The 1st experiments: re-usable disinfectant wipes

I love disinfectant wipes. We go through about 5 packages of the disposable ones a month, which adds up in the long run. Especially when I also have all of the cleaners I could possibly need under the sink. I just like the  convenience of whipping out a wipe, cleaning up the mess, and tossing the dirty thing! But, as I am trying to go cheaper and more natural with my cleaning solutions, I figured I needed to ditch the disposable wipes.

I was really sad to think though that every time my daughter spilled something sticky on the table, I was going to have to get out a spray, a rag or sponge, clean up, and then rinse the rag/sponge and put them and the cleaner away again. I want my easy wiping power! And that is where this recipe comes in!

Using just these few ingredients, I can have my natural cleaning power, and my quick wiping convenience! The original post was pretty approximate in measurements, but here are theirs, and then I will give you the ones I used!

• 1 C water
• 1 squirt castille soap
• 1/4 C vinegar
• 3-4 drops tea tree EO
• 3-4 drops lavender EO
• 2 of Hubby's t-shirts

My wonderful hubby was super-kind and gave me two of his old t-shirts to use in this experiment. The front panel of one was covered in a puffy printed graphic, but the rest was usable. So I used not quite all of 2 large men's shirts, cutting them into irregular shapes in varying sizes. Going with how much we like the adjust-your-paper-towel-size paper towels, I made the rags in small, medium, and large sizes to suit any job. 

I then put them into a large, air-tight Tupperware where I had already added in the above mentioned ingredients. I could immediately see that it wasn't going to be enough liquid, so I sort of doubled the whole mixture. In the end, I used this much of everything:

• 2 C water
• 1/3 C castille soap
• 1/2 C vinegar
• 8 drops tea tree EO
• 8 drops lavender EO

This was enough to dampen all of my rags, and when I used one later on our dining table, it worked great. then I just threw it into the laundry pile, and forgot about it! Brilliant!

I say these are totally worth making! They hold up better for scrubbing than the disposable too, and they smell great! Another experiment success!

**Update**
I am still in love with these. They are the perfect size for mess clean up, I can use them on the tables, the floor, the bathroom sink, and even in the kitchen sink on my dishes and pans. After I use one, I rinse it with water, wring it out well, throw it in the dirty clothes, and wash it in the next load. Then, I just add the clean dry rag back to the bottom of my bucket. I have yet to have to replace the solution mixture, although, I notice it is getting more difficult to get them thoroughly saturated, so I may add another half mix of solution this weekend.  I still totally recommend these!

The 1st experiments: Fabric softener and wrinkle releaser

Sorry for my blogging not being in "real time" with my experiments. I could use the excuses that I work full time and have a kid, but really I am just lazy and got caught up in a Friends marathon Sunday and Monday. But better late than never, right?!?!?!

So here is my take on the fabric softener and wrinkle releaser that I made this past weekend!

First, the fabric softener! I used a recipe that I found at Moneysavingqueen.com. It was super easy to throw together, and smelled divine!

The ingredients called for were:

• 1 C water
• 1 C baking soda
• 2 C white vinegar
• 20 drops EO of choice

You put these into a large bowl, first the water, then baking soda, then essential oil drops, and lastly the vinegar!

For any of you that have ever done the erupting volcano in science class, you know what combining baking soda and vinegar results in...for those of you that didn't, it makes a big-ol' erupting mess! So mix the two together slowly in a big enough bowl. I just used a large mixing bowl and poured very slowly. 

We used eucalyptus and lavender EOs for this one, which resulted in a really nice scent, that smells really clean and fresh. We are not huge floral scent fans, so the eucalyptus is sharp enough to take the frilly trim off the lavender. Once everything was mixed, we poured it all into re-purposed glass jars. Just make sure you give them a good swirl before each use!

As soon as this was finished, hubby man went out and added 1/3 of a cup to our laundry load. The original recipe says to use a half cup, but we really didn't think we would need that much. We line dry, so it isn't like our stuff is ever "Snuggle-fluffy" anyhow. 

It worked great. When we hung the load to dry an hour later, it smelled great, and was just as soft as when we use the commercial stuff. This one was a definitely success and we have added it permanently to our laundry routine! 

For the Wrinkle Releaser, I used a recipe I found on Pinterest. I don't know if you could actually call this a recipe, as it is literally 2 ingredients and 2 steps, but here it is!

