My Homemade Cleaner Trifecta

If you've followed this blog for a while, you likely know that I derive more satisfaction and joy from homemade cleaning concoction than a person probably should, even though I'm not a clean freak. I think my love of homemade cleaners is found in the principle of them. To be honest, I don't know if it's the frugal or au naturale part of me that enjoys the idea of homemade cleaning solutions more.

The frugalista in me loves that inexpensive household items like vinegar or baking soda can work just as well as, if not better than, the more expensive pre-made cleaning solutions at the store. Homemade cleaners are cheap! I haven't bought an all-purpose cleaner, powdered cleanser, tub and tile spray, glass cleaner, toilet bowl cleanser, or furniture polish in years.

The eco-friendly granola girl in me likes the homemade cleaners because they give me peace of mind. I don't have to worry about my kids coming in contact with toxic sprays and cleansers. No fumes, no skin irritants, no poisons to ingest. I don't have to worry about the effects of my homemade cleaners on their ever-growing and developing bodies and brains. I also love that I don't have to worry about what kinds of chemicals I'm washing down the drain or flushing down the toilet when I use homemade cleaners.

So, today I'm sharing my homemade cleaner trifecta, the three homemade cleaners I use the most at my house over at the

High and Dry: Why the Clothesline Deserves a Comeback

Throughout my childhood, we had a clothesline. It was just out the back door of the house, right past the laundry room. In many ways, the clothesline almost seemed like an extension of the house, like an outdoor adjacent room.  I can clearly remember my mom always hanging out the laundry. I loved to play in the damp rows of clean towels, cloth diapers, jeans, and sheets as they billowed in the breeze.  And, to this day, one of my very favorite smells is clean sheets that have been dried on a clothesline; when you lay down to sleep on them the smell is heavenly. If the sun has a smell, that has to be it.  When my family  moved away from the house with the conveniently-placed clothesline, my mom used the clothesline less and less for everyday laundry, though she still used it for sheets and pillowcases.

Despite all my pleasant memories of having a clothesline, I'd never given much thought to having one of my own until a few years ago ago when I got really interested in cleaning naturally. I remember reading books about green cleaning and being amazed/horrified by all the things in dryer sheets.  A ton of chemicals are used make laundry static-free (you can find a list of the ingredients here). I wanted to use a clothesline just to avoid the toxins in dryer sheets! (Sidenote: even if you use your dryer, you don't need dryer sheets or chemical softeners -- vinegar does the trick!)

I've also since learned that dryers are a major energy-using appliance. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the clothes dryer alone uses up around six percent of your home's energy usage. Of all household appliances, the clothes dryer comes in at #2 for using the most energy; the refrigerator comes in at number one. Isn't it interesting though, that, unlike the refrigerator that is on 24/7, the dryer ranks so high even though it is only used in spurts, just a few times a week? I've read that running a clothes dryer is the equivalent of turning on 225 CFL lightbulbs for an hour. And that's for an appliance that we don't have to use.

Let me repeat that. You don't have to use a dryer.

To read the rest of this post -- about why the clothesline has lost its popularity here in America and why it deserves a comeback -- check out my post at The Green Phone Booth (where I contribute every second Monday of the month)!

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop.}

How to Make an Essential Oil Reed Diffuser

A couple fairly new developments, resulting from Christmas gifts I got a couple months ago:

One -- I'm kinda sorta falling in love with essential oils. I mean, I've dabbled in essential oils for the last couple years, but this past Christmas my mother-in-law gave us the Family Physican Kit from doTERRA and it's AMAZING. I've used every oil in that kit (except for oregano - I'm a little scared of that one.) and love them. Even my skeptical husband has become a bit of a believer. Balance (the oil pictured above) isn't in the kit but I love it (and I used it for the project I'm going to describe). Though I'm still an essential oil novice, I'm really impressed by how much punch these oils pack and the many, many ways they can be used.

Two -- For the first time in my life, I'm in possession of a bottle of vodka. My brother and his wife gave it to me for Christmas and everyone had a good a laugh about it when they gave it to me. Why? I'm a life-long Mormon and I've never so much as tasted a drop of the stuff, let alone owned a whole bottle. (It was a big deal for me when I bought my first can of beer at age 30 -- to kill snails, of course.) It's actually a really thoughtful gift because my brother remembered me mentioning that I wanted to try making my own vanilla extract and to do that you need vodka. Seeing as I don't frequent the liquor store and all, I've never gotten around to buying a bottle of it. So, for the last few months, I've had it up in my cupboard, next to all the jars of homemade jam and salsa.

So besides the fact that the essential oil and the vodka were Christmas gifts, what do they have in common? They're two of the things needed to make an essential oil reed diffuser.  

