Tips and tricks for the rest of us~

Post anything helpful!
Don't forget to link or quote if it is not yours.

How to properly press clothes~

Make your own spray starch, and enjoy crisp collars and pleats on the cheap. Here's how:
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1 heaping tablespoon corn starch
1 pint cold water (2 cups)
1-2 drops essential oil (optional)
Preparation:

1. Combine the cornstarch and water in a bowl, and stir until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. (The mixture will be milky in color)

2. Add in a couple drops of essential oil for fragrance, if desired.

3. Then, transfer to a spray bottle, and use.

Tips:

1. For best results, shake before each use.

2. A little goes a long way, so use sparingly.

Did You Know?

Commerically-produced spray starch usually contains formaldehyde – yuck!
Starching clothes actually makes them last longer because dirt and perspiration sticks to the starch and not to the fabric

Homemade soaps!

Natural Liquid Dish Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups boiling water
1 Tbsp borax
1 Tbsp grated bar soap (use homemade soap, castile bar soap, Ivory, or whichever natural bar you prefer)
15-20 drops essential oils, optional (find 100% pure essential oils here)
Directions:

Heat water to boiling.
Combine borax and grated bar soap in a medium bowl. Pour hot water over the mixture. Whisk until the grated soap is completely melted.
Allow mixture to cool on the countertop for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally. Dish soap will gel upon standing.
Transfer to a squirt bottle, and add essential oils (if using). Shake well to combine.
Now you’re ready to use your liquid dish soap just as you would use any commercial brand!

Making my own laundry soap has been on my list of "to-do's" for almost as many years as I've been making soap. I knew it was easy...but I didn't know it was THIS easy. Most of the recipes I've seen for it use Fels Naptha Soap, a real soap that's been around for 100 years and is specially designed for the laundry, but you can substitute any bar of soap, though I recommend one that's not got a lot of extra oil (superfatted). You want a good, super-cleansing bar. (Extra oil is good for your skin, not for your clothes.) If you don't mind that it's not a "natural" soap, the Fels Naptha Soap works great.
Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bar of fels naptha soap
1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda
1 gallon + 1 quart of water
Preparation:

First, using a food processor or manual grater, finely grate the bar of soap.
Bring a quart of water to a boil on the stove and slowly add the soap, stirring gently.
Reduce the heat and let it simmer gently until all of the pieces of soap are melted/dissolved.
Add the borax and washing soda and stir until they are dissolved.
In a separate pot, heat up the gallon of water or measure out a gallon of very hot tap water.
Pour the soap/borax/soda mixture into a large container and slowly add the gallon of water to it.
Stir until the mixture is well mixed.
Let it sit overnight. It will "gel" together...kind of a custard-like consistency. I've also heard it described as "thick egg drop soup."
Stir or shake the soap each time you use it.
Use 1/4 cup for a front loading washer. Use 1/2 cup for a top loading washer.
Many people who use homemade soap in their washers also recommend using 1/4 cup of white vinegar in the place of the fabric softener. This not only helps soften your clothes, but helps clean out any residual soap scum from your clothes and washer.
Note: Some people have reported having trouble finding washing soda (sodium carbonate) in their city. You can leave it out of the recipe, but it really does help boost the cleaning powder of the soap. Good news though, there is a way to make your own washing soda out of regular baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).

@My Friends;
jellysundae:
Come check it out and post more stuff~

Ohhhh me like!!

I'm going to try this~

Some commercial hand sanitizers contain ingredients as scary as the germs they protect you from, so why not make your own hand sanitizer from ingredients you select? This is an excellent project for kids as well as adults, since the project can be expanded to include a discussion about hygiene and disinfection. You'll save money, protect yourself from germs, and can customize the scent of the hand sanitizer so it doesn't smell medicinal.

