DIY ~ Make Your Own Products and Save $$

You can save a ton of money by making some of your own products.  Here are some of the recipes that I’ve come across.  Feel free to leave your own recipes in the comments section (I’d love to try out more).

There are several recipes for foaming hand soap.  One of the ones I tried recently was to fill a foaming soap dispenser 1/8 of the way full with Seventh Generation liquid dish soap (I like the Lavender Mint variety).  You then fill the rest of the dispenser with water and mix gently.

Another option is to use a few squirts 1-2TBS of Castille soap - Dr. Bronner’s brand (lots of fragrances are available-I like the peppermint) is the recommended brand… plus you can use Swagbucks to get it free on Amazon! The other benefit is that it ships free!
*Fill the rest of the dispenser with water, straight from the tap. Again mix gently.

Alcohol Free Hand Sanitizer Gel

• 1 cup pure aloe vera gel (100% no dies, perfumes etc and NOT aloe vera juice)
• 2 teaspoons of witch hazel
• 1tsp glycerin
• 8 drops of an essential oil that has antiseptic properties like lemon grass, patchouli, sandalwood, or tea tree.

This tip I actually got from my the girl who cuts my hair.  The girls have really curly hair  and it gets knotty very easily. She told me to take an old detangler or spray bottle, fill it 1/4 of the way with any conditioner, top off with water and shake.  It is a GREAT detangler and works like a charm for the girls.  It costs so much less than buying the higher priced brands.

 Homemade All Natural Bug Spray

• 14 oz. bottle of Witch Hazel (near the rubbing alcohol in the store)
• citronella and lemongrass essential oils – 15 drops of each
• add another essential oil for a nice fragrance (use 10-15 drops).  I like peppermint, but you could also do lavender.
• an empty spray bottle.

*pour the wich hazel in a jar and add the essential oils
*shake vigorously until it is all mixed
*pour into your spray bottle (you could use a funnel)
*add a cute label
*spray on all uncovered areas to get the bugs to BUG OFF !

(Thanks, Janae!)

If you can snag Bounty paper towels on sale, here is a great DIY recipe to make your own baby wipes:

• Cut a roll of Bounty paper towels in half (apparently they are the best for this)
• Place the half in a round container with a good lid
• In a separate bowl, mix 2cups of water, 1tbs of baby oil, and 1 tbs of baby wash
• Pour over paper towels, close the lid and they’ll be ready in 10 minutes
• You can play with the amounts of water, baby oil and baby wash if you want

• Pour equal contents of Fabric Softner & Water in container (i.e.if  you put in 2 cups fabric softner then put in 2 cups water)
• Cut sponges in 1/2 so you’ll have 6 mini sponges.
• Leave to soak til you need them.
• When it is time to use them.  Gently squeeze 2 of them (enough to stop the dripping) and insert with your wet clothes into the dryer. When your clothes are dry put the sponges back in the bucket for their next use.  You could also choose to use a dish cloth or scrap of fabric instead of a sponge, but it would be more difficult to locate them with all of the other clothes in the dryer.
• Pull them out of the dryer and enjoy the smell.