Homemade Liquid Hand Soap OR Body Wash

This is fantastic!  You take about 8 ounces of bar soap (about 2 bars) and make an entire gallon of liquid hand soap or liquid body wash... genius!

I made two batches in one day; its very easy!  

For one batch I used a natural handmade soap {which I later decided would be my body wash, ok I'll share!} and for the other batch I used Dove soap {which will be our hand soap}.  

I thought it would be interesting to see if there was a difference between using the homemade bar soap vs. the commercial store-bought bar soap.  

The result... they turned out the same, so if you like the scent and feel of handmade soap splurge and buy something you really like because you'll be rewarded with a gallon of the lovely stuff!

I looked and looked for where I found this recipe and was unable to find the original source.  If you know where it came from, please let me know so I can give them credit for this awesome concoction! 

I did change the recipe a bit: I added some tea tree oil for its antibacterial properties and some glycerin soap to help thicken the mixture.

Ingredients:
-2 tbsp liquid glycerin {found in the first aide/band-aide area of stores}
-about 8 ounces bar soap of your choice {choose something that you like the scent}
-1 gallon water
-10 drops tea tree oil {if you want the soap to be antibacterial}
-5-6 blocks of glycerin soap (about 1" thick x 2"wide x 3"long each) {found in a craft store in the soap making section; pictured below}

Process:  {For the first batch I made body wash}
1. Grate the bars of soap.  I grated it directly into the pan I was going to use.  {You can use a "cheese" grater, but I like to use my Kitchen Aide grating attachment because it takes less than a minute to grate the soap.}

I choose this goat's milk soap for my body wash; its awesome and leaves my skin feeling moisturized; it lathers great on my lufa and smells fantastic!  At $4 a bar its not cheap but I got just over a gallon of body wash!

This is what the grated soap looked like;
I didn't worry about the larger pieces
I knew they would melt.

2. Add a gallon of water to the grated soap.  {I used hot water from the tap to help speed up the process.}

3. Add about 2 tbsp liquid glycerin.

4. Stir and turn heat to medium-high heat.

5. Stir occasionally, until the soap melts into the water.

6. Add about 10 drops tea tree oil.

You probably don't need this for body wash,
but at the time I was planning on it being hand soap.

7. Stir to combine well.

8. The next day I didn't think the mixture was quite as thick as I would like it, so I reheated the mixture and added the bars of glycerin {you can add the bars of glycerin right away; you could even grate them with the other bars of soap, although they do melt fairly quickly}.

9. Turn off heat and let cool.  Enjoy!

For the second batch I made liquid hand soap:  I won't repeat the process; its the same as the one listed above.  I just took the some different pictures so I think their worth sharing.

I used 2 bars of Dove.

Both bars all grated and ready to go!

Since I added more bars of glycerin
I ended up having to add more water too (later)...
which ended up giving me more like 1 1/2 gallons of soap!

Enjoy!

Scented Homemade Fabric Softener

I've tried a couple of different homemade fabric softener recipes in the past.  I just really like the idea of making my own and knowing what is in it and also knowing that its not going to negatively affect my septic system.

The problem I've had in the past is getting the clothes to have that fresh smell after washing.  

I found this recipe on the One Good Thing by Jillee website.  

This is my favorite recipe I've tried; it does use a small amount of store-bought scent booster, which is where the fresh scent comes from.  

Its very easy; I just made a double batch yesterday!  Enjoy!

Ingredients for a single batch:

-1/4 to 1/2 cup scent booster {I used 1/2 cup Purex Crystals}

-1 cup hot water {just hot from the tap is fine}

-1 cup baking soda

-6 cups white distilled vinegar

Process:

1. Mix hot water and scent booster in a small bowl.

 2. Set mixture aside, stirring occasionally while you mix the other ingredients.

 3. Add baking soda to a large bowl.

 4. SLOWLY add the vinegar to the baking soda.

The chemical reaction will cause it to foam up a lot, so make sure you add the vinegar very slowly to prevent a "bubble over".  I used a whisk to blend it well.

5.  Once all of the vinegar has been added; add the water/scent mixture to the vinegar/baking soda mixture.  Mix well.
6. Pour mixture into a larger container {so that there is extra space to shake the mixture}.

7. Shake before each use.  Add about 1/4-1/2 cup to each load of laundry.
8. Enjoy the freshness!

Update:  Be VERY CAREFUL about shaking or mixing the container, even just a little bit right after combining this mixture.  I had one container blow up and I had to clean fabric softener off of every surface in the kitchen!

LOVE...Make Your Own Antibacterial Soft Scrub Cleanser

Alright, now I love being able to make my own cleaning products and using something that I don't have to worry about hiding from the kids or locking it up!

My mom has always used Soft Scrub and yes it works great, but you have to be careful not to get it on your clothes, rugs or towels during or after cleaning something because the bleach with leave permanent bleach marks on these items.

So, this past weekend my husband replaced the old faucet and re-piped the plumbing to our second bathroom tub/shower.  And after he was finished the old enameled tub looked terrible (granted it never has really looked great because I'm not sure the previous owners put much effort into keeping it clean), I thought I would never be able to get it clean again.  

And then I saw a post from OneGoodThing by Jillee to make your own Antibacterial Soft Scrub Cleanser.  {The recipe is also listed below.}  I thought why not use this opportunity to give it a try!  So I mixed up a double batch, thinking if it was just alright I would still use it in my kitchen sink and... I LOVE IT!

This is what the tub looked like when I went to clean it....

 And this is what it looked like when I was done....

There are still some rust marks that were there when we moved in.  But other than that, it is cleaner than when I scrubbed and scrubbed to get it clean with a commercial product when we moved in!  And the homemade scrub smelled great and I didn't feel like I was scrubbing for half an hour to accomplish 'clean'!  Yes!  Enjoy!

Combine for a single batch:
-3/4 cup baking soda
-1/4 cup castile soap {I used Dr. Bronners Eucalyptus  this can be found in a natural foods store or in the natural foods department of a large grocery store in the soap area, I have also ordered it from Amazon.}
-1 tbsp water
-10 to 15 drops tea tree oil {I used 15 drops; tea tree oil is the ingredient that makes this recipe antibacterial and can be found in the pharmacy department of any major store}
-1 tbsp vinegar {some people have been mentioning that the vinegar can cause the mixture to become kind of solid, so I think you could leave it out and substitute water here}

You can add more baking soda if you would like it to be more pasty in texture; I thought mine turned out a perfect consistency.  Enjoy!

Clean Tough Pans with Baking Soda

You know when you fry up something like steaks or burgers or anything else really, and the pan gets so coated with that cooked on "stuff" you have to scrub or soak and scrub forever to get it clean!

This is a great tip for you at those times and makes pan cleaning a lot easier!  

All you need to do is buy one of those big boxes of baking soda and keep it under your kitchen sink.  

When you have the problem with a "difficult pan":

1. Rinse the pan with water.

2. Pull out your box of baking soda and sprinkle the pan with an even coat of baking soda.

3. Let the pan sit overnight.

4. In the morning your pan will look like this... 

 5. When you rub your finger over the surface of the pan the "stuff" coated on the pan just flakes off like this...

6. Flake off the "chunks" and wash normally.

7. Yippy for easy to clean pans!