Productive Weekend

This past weekend was a long weekend for most of us and for me I decided it would be the time for me to continue making some headway on my New Years resolutions.

When my husband cleaned out his closet one thing he decided to let go of was a pair of pajamas that he never wore...I decided to re purpose them.

They were a nice cotton pair with a pleasing blue striped pattern that I thought would make:

A cool reusable straw holder (from one of the sleeves)

A bunch of two ply handkerchiefs which I sewed by hand (it was a nice relaxing activity)

I love having these two things.  Now I can bring my straw(s) with me (the bag is big enough that it can hold several) and my nose is so much happier to have this soft cloth instead of the rough paper tissues.

The fun didn't stop there...oh no the party kept going...AND

I made a years worth of laundry soap and about 6 months worth of deodorant for us for a fraction of the cost of conventional chemical laden brands from the store.

For our deodorant I used:

• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

I made two containers and the cost was $1.59 worth of ingredients

For the detergent you need:

• 1 cup Borax
• 1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 1 bar of Fels Naptha (or other solid soap bar
• 4 1/2 gallons hot water

The laundry soap makes a 5 gallon buckets worth and cost a mere $2.14 in ingredients

The time it takes to make both of these products is not long, and in fact making the laundry soap is a bit of a work out since you have to grate the laundry soap bar.  For me seeing that it costs me $2 to do laundry for the year for a family of 5 just blows my  mind.  I can't fathom why anyone would want to pay so much for ready made heavily perfumed soap.

I do these things for the family not to save money, although that is a nice benefit, but really I do it to keep track of the ingredients that we put on our skin.

Do you do anything similar in your own household?  If so please share your recipes.

Tweet