I first came in contact with reed diffusers about eight years ago when I was working at Pier 1 Imports. I mostly waddled around the place because I was pregnant with my oldest at the time and just working to fill some hours since I'd quit my full-time job at Barnes & Noble. Granted, the diffusers weren't always so pleasant with the pregnancy-induced superhuman sense of smell I had, but I thought they were cool. Instead of spraying chemicals into the air or using those scenty disks you plug into the wall, the scent of the oil emanated from these skinny sticks that you dipped in them. Who knew?

A few months ago, I noticed that my doctor's office had an essential oil diffuser that was pluged into the wall and I wanted one -- I loved the way it made the room smell! Turns out, the diffuser he had in his office costs over $100. I'd love to have one still and there are all sorts of benefits to diffusing essential oils into the air, but that's pretty expensive. Then I got to thinking about the reed diffusers from my days at Pier 1.

Of course I consulted Pinterest and found out you can make your own diffusers with essential oils. There are a bunch of different methods and ingredients people use. One big difference I found: some use alcohol and some use a carrier oil (like almond or safflower). I opted for the alcohol version because I happened to have some on hand and I like that if this diffuser gets spilled (or knocked over by a kid or cat), it won't leave a big oil stain behind.

After some reading and experimentation, I've found the recipe I like and I'm going to share it with you today!

To make your essential oil reed diffuser, you'll need:

• a small glass jar or vase; the smaller the opening, the better
• 1/4 cup water
• 2-3 Tablespoons vodka
• essential oil 
• bamboo skewers (how many you use depends on how many fit in your jar)

I scrounged around my house trying to find a container that would work well. It can be as fancy or plain as you like. I was planning on just reusing something from my collection of saved jars. I couldn't decide between a spice container from Ikea, a bottle from some yummy organic cream, and an old baby food jar (I don't know where that came from, to be honest), but then I remembered a little vase my mom gave me last summer. Though all the others would have worked all right, I liked the vase because it had the smallest opening; the smaller opening keeps the liquid from evaporating as fast.

Fill your jar/vase with the 1/4 cup water. 

Next, add the vodka. The purpose of the vodka is to help emulsify the water and essential oil. I started with two tablespoons but ended up adding a little more when I saw that the oils were still separating from the water.  (Photo credit: my seven-year-old actually used my DSLR and took this photo for me. I was pretty surprised that he got a clear picture!)

Add the essential oils. I started with 10 drops and then gradually added more until the scent was as a strong as I liked. 

Stick the bamboo skewers in the jar/vase and you're done. I read that some people think that you should opt for the actual reed sticks for your diffuser (and I think they're pretty inexpensive) because they work better, but the bamboo skewers work, too. It's what I had on hand so I went with them. So far, so good. Every few days or so, flip the diffusers to refresh the scent.

After I made mine, I was feeling pretty proud and I put it in a corner of my kitchen. Not the best idea -- the scent that is put out by this diffuser is subtle and seemed to be pretty easily overwhelmed by the various other aromas and smells that come out of the kitchen. So I moved it to my living room (it seemed like a good spot by that painting, in particular). I could smell it a little but not as much as I'd liked. I was totally bummed -- had my experiment totally failed?

Still not willing to accept defeat, I took it up to my room, thinking a smaller and more enclosed space would be better. Sure enough, that was the ticket. I put it on my dresser and gives off a nice, subtle smell. I'm sure if you used a bigger vase/jar, doubled the recipe, and used more skewers (or actual diffuser reeds), you could use this homemade diffuser in a bigger room. But to use what is pictured here, I suggest keeping it in a smaller, more enclosed room -- like a bedroom or bathroom.

Skip the chemical (and toxic) air-fresheners that don't really smell like anything anyway. Try out this simple air-freshener to give your home a pleasant and aromatic lift.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

{This post is linked up to The Homestead Barn Hop.}

I Made Laundry Detergent! (Again): Easy Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Back in 2010, I made laundry detergent for the first time. I felt so self-sufficient and pioneery. I was amazed that it worked!

Then I stopped using it.

This was due to one factor: I was pregnant. I had made a big batch of detergent using Dr. Bronner's lavender soap and it worked fine. However, as my pregnancy progressed, the smell of lavender made my stomach turn like crazy (probably from grating all that lavender soap during my first trimester). Every time I pulled the container of laundry powder off the shelf and took off the lid, I felt like throwing up. But I couldn't put it in the trash and start with a different scent -- no way was I going to waste a bar of that soap!

