homemade.

it's not so much a new year's resolution as it is an effort to be more frugal and more conscious of the products my family is using. for the last couple of months, i have been washing our clothes using detergent that i made myself. in addition, we have been running our dishwasher with detergent that, again, i made myself.

if you do a quick google search or waste away on pinterest, you'll see that there are a lot of products - that you use on the regular - that can be made at home. i remember growing up that my mother used distilled white vinegar for everything. sure, our home smelled like a pickle, but my mother was proud of the fact that our floors were spotlessly clean and not one single chemical-laden item was used to clean it. i know we all have our tried & true products that we turn to when it comes time to clean, but making your detergents & cleaning products at home isn't just better for you, but it's better for your wallet, too.

back to the two products i've been using...

i made homemade laundry detergent sometime back in late october/early november. i can't remember when. i followed the recipe found here. i'll admit, my husband & i were both skeptical. but, let me tell you, we'll never buy store bought detergent again. not only is the homemade stuff fine for our front loading, high efficiency machine, but i believe - with my whole heart - that it's better for us. i've even noticed a change in my skin since switching from store bought to homemade. i'm still using store bought dryer sheets, but next on my list is to make my own fabric softener. good thing a sweet blog friend wrote about the recipe she found here. {and, now that i've posted that link, i'm going to make the fabric softener today.}

seriously, y'all, you'll spend maybe $10 to buy all of the ingredients you'll need to make the laundry detergent. and, it will last you for a while. trust me. and, while you're at the store buying the borax & washing soda for the laundry detergent, you may as well buy some citric acid {like fruit fresh} or 15 packets of lemon kool-aid {and kosher salt, if you don't already have some in your pantry}. you know, so you can make homemade dishwasher detergent, too.

ah, homemade dishwasher detergent. i've been using it since about mid-november or so. i have a love/hate relationship with it, but i'm not going to budge. i did end up buying some finish tablets to use in the dishwasher {i love those things!}, but they are expensive and i really needed to give homemade dishwasher detergent a fair shot. i followed this recipe. i think when i make it again i'll tweak my recipe. some recipes call for two packs of kool-aid, some call for 15. another thing? you have to pre-rinse/wash your dishes. call me lazy, but i never did this before. oh, and instead of using some fancy rinse aid i just pour some vinegar into that part of my dishwasher. overall, making your own dishwasher detergent is certainly cheaper than using a store-bought brand. there is some debate about what the citric acid will do to your silverware and what the borax will do to your plumbing, but so far, so good.

next up on my list is to switch out a lot of my cleaning products like glass cleaner, bathroom cleaner, etc. with cleaners of the homemade variety. got any good tips or tricks? what about a favorite cleaner recipe? please share them with me!