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.