My First Batch of Homemade Soap!!

I finally did it! I made soap! I have been wanting to do this for months, planning for many weeks, and procrastinating for a few days:-) I was very nervous to do it the first time! I have watched a DVD about making soap, read MANY websites about it, subscribe to a newsletter about it, and finally.....I have made my own soap.

I don't get nervous very often about anything, but even my husband realized how nervous I was about making soap the first time. He kept checking on me and asking how it was going. He is very dear!

I have been using natural, homemade shampoo and body bars for quite a while and it is pretty costly. I LOVE the difference they make on your hair and your skin, so I just knew I had to try to make my own. I found a recipe for Luxury Soap that uses all the best oils that I love, but they are pretty expensive. So I used money I earned via Mystery Shopping over the last couple months to buy the items/oils I needed. I have enough of most of them to make several more batches of soap. I also needed to get the necessary equipment (stainless steel pot, wooden spoon, scale, rubber gloves, etc.) which I acquired from friends and yard sales over the past several months. The last item I needed to find was the lye - it is hard to find 100% lye! But, thanks to some recommendations on soapmaking forums, I found it at Ace Hardware right around the corner from my house.

So then the day came that I was determined to make soap. I actually made shampoo bars because I added Castor Oil to the recipe (and used a soap calculator to figure the proper amounts of everything) because these we can use for hair and body. I had already decided not to add any scent, and I am happy that I made that decision. These soap bars smell so clean and fresh!

I mixed the lye with the water and set it aside. Then I began heating the oils and mixing them all together, including the shea butter and palm kernel flakes. When this was all melted, I checked the temperatures on the lye solution and the oils - both were way too hot to mix! So I let them sit....and sit....and sit....and finally a couple hours later, they were close to 95 degrees so I mixed them together. I used my stick mixer and it only took about 5-8 minutes to "come to trace" (which means it is ready to pour into the mold). I used a Rubbermaid container for the mold and purposely made the bars a little thicker than normal. Then I wrapped the mold up in many towels to keep the heat in so it would cool slowly.

Later that evening, I peeked and saw that the middle had turned a brown color. Fortunately, I had read about that - it is the gel phase! And it is an important phase that the soap should go through, so I was happy. The next morning, I unwrapped my soap and it had a slight tinge of brown still in the center and was a little soft, so I waited until later in the day to unmold it and cut it. It was nice and soft to cut and I was so please with the creamy white color! I cut 8 large bars and then some smaller pieces for samples for many of my friends who want to try it.

Now it is sitting on a rack drying and I have to be patient for 3 more weeks!! The soap/shampoo bars must cure for 3 weeks before the saponfication process is complete and it is mild enough to use. I am just happy to look at my wonderful bars of soap and anticipate the pleasure of washing my hair and body with them! I know, that sounds really weird! But there are some simple pleasures in life that make me happy - like baking bread for my family! I guess that makes me a little "old-fashioned", but I have lived the busy, career life and wouldn't trade my simple life now for any amount of money!!
For more frugal fun, check out the Festival of Frugality over at Stupid Cents.

My kids thought I was crazy...

when I told them I was going to make a tote bag out of the dog food bag. But, now they aren't so sure:-). I think it turned out great! The bag material is like tyvek, very heavy duty and water resistant. I lined the inside with a contrasting, yet coordinating fabric and attached these purse handles that I got on clearance at Michaels. It measures about 16" wide and 12" high.Ok, so this may be going pretty far as far as reusing and repurposing, but I am pretty proud of the final product. What do you think? I have another dog food bag, do you think I should make another? Do you think anyone would buy it? I would LOVE your feedback!
For more inspiring ideas, check out Make It From Scratch over at 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven.
And for more frugal ideas, visit the Festival of Frugality at The Might Bargain Hunter.

How Renting a Car Saves Us Money

First, you must know that we have a 1998 Dodge Ram Custom Van with over 180,000 miles on it. And it doesn't run very well:-) so we get about 12 miles to the gallon on the highway - on a good day!

