Whether you’re sick of rising costs, tired of your favorite product not being offered everywhere you’re stationed, or you just want a new hobby to pick up, going homemade can be your solution.
Purchasing ingredients in bulk and applying them to the areas of
personal care, cleaning solutions, garden, and pet can save you money all around.
Here are some examples to consider:
Personal Care
Some personal care products are necessary, while others are there to make us feel good about ourselves. Either way, you can avoid costs and availability by making your own.
Shaving Cream: With some baby oil, hand moisturizer and shampoo/conditioner, you can whip up your own cream.
Bubble Bath: If you melt castile soap, glycerin and water together and add some drops of scented oil, you can make your own.
Hair Detangler: A simple spray bottle with 1/3 cup conditioner mixed with 2 cups water can give you your own detangler solution.
Lotion: With a blender, a double boiler and jars, you can turn oils, beeswax, borax, and distilled water into your own hand and body lotion.
Facial Cleanser: With different ratios of castor oil and extra-virgin olive oil, you can create your own face cleanser. Castor oil removes dirt, while the olive oil moisturizes.
Kids Shampoo: Whisking together castile flakes, water, vegetable glycerin, and essential oil can have you washing your children’s hair with a homemade product.
Like personal products, you can make necessary cleaner at a fraction of the cost with homemade solutions.
Window cleaner: Combine ½ cup vinegar, ½ teaspoon of liquid soap and 2 cups water in a squirt bottle. It can serve as a much cheaper version of a window cleaner.
Surface Deodorizer: About 2-4 tablespoons of baking soda mixed into a spray bottle can be used as a cleaner and deodorizer for any non-porous surface (stainless steel, chrome and ceramic).
All-Purpose Cleaner: Made from three tablespoons vinegar, ½ teaspoon washing soda, ½ teaspoon castile soap, and 2 cups of hot water.
Grease Cutter: Put together two cups water, ¼ cup castile soap, and 10 drops of lavender oil.
Garden
To have a fertile garden, you need fertile soil, but your wallet doesn’t necessarily have to provide the nourishment for success.
Powdered Eggshell Fertilizer: After cooking with eggs, save the shells for your garden. Five crushed shells sprinkled into a plant’s soil can provide a rich source of potassium and calcium that benefits outdoor flowers, fruits and vegetables.
Beer Fertilizer: Mixing a can of beer, a cup of Epsom salts, a cup of ammonia and two cups of water can be mixed into a watering can or hose sprayer and applied to your lawn. Beer can help feed the plants while salts break down the ground and ammonia kills harmful fungus and bacteria.
Coffee Fertilizer: Though not for every plant, using dried coffee grounds around the bottoms of acid-loving plants such as roses, blueberries and azaleas to benefit your garden.
I’ve heard of a home-made laundry detergent that is reputed to be effective… and environmentally friendly. Borax is one of the main ingredients. The coffee fertilizer was recommended to me from a landscape architect. We’ll see if a winter of grounds makes a difference in summer produce!
One Comment
I’ve heard of a home-made laundry detergent that is reputed to be effective… and environmentally friendly. Borax is one of the main ingredients. The coffee fertilizer was recommended to me from a landscape architect. We’ll see if a winter of grounds makes a difference in summer produce!