Homemade Laundry Soap

1 cup washing soda (Arm & Hammer, not baking soda)
1/2 cup Borax (20 Mule Team)
3 1/4 gallons Water
1 bar Fels Naptha Soap

Pour 3 gallons of warm water in 4-5 gallon bucket. Pour washing soda and Borax into bucket with water and stir. Boil 4 cups water on stove. Grate soap bar. (The same way you would grate cheese). After water comes to a boil, turn down and simmer while adding grated bar of soap. Add soap slowing to make sure it dissolves. Stir for long time (10-15 minutes) until dissolved and add to the bucket with water, washing soda, and borax. Stir together. Set out over night without lid on. It will set to a jello-like substance. Stir as needed. Use about 1 cup to your load of laundry.

Price Guesstimate: $10 first time expense (including the 5 gallon bucket), and $1.50-ish for each time after (you only use a little bit of each box for each batch of laundry soap - the only thing you have to re-buy each time is the Fels Naptha Soap, which is ultra cheap!)

Steph's Comments: I've had this "recipe" for a long time. It's from my sister's mother-in-law, Lynn. However, I haven't made it ever because it seemed overwhelming to gather all the supplies I hadn't heard of, and plus, I thought it would be like those pioneer women who made their own stinky soap... but I finally decided I wanted to try it, and I'm SO GLAD I did! It wasn't a big deal to make it AT ALL, and I found all the supplies at my local Smith's grocery store! (Except the 5 gallon bucket, which I got for $4 at Home Depot.) It honestly wasn't hard, and it's WAY WAY cheaper than buying laundry detergent from the store. And I used it this morning, and it seemed to work great! Hooray! Oh, and it smells good too! :)

Homemade Window Cleaner

¼ c or more rubbing alcohol

3 c. water

food coloring (optional)

1 spray bottle

Pour ingredients into a spray bottle. Label your bottle. You can add food coloring to make it look like you bought it from the store.

Price Guessimate: $.50- if that! (plus the cost of the spray bottle - but that's just a one time thing and I actually used my old Windex spray bottle!)

Steph's Comments: This is a "recipe" I got from my sister's mother-in-law, Lynn. She is a whiz at making cleaning stuff with mixture stuff, and I'm loving learning about it. I cleaned my bathroom mirror today with this and I didn't notice ANY difference between this and Windex. The only slight inconvenience is that it's pretty strong smelling when you're mixing it. But that lasts for like 2 seconds. I will definitely be using this from now on!!!

Homemade Prewash

1/3 c. liquid laundry soap
1/3 c. ammonia
2 c. water
1 spray bottle

Pour ingredients into spray bottle. Label your bottle. Spray on soiled fabric before washing.

Price Guesstimate: $.17 (not including spray bottle)

Steph's Comments: This is another non-food recipe, but it's one you'll be SO GLAD you have! I got this recipe from my sister Rachel, who got it from her mother-in-law, Lynn. I've been using it for about 6 months now, and it has been SO NICE to be able to whip up a batch of prewash whenever I need it. I go through a LOT of prewash with my messy kids, so this has been a lovely money-saver. Lynn gave Rachel several other "recipes" for household things, so I'll be posting those in the future!

Play Dough

1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
1 tsp. cream of tarter
1 c. water
1 TB. oil
food coloring

Put all ingredients into pan. Stir and heat until thickens (thickens quite quickly.) Let cool. Play!

Price Guesstimate: I honestly don't know - maybe $1!

Steph's Comments: This isn't a recipe you can eat, obviuosly, but it's a great CHEAP thing to do with kids. I usually put the pan on my counter and let my kids add all the ingredients (except the food coloring - I do that), and then I move it to the stove and do the heating. It's fun for them to pick what color their play dough will be, and as long as you store it in an air tight bag it lasts for a really long time.