So, since we make alot of trips up to Phoenix which is about 200 miles each way, I decided to check into renting a car that would get better mileage and see what it would cost. I found that I could rent an Economy Car for about $16/day on the weekends and it would get about 28 miles to the gallon. When I figured the math, we would SAVE money by renting the car since we would use SO much less gas.

Well, last weekend was the first time to put this theory into practice. Normally, if I drove my van I would use about $150 in gas (usually about 500 miles total). The rental car cost me about $56 total, plus I spent $63 in gas for a total of $119. That was a savings of over $30, not to mention the peace of mind that came with not worrying about the van giving me any problems since my hubby wasn't with us:-)!!

Next weekend, we are making the trip again, and even with renting a Full Size Car (there are 5 of us going) at $22.49/day (and only about 23 mpg), we will break just about even with about $76 in gas and $76 for rental. And again, the peace of mind is worth a little to me:-).

Because of our poor gas mileage, the age of the van, and all the little things that are potential problems, I am looking into buying a used car with a small monthly payment that will save us money monthly just due to better gas mileage. Any suggestions or input on this plan?

BTW, my dream car is the newer Nissan Altima - dark gray/silver - aaaaahhhhhh! Oh, well, it doesn't cost me just to dream:-)

If you would like to see more ideas for saving money and living frugal, check out the Festival of Frugality hosted over at Frugal Babe (love that name!)

Saving Money on Groceries...the EASY way!

I have recently been introduced to a great website that has had amazing impacts on reducing my grocery spending and increasing the value I get for my money. It is My Grocery Deals!

On this website you just enter your area code and then it will find all the grocery stores and pharmacies in your area and list them for you. Under each store, you will find a list of all the items on special that week. You can click on a button to add an item to your list and when you are done, you can just print out the list in order by store and then simply and quickly make your rounds and get the best deals at each store.

This last week was my first time to use this site and I was SO impressed! I was able to get meat for over 13 meals for under $35, as well as eggs for 88 cents/dozen and milk for under $2 per gallon. This was at a store I do not frequent, but it was not out of my way really. And the items they were out of, they gave a rain check for so I can pick them up at that great price this week.

I do not have easy access to coupons and newspaper flyers, so this website is wonderful for me! I don't have to look through a bazillion sales ads in order to find what I am looking for and it prints out a neat list that I can just use as I go from store to store! The best part - IT IS COMPLETELY FREE!! That's right! Just register for free, and you, too, can take advantage of every store's sales each week in your area! Just go to My Grocery Deals and begin!

For more great articles about being frugal, check out the Festival of Frugality hosted over at FIRE Finance.

Homemade Bagels - Frugal and Delicious!

Last night, a friend came over and we made bagels together. They came out great and I really enjoyed one this morning with cream cheese for breakfast.

Here is the Honey Wholewheat Bagels recipe I used:

3 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. salt
5 tsp. instant yeast
8 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour

I put the water, honey, salt and half the flour in my mixer, then added the yeast. I mixed this for about a minute and then let it sit for 15 minutes to sponge. I then added the rest of the flour, a little at a time until the dough was pulling away from the sides and not sticky. Then I let my machine knead the dough for 5 minutes.

I moved the dough to a greased bowl, covered with a towel and let it rise. It said to rise for an hour or until doubled - well, in this heat it only took 30 minutes! Then I divided it into balls (about 25, but recipe says 18 so you can make them bigger than I did), then using my thumbs, I poked a hole into the middle of each one and worked it out until the sides were about 1" and the hole in the center was about 2". Then I set them on a greased cookie sheet, covered with a towel, to rest and rise for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, I got my pot of water with 2 Tbl. of sugar on to boiling and turned my oven on to 450 degrees.

I dropped the bagels into the boiling water 3 at a time, cooked for 2 minutes on each side, then drained on a towel. As soon as they came out of the water, I sprinkled them with different toppings - parmesan and garlic, rosemary and garlic, sun-dried tomato and basil, kosher salt. Then I baked the bagels in the oven for 10 minutes, turned them over and baked for another 10 minutes.

