Just My o"PIN"ion on Homemade Foam Soap!

I will admit that I love my foam soap from that big chain that has tons and tons of fabulous smells! I only buy it when they are having their great sale and of course with a coupon, but I am trying to live frugally, so I thought I would give this homemade version a try from GOODEness Gracious.com.

Supplies:
All you need is an old foaming bottle that has been emptied out and any other soap you choose. You could use Dawn, baby soap, or something like the Softsoap I used. I was able to get mine at Dillon's for FREE one week and it's just been sitting around because I have been stocked up on those fancy soaps from that big chain. However, Softsoap or the store brand usually go on sale for $1.00 several times a year! Oh, and you need water!

Directions:
I was using a bottle that was 8.75 ounces. Since the recipe says 1 part soap to 5 parts water, I just took that number and divided it by 6. (If you are a Math teacher and this is wrong, please don't judge me.) I rounded up and needed to put 1.5 ounces of soap in the bottle and then fill it the rest of the way with water. Then I shook it a bit and tried it out!

The Verdict:
It worked great and since I used a yummy smell of Softsoap, it smelled yummy too! I literally paid nothing for the soap and I still have enough Softsoap for about 4 more batches! It would probably average out to maybe $.20 cents a bottle if you got the soap for $1.00! Now that is frugal living!

Here are some pictures of the process:

Just My o"PIN"ion On Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ever since I announced that I started making my own laundry detergent, I've had tons of people ask for me the recipe and even more people wanting to know what I thought of it. So, I thought this was perfect for this week's Just My o"PIN"ion post!
I went with the simple recipe from DIYNatural.com because it was SO SIMPLE! Just 3 ingredients and a little elbow grease!

Supplies:
Did I say just 3 ingredients? You will need Borax, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda and I chose Fels-Naptha as my bar soap but you can chose between others. You will also need a grater, a container to store it in, a measuring spoon and I use my food processor.

Directions:
Basically you grate your bar soap into a container. Add 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of the washing soda and combine until well blended. What I do next is stick it in my food processor. I wanted mine to be really fine and well blended. The food processor did the trick! Next time I am going to see if I can just cut the bar soap into bigger pieces and then see if it will grate it for me! Then just add 1 tbsp. per load of laundry. I might add a little more if it's a really dirty load but otherwise I've stuck to those measurements.

My Experience:
I LOVE this stuff! It is well worth the elbow grease of grating the bar soap! Mine has lasted me for well over a month and I am just now out. So I think it lasts a little longer than my big $15.00 jug of Tide that I used to use. On average, you will be saving $0.16 per load! That little bit adds up when you use it over time. Think about it! I average 2 loads a day, so that is about $0.32 a day. Over a year, you will save over $100.00 my choosing homemade! Plus, it cleans very well and I would choose it over store brand any day. I still use my stain remover for stains but I am looking into a homemade recipe for that too! I'm hooked. I don't think I'll ever go back. On another note...my children and husband have very sensitive skin and even eczema. This laundry soap doesn't bother anybody. It is extremely gentle that I even clean the babies clothes with it. Have I said I LOVE this stuff?

I hope you give it a shot. There are many other recipes, including liquid soap recipes as well that you can try. You can find more information about HE front load washers in the above DIY link. Please know that I use an older top load washer so I have no experience with the fancier models!

I'm off to go make a double batch now! Tune in next week for another Just My o"PIN"ion!

Just My o"PIN"ion on Fancy Nails Made Easy!

I am sure if you are on Pinterest you have seen all the really cool nail designs people are coming up with. There is everything you can imagine when it comes to nails. I am sure nail salons across the country are very excited about the latest craze! However, I'm cheap and frugal, so I wanted to do a simple, subtle fancy nail on my own. I don't mine going crazy on my feet, but I prefer subtle colors on my fingers, which usually is just a'natural! I ran across this idea from The Beauty Department and knew this was what I wanted to try for one of my posts.

