Make Your Own Laundry Detergent Don't laugh! Making your own laundry detergent is quick and easy and will save you tons of money. I first made this laundry detergent here, but I have refined it a bit and I love my new concoction. Supplies Needed: One 55oz Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Walmart) (you will use one cup) One 76 oz box of Borax (Target) (you will use one cup) One 14.1 oz Bar of Zote Soap (Walmart) (you will use 1/4 of the bar) One small bottle of lavender essential oil (I had some on hand) (optional) Downy Unstopables (1 cap full) One large pot (it should hold at least one gallon of liquid) Cheese Grater Two - One gallon buckets with lids - Argee Corporation Versa-Tainer (Smith's) Instructions: Cut the Zote Soap bar in half and grate with a cheese grater. Place gratings in bottom of large pot. Measure in 128 oz (1 gallon) of water into the large pot. Turn on the heat to medium high. Stir occasionally until the soap is completely Continue Reading
Archives for January 2016
How to Make Foaming Hand Soap
How to Make Foaming Hand Soap One way that I save money at my house is to buy items on sale or on clearance. One of my favorite clearance items is liquid hand soap at Bath & Body Works. My favorite is the foaming hand wash and it retails for $5.50 each. However, I usually buy a bunch when they are on sale and can sometimes get them for $3.00 - $3.75 each. However, I wondered if I could make hand soap myself for even cheaper! I found two small soap bars that I had collected from my hotel stays over the years. These soap bars are approximately 1.3 ounces a piece. I decided to see how much soap I could make from these two small bars. Here is what I did: Grate the soap using the fine side of my grater. This makes it easier for the soap and water to mix. Put the soap shavings and 2 1/2 cups of water into a saucepan and cook on medium heat until the soap is melted. Remove the pan from the stove and let sit overnight. The next day, check the soap Continue Reading
Five Money Saving Apps
Five Money Saving Apps for Your Cell Phone I use my cell phone all the time. I have an iPhone and I love that I can get apps that help me save money. Here are my top five favorite cell phone apps that I use that have saved me money: Favado - I was recently introduced to this app at a blogging conference. Basically, the app lists all of the sales at over 65,000 grocery and drug stores. You can compare prices on your favorite items at different stores or look for a specific item and see if it is on sale. Creat your own list of favorite categories and Favado will tell you when items that fit this category are on sale. This is a great way to save money on your grocery bills! Ibotta - Is a free mobile app for iPhone or Android devices that actually pays you money! Ibotta lets you unlock rebates by simply tapping a button in the app. You get to choose your favorite store and then see what rebates are available. You will be prompted to complete a task to unlock that particular Continue Reading
Yearly Savings Plan
This year, as one of my New Year Resolutions, I want to start a yearly savings plan to save money for a Christmas Cruise! My sister, who will be turning 50 this year, wants us all to cruise together to celebrate her birthday. Unfortunately, cruising can be very expensive when you factor in five tickets plus excursions, sight-seeing and souvenirs! 52 Week Savings Plan You may have seen across the web a simple savings plan that starts with $1 dollar and adds a dollar each week. By the time you have finished saving money for 52 weeks you will have saved a total of $1,378. It looks like this: Aggressive 52 Week Savings Plan This is a great plan if you want to save for a bigger purchase or for Holiday Giving, but this is just not enough for the cruise that I want to take. So instead I came up with an Aggressive 52 Week Savings Plan. The Aggressive Plan is simple. Start with an amount other than $1 and then add $1 every week to the amount. You will be amazed at how much money you Continue Reading