My friend mixed the seasonings into her dough before forming the bagels. She even made some with cinnamon and raisins. They all turned out great! I put a bunch in the freezer to save for next week, but we did eat some even though it was after 10pm at night! Who can resist freshly baked bagels (or bread, or whatever!!).

I figure that the 25 bagels I made cost me about $2.50 total and about 2 1/2 hours of my time (however, when you bake with a friend, your time is never lost:-). I know at WalMart, 4 bagels usually cost about $2.00, so this was a very frugal endeavor.

How We Are Saving on Gas

With gas prices around $4.00 per gallon, I know this is on everyone's mind right now. And, no matter how much I hope, I really don't think we will see low gas prices again. It just seems that when the prices pass another dollar benchmark, they never seem to go back down again. I sure hope things change, but I guess I am a little skeptical about this one.

Well, we have made one drastic change that is saving us money on gas (besides driving less, I mean:-). We are now buying our gas here in Mexico. It is only about $3.00 per gallon (after doing the double conversions which can get a little tricky) even though it isn't the highest quality and you can never be absolutely certain about it. But saving about $35.00 per tank full is worth it for now. We can put an additive in every so often to help with the quality.

Apparently, we are not the only ones doing this. Someone told me the other day that they think the long lines at the border are in part due to folks coming down to fill up their gas tanks. I can't imagine the long wait in line to get back into the U.S. being worth it, but perhaps that is because I have to do it a little too often. It gets really old! Usually, the summer months bring much shorter lines, but we haven't seen that at all this year. And I have noticed that there is hardly ever anyone at the gas stations on the U.S. side of the border. So perhaps they are correct.

Here in Mexico, all the gasoline is owned and sold by the government. They drill for the oil right here in Mexico, refine the oil and sell the gasoline, thus creating a stable gas price. Usually, in the past, it has been higher than in the U.S., but now it is about 25% lower since their prices haven't changed much at all in the last year while it has skyrocketed in the U.S. I just hope that this doesn't cause a gas shortage here in Mexico, though. This has happened a few times since we have lived here where they have run out of gas at the stations and it was over a week before they got any more.

Oh well, for now it is helping us out. We will just have to see what happens. One other thing we have been doing is not exceeding 65 mph on the highway even though the speed limits in AZ and CA go up to 70 and 75mph. So I hope this is helping as well.

What are you doing to save money on gas? I would love to hear your ideas and tips.

For more frugal ideas, check out the Festival of Frugality hosted today by On Financial Success.

Recycled Newspaper Purse

Well, we (Penny, our intern, and I) finally finished our clutch-style recycled newspaper purse! It took way more time than I would have thought, but I think it turned out quite cute. I had been trying to figure out exactly how to do the wrist strap for the clutch-style for quite a while and it finally came to me early one morning - use a ribbon! I just happened to have this cute green ribbon, so I used it, but I could substitute it for a black and white or gray print, too.

This purse will be for sale in my Etsy store, so check it out along with some other candy wrapper purses and a rag quilt that are also available. All proceeds will go to support our mission work here in Mexico at Hope House International, which is a place of refuge and training for single moms and teen girls.For directions on how to make your own recycled candy wrapper purse (to make the newsprint one, just use newsprint and clear celophane on the outside), go on over to this blog to see a great tutorial with photos.

Hope House International -
Creating a Refuge, Equipping for Life, Preparing for Eternity!

Frugal and Natural Laundry Soap

Well, I had heard of them before, but never tried them until I won a sample bag of these SoapNuts on the Spring Bloggy Giveaway.


I decided to give them a try, even though I make my own laundry soap. So this past week, all of our laundry was washed with these little strange looking berries (they are not actually nuts even though they look like them) from Laundry Tree. Surprisingly, they worked quite well! And it is my understand that a large bag that costs about $30 will last for about 300 loads of laundry. That's more than a year for me (we average about 5 loads a week). BTW, my homemade laundry detergent costs about $12.00/year, but if you don't want to make your own and still would like something natural, this would be a great alternative.