1 C water + 1tsp fabric softener 

That's it! Mix it in a sprayer bottle and its done. 

My review on this was again mixed. It worked. But the ease with which it worked did not necessarily make me want to run out and throw my iron into the nearest garbage dump! You spray the shirt liberally, then you have to give it these sharp tugs and shakes and pulls...you kinda have to beat the wrinkles out!

I am going to give it another go, but next time i think I will spray Hubby-man's shirts as they come wet out of the washing machine, then give them a good shake, before hanging them on a hanger to dry. We will see how it goes! 

A confession regarding this recipe. While i think I could definitively have used my homemade fabric softener for it, I had a half a bottle of the store bought stuff left over so I used that instead. It smells really nice, and this way I am not wasting it! It was the only non-natural ingredient I used this weekend!

The 1st experiments: deodorant

Homestead Revival had a simple recipe for homemade deodorant that I gave a go to making yesterday. The recipe called for:

• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/4 corn starch
• 5-6 tablespoons of coconut oil (I used 6)
• 5-20 drops of tea tree oil (I used 10)

I put the dry ingredients in a small tupperware first and shook them about till all mixed. Then I added the 10 drops of tea tree EO and then added the 6 tablespoons of coconut oil and stirred it all together with a wooden chopstick. 

The mixture was definitely paste-like, and I was pleased with the texture. I used it all day yesterday and again today. Hubby-man used it yesterday, but forgot this morning, so didn't put it on till this afternoon. We even let my daughter try it, as she very loudly and vocally let us know she also wanted to give it a go!

Pros: I LOVE the smell...its like a tropical vacation complete with exotic sunblock! You know the smell I mean, right? Also, I noticed it worked better than my normal antiperspirant (yes, I was still using that, hence the switch to natural) at keeping me stink-free. I reapplied twice, once in the afternoon, and once before bed, and made my hubby smell my pits in the am. He was not totally disgusted, so yay! He also smelled nicer than usual today after wearing it for a few hours. The stuff is wicked easy to make, and so much cheaper than the stuff you can buy here (think 25/850 cost jump). 

Cons: It balled up in my pits. It went on fairly smooth, but got chalky almost immediately. I think the oil absorbed right out of the baking soda into my skin. I would not feel comfortable wearing a tank top with this stuff on. However, I think that I can fix this problem by adding more oil, lessening the corn starch, and putting less on. So I will update in a few days when I make a new batch.

Overall, I am well-pleased and I think with just a few minor adjustments I can make this work for myself and my hubby! 

**Update**
Ok, so, the original recipe I used for the deodorant, after about 2 days using it full-time, gave me some nasty skin irritation, which I hear is a fairly common reaction for people to baking soda. It smelled great, and stopped my stink like a champ (even working-out funk was erased), but after two days, it hurt to have any rubbing of my pits at all. So I used the following two variations to attempt to overcome the irritation. The first was not as effective on the stink, but did not cause any irritation at all. I just reapplied frequently. The second gives only minor irritation, and then only when I have a tighter top on that rubs my underarms a lot, and holds back the stink very well. I apply in the am, again right before my work out at 4pm, and then after my evening shower. And I smell like a tropical vacation, rather than old onions! Yay!

Skin issues recovery recipe:
6 TBS coconut oil
1tsp baking soda
4 drops tea tree oil
*mix all ingredients (may have to re-mix each time you use as BS will settle) and apply with fingers as needed

Better daily formula:
8TBS coconut oil
2TBS baking soda
1TBS corn starch
6 drops tea tree oil
*Mix and apply with fingers...should stay pretty well mixed. 

The 1st experiments: mouthwash and room refresher spray

I've put these two together because they were just so flipping easy to make!

For the mouthwash, I did the basic "Baking Soda Mouthwash" from BreathMD. It seemed the easiest, I had all of the ingredients for it, and it was flavors that my hubby-man loves! I mixed all the ingredients in a plastic shaker cup, then funneled the into a small juice bottle for the bathroom, and two smaller bottles for us to carry in our day-bags to work.

Ingredients I used:

• 1cup water
• 1.5 tsp baking soda (original recipe called for 1 tsp, but I like the stuff)
• 4 drops pure peppermint EO
• 4 drops pure tea tree EO

As for the final result, I didn't care for the flavor, but hubby loved it, and as we both cautiously breathed into each others' faces, we had to agree that our breath was pleasant and refreshed smelling. Hubby tested it further tonight when he was cooking dinner. He ate a raw spring onion, rinsed with the wash and then kindly came and surprised me with a big breathy waft in the face. While I could still smell the onion, it was definitely over-powered by the minty freshness of the mouth wash, so the actual experience wasn't as unpleasant as it could have been!

