Random Update

All the nice weather we've been having has really cramped my motivation to do much inside my house therefore I haven't tried much lately.  I thought I'd post an update on what's on my mental list.

• After I tried tea tree oil for my sinuses I stated researching essential oils.  I decided I wanted to purchase some other oils mainly to use in my homemade cleaning products.  I found a beginner set of essential oils on Amazon that I want and was planning on using the Amazon gift cards I earned from Swagbucks but I needed one more to be able to get my essential oils for free.  Wouldn't you know the one I had been waiting on posted to my account overnight so today I buy!
  
• This morning when I woke up I started the milk in my crockpot to make greek yogurt.  It sounds like an easy process just a long one.  I can't wait to try it when it's done.
  
• I'm pretty much out of lotion.  I can't not put lotion on every day.  I feel gross without it.  I was going to try to make my own but then I came cross lotion bars.  I really like the idea of a bar.  So today I am going to look for the ingredients to make lotion bars.  Here are a couple I'm considering although I'm not crazy about the first one since it uses vegetable shortening.
• http://myellowumbrella.blogspot.com/2012/02/homemade-lotion-bars-and-lip-balm.html
• http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/04/make-your-own-lotion-bars.html

• Back in the day my parents stocked up on food.  They still have a ton of whole wheat grain in their basement sealed up in buckets.  They have a grain mill too and my mom used to make wheat pancakes and such with it.  I'm going to try it....someday.  They also have jars of was pure raw honey.  I was shocked to learn that honey does not go bad!  So I have a big jar of honey sitting on my counter that I need to de-crystallize.  I guess honey has all kinds of uses too.  So you may start seeing a lot of posts about it.
  
• Lastly, I'm about to give on my homemade dishwasher detergent.  :(  It worked great the first time I used it so I'm not sure if I'm getting the cloudy film on my glasses because it clumped up or what.  I'm trying all the tricks I've been reading.  I'll keep trying until I'm out of what I've made up but so far, for me, I think it's a fail and I'm bummed.

So there you have it.  Tomorrow morning if all goes well I should be eating homemade greek yogurt!  I'll keep you posted!

Tea Tree Oil

Like many people the spring brings me sinus congestion and headaches. The past couple of days I have had a stuffed up nose and huge headache and no pain medication in the house. Well today I went to the store and bought some ibuprofen but failed to get anything for sinus headaches.

This evening I of course had a huge headache but then remembered hearing about tea tree oil for sinuses. So I sniffed some. My headache started to ease. I then dabbed the oil in my nostrils and I can now breathe and the headache is gone. It seemed to work far faster than the ibuprofen would have.

Tea Tree Oil apparently has many uses. I intend to read up on it and start using it more often!

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent - UPDATE

Although I was very satisfied how well my homemade dishwasher detergent cleaned my dishes, I was quite disappointed how MUCH it clumped just in one day.  Apparently the rice trick does not work.  See:

This is my container upside down.

This morning I decided to declump (yes i know, that's not really a word) the detergent.  It took me a while to get out into a bowl.  It kind of looks like feta cheese doesn't it?  I assure you it's not.  

As I was breaking up all the clumps I got to wondering if I could just turn it into a liquid dishwasher detergent.  I first looked online to see if other people had tried this and though I did find very few recipes for a liquid version none of them had the same ingredients that I had used in my dry version.  So I scooped out 1/4 cup of it into another bowl.  And taking the logic that when making liquid laundry detergent you dissolve all the ingredients into hot water I tried that.  I didn't want to make a huge batch at first in fear that it did not work so using my Keurig coffee maker I put a 1 cup measuring cup underneath it and hit the largest setting.  I got over a cup.  I slowly poured water into the bowl.  Woah! It fizzed and bubble super quick, so quick I couldn't get a picture.  It was quite watery.  So I added another 1/4 cup.  Same thing, fizzed and bubbled.  (I determined I added approximately 1/4 cup water)  As I stirred it I thought it would be a flop because it was so watery.  I set it aside because my littlest midget needed attending to, go figure.  I kept looking at the detergent and stirring it. It was getting thicker, and thicker, more like the liquid detergent you buy in the store.  Hmm, it might just work after all!  Sadly though I had run the dishwasher first thing when I got up so I cannot try it out yet.

This is shortly after I mixed the detergent and water.

Hard to see how thin it is here.

Thicker still.

Getting thicker.

And thicker still.

After it got thick I poured it, well spooned it into an empty Karo syrup bottle I had.  It thought it would be perfect since it had a somewhat large opening to squeeze out.  If this works and I do it again, I will pour it into the bottle before it thickens up.

Now you'll just have to wait for me to dirty up some dishes to find out the results!

EDIT: After I got done typing all this I checked the bottle and it had thickened up so much that it would come out.  So I added another 1/4 cup water.  Too thin again and never really thickened.   I ended up adding a tablespoon of detergent at a time, I think I added 3 more tbsp. to it and it seemed the right consistency I was going for.  It coats the bottle when I swirl it around.  I was able to fill up my dishwasher enough to test it out and it's currently running with one formula scoop worth.  I'll check back in later for final results!

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I caved and made my first batch of dishwasher detergent today. Even though I still have store bought left I couldn't contain my curiosity and used it in the load I just started. I can't wait for the results!!


When researching recipes for this I saw several comments about how it can get clumpy.  It was suggested to either use those little silicone gel packs that usually come with a new pair of shoes or rice wrapped in cheesecloth.  Since I tend to throw out those gel packs I opted for the rice.  And the scoop, it's from a can of baby formula.  I knew I saved some for a reason!

RESULTS:

DISHES ARE CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN!

I'm hoping I get the same results consistently.

1 cup Borax

1 cup Super Washing Soda

1/2 cup Kosher salt

1/2 cup Lemi Shine

Mix it all up.  I did one formula scoop worth.  Not sure how much that actually is, probably around a tablespoon or two.  Also added vinegar to the rinse aid compartment.

Super easy.  Super cheap.

Homemade Disinfecting Wipes - UPDATE

I used up all of my disinfecting wipes last week and as I was looking up the recipe again I saw this recipe.  I looked at the article she referenced about mixing vinegar and castille soap.  I did notice when I mixed up my first batch that it got clumpy and now I know why.  So my new batch of homemade disinfecting wipes includes water, rubbing alcohol, and a bit of dish soap.  I did not have ammonia or Dawn so I just used the soap I had.  I do like them however, I don't like the suds it produces. I am not sure if that is the result of not using Dawn or not.


As I was looking at glass cleaner recipes I noticed it had basically the same ingredients as these wipes just not the soap.  So my next batch I plan on leaving out the soap, adding the ammonia and using them as all-purpose wipes for counters AND glass.


I have definitely enjoyed having these wipes on hand! It's definitely a keeper!