So, yeah, it didn't get used for the rest of my pregnancy and once the baby was here, I still didn't use it. I was already getting the detergent at the store for the cloth diapers (I'd read mixed things about using homemade detergents on cloth diapers and didn't want to deal with that). Plus, I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I just took a break from making detergent. I needed less on my list of things to do. Months later, even though I was taking on some of the things I done regularly before Baby #2 (as well as some new projects), I still just kept on buying the stuff at the store. My baby will be two this month and we just finished up the last of the store-bought detergent.

I've decided, though, to go back to the homemade detergent. I had my washing soda and borax ready to go, as well as a newly purchased bar of Fels-Naptha. But before I unwrapped the soap and pulled out my grater, I decided to look at some of the liquid detergent recipes on Pinterest. Most of them included grating and cooking and five-gallon buckets. Just as I was going to pass on the liquid stuff and stick to the good ol' powder recipe, I saw something different and waaaay easier.

It was a recipe from P. Allen Smith (I love that guy!). His version of liquid detergent couldn't be simpler to make. Seriously -- it takes less than five minutes from start to finish! It also costs much less than store-bought liquid detergent. You can find the video I watched here or you can follow these step-by-step instructions (plus, you'll also find some before-and-after pics like those ones on detergent commercials!):

To make this detergent, you'll need:

• 3 Tbsp. borax
• 3 Tbsp. washing soda (NOT baking soda. I used to only be able to find washing soda at Ace Hardware but now that homemade detergent has gotten a little more common, I can find it at Walmart in the laundry aisle.)
• 2 Tbsp. Dawn dish soap (the blue original kind)
• water
• an empty gallon-size milk jug

Pour the borax and washing soda into the empty milk jug.

Add the blue dish soap to the milk jug.

{Note:  I'm all for using natural cleansers and eco-friendly soaps; it's something I've mentioned a bunch on this blog. I totally get that Dawn dish soap is made from ingredients that aren't exactly "natural" (though it is biodegradable and there are no phosphates in it. Plus, the original blue kind doesn't have triclosan in it, either). I don't use this soap on my dishes, where traces of it could actually be ingested, for that reason. That said, I don't feel too worried about washing my family's clothes with this detergent -- it's a couple tablespoons of Dawn that's been diluted in almost a gallon of water, which will be diluted even further in when you use it in the washing machine.}

Add four cups of lukewarm water to the milk jug.

Put the lid on the jug and shake, shake, shake!

Next, fill it up with water from the tap, leaving just a few inches at the top unfilled. Don't worry about all the bubbles coming out as you fill it.

Put the cap on and give the mixture a shake again. I also just turned it upside to help the detergent mixture mix with the water.

Ta-da! Liquid laundry detergent! You could store your detergent in a fancy glass canister or in something with a creative label on it like I've seen on Pinterest or you could go my route: keep it in the milk jug and write on it with a Sharpie.

For each load, use anywhere from 1/2 cup to a full cup of detergent (it all depends on load size. I've been using a cup for all my large loads of laundry). A cup of detergent seems like a lot but since it's so thin and watery, you need to use more. Since it's so quick and easy to make, it's not a big deal that you use so much at a time, I think.

You might be asking now, "So does it actually work?"

I'm pretty sure that is chocolate on my six-year-old's shirt (a souvenir from my in-laws from their trip to South America last year) -- at least I think it is. Anyway, here's what it looked like before. I didn't do any sort of stain removal treatment before throwing it into the wash.

It works! The shirt came out of the wash as clean as ever. I also checked on some other clothes that had mud on them (welcome, spring!) and food stains and the detergent worked on them, too. (Sidenote: I haven't used this detergent with cloth diapers yet. Washing cloth diapers is a whole other topic. I've been using a detergent specifically for cloth diapers. I'll let you know what is if it keeps on working as well as it has). All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this new laundry room development.

Hooray for homemade detergent -- especially when you can make it in just a few minutes!

Note: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have disclosed.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop.}

Peel Appeal: 7 Ways to Use Citrus Peels

Don't you find it interesting/awesome that citrus fruit comes in season when we need it most? These delicious fruits, packed full of Vitamin C, are at their best when the cold and flu season is at its worst.  Like I said, it's awesome.

What's even better is that citrus is at its cheapest right now. We've been especially stocking up on oranges (Cara Cara oranges are my favorite) and clementines.  And while the fruit is wonderful and nutritious, I think that one important aspect of citrus is often overlooked: the peel.

Here are seven ways you can make the most of your citrus:

1. Zest them.
The peel holds many of the oils that give citrus its wonderful flavor. Adding zest to foods gives it a nice lift, I think. I use lemon zest all the time when I'm cooking and baking (I use this grater whenever I need lemon or orange zest -- works better than any other fine grater I've tried).  The peel of citrus fruit is also healthy -- the limonene in the peel actually stimulates your body's antioxidant detoxification enzyme system, actually helping prevent cancer (I learned that from a book called Superfoods Rx).  It's a shame, really, that we throw this beneficial part of the fruit away!

