23 Day Frugal Living Challenge

Frugally Sustainable is hosting a 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge for the New Year.

I am in on any challenge with the word frugal in it.  ;)

Hop on over and check out the challenge by clicking Here.

Living frugally at the speed of life,
Kristie

Homemade Hand Soap

Yesterday my oldest came up to me and said that we needed hand soap in the bathroom.  Since I didn't have anymore store-bought hand soap, I decided to use what I did have which was bar soap and make my own.

I gathered my supplies:

• Cheese grater (only used for making various soaps!)
• Gallon jug (for storing handsoap)
• A 3 - 4 oz bar of soap (size is approximate; DOES NOT have to be exact)
• Large pot
• Gallon of water
• Hand mixer
• Funnel

Note:   Any soap will work.  I used Ivory but you may like to use an anti-bacterial soap like Dial.

Put the large pot with a gallon of water minus one cup to allow for the bar of soap on the stove.

Allow the pot of water on to get hot.  It only needs to be to steaming not boiling.

Grate the soap (If you use the smallest grater it seems to to better in my opinion)



You will end up with a pile of soap shavings like this one.

Turn the stove off once the water is hot.

Add the soap shaving to the hot water and stir until the shavings are melting well.

Once they are melted and stirred really well, put the pot of soap to the side to sit for about 24 hours.  It will gel up.  It may not seem like it a first but give it time; it will.  After 24 hours, use a hand mixer set on low and blend the gel soap mixture.  You will end up with the homemade hand soap the consistency of store-bought hand soap.

Using the funnel, pour the soap into a gallon jug for storage.

Make sure you label so everyone will know that you aren't creating a science experiment out of milk in the cabinet. :)

Notes:  If your soap is a little too thick, thin with a little more water.  If it is thin, it'll still be soapy enough.

Shake the jug each time you refill your dispensers just to make sure it is blended up good.

Enjoy your cheap homemade hand soap.  This recipe with Ivory costs me less than $1.00 for an entire gallon.

~Kristie



Popcorn Fun!

I had to share a fun experience with my two little beauties tonight.

Daddy is gone out of town to a conference.  Princess and Flossy talked me into popcorn and a movie. 

I had saw a few weeks ago somewhere how to make "homemade" microwave popcorn.  The instructions sounded easy enough.  Put 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in a paperbag.  Add 2 tsp oil to the kernels.  Roll down the top tightly and shake the kernels to cover the kernels in oil.  Microwave according to your microwave.

So, I followed the instructions exactly.  I also know that for our microwave we put the bag of popcorn in, turn it on 5 minutes and listen for the "pops" to slow down.

Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

it looked like something off of a movie.  All of a sudden I noticed popcorn flying everywhere inside my microwave.  Needless to say I have to work on the "technique" for this method of popcorn.  At the very least, I need to find the original "recipe" and read again.  Apparently there is something that I did incorrectly.  Stay tuned for correct instructions or either modifications that I make to perfect this.

It really should be a frugal alternative to pre-packaged microwave popcorn.

~Kristie