Here is what the site says about the SoapNuts:

Soapnuts are an amazing, 100% natural cleaning product.
Soapnuts are the fruit of a tree (Sapindus Mukorossi), found primarily in India, Indonesia, and Nepal. The fruit is harvested and de-seeded, then dried in the sun — and then it’s ready for you to use!

How do soapnuts work?
The outer shell of the soapnut contains saponin, a natural substance known for its ability to cleanse and wash. (That’s what makes them so GREAT for cleaning your laundry!) In fact, soapnuts have been used to clean all kinds of fabric for centuries, but they are just recently gaining popularity in the Americas and Europe as a natural alternative to modern chemical detergents.

Soap nuts are organically grown and are chemical-free, so they are gentle on clothes AND skin. They are especially great for those with sensitive skin — including babies and those that suffer from allergies, eczema, and psoriasis! They’re totally biodegradeable, so they’re better for the environment than regular detergent, and they’re antimicrobial, so they’re even good for septic and greywater systems!

There ARE natural and healthy alternatives to harsh laundry detergents that can really save you money, too! For more frugal ideas, please check out the Festival of Frugality over at The Financial Blogger - it's the If I Had a Car Edition!
Also, check out more tips over at Works For Me Wednesday hosted by Rocks in My Dryer.

Picking Blackberries and Reaping the Rewards

The day started bright and early (4:30am), but the sweet rewards are definitely worth it! We went blackberry picking today from 6am until 8am and picked over 50 lbs! That is a record for us - there are SO many huge blackberries on the vines this year!

There are only two things that I voluntarily get up before the sun to do: yard sales and picking blackberries! I guess that tells you something about my priorities:-)There is only one blackberry farm in this area, and since the daughter of the owner is part of our home school group, they let the home school families that want to come and pick the berries for them and then we get to keep 10% of whatever we pick. So today we went home with over 5 lbs of blackberries for two hours work! That would cost over $30 to purchase them, so I am very happy! And that is just the first time we are going to be picking. I am hoping to pick at least one more time (maybe two) before the short one month season is over.We will make blackberry cobbler, blackberry pie, and mostly just eat the berries with plain yogurt and honey (my favorite!). I will freeze some of them so they can last through the summer, too.

If we didn't have this opportunity, we surely couldn't afford to buy blackberries, so this is my Frugal Friday! If you have the opportunity to pick any kinds of fruits, I recommend you take advantage of this opportunity to make the most of your dollars and get some terrific and fresh fruit for your family. And go on over to Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday ideas!

Also, visit the Festival of Frugality over at Quest for Four Pillars for more frugal ideas (especially if you are considering a major purchase in the near future.)

Sometimes I Feel (or Smell) Like I Am a Salad!

I have been "experimenting" - quite successfully, I might add - with some different products that are more frugal and more healthy for you. Like using olive oil as a moisturizer on my face (I love it!) and rinsing my hair with apple cider vinegar (instead of conditioner). That one, I am not so sure about. Seemed very "staticky" after that one. Will have to try again to see if that is what caused it. I have been trying several different samples of shampoo bars and body bars that are full of herbs. So....it feels like I am a salad!!

All of these natural items are really inexpensive and have been saving me alot of money. Most of them I have been very happy with and don't miss the commercial shampoo, moisturizer, etc. I am happy that I am using very safe products and have been encouraging my family to do the same (some will, some won't:-). My hair has never been cleaner or felt healthier! As soon as I try all the different soap/shampoo bar samples that I have, I will write a review of my thoughts about them. But I can tell you this, my skin feels so clean and is not dry. That is wonderful! Especially since I live in the desert and summer is coming on already!!

I guess feeling like a salad is not a bad thing, just funny! Any other frugal and natural products I should try? Just leave me a comment.

Check out the Festival of Frugality over at On Financial Success for more frugal ideas.

Healthier and More Natural Health and Beauty Products

Over the last several weeks/months, I have been trying out a few of the ideas I have seen on the internet about health and beauty products that are more natural and healthier. I have decided to let you know about some of them and how they are working for me.


