Going Green for Good!

Taking steps to be more eco-friendly, frugal, and health conscience, so I thought I'd share some of the ways I decided to do it :)

LAUNDRY, boo.  Not only is it a never ending cycle of dirty socks and underwear, but it's expensive to do!  Granted, I buy the good stuff, so it does cost more, but I want something that works.  But, the thing is, it isn't working!  Lately, my towels smell horrible :/  So I took things into my own hands.  I found the perfect recipe for homemade laundry detergent.  Each batch is good for 150 loads of laundry and costs about 98% less, YES I said 98%, than my regular conventional detergent.  All it is is water, borax, washing soda, and Fels-Naptha soap.  It's super simple to make, you can find all the ingredients in most any laundry aisle (I found mine at Wal-Mart), and it's SO CHEAP!  Find the recipe I used here: Homemade Laundry Detergent. And for the fabric softener, all I use is straight Distilled white vinegar in my fabric softener slot. I did my first load today, and YES, YES, YES it works!  My clothes are super soft, and odorless!  Here's some documentation that I actually made it :)

 My 3 ingredients:  Borax, Washing Soda, and Fels-Naptha.

 I grated 1/4 of the bar and stored the rest in a ziploc bag for next time.

 Me melting the soap in water.

 I added the melted soap and 2.5 quarts of water to a basin, then mixed in my other two ingredients, 2 TBSP of Borax, and 1/4 cup of washing soda. Stirred.  Then added 2.5 more quarts of water.  I stirred....

 Then covered it and left it overnight to gel.

In the morning, I mixed it up and poured it into some empty bottles.  One container is an empty tea jug that I decorated with scrapbook paper and clear tape, this jug I filled half way and then filled the rest with water.  The second jug is an empty vinegar bottle.  This one was only a half gallon jug, so I just stored the concentrated formula in it.  I can add the water when I transfer it into the tea jug after it's been used up.  Each gallon jug gives you 75 loads.

My next step is  reusable pads...weird I know, but conventional pads and tampons are not healthy for you and I've been wanting to make the change for a while now.  I made my first cloth pad today and it turned out pretty good I think. Since the ones you can purchase are pricey, I researched different methods of making your own.  My wonderful husband fixed my sewing machine, I rummaged through my old fabric bin, and made a trip to Joanns for some new needles, and some other goodies :)  Here's what I came up with.

First I made up a pattern with some card stock.  I then cut out 2 of each pattern from my flannel and put the fronts together and sewed, turned inside out, ironed, and then sewed them together.  EASY!  Then I attached the snaps with the tools I got from Joanns.  I was able to use 50% off coupons for everything today!

The cool tool, and heart snaps I got today.  They're meant for making baby diapers but whatevs!

 And here's the final product!  A pad meant to be used as a liner, or on a light day.

 The cute little heart snap

 Folds up for on the go.

 Backside

There is tons of information online about reuseable cloth pads, how to care for them and why they're healthier/beneficial for you than conventional pads or tampons, how they're enviornmentally friendly.  So I highly recommend checking those things out!  

I also decided to STOP using conventional shampoo, body wash, and deodorant because of the toxic carcinogenic chemicals in them, the cost, and their environmental impact.  I will be posting blogs about each of those soon.  I tried the baking soda shampoo, apple cider vinegar rinse today and it is AMAZING!  Can't imagine wanting to go back to conventional.  I have recipes in mind for homemade deodorant and body wash/hand soap, but I still need to find ingredients.  For now I'm using my Aveeno body wash until it runs out, and I'll be using baking soda as deodorant.  I'm hoping some of these simple changes will save our family money, lessen our footprint, and improve our health.