2. Boil them.
Want to freshen the air in your home? Bring some water to a boil, add the peels (I sometimes add a little vanilla, too), let them boil for a little bit, then reduce the heat to low. Let the mixture simmer for as long as you want, but be sure to add more water as needed.

3. Scrub with them.
I found this great tutorial about how to use dried peels to make a homemade scouring scrub. She simply let some grapefruit peels (I'm sure you could use other kinds of peels) dry for a few days, then she ground them up in her food processor until they were a fine powder. Add some borax and baking soda and you've got a pretty great scouring scrub -- and the author of the post says that it smells "heavenly".

4. Clean your disposal with them.
Citrus peels are great for cleaning and deodorizing your sink's garbage disposal. Just stick them in there, turn it on, let them grind away for a few seconds with some water, and you've got a sink that doesn't stink.

5. Sweeten them.
I've never tried it, but you can candy orange peels. I saw this recipe last month and was intrigued. Have you ever made or eaten candied peels?

6. Burn them.
I wish I had a fireplace. I'll have to pass this tip from Apartment Therapy on to my parents. Dried peels apparently make really good kindling. The oils in the peels fuel the fire.  Not only will using dried peels make your home smell like roasting oranges, but they emit less creosote than paper thus keeping your chimney cleaner.

7. Soak them.
For the last couple months or so, I've been soaking some of our orange peels in vinegar. The result? Orange-infused vinegar.  It smells so nice! (a pro for people who want to clean with vinegar but don't like the smell. I'm not one of them, but I do prefer the smell of oranges to vinegar!) Plus, oils from the peels are antibacterial, so I figure it'll give the vinegar an extra little cleaning kick. I use orange-infused vinegar everywhere in my house -- it's a great all-purpose cleaner.

I also used this concoction to do my semi-annual serious scrub-down of our chickens' home. Not only did it help clean out all that chicken poo and make it smell really fresh, but the citrus helps deter insects from making a home in the henhouse (I learned that here - and I'm going to make her mint-lavender-vinegar refresher spray for the ladies' coop this summer).

To make citrus-infused vinegar, simply put the peels (you could use orange, lemon, grapefruit, any sort of citrus) in a jar (I've used both pint-sized canning jars and reused spaghetti sauce jars), fill with white vinegar, and let it sit for at least a couple weeks. Once the two weeks are up, strain the vinegar into a spray bottle. For hardly any effort, you get an effective all-purpose cleaner that smells great and costs only a few cents. It's one of those simple things that makes this frugal girl's heart happy.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. 

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways..}

18 Ways I Use Vinegar at My House

My husband teases me whenever we go grocery shopping because I usually buy more gallons of vinegar than gallons of milk.  I tell him that someday, when the zombie apocalypse finally happens, we will be the envy of the neighborhood because of our stockpile of vinegar. It'll be a hot commodity, I tell you (we'll have to guard our stash with a double-barrel shotgun), because it's useful in so many ways.

Here a few of the ways I use vinegar at my house...

1. All-purpose cleaner.  This is the #1 reason I think that vinegar is a great thing to have on hand (zombie apocalypse or no):  vinegar (straight 5% solution -- the kind sold at supermarkets) kills 99% percent of bacteria, 82% of mold, and 80% of viruses. Because of this, I use vinegar to clean just about everything in my house. To make an all-purpose cleaner,  mix equal parts white vinegar vinegar and water in a clean spray bottle. That's it (though sometimes I add a few drops of orange, lemon, or tea tree essential oil). I use this cleaner in my kitchen, bathrooms, everywhere. Best of all, this all-purpose cleaner is way cheaper than a store-bought all-purpose cleaner. I also love it because it's just vinegar -- no funky chemicals to worry about. (One word of warning -- don't use vinegar on marble or granite surfaces.) Your home won't smell like vinegar once it dries, I promise.

2. Dishwasher rinse aid. Fill up the rinse aid dispenser in your dishwasher with straight white vinegar instead. Totally works for me, even with my hard water.

3. Garbage disposal cleaner.  A great way to combat stinky kitchen drains is to freeze white vinegar in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop a few vinegar cubes into the disposal and turn it on. It not only gets rid of the stink but it also helps sharpen the blades of the garbage disposal, too.

4. Stain remover. I use vinegar in the laundry room a lot, especially since white vinegar works well for getting rid of stains.  I think it works particularly well with food stains. Here's a link to the stain fighting chart I have in my laundry room, courtesy of Martha Stewart.

