adventures within a white picket fence: April 2012

Thanks to lack of money and pinterest (and maybe a good friend Megan Jadwin), I've decided to make my own cleaning products as much as I can. I'm not doing this to be green, to save the earth, to recycle every morsel of leftover trash or to live in complete fear that cleaning products are going to cause my kids to grow extra eyes, I'm simply doing it to save money, period. Hugging trees gets my shirts dirty, I'm not one of those. But if you are, like my awesome sister in law Jenny, then maybe you might do some of these tricks too. I even ~~made~~ asked my husband nicely to help out (really it was one of his money saving ideas too, glad we were on the same boat because I was going to do it anyways).

Homemade Laundry Detergent (fine for HE washers too)

2 cups Borax
2 cups Arm & Hammer WASHING Soda (not baking soda!)
1 bar Fels Nap soap
--all found in laundry aisle of Walmart. Borax $4 Washing soda $3 Fels Nap $.97 (the Borax & Washing Soda boxes make several batches, so it will end up saving me money)

First, grate Fels Nap soap. Hubby cut it into chunks, I popped the chunks into the grater part of the Cuisinart (wedding gift going to good use!), then when I realized it wasn't a fine enough powder, I put the metal blade in the cuisinart and grinded it up into a much smaller powder (i'm sure a blender or small electric food chopper will do the same).

Put that into a plastic container, and add in the Borax and Washing Soda. Mix well, toss in a cheap tablespoon measurer and there you go.

1 tablespoon for regular loads
2 tablespoons for extra dirty loads

Homemade Cleaning Wipes

1 roll paper towel (I used Viva "tough when wet", I thought it was appropriate... $1.97
1 tall cheap plastic food storage container (big enough to fit 1/2 of the paper towel roll, 2 for $2.48 at Walmart is the size I used)
Vinegar ($2 and change for this huge one)

Cut the paper towel in half using an electric knife (or hubby's saw of some sort if you can).

Put 1/2 paper towel roll into a tall plastic cheap food storage container. Pour in solution. For general cleaning, I used 2 cups Vinegar & 2 cups water. Let soak for a few hours to absorb all the liquid, you may need to add more or less depending on the absorbency of your paper towels.

It will look like this

Pull the cardboard out of the center

And viola! You have wipes. I have also seen people drill holes into the top of the plastic container, but we hubby doesn't have that bit for his drill so opening the container will work for us.

I did use a couple to test them out. They are thin and long, not a square like I'm used to. They work well though, despite the vinegar smell. Next time I may add essential oil to the cleaning solution, but for now i don't know what that is or where to find it at walmart. And for ~$1 for 70 wipes, not bad since Clorox can run $3 for 35!

Happy cleaning!

{UPDATE: I don't think the homemade laundry cleaner works as well as the store stuff, nor do the homemade wipes. I find myself using twice as many wipes, or rewashing laundry... so for now... I'm sticking with the store bought products}

Well, it's been 1 week since we moved into the house. It's an organized chaos. Thanks to our amazing friends who helped us move (shout out to Adam & Kelly, Tyler & Dani, Rick & Kendra, Keya & Bryce, Adam, Dana). We realized we have way too much junk, and to avoid realizing that ever again, I'm pretty sure we are going to stay put and never move again in the foreseeable future. All the more reason to make this house our dream home :)

For now I will post the pre-moving pictures, our blank slate and space requiring some serious elbow grease. Feel free to submit ideas for what to do, and stay tuned for projects, room by room.