First, a few weeks ago I started using extra virgin olive oil on my face as a moisturizer. I read alot about it first, then tried it very hesitatingly. I actually love it! It is a great moisturizer, does not cause greasiness or breakouts, and makes my skin feel great! I have even been putting it on my kids faces from time to time. Now, my skin has always been dry, so I am not sure how this would work on a different skin type, although what I read said that even oily skin folks have great results. Here are a few links so you can read about it if you are interested:
The Olive Oil Source
Olive Oil: The All-Purpose Remedy


Another thing that we have been trying is using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to brush our teeth. This started because I read about how hydrogen peroxide would whiten your teeth. I have known many people over the years who used this instead of toothpaste, so I thought I would give it a try. After just a few days, I have noticed my teeth getting whiter! And they feel SO clean! My kids and husband have been using it, too. The taste takes a little getting used to, but not too bad. I simply pour a little hydrogen peroxide on my toothbrush, then dip into some baking soda I have put in a small sealed container in the bathroom. It sort of foams up in your mouth, so you have to rinse very well. Here is some info about it for those who are interested:
How to Make Baking Soda Toothpaste
Mr. Rogers' Homemade Toothpaste for Kids
7 Tips for Natural Teeth Whitening
And here is one my daughter will love: Whiten Your Teeth With Strawberries


Thanks to my friend, Penny, I can now once again use a safe and natural deodorant - Naturally Fresh Deodorant Crystal! You can usually find this at WalMart, but ours don't carry it anymore. So she brought me several when she arrived this week to work with us here at Hope House. It is made from mineral salts and works better than the many other deodorants I have tried that do not have aluminum chlorohydrate (harmful to your body - may cause breast cancer).

And the best thing of all - ALL of these will save you money! So you can be frugal AND healthier! Hope you have enjoyed learning about these more natural ways to health and beauty. If you have tried or do try any of these, let me know what you think and how it works for you.

Find more ideas over at The Homesteading Carnival hosted by Rachel's Reasoning and The Festival of Frugality hosted by I've Paid for This Twice Already.

Salad Dressing Recipes Galore!

I was searching for a recipe for a salad dressing similar to the Romano Dressing that Pizza Hut used to have when I was a kid, and I found this wonderful booklet of salad dressing recipes (www.creativehomemaking.com) over at Creative Homemaking.

It is 10 pages in pdf format that you can download and print out for future reference. I made a jar of the Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and it is very good. Just click on the link above in the brackets and you can download the booklet.

You can find more tips over at Tammy's Recipes and the Festival of Frugality today! And don't forget to check out Make It From Scratch, too!

Whole Chicken vs. Boneless, Skinless Breasts - Is It Really More Frugal?

I have heard and believed for quite a while that it is more economical to buy a whole chicken, cook it, and debone it to use in casseroles or other things. This week, after cooking two whole chickens, deboning them and bagging up the meat, I have begun to think differently. Right now, a whole chicken costs between $5.00 and $6.00. I can purchase 3 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $6.00 at WalMart.When all was said and done, I ended up with 2 lbs. of chicken meat and 2 quarts of chicken broth for $10.00. I could have had 3 lbs. of chicken meat and some broth (if I cooked them that way) for $6.00. Hmmmm.... seems to me that with all the time and energy involved in deboning chicken, I could have saved money by buying the chicken breasts.What is your experience? Have you found whole chickens a savings or just more work?

Stop over at Tammy's Recipes to find lots more tips!

Frugal Meal with Baked BBQ Beef Ribs

A store near us had beef ribs on sale for $0.49/lb! So I bought two big packages for less than $5.00 total. I found this recipe online for Baked BBQ Beef Ribs and we sure did enjoy it! I made creamy mashed potatoes and broccoli as side dishes and we all tremendously enjoyed this meal. I will be returning to stock up on $0.49/lb ribs before they are all gone!

Ok, I fed them more than just bones! But look at all the great bones we now have for our dogs!!