5. Fabric softener.  Did you know that vinegar is a natural fabric softener? I pour around 1/4 - 1/2 cup of white vinegar into the middle of the agitator (that's where my machine's fabric softener dispenser is) and it gets released into the rinse cycle.   The vinegar keeps our clothes static free when I use the dryer - I haven't purchased dryer sheets in over two years. Vinegar is also helpful for the clothes that I dry outside on the clothesline -- it makes them less stiff.  And don't worry about your clothes smelling like vinegar -- once they're dry, the vinegar smell disappears.

6. Eliminating boy bathroom smell. I grew up with three younger brothers. I have a six-year-old boy now. I am well acquainted with "boy bathroom smell". (Is it really that hard to aim? Really?) What's the best way to clean the floor around the toilet? With vinegar! Not only does it neutralize the smell and kill germs, but it's also a safer way to clean. Mixing bleach with anything with ammonia in it (read: urine) can create a dangerous toxic gas. True story. Anyway, I splash vinegar around the base, let it soak for a while, then mop it up.

7. Toilet bowl cleaner. I've been cleaning the toilets in my house with only vinegar for years. When I clean a bathroom, the first thing I do is flush the toilet, add about a cup of vinegar while the bowl is refilling with water, and close the lid. I clean the rest of the bathroom (with spray bottle filled with vinegar) while I let the vinegar in the toilet do its work. Once I've finished cleaning everything in the bathroom, I'll scrub out the bowl with the toilet brush and all stains come right off. Flush and the dirty work is done.

8. Cleaning up vomit. I've mostly have experience with this from my (recently departed...sniff) cat. Let's just say he had a sensitive system and grazed on grass as if he were half-cow. Anyway, vinegar is good for cleaning up vomit because it has a more neutral acidity level than stomach acid, which helps neutralize that horrible vomit smell. I usually attack those stinky spots with a mixture of water and white vinegar (about a 2:1 ratio) and the smell goes away pretty quickly.

9. Glass cleaner. I'm a big fan of the "Alvin Corn" glass cleaner recipe I found on Pinterest. To make it, you only need vinegar, rubbing alcohol, cornstarch, and water. It's inexpensive and it works really well.

10. Pickling. I used so much vinegar canning this fall. Pickled peppers, dill pickles, sweet pickles -- delish.  You certainly can't pickle without vinegar.

11. Salad dressing. Vinegar goes great with salad. I like splashing some red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar straight onto my salad and eating that way. You can also make your own Italian dressing with vinegar -- for the super-easy recipe, go here.

12. Coleslaw. My husband served an LDS mission in the southern United States. After spending two years in the South, he come home with a love for slaw (especially when it is piled up on a hot dog with some chili. I thought it was weird until I tried it. YUM.). Lucky for him, I've been making it pretty often since I discovered Paula Deen's recipe (so easy, so good!). Without vinegar, coleslaw is just cabbage and carrots; vinegar is what makes it work.

13. Turning milk to buttermilk. Real, cultured buttermilk is always best in recipes, but sometimes I don't have it on hand. In those instances, I make do by mixing a little bit of vinegar with milk. To make a subsitute for 1 cup of buttermilk, mix 1 Tbsp. of vinegar with a cup of milk. Let it stand for about 10 minutes -- this will give it time to curdle the milk and thicken. Only use this method if you'll be cooking or baking -- it's not meant for recipes where you would use buttermilk raw, like in a salad dressing.

14.  Health drink. Drinking a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water a few times a day is supposed to be really good for you. My husband used to drink it every day when he was in high school and said it helped him with colds and such. I've been trying to drink it regularly, but the stuff is strong. I'm trying to get used to it. I'll let you know if any of those health benefits start kicking in. I've also mixed a little bit of ACV with my chickens' water because it's supposed to be beneficial for them, too.

15. Hair detangler. Believe it or not, you can actually use apple cider vinegar as you would conditioner. I used apple cider vinegar in place of conditioner for a while back in 2010. It totally softened and detangled my hair. I don't use ACV conditioner as often anymore, but I do use it whenever I'm in a pinch. To make vinegar conditioner, simply mix 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar to a quart of water (I just kept a quart-sized Mason jar in my bathroom); pour over your hair (I usually just focused on the ends). Let your hair absorb the vinegar-water mixture for a minute or so, then rinse. I promise your hair won't smell like a pickle.

16. Dyeing Easter eggs.  Never buy egg-dyeing kits again. Making your own Easter egg dye is ridiculously simple. For the how-to, go here.

17. Cleaning the chicken coop. I decided to give the ladies' housing a good scrub-down last month following the instructions from this helpful post about naturally disinfecting chicken coops with vinegar.

