My favorite natural cleaning product: Dr. Bronner's soap!

I have recently discovered Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap and it's endless uses! I love that it is all natural, so it's completely safe to use for many different purposes. I have been using it in some various homemade cleaners around the house. You can check out my all purpose cleaner here.  I have also mixed it with baking soda to make a natural abrasive cleaner-it worked great on my stainless steel sink!  The other fabulous thing about Dr. Bronner's, is that it's safe enough to use not only for household cleaners, but for personal hygeine items as well! I use it my cloth wipe solution for Lula. I am sure I will be sharing tha recipe later.  I know it can also be used as a mild facial wash.  Some peopl even brush their teeth with it! I don't love it THAT much...I think I will just stick to my Crest toothpaste for now.

Now, now on where to buy this product: It is sold at Whole foods and some other chain grocery stores, I know my local Hy-Vee has it there. However, I have found it to be MUCH cheaper to buy it online. In fact, I saw a 16 oz bottle at Hy-Vee for about $8, but I found a 32 oz bottle for sale on Amazon for the nearly same price! So, you can potentially pay 1/2 the price if you do a little online research, which makes it very affordable!

I will also point out that Dr. Bronner's comes in a bar form as well. I use that for my powdered laundry detergent. However, since I have just bought a huge bottle of liquid at a cheap price, I'm currently looking into a liquid laundry detergent recipe and will share that once it is perfected.

easy & frugal natural all purpose cleaner

In an effort to save money while using natural cleaning alternatives that are safer for Lula, I've started making my own cleaners. This is one of them that really works and is super cheap!

All Purpose Natural Cleaner

1 gal hot water
1 tbs baking soda
2 tbs liquid soap (I use Dr. Bronner's liquid soap, but Dawn liquid dish soap would also work)

Mix together in a spray bottle.

*all amounts are approximate. My spray bottle is clearly less than a gallon, but I still used the same amounts of baking soda and soap with less water, it's just a bit more concentrated!

make your own yogurt!

Lula eats a lot of plain whole milk yogurt, but it really starts to add up especially if we buy the organic kind! So, one day I tried making yogurt myself. It's really very simple and if you use organic whole milk, then it's just like the expensive stuff you can buy at Whole Foods but for a fraction of the cost!!

Here are some of the materials and ingredients you will need:

1 quart of milk (we use whole but 2% or skim would also work)

1/4 cup nonfat instant dry milk

2 Tbs plain yogurt (to use as a starter)

Candy thermometer (probably any type of food thermometer would work!)

Glass jars (just reuse those old salsa and mayo containers)

1. First, you need to scald the milk in order to kill any bad bacteria. Pour all of the milk into the glass jar(s) and microwave for about 3 minutes. Stop every minute or so to stir and check the milk's temperature. Your goal is for the milk to be at about 180-185˚ F.

2. Once the milk has reached the desired temperature, you now need to cool it down to about 112˚F. I just stick it in the fridge for about 45 minutes. Check the temperature after about 30 minutes just to make sure. You don't want it to go below 90˚!

3. Now you need to add 1/4 c nonfat dry milk as well as 2 Tbs room temperature plain yogurt. When you are getting to the end of your yogurt, save a few Tbs to use for your next batch!

4. Next, you need to incubate the yogurt to make the cultures grow. The goal is to keep the yogurt between 90˚-120˚F, but the closer you can stay to 112˚F the better. There are many ways to incubate. I have found the crockpot to be a great one! I turn the crockpot on low and fill it about 1/2 with water. I usually do this while the yogurt is cooling in the refrigerator. Then, I turn the crockpot off, and stick the jars in the water and put the lid on. I also wrap the crockpot in a towel to seal in the heat. Check every hour or so, and if the yogurt temperature is starting to get too low, turn the crockpot back onto low for 5 min or so to heat it up a bit.

The yogurt needs to incubate for at least 5-12 hours. The longer you incubate, the more tangy the yogurt will be. If you want a milder tasting yogurt, incubate for 5-6 hours.

There are many other ways to incubate your yogurt! I have tried putting hot water in a cooler along with the jars of milk. In the summer, I have set it outside in the sun. You could also turn your oven on low, then turn it off right

before you stick your yogurt in! As long as it stays at that 90˚-120˚F range, you are good to go!!

5. After your yogurt has incubated, refrigerate for a few hours to let it set up.

6. When you are all finished, you should have thick and creamy yogurt!!

Try mixing your plain yogurt with honey, fruit jam, granola, almonds, maple syrup for a delicious and nutritious snack or breakfast. We mix Lula's with wheat germ and flax seed. I'm sure it's not too tasty, but she loves it and is getting tons of protein, iron and calcium!

happy yogurt making!!

homemade laundry detergent

I have found that I go through laundry detergent much faster than I used to! I have started on the quest for a homemade all natural laundry detergent. Here is the recipe that I have been using. It is so easy and saves so much money!

Homemade Natural Laundry Detergent

1 cup borax (can be found on the laundry aisle at your local grocery store)

1 cup washing soda (looks like a big box of baking soda and will be near the borax)

1 bar of grated castile* soap (we love Dr. Bronner's soap in lavender scent but Ivory also works although it's technically not "all natural")

Just mix the the borax and washing soda in a reusable container. To make the soap much easier to grate, just leave it out for a few days (if you can do a few weeks, even better). This dries out the bar which will allow you to grate the soap into a powder. You can also try putting it in your freezer and then grating. I just use the finest side of my cheese grater to make the soap in tiny granules!

Add about 2 tbs of detergent to a medium load of laundry!

For a frugal and natural fabric softener, add a few tbs of white vinegar to the rinse cycle. Your clothes will smell fresh and not vinegary, I promise!

I'm currently on the lookout for a homemade liquid detergent, so stay tuned!!

*The only downside to homemade detergent is that it can't be used on Lula's cloth diapers. I have been using it on her diapers for a year but they have started to be less absorbent and produce an unpleasant odor. After a little research, I found that homemade detergents aren't the best for diapers because they contain natural oils that build up on the fabric. It's better to use something like Charlie's Soap or Soapnuts that don't contain any oils.