Now that our breath smells great, lets make the house smell good too!

For the room refresher spray I used the recipe for Peppermint Room Spray from "The Prairie Homestead" and it took all of 1 minute to make. The recipe calls for 1 cup water, 1/4 cup vinegar, and 10 drops of peppermint EO.  You combine these in a spray bottle, shake, and spray away!

Results of this one were mixed...If you want to freshen up a room, ala Febreeze, in a hurry, this is not for you.  After I sprayed it around, our room smelled mostly of vinegar...that scent did fade about 5 minutes later and left a pleasant lingering hint of peppermint, but I didn't feel it really cut through the stink like Febreeze or a nice incense stick would have. Next weekend I am going to make my own aromatherapy diffusers, so maybe that will work for covering up the stinky in our place! 

For now, I will just get Hubby-man to breath out a lot and maybe that will make our rooms smell nice!

***Update: The refresher spray works great in the car. You only smell the vinegar for about 20 seconds, then it is peppermint all the way. It is also working better in the house now too. Still a strong vinegar smell at first, but that is dying off quicker, and leaving more peppermint...maybe the solution just had to sit for a day or two to achieve its full potential!

The 1st experiments: liquid dish soap

In our house, we don't have a dishwasher...yes, it totally sucks, even more than not having a dryer (nope, don't have one of those either, thanks Korea). So every single dish is washed by hand...and my hubby, amazing cook that he is, just can't seem to make a meal without using EVERY DISH IN THE HOUSE! So we go through a lot of liquid dish soap!

Hence the second thing I made this weekend was liquid dish soap! Again, it was so easy, and took no time at all. I used this recipe from "The Humbled Homemaker". The ingredients called for were:

• 1/2 cup liquid castille soap 
• 1/8 cup water
• 4 drops EO
• 1 tsp all purpose citrus cleaner (1 tsp vinegar can be substituted)

For the castille soap, I used Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps Baby Mild unscented. In my online sleuthing, this brand was by far the most recommended, and luckily it was available here in Korea. You can use any kind you like though...I am not a brand whore! LOL! I like this one because I can use it for a variety of different things, and I can add whatever smell I like. Also, it works well for my daughter, as she has sensitive skin and scents irritate it. 

For the EO scent, I chose lemon. I like my dishes lemony fresh...reminds me of growing up! I chose to use 6 drops as I really liked the scent, and also, I didn't have the original poster's all purpose citrus cleaner (yet), so needed a bit extra oomph!

As to the all purpose cleaner, I am going to be making that soon, but for now, I just substituted with the distilled white vinegar. It seemed to work great.

I combined all of the ingredients in a shaker then funneled them into a re-purposed juice bottle. 

The final results were a lot more watery than our normal liquid soap, and at first my hubby (who was so sweet as to give it a go whilst he did the dishes) said he used too much, but then he got used to it, and said it was great. He said it got the dishes just as clean, made some suds (not as many as the commercial stuff we had been using), and smelled awesome. He also said it left his hands feeling quite soft! 

I think we will probably go through this a bit faster, as it is more watery, but as cheap as it is to make, and being so easy and quick to throw together, I think this counts as another success, and we will not be buying any more liquid dish soap in the future! Yay!

**Update**
Ok, not quite the success I thought at first. It gets the dishes really clean, and smells great, but it is so watery that we went through it insanely quickly--in less than two weeks. The same amount in the store bought would have lasted us at least 2 months. Since the store bought is only $2.50 (approx. exchange rate) here, and the homemade dish soap is made almost entirely of Castille soap (my most expensive homemade ingredient), I think we will continue to use the store bought for now.

If you are in in for health/environmental/going all natural reasons, it is a lovely soap. We are in it for the savings though, and this one just doesn't save enough.

The 1st experiments: liquid hand soap

So, this weekend I made the following, all from scratch*:

• liquid hand soap
• liquid dish soap
• mouthwash
• deodorant
• fabric softener
• wrinkle releaser*
• room refresher spray
• re-usable disinfectant wipes
• shampoo

(* The wrinkle releaser was actually made from store bought fabric softener. I had a little bit left over, but wanted to switch to the homemade stuff, so am using it for the wrinkle releaser until it is gone, then I will switch to the homemade fabric softener for that recipe as well...waste not, save more!)