18.  Baking soda + vinegar = cheap entertainment.  Kids love seeing vinegar and baking soda combine. Who am I kidding? I still think it's fun to mix the two.  My husband helped Max build a little volcano out cardboard last year. Then, he put a shot glass in the middle (the souvenir one that he got as a joke for me after a business trip to Austin. It says, "Don't Mess with Texas" ). Add some vinegar, food coloring, and baking soda and Max thought it was the coolest thing ever. We've also done the fun activity with the pan of baking soda and the colored vinegar in a dropper (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here). Who knew a chemical reaction could be entertaining?

Oh, vinegar. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Frugal Fridays, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Off the Needles: The Granny-Style Washcloth

I barely knitted all summer. It just feels weird to knit scarves, hats, socks, and the like when temperatures are in the high 90s.

Then my baby started kindergarten this past August (not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be) and I realized I'd be spending some time shuttling him around and waiting for him in the car. After the first couple days of our new routine, I started to miss my knitting needles; these 5-10 minutes I was spending just sitting and waiting were perfect for knitting.

However, it was still August. What to knit in August? Then I remembered the knitted washcloths my husband's aunt (my aunt-in-law?) gave me months before. It was the perfect hot-weather knitting project! So I looked around for a pattern that resembled the washcloths she gave me (I found a couple -- I used this pattern and this pattern as guides). The washcloths look like something my grandma would have made if she knitted (who, expert seamstress she was, would have probably been an awesome knitter if she'd picked up some needles).  They've got this old-fashioned feel to them -- maybe it's the doily-esque edge to them.

Let me just take a moment to tell you about these washcloths: they are fantastic! They're made out of cotton yarn and they absorb well. What's cool about them is that they're really soft, but the ridges make them great for scrubbing. I use these washcloths all. the. time. I made a couple for my mom and she uses them all the time, too. They work better than a basic rag or dish towel and you can use them instead of an icky sponge -- when you're done with these, you just pop them into the washing machine.

One other thing I like about these washcloths: they're super easy to knit up.  After my knitting hiatus, I was a little nervous that I'd forgotten how to knit. This project was a great way to get back my knitting mojo - not only was it simple, but I didn't feel any pressure. If it turned out looking weird, who cares? It's a washcloth. More on that later. They don't take long to make -- I've already made a couple since school started and I've kept them in the car, so they were made by me knitting in short spurts here and there.

Ready to get started?

Supplies:
1 skein cotton yarn, medium weight (4-ply)  (Nothing fancy -- I got mine at Walmart for $2)
Knitting needles, US size 6, 7 or 8

Abbreviations:
CO: Cast on
BO: Bind off
K: Knit
K2tog: knit 2 stitches (sts) together
YO: yarn over (check out this video for a quick, helpful tutorial)

Directions:
CO 4 sts
Row 1: K 4 sts
Row 2: K 2 sts, YO, K to end of row
Repeat Row 2 until you have 40 sts on the needle
Row 3: K 1, K2tog, YO, K2tog, K to end of row
Repeat Row 3 until you have 4 sts on the needle
To finish, slip 1 stitch, BO 3 sts.

I have to say that I've really missed having something to knit in the car. It's the best thing to have when you're waiting for kids to get out of school or while you're at the drive-thru of the bank or even at a really long stoplight. But, please, only do it when you're safely stopped. Friends don't let friends knit and drive.

The finished project.  So simple and so useful. {Ravelry notes can be found here.)

And since I'm all about honesty on this blog, remember what I said about getting back into practice?

I'm not sure what happened here. I sort of lost it toward the end. Maybe I was tired. I think I may have done a couple rows wrong. Oh well. My fingers are back into knitting shape and my brain remembers how to knit again.

Plus, it's going to look like this most of the time.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Little House Friday, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Simple Lives Thursday, , Waste Not Want Not Wednesday,and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

It's a Stain Removing Miracle!

It was pretty much a perfect afternoon.

My parents decided to take all the grandkids to a gorgeous local garden. They ran all over the place -- Max and his cousins were busy smelling flowers, sticking their hands in fountains, rolling (repeatedly) down an enormous hill, bathing their feet in a stream, playing in the sand, looking for birds and bunnies. Grandma even treated all of them to chocolate ice cream cones.

My boy got chocolate ice cream all over his shirt.

It wouldn't have been a big deal, but that shirt just so happened to be one my favorites. I splurged on that shirt -- it has the original cover art from The Wizard of Oz on it and I got for it him after we finished reading the book together (it was our second time -- such a great read-aloud). What can I say? I get sentimental about clothing.

Oh, and did I mention it was yellow? Pale yellow. I have since learned my lesson that you don't buy light colored shirts for little boys.

I took it home and used my arsenal of stain-tackling techniques: a diluted dish soap solution, then vinegar, then hydrogen peroxide. I soaked it. I scrubbed it. It went through multiple wash cycles. I let it hang on the clothesline for hours, hoping the sun would bleach it away. None of it worked.

