The ridiculous cost of cleaning products has always bothered me, so this week I attempted to try a few home-made versions and test them out. The results were good and bad... Home-made laundry detergent turned out great and was super easy to make! Grate and melt a bar of soap (I used Ivory) in 4 cups of boiling water, then add to approximately 3 gallons of water in a large container. (Tidy Cats litter container worked perfect.) Then add 1 cup of Arm & Hammer washing soda and 1/2 cup of Borax and allow to cool overnight. It turns into a gelatinous soup consistency and you can easily scoop a 1/2 cup portion into each load of laundry. The cleaning results were just as good as my normal brand (Arm & Hammer or Purex) and it only costs pennies per load! If you are more of a visual person, I have included a link with pics and a video for reference... The Simple Dollar.
In contrast, I also thought, wouldn't it be easy to make my own dishwasher detergent, too?? WRONG!!! I tried 1 tbsp of washing soda and 1 tbsp of Borax and the dishes were neither clean as well as they were covered in a chalky film. Borax and baking soda provided the same result. I did learn that vinegar is a good rinse agent, however, after several attempts I'm still going to have to hand wash my trial subjects.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Grocery Deals
With the snow last night, I decided to stay in today, but thought I would take a moment to give a heads up on the best grocery deals this week... And Kim, imitation is the best form of flattery!!
Shop 'n Save:
Wheat Thins are on sale 2/$4 and there was a $2/2 coupon in the Sunday paper- there is also a SNS coupon in the ad for free Kraft cheese (retail value up to $3) with the purchase of 3 boxes, making the final cost $4 for 3 boxes of Wheat Thins and a block of cheese! If you shop there regularly, it is also worth purchasing the 2009 Entertainment Book (on sale for up to 35% off some places) where there is $25 worth of SNS coupons. If you use one to purchase the gift card at $5 off, then combine it with another coupon on your $50 purchase, you're getting $50 worth of groceries for $40 before you even consider any other sales or coupons!! And who doesn't love their no coupon needed coupon Thursday??!!
Dierbergs:
They are having another one day sale this Thursday. Ground chuck is on sale for $1.77/lb (limit 2 with additional $25 purchase) as well as select General Mills cereals are on sale for $1.88 each (with additional $25 purchase).
Shop 'n Save:
Wheat Thins are on sale 2/$4 and there was a $2/2 coupon in the Sunday paper- there is also a SNS coupon in the ad for free Kraft cheese (retail value up to $3) with the purchase of 3 boxes, making the final cost $4 for 3 boxes of Wheat Thins and a block of cheese! If you shop there regularly, it is also worth purchasing the 2009 Entertainment Book (on sale for up to 35% off some places) where there is $25 worth of SNS coupons. If you use one to purchase the gift card at $5 off, then combine it with another coupon on your $50 purchase, you're getting $50 worth of groceries for $40 before you even consider any other sales or coupons!! And who doesn't love their no coupon needed coupon Thursday??!!
Dierbergs:
They are having another one day sale this Thursday. Ground chuck is on sale for $1.77/lb (limit 2 with additional $25 purchase) as well as select General Mills cereals are on sale for $1.88 each (with additional $25 purchase).
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Just Another Sunday...
Ha! I wish I could say that everyday is as productive as today was, but we'll take what we can get! While we both had the idea of lounging around watching the snow fall, somehow we got the home improvement bug... It started by doing some additional work in the upstairs bath (which has been in various states of disrepair since October) and turned into project after project. I removed the awful ugly gray tiles mounted to the walls in the bath, then patched and painted while Matt worked on replacing some broken tiles in the hall floor. Well, that wasn't enough as we decided to remove the tile landing in front of the entry rather than attempt to fix the tiles- again. Well, now the hardwoods need some serious TLC, so I guess I will be sanding for the next few days. But in addition to those big projects, we have also replaced the threshold on the front door, replaced the weatherstripping on the basement door, fixed the sagging drop ceiling in the basement, organized the tool bench, and hung some decorative shelves in the family room and guest bath! And there are still lots more to be done before we get to the nursery... We better hurry because I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to squat down as my belly was already getting in the way today.
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