Hand Sanitizer Ingredients

2/3 cup 99% rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) or ethanol
1/3 cup aloe vera gel
8-10 drops essential oil, optional (such as lavendar, vanilla, peppermint, grapefruit)
bowl and spoon
funnel
recycled liquid soap or hand sanitizer bottle
Make Hand Sanitizer

Nothing could be easier! Simply mix the ingredients together and then use the funnel to pour them into the bottle. Screw the pump back onto the bottle and you're ready to go.
How It Works

The active ingredient in this hand sanitizer recipe is the alcohol, which needs to comprise at least 60% of the product in order to be an effective disinfectant.
Essential Oils in Hand Sanitizer

In addition to adding fragrance to your hand sanitizer, the essential oil you choose may also help protect you against germs. For example, thyme and clove oil have antimicrobial properties. If you are using antimicrobial oils, only use a drop or two, since these oils tend to be very powerful and might irritate your skin. Other oils, such as lavendar or chamomile, may help soothe your skin.

This is… excellent.

I'm somewhat frugal, so I like to make stuff from scratch.
The laundry soap is a real winner.
I use vinegar as a fabric softener, then line dry.
Super soft clothes that smell great.
:D

Pfft, I see how it is!

My friends! Oh, and jelly I guess.

jelly is special

Jelly isn't just a friend!

Nice tries, guys.

I love the idea of making my own products, but I've yet to ever do it. OH!

I did use bicarb to clean my oven, that worked beautifully, without the hideous fumes you get from canned over cleaner. I sprinkled it all over the bottom of the oven until it was completely covered, them misted it with hot water and left it. Cleaned it off the next day I think. I used some plastic scappy thing then wiped up any that was left.

I did use bicarbonate of soda for this, I'm sure you could also use washing soda. The bicarb I bought was a 1kg tub. It's a good idea to get a big tub if you can, as it tends to work out miles cheaper per kilo, and it has so many uses around the house.

you ARE special, jelly. and you don't have to even try!

Stain remover/carpet cleaner
10 oz white vinegar
6 oz BLUE Dawn dish soap

Spray onto surface and scrub vigorously.

Carpets: You can either use this as the cleaning solution in your wet vac (Drop Dawn to 5 oz lest you be covered in bubbles) or use a spray bottle directly on the stain and then go over with a wet vac filled only with water.

I've used this and it really will get red stains completely out if you jump on them right away. Smells to high heaven if you try to vacuum it, though. Never. Vacuum. Vinegar.

Jelly, you are not on my friends list.
Would you like to be?
Then, when I use the malicious My Friends ping, you shall be summoned!
>D


I will write reviews about these soon~
I'm using the starch and the laundry soap.
I made the dish soap, but I'm waiting for it to meld.

Oh god, not the malicious friend ping!

Pour vinegar in the fabric softener section of your washer as a substitute. Cheaper, helps clean (weak antibacterial properties - it's no bleach, but it's better than nothing) and, no, that smell doesn't remain once it's dried - it can actually help remove some odors. Might still need to throw in a dryer sheet once it's drying time (really, only to cut down on static - your clothes won't be stiff or course. Sheets aren't necessary in humider months), but it saves a lot of money. Plus, a lot less gross oily residue on your laundry. You don't realize how greasy your washrags are until you've gotten used to washing your face with softener-less ones and then try to go back.

Also, animal fat is used in a lot of fabric softeners, and they don't have to tell you which ones. You may not be veggie/vegan, but that's still creepy, right? Animal fat all over your laundry? Ech.

So you're telling me I wash my shirt to get out the steak stain... only to wash it in more steak? Wait- I knew this about a few hand soaps I think. Not sure if they were processed, or if some organic soaps do it, too.

IT'S IN HANDSOAPS TOO?!

No! I wash my hands!

Apparently it's why some of them feel so greasy, yet pull chicken and bacon fat off your hands so well.

Everyone knows the very best soap is made from human fat!

Fight club, anyone?

I still believe it's what all the fat syphoned off fat American butts should be used for. Never would there have been a more sustainable resource...and no issue for vegans etc. surely? As no-one would have been killed to harvest it.

During the Holocaust, the fat from some concentration camp victims was used for soap...

Yeah : /

And suddenly everything was sad... and painfully ironic. That is a religion that will never catch a break.

I use vinegar as a fabric softener.
I added a lemon essential oil to it, because I hate the smell of vinegar.
I literally gag.