A few days later, just as I had decided to wave the white flag and give up on the shirt, I saw a recipe for a miracle stain remover on Pinterest.

The recipe is simply one part Dawn dishwashing soap (the original blue kind -- I actually already had this on hand since it makes the best homemade bubble solution), one part baking soda,  and two parts hydrogen peroxide.

I mixed it all up and started brushing it into the chocolate stains. It came up easily. It made me a little giddy, I won't lie. Like I've said before, I love me a good homemade cleaning concoction.

There was one spot on the Cowardly Lion's face that was particularly stubborn. Even when the chocolate stains had faded slightly with my previous attempts, this spot didn't budge. Armed now with my miracle stain remover, I channeled Lady Macbeth and scrubbed. "Out, damned spot! out, I say!"  It may have faded some of the lines on the Lion's face in the end, but the spot washed out as far as I could tell. With that, I put the shirt into the wash, the whole front of it soaked and covered in soap suds, and crossed my fingers.

A wash cycle and some time on the clothesline later...

Not a single chocolate ice cream stain to be found!  Like I said before, all my scrubbing may have faded the Lion's face a tad, but it still looks much better. Plus, it works with the worn, vintage feel of the shirt anyway.

Ah, Pinterest saves the day. Again.

Note: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have disclosed.

Clothesline 101: How to Get Softer Line-Dried Clothes

Spring makes me giddy. The boys and I have spent the last couple days out in the garden, digging, planting, and playing in the mud. How we've needed some fresh air in our lungs and some dirt under our fingernails! One other thing I've been looking forward to through the winter months: the return of the clothesline. I'm telling you, I've missed that sweet dried-on-the-clothesline smell!

A couple years ago when I decided to start hanging our clothes outside to dry, my husband was a little less enthusiastic about the idea than I was. He hated how stiff clothes get when they're dried on a clothesline. To be honest, I felt the same way, but having that line-dried, fresh air smell on our clothes and sheets was worth it to me. {I still don't line dry my towels, though.}

So I understand why some people would skip clotheslines because of the stiff clothes, especially when we're all so used to soft and fluffy laundry. There are ways to keep your laundry from feeling like cardboard when line-drying. Granted, these solutions won't make your clothes feel exactly like they do when they're warm and soft from the dryer, but they do make a difference.

Solution #1 -- Vinegar
Ah, vinegar. *sigh* Is there anything it can't do?  I've been using vinegar in place of dryer sheets and fabric softeners for a couple years now. Vinegar is a natural fabric softener. I keep a jug of white vinegar in my laundry room and whenever I do a load of laundry, I pour about 1/4-1/2 cup of it into the washing machine's agitator (where the fabric softener dispenser is). If your machine doesn't have a designated spot for the fabric softener, you can just pour in the vinegar during the rinse cycle yourself or use one of those fabric softener balls. Don't worry: adding vinegar to your washing machine will not leave your laundry smelling like a salad. The vinegar smell disappears once the clothes are dry.

Using vinegar on your line-dried laundry does help with softening it a bit, but your laundry may still have the roughness and stiffness. Enter Solution #2....

Solution #2 -- The Dryer
It seems odd to use your dryer, I know. Doesn't that defeat the purpose? Nope. Last year, when I mentioned how stiff and rough my baby's line-dried diapers were, my mom suggested doing what she did for years (after my grandma suggested it to her) and throw them in the dryer before hanging them. I'd always heard of tossing laundry in the dryer after they were on the line to soften up dried clothes, but I never did it. When I take my laundry off the line, I usually like to fold it right there and put it the basket (folding laundry is much nicer outside in the sunshine, you know?).  Putting it in the dryer before I put it on the line made more sense to me. So, lately, I've just been putting it in the dryer for ten minutes on the 'fluff' setting. This way, it's not heated and uses hardly any energy, so as not to defeat the money-saving purpose of line-drying altogether.

But does it really make a difference? Does the extra step make clothes softer?  I did some quick tests just make sure. I mean, I was doing the laundry anyway...

First, I tried it with two of my son's shirts. The green shirt was fluffed in the dryer and the orange one was put directly on the line after I took it out of the washing machine. Was there a difference? I'll be honest: not much of one. I had my husband close his eyes and tell me which one was softer: he chose the green one, though he also said that it was "just barely softer."

So tried it again the next day with a batch of cloth diapers.  The diaper on the left was put in the dryer, the one on the right was put directly on the line. I didn't take this picture at an angle -- the straight-from-the-washer diaper was more bunched up and wrinkled than the other, making it look smaller.