Supplies:
All you need is two colors of nail polish, some hole reinforcements (I found at Target) and I also used some Quick Dry polish too. Simple enough!!

Directions:
Everything was very simple to follow. It's pretty much painting your nails, so if you can do that, you can do this!

My Experience:
This was very easy to do and had pretty good results. I made sure my first color was nice and dry before I started putting the stickers on. Like over an hour dry! When it came to the stickers, the thumb was tricky. One sticker isn't big enough, so you have to use two which created a shape that wasn't perfect, but it's not really that noticeable when done. Make sure your stickers are really pressed on. I didn't mess up anything when I peeled them off, just do it slowly. The end result was pretty good, but I would stick with light colors until you become a pro. If I had hot pink for my tips, you would probably see the flaws much more easily. However, due to the light color, all you see is pretty! I'm won over!! I'll be doing this again!

Here are some pictures of the process:

Just My o"PIN"ion on Ribbon Headbands!

Welcome to my new series where I try something I've pinned on Pinterest and tell you my o"PIN"ion on it. I have probably 100's of pins on my various boards and yet I've completed just a few. There are so many cute things out there but most of them I wonder...is it really that easy, will that really taste good, and is this really worth the time and effort to get all my supplies out? I am going to help answer those question one pin at a time.

So first up...Ribbon Headbands from The Crafty Scientist. I decided to try something easy this week in hopes that if it went well, you can get in the spirit and complete something quick and easy yourself.

So here's the scoop on if these little guys are worth it.

Supplies- Simple enough! Just 2 rubber bands, ribbon, needle, thread and a candle or flame. It says a measuring tape or ruler, but I found no need for that really. I think it's because I'm gifted;) LOL!

Directions- Pretty Clear. The rubber band knot step is easier if you just do it and not look at the directions in my opinion. The pictures confused me for about 20 seconds and so I just did it without looking and got it.

My experience-
First of all, I am not a sewer. I couldn't find my sewing kit so I grabbed my scrapbooking needle which is about 6 inches long so that really made my sewing skills look like that of a 4 year olds, but hey, I'm ok with that.

This project would have been finished in about 5-10 minutes if I didn't have a couple of turds for children that have to make my life hard at times that I'm trying to keep it very easy. See pictures below.

Here are some pictures from my crafty experience:

I told you I wasn't the best sewer! Got things a little tangled at first.

This would be the part of the experience that took the longest. Helping my lovely 3 year old roll up all that ribbon again!

Ta-Da...All Done!

The Verdict- Very easy, very simple, fast craft that is worth the few minutes to make. I would suggest making it tighter than you think you might need it. Mine is a little loose. I think this would be adorable for little girls and what an easy, cheap way to match any outfit they have!

Frugal Friday Tip- Previous Tips Revisited!

Photo Courtesy of Firehow.com

This week we will revisit a few of my previous Frugal Tips!


*After boiling water for pasta, let the water cool down and water your flowers with it!

*To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Clear Nail Polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them!

*Get your candles to last longer by chilling them! This is an old trick that is used by frugal people and the candle companies themselves. Chilling the candles before you use them makes the wax burn more slowly and evenly. Some say that the best way to do this is to freeze the candles for 24 hours before burning them. Others say that just storing them in the refrigerator for eight hours before you burn them is enough to do the trick.

*Think of what you can cut in half and still get a full use out of! For example-I had some Disposable Face Wash clothes that I had gotten on sale for very little and cut them in half. I could still wash my entire face with one but now I was getting double the usage!! Other ideas: dryer sheets, cleaning wipes, baby wipes.

Ace Hardware-FREE Quart of Paint Every Saturday In March!

Ace Hardware is giving away FREE quarts of paint every Saturday in March. All you need to do is go like their Facebook Page or go online to their website and print the coupon!

This is great for small projects that you find on Pinterest! I swear I am addicted to that website!

Thanks to my friend Patrick, an ACE Hardware manager, for sharing this deal with me!