A little over a week ago, I decided to try using baking soda in place of shampoo and apple cider vinegar as a conditioner. So far its working pretty well, the last few days my hair has been a little greasier, but still not too bad. I filled the apple cider vinegar bottle up with cinnamon sticks, some cloves and a few cardamon pods and it smells really spicy and good.
I also have started to use baking soda and cornstarch with lavender oil in place of deodorant and its working just as well at keeping me from smelling funky, I still sweat since it doesn't have an antiperspirant in it, but store bought ap/deodorant didn't always work for me anyways.