Frugal Fridays: Homemade Laundry Detergent **UPDATE**

UPDATE: Since our local Times Supermarket removed Washing Soda from their shelves, there's only one other place I know of that sells Washing Soda.  It's a 20 min drive so I need to make sure that I make that trip worth it.  BUT guess what I found....

Homemade Washing Soda!  Can you believe it? WOW!!!

So for those of us who live on the island of Oahu, you can either drive to Ace Hardware in Kapolei or try your hand at this.  I will for sure try this out once our Washing Soda stock is gone (I bought the remaining boxes at Times since they were only $2 a box).

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I am so EXCITED to share this with you!! I've been wanting to post about this for sometime now but needed time to try it out myself.

I knew, prior to moving to Hawaii, that things would be more expensive.  All the essentials cost just a little more.   Laundry detergent is no exception.  So in my search to find a less expensive way to wash the mountain of laundry that constantly appears in my home, I found this: DIY Laundry Detergent.   There is a liquid detergent recipe for those of you who like liquid.  I actually prefer liquid but the recipe made 5 gallons and since I'm limited with my storage, I opted to go with making a dry version.  It works perfectly fine!

It's been 3 months since I started making my own detergent and to be honest. I will never buy store brand detergent again! Laundering my clothes this way has saved us lots of dollars! I anticipate it saving us lots more down the line.

OK, OK...I won't hold you in suspense any longer.  Here's how you do it:

Step 1: Gather your ingredients / supplies together

~ 1 cup of Arm 'n Hammer WASHING SODA (not baking soda)

~ 1 cup of Borax

~ 1 bar of soap (the link above says Fels-Naptha but I found it to be too fragrant so I used Ivory)

~ grater

~ a tablespoon measuring spoon

~ an airtight container

Step 2: Grate the soap

**Becareful! It's sharp!

 *It's really fast to do

Step 3:  Add the 1 cup Washing Soda + 1 cup Borax

Step 4: Mix the ingredients together. I use the grater to do this.

Tada! You're done!!

Super, super easy!! I'm teaching my kids how to make this.  If they can make it, so can you!

Happy Laundering :D

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Frugal Friday: "OK...I got nothing."

Sorry folks...I got nothing this week.  I've been kinda of busy getting the kids ready to transition from homeschooling to public school.  But I do want to make sure I say something....


Hi Mom!!! 

I found out that my mom does read my blogs!! So...

a big ALOHA to you Nana!!

Frugal Fridays: Ant Spray

Prior to moving to Hawaii we were informed of the many bugs that we'll be introduced to. I completely underestimated these little critters! The ants....oh...let me tell you about these ants. There are at least 3 different species of ants that I've seen, I'm sure there's many more. You've got your regular ants, ants with giant heads and super tiny little ants.  We've managed to keep the other bugs out, PRAISE GOD!! But these ants, they just keep coming back!

We're not foreign to ant problems so I've had a few tricks that I've tried before. I suppose you can just go out to the store and buy some ant spray but why do that when you've got everything you need in your house.  Here are a few things you can try to rid your home of these ants or at least keep them under control:

• Don't leave food out (Basic common sense, I know! But we forget sometimes, right?)
• Don't leave open food containers...open. Put them in sealable containers or large ziploc bags. (This may be extreme for some, but to me I'd rather be safe than sorry.)
• Chalk:  I didn't know why ants don't cross over chalk lines but here's what I found "Chalk is made of of calcium carbonate, a nontoxic substance. It doesn't repel ants or immediately kill them. Ants would prefer to avoid crossing chalk if possible, because the chalk particles can puncture their skin and SLOWLY kill them by dehydration."
• Baby Powder: Works like the chalk but I found that if the ants are super desperate they'll cross them.
• Cayenne Pepper: Make a paste of cayenne pepper and water then smear it where the ants are. (Caution: wear gloves!!)
• Vinegar: Along with the many uses of vinegar, can you believe it repells ants too!!! I pour it into a spray bottle and spray the critters. And it's safe to use around your food! Thanks to my friend Anne L. for this super cool trick!

So there you have it! My favorite thing to use is definately the vinegar. Works like a charm!

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***UPDATE: (FREE FRIDAYS: Intro) now FRUGAL FRIDAYS

After much thought, "Free Fridays" will become "Frugal Fridays" since there aren't too many things for free anymore. Granted there are "no-strings-attached-free" things but for the most part there's a little bit of money that has to be put down. Let's just go ahead and call it FRUGAL FRIDAYS!! Yay!

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I do my best to be as frugal as I possibly can.  If I can find something FREE (or close to free) it puts a huge smile on my face and on our bank account.  Yes I know bank accounts can't smile but you get what I mean.

So I wanted to start a new series on my blog called "FREE FRIDAYS" where I'll post things that are for FREE or at least close to FREE! If you find something free you'd like to share, feel FREE (hahaha) to comment or message me, I'd love to post it : D

HAPPY FREE FRIDAY!

Foam Soap

I AM SO VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS!!

I was purusing through my sister in law's blog when I saw this really cool blog.  This gal is my kind of gal! She can take something "normal" and make it into something spectacular!  I got this idea from her and I've been wanting to try for sometime now.  Our soap bottles were finally empty and I jumped right in on the opportunity.

Is it weird that I get really excited about things like this? [long pause].....maybe...but I don't care! It's cool!

So, in our household we like to use foam soap simply because we have small kids, they like foam and they don't waste it like they do with regular liquid soap.  BUT foam soap is a bit more expensive than regular liquid soap.  I finally found this solution to make it last:

STEP 1: Gather your "ingredients" and "tools"
-Empty FOAM soap dispenser

-Your favorite liquid soap. We bought ours at our local Bed, Bath & Beyond for $1 each!

-WARM water

-Measuring cup

-Plastic spoon

STEP 2: Measure

You want to do 90% WARM water to 10% soap (see how long your soap can last!!!).

STEP 3: Stir
With your plastic spoon (or whatever stirring tool you have) stir SLOWLY and carefully.

STEP 4: Carefully pour it into your empty bottle.
**Sorry no picture. I couldn't take a picture and pour it at the same time :) **

STEP 5: Pump it up!
Give it a couple of pumps and you've got foam soap!!

STEP 6: Enjoy the foam soap that you just made! Better yet, SMILE, because you just saved some money!

Foam soap...for pennies on the dollar!! LOVE IT!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

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