My family and I have been doing the green/homemade thing on and on for years now and we are making the switch again. We are slowly but surely switching over. While it is awesome that we are doing our part to help preserve a little bit of what natural resources we have for our kids futures we are doing it to save money. Yes the cost seems prohibitive at first but in the long run it actually saves you a ton to use reusable or homemade items. We have been using homemade laundry detergent for over 6months now. We love it. All you have to do is grate one bar of zote then add 1 cup of borax ,1 cup of Arm and Hammer laundry soap, and since we have a kids who create a lot of stains I add cup of oxiclean. Store it in a ziploc bag or other container with a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon. That's it your set. I use 1 scoop for normal loads and 2 for large or heavily soiled loads. My clothes come out clean and fresh every time. * Note I have a top load HE machine and this type causes no problems for my machine or others as I found this recipe ( sort of... I tweaked it a bit to suit my family) on other websites where I checked to see if it could be used in HE machines. We have been using more and more cleaners that can be homemade or are natural, like Vinegar and Baking Soda. There are a ton of uses for these two products. Here are just a few I found and have tried on Pinterst
get this
This worked like a charm on my old funky towels.
get this
I have used a few of these with varying degrees of liking
We have been looking into and I am starting to make and buy family cloth and unpaper towels. We spend so much money on toilet paper and paper towels and we are always running out. We cloth diapered so the idea doesn't completely freak me out when it comes to family cloth. 1st you store the wipes either dry or dampened like baby wipes near your toilet for easy use. Then after use you store them in with either a sealed bag like a wet bag ( a bag used to hold dirty cloth diapers that is usually moisture resistent) or some other container. Then when ready wash on hot and dry. That's it. No touching anything more gross than undies that you have run through the washer and dryer. As far as unpaper towels these are made to roll up like a roll of paper towels for ease of use and you simply wash when done using it rather than throwing it out. I will be washing both with my towels,socks and whites. Here are some I found on ETSY.
 |
| Unpaper towels by The SassyMonkeyKY |
 |
| Family Cloth by Free Range Family |
|
|
|
|
I am also making the switch to cloth female hygiene pads. Just like cloth diapers that are so much healthier for you and plus I hate the way the commercial ones feel by day two. So I am hopeful this will feel better. Most are made of super absorbent materials on top of cute fabrics. I already have me and a 1 teen girl with more on the way so the cost will only be growing monthly so after the first cost this will be a money saver. Plus just like diapers I am sure many of you have had the crap I am short and have to run to the store. Well with cloth ones you don't have to worry about that. After use just put in a small wet bag till you are ready to wash. Yes they are just as easy to store in your purse as commercial ones.You wash these like cloth diapers.... hot water and detergent (not soap) and then dry. You can find a lot of great ones on Etsy like these Panty liners by ecoAlternatives
I am also making a few dryer balls like the ones bellow. I found how to on ...you guessed it Pinterest. These will help with drying time and to soften clothes. Saving money by having to use the dryer for a less amount of time and by not having to by fabric softeners
get this
We are also putting in a new clothes line and a garden. Like I mentioned in an earlier post. The clothes line will save money with less dryer use as well. The garden will help us have fresh fruits and veggies with only the cost of a little rain water ( oh yeah I will be watering with stored rain water as much as possible) and sweat. If you have any thoughts or questions I would live to hear them.
Here are the links to the Etsy shops mentioned
Sassy MonkeyKY
Free Range Family
ecoAlternatives
Thank you for reading
No comments:
Post a Comment