Here's how these first ones worked out. 

Let me start by saying that not one of these products took more than 10 minutes to make. The one requiring the most time was the liquid hand soap, because it needed to be grated then melted on the stove. It then had to cool, but did that all on its own, with no help from me! :-)

So let's start with that one, as it is the one I started with yesterday! Here is the lovely blog where I got my recipe from.

I used a bar of NUK brand moisturizing baby soap with chamomile and grated it into a big bowl. It took about 3 minutes to get the whole bar done and I ended up with just over 1 cup of soap flakes. I then added 1 Tbs of vegetable glycerin, 6 drops of tea tree oil for the antiseptic properties, 10 cups of tap water and stirred the whole thing up. 

I then poured that into a big stew pot that I have reserved for this purpose (won't be used for food anymore), and turned the heat on. The recipe called for medium heat and said it would take about 2 minutes but I was nervous about burning it (I am a lousy cook and hubby man is usually the one who uses the stove) so i set the heat to low. After about 4 minutes, the stuff still wasn't melted, so I turned the heat up, and then it really did only take about 2 minutes. So the mid-heat level seems to definitely be the way to go! I just kept stirring the mixture sporadically whilst it was on the heat. 

After all of the soap flakes had melted, and the mixture was looking very cloudy I took it off the heat and set it aside to cool. It was very watery, and I was worried that it wouldn't work very well, but hoped maybe it would thicken as it cooled. Then I left it to its own devices and went on to a different project.

After about 2 hours, I came back to it and it had cooled completely,  but was still very watery. So I took a spoon and scooped some out and dumped it on my hands...oh my...it was so soft and made my hands feel so good and it smelled amazing. So I got my hubby to hold 2 re-purposed plastic soap dispensers and funneled the mixture into them, then put the left-overs into a re-purposed coke zero bottle. This recipe made enough to fill the two soap dispensers, and the 2L coke bottle. So I won't need to make more for awhile. 

It was still really watery, but about two hours later, when I went to wash my hands, I noticed the mixture had thickened up in the dispensers. It is now a great consistency, although it does come out better if you give the bottle a quick shake before pumping it out!

I love this homemade soap, and I think, depending on the bar soap you use, you could tailor the smell and qualities to your personal tastes. If you give it a go with a different brand, let me know how it works out!

**Update**
The consistency of this soap continued to thicken. It is now very snot like, and you have to be careful to grab it away from the dispenser or it just dribbles down. I still like the smell, but it doesn't lather very well, and you need to use about two pumps for it to be enough to wash your hands. I have a ton made, so will keep using it, but if I were to do it again, I would lower the amount of glycerin, I think. Or try a different recipe altogether. But hubby still likes it, and it does the job. Just a bit awkwardly!

Weekend fun to ensue!

So all of my supplies arrived today, just in time for an awesome "pocket crabs homemaking" weekend! As my very practical hubby pointed out, we still have 2.5 tubes of toothpaste left, so I won't be making any of that this weekend, but hopefully the toothpaste experiment will come soon!

The rest of my list is a go though! Have a gander at what I will be attempting to whip up this weekend with help from Hubby-man and the Nimmer!

• mouthwash
• deodorant
• peppermint shampoo
• daily shower spray
• washing powder
• fabric softener
• wrinkle releaser spray
• liquid hand soap
• liquid dish soap
• room freshening spray
• aroma diffuser
• all-purpose cleaner
• bath, sink and tile cleaner
• antibacterial spray
• multi-purpose citrus cleaner
• and disinfectant wipes!

This weekend, and probably into next week if I am honest, I will post my experiences making all of these, along with links to the recipes I used. I might even start including pictures, if I can figure out what I am doing with blogger! :-)

Super excited for the weekend to begin!!!

On another note, I am on day 3 of not using shampoo anymore! My hair is looking great. It is still not as soft as when I used to wash and dry it with regular shampoo, but it is shinier, and fuller, and holds its shape and style so much better. 

Hubby-man pointed out that it feels a little dry, so I might play around with the amount of vinegar I am using and see if that helps. Right now, I am still using the 8oz water/1TBS of vinegar solution, so I might double the vinegar and see how it goes. Will report back soon!