Up close, you can see the difference between the two (I took this picture at about the halfway-dry point). The diaper on the right is a lot more stiff and holding all those wrinkles in place.

{Sidenote: the house behind mine is for sale. There have been tons of people looking at the place over the last few days. Of course, right when I was busy taking pictures of wet diapers on a clothesline, I looked up and saw some prospective neighbors looking directly at me, most likely wondering what kind of weirdo takes pictures of wet diapers on a clothesline. Nice.}

Once the diapers were dry, I brought them in for the final test. The diaper on the right, the one that was taken straight from the washing machine, was definitely more stiff than the other. You can actually see how it held its shape on the clothesline by the way the top-center of the diaper sags in the middle like it did while it was hanging. The diaper on the left, the one fluffed in the dryer first, is still a little stiff, but not nearly as much as the other. The difference between the two diapers was much more noticeable than it was with the shirts.

Solution #3 -- Ignore it.
That may seem like not much of a solution, but it is. Sure, the stiff clothes bugged me a bit at first, but it's really not a big deal anymore. Everyone in my house is pretty used to it. Once you've worn the line-dried clothes for a little while, the stiffness goes away anyway. Plus there's a trade-off in all of it: you might not have the softness the dryer produces, but you get that wonderful smell of clothes dried in the sunshine and the breeze. Oh yeah, and it saves money, too (almost six percent of your annual household energy usage). Seems like a pretty decent trade-off to me.

Sudsy Savings: Two Homemade Hand Soaps

I'm going to risk sounding a little odd: I get pretty excited over homemade cleaning concoctions. Some vinegar here, some baking soda there, a few drops of essential oils, maybe even some castile soap, and I'm in a state of nerdy, frugal-girl nirvana! Homemade cleaners are a great and easy way to be thrifty. Store-bought cleaners, whether they're for your home or for your body, often contain questionable (even toxic) ingredients and so many of them are watered down. Plus, there's something just so satisfying about making them yourself. Really.

So today's post is all about homemade hand soap. I wish I would have found these two homemade solutions years ago. They're both so easy and they are big money-savers.

Solution #1
I wrote a post about how to make homemade foaming soap last August (a few months after first reading about homemade foaming soap from the blog, Live Renewed). I'm only mentioning it again because my post on it has been pretty popular on Pinterest this past week. But with good reason -- homemade foaming soap is beyond simple to make and it's so economical.

It's almost silly how easy it is to make this stuff. All you need is a foaming soap dispenser (I just reused the one we had once it was empty), liquid castile soap (I like all of Dr. Bronner's soaps -- the one pictured above is almond scented), and water.

Fill the dispenser almost all the way with water then add 1 tablespoon (you may need more or less than that) castile soap. I don't even measure anymore, though. I just fill it mostly up, eyeball the amount of soap I put in, and then I test it out. If it doesn't spread well on my hands, more soap needs to be added; if it takes a while to rinse off and it feels too slippery, I'll add more water. That's it. It literally costs just a few cents to make a bottle of foaming hand soap. To think I used to spend $3-5 for a single bottle of the Method foaming soap...yikes.

Solution #2
This next solution is something I've been wanting to share with you all for a while. Again, it made me more excited than it probably should have. But here it is: how to make your own liquid hand soap.

I saw the tutorial on how to make liquid hand soap from a bar of soap on Pinterest a few months ago and I was instantly interested. I clicked over to the blog post, looked through all the steps, and I had to give it a try. I mean, with one bar of soap, a little bit of glycerin, and some water, you can make a gallon of hand soap! A gallon!

I won't give you the in-depth step-by-step here -- the blog where I got the tutorial does a great job explaining it.  Basically, you grate up a bar of soap (I used a bar and a half of Dr. Bronner's rose-scented bar soap since the bars are smaller. Smells sooo good.), add the soap to a pot with a gallon of water in it, add a couple tablespoons of liquid glycerin (I bought my bottle of it at Walmart for like a couple bucks. It's just over by the bandages and hydrogen peroxide.), and cook it until the soap dissolves. That only takes a few minutes. Then you just leave it alone for 10-12 hours.

After the 10-12 hours, the mixture gets all thick and hard like liquid hand soap. I had to add a little extra water and give it a good stir with the hand-held electric mixer. Once the consistency is slimy and gooey (she actually said it takes on the consistency of snot. It's gross, but true.), it's ready to use.

Just like the tutorial illustrated, I put all of my liquid soap in a washed-out milk jug and labeled it. That's it. For just a few minutes of actual hands-on time, I got a gallon of quality hand soap for around five bucks!

Make these. Try to tell me you don't feel a hint of self-satisfaction when you're done. Pretty soon, you'll be feeling a little giddy over homemade concoctions, too.

Note: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.