Fabric Sofener

I have heard

1/4-1/2 cup vinegar in your washer when doing a load will soften clothes. (Rinse Cycle)  You can throw in some baking soda to help the job along as well.

*Have not tested it yet.

Laundry Detergent

I based my recipe off of one found at diynatural.com
Their recipie
1 C Borax
1 C Washing Soda
1 Bar (4.5 oz) of shaved soap.  (Ivory and Fels-Naptha is what I used)

I added 1/4 C baking soda as well and added  about 1/3 cup vinegar to the washer as a fabric softener.

I made a large batch so it looked something like this

5 C Borax
5 C Washing Soda
5 Bars grated soap
2 1/2-3 Cups Baking soda

Mix in bucket.  Use 1-2 Tbsp per load.


 Grate your soap!  I tried using a food processor at first and ended up with a clumpy mess.  The Ivory soap comes out as fine shavings (When using a fine grater) that fall apart as you mix.  The Fels-Naptha grates into a powder just as fine as the rest of your ingredients.  This was my prefered.  The grating does take awhile, especially with five bars of soap, but this makes enough for A LOT of loads of laundry.  So if you think it only takes 30 minutes or less for months and months and months of soap it's not all that bad.

To test this recipe I used my dirty towels and rags.

Washing the Hair

Experimenting with different ways to wash my hair, was something I have done in the past.  See oatmeal shampoo.

It's not my favorite thing to do, but sometimes the opportunity presents itself:

So I ran out of my favorite conditioner earlier in the week and did not want to run to the store- I avoid that place.

Anyway, the other conditioner left my hair feeling gross, plus I realized there are probably a lot of hard water and soap build up on my hair.  Time to experiment!

I mixed baking soda with my shampoo until I had a paste. Washing your hair with this supposedly takes out the junk.  I then did a vinegar rinse.  About 1-2 Tbsps apple cider vinegar mixed in about a cup of warm water.  One site said not to wash this out, but I didn't want to leave it.  Even though people say it doesn't smell after it has dried.  Couldn't do it.

The results-

My hair soft, even without conditioner, but incredibly frizzy.  (Perhaps because I washed the vinegar out, perhaps because of weather.)

Conclusion-

Fun experiment, nice to get the junk out, now where's the conditioner bottle thank you.



No Shampoo-
There is all sorts of things floating around the internet about washing you hair without shampoo (baking soda and vinegar are big, so is just conditioner.)  I tried just conditioner for a while and, yes, it gets your hair clean, but I was using twice as much to do it.  Back to the old shampoo and conditioner routine.

Unless anyone has anything better?

Oatmeal Playdough

For little ones who stick everything in their mouth...

Playdough!

1/2 water
1/2 flour
1 C oats

Mix flour and water well and add 1 C oats.  Mix until it is mush.  Add food coloring to the flour mixture if you would like.

If it is too sticky add more flour, to hard, more water.  I ended up adding about 1/4 cup more flour to ours.




I had more fun playing with this than my toddler did.  She was content to play in the flour I spread on the table while mixing the sticky dough.

Which gave me the idea to start posting fun activities you can do with little ones as well.  Look for these to come...

Saving Money by Staying Home

This isn't one of my normal post days- which are Tuesdays and Thursdays- but I had this topic on my mind.

I know staying at home saves money, yes having no income may even save more money than what your lost income brought in.  I understand not everyone has the luxury of staying home, but for two parent families this may be something to consider.

Here is a great article of how much one family saves by a parent staying home- $29,000 dollars in savings. Written in 2007 so figures may be even higher now.

The Simple Dollar- The Real Value of Stay at Home

• When I had our little one I chose to stay home, our food bill dropped by about $50 dollars too. (And keeps getting lower as I have time to learn to make the scratch.) 
• We did not go the cloth diaper route, but even being home with disposable saves money.  Many Day Care centers are required to change a diaper every two hours whether the kid needs it or not.
• Speaking of day care, the cost has gone up, in my state the average spent for in home care was $5040- and it was higher for a day care.  The low end is $2-4 dollars an hour, out of your paycheck to have someone else raise your child.
• Our gas bill dropped too, probably by $75 a month, instead of increasing for the extra travel time it would take to get our child to a day care.  Plus, as the article mentions, it saves on wear and tear on the car.
• Staying at home also allowed me to breastfeed.  A low estimate for how much it takes to formula feed a child for one year (all other food excluded) was $1138.50.  If you don't have time to make baby food it's not cheap either.
• Plus you have the benefit of being the one to raise your child, knowing what happened in their day. Watching them learn and do things for the first time (huge in the first year).

People can live on less than they think they can.

Zucchini Bread

My mom's recipe for all those too big zucchini's  (Or the ones your neighbors leave on your doorstep.)

Zucchini Bread

Beat

3 eggs

2 c sugar

1 c oil

Add

2 c grated zucchini

3 tsp vanilla

3 ½ c flour

¼ tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Bake at 350 in greased bread pans for 50 mins. Makes 2 loaves

Sweet Peach Salsa

I enjoy salsa.  When I was pregnant it seemed I could not get enough of it.  If only I would have known how easy it was to make mine own.

I must admit, I don't follow a recipe, I just throw things in until I like the taste of it.  If I did have a recipie it might look something like this.

Peach Salsa
(All of these only need to be coarsely chopped so they fit in your food processor)
3-5  Roma tomatoes chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper seeded and chopped
1/2 medium onion chopped
2 tsp lime juice
2 TBSP Cilantro or more
1/2 TBSP Sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
2-3 small peaches (pitted and chopped)

You can add green peppers if you want instead of peaches for a spicier salsa. I'd omit the sugar for that too.

Place ingredients in a food processor.  Pulse until desired consistency and enjoy.  Refrigerating brings out the flavors if you can wait to eat your salsa.

Marshmallow Popcorn

YUMMY!
Found this recipe:

1/2 cup unpopped popcorn
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 bag mini marshmallows


Why so many halves, just double it.

1. Pop popcorn
2. Heat other stuff on the stove over medium heat until marshmallows are melted
3. Pour delicious goodness over popcorn, stir with spoon.
4. Happy Eating!

*It will be sticky and hot, avoid touching with hands while mixing.  The longer it sits the less sticky it becomes.

Very good!

Vinegar Wash

Baking Soda and Vinegar never cease to amaze me.  I love them!

You know those expensive fruit and vegetable washes you see in the store?  Don't buy them!

Mix 1 part vinegar with 2 part water and you have your own fruit and vegetable wash solution.  Spray on or soak your soft fruits in the vinegar solution.  Gets rid of bugs and unwanted junk on your produce.

I have also heard mix 1/2 and 1/2.  If you want a stronger solution go for it.



My mom, who did not spray her peach trees, did this vinegar soak and said the bug came squirming out as fast as they could, and she was able to wash them down the drain.  No bugs to worry about while cutting up your fruit.  I like that idea. (Even if you may have bug eaten parts to pick through still.)