Saving Money - Making Your Own Cleaning Products

Making your own cleaning products...sounds intimidating! Well, it does for me. I haven't actually ever made my own cleaning products. I do know that it is a great way to save money AND is better for the environment then using store-bought chemical cleaners. Hopefully, writing this post will motivate me to stop being a sissy and try it for myself!

Powdered Laundry Detergent
12 cups Borax
8 cups baking soda
8 cups washing soda
8 cups bar soap, grated (use fels-naptha, ivory, sunlight, kirk's castile, zote, or another more natural soap)
Mix all together and store in a sealed tub.
Use 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) per full load.

Dish Soap 2 cups soap shaving in a large bowl Stir until smooth. You can add more water if you need to. Add 1/2 cup lemon vinegar to fight grease. Shake well before using.

Dishwasher Soap
1 part Borax
1 part Washing Soda
Add 2-3 cups hot water and let sit overnight

Stain Remover
Put grated soap in a jar. Add boiling water. Pretreat stains by globbing this on them.
Use 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) per full load.8 cups bar soap, grated (use fels-naptha, ivory, sunlight, kirk's castile, zote, or another more natural soap)

Liquid Soap 1 bar of soap
6-10 cups water (depending on the size of the bar of soap)
Heat the water to a simmer. While the water is heating, grate the soap. Add the soap to the simmering water, and turn off the heat. Let mixture sit for 15 min. Beat with a whisk or in the blender until smooth. Let sit overnight until thoroughly cool. Blend again in the morning and funnel into a dispenser. Save extra in a large jar to refill your dispenser as needed.

(Note: These are my cousins' recipes. She has tried most them. You can check out her blog HERE to get her thoughts on these recipes.)

Before I started writing this post I was perusing a blog that I stalk and found some air freshener recipes/ideas. I wanted to share these with you too.

Mix 1/4 C. baking soda with water in a spray bottle. Shake well....& spray! The baking soda will absorb the odor. You can also add scents to this like vanilla extract or peppermint.

Spray white vinegar (undiluted) in the air. The vinegar smell will dissipate quickly, and will take the odors with it.

Take your parmesan cheese shaker from your spaghetti nights, and fill it with baking soda (you can also mix essential oil or cologne with it). Sprinkle it over the carpets and let it sit as long as possible (overnight for example). Then vacuum. You can add a bit of salt to the baking soda.....which sounds odd but it absorbs the moisture and acts as an abrasive when you vacuum - your carpet will look a lot better with a tad bit of salt added in than by vacuuming without it.

To get rid of odors heat white vinegar on the stove, but don't boil! Heat it for 30 minutes, and then take off the burner. The vinegar-ish smell will dissipate and take the odors with it.

Save your citrus peels from oranges, lemons, etc. Boil them in a pot with water.

Wash your walls with white vinegar and a wash rag. Simple.....easy, and best of all? Works better than any other expensive cleaner, without the scent.

For your bathroom, dampen a cotton swab with your favorite perfume, cologne, or essential oil and then swab the inside of the toilet paper roll. Each time you roll the toilet paper, the scent will release and fill the bathroom.

Purify your living room with vanilla extract! Dampen cotton balls with pure vanilla - put in a dish and let them sit. For a big living room you should be good with 3-4 cotton balls in a dish. Your living room will smell like you've been baking for hours!

Lastly make your own renuzit crystals. Mix 1/2 C. salt and 1/2 C. flour in a bowl. Add 1/4 tsp of essential oil, and 2/3 C. of boiling water and a few drops of your favorite color food coloring to create a custom shade. Blend them all really well, and form into balls, dry, and viola! Scented rocks!

Thanks, Sheryl @ Centsable Shoppin!

Pom Pom Toms

Upon reading the All You magazine I came across this adorable idea for pom pom toms. I am really good at hot glue and cutting felt out so I knew these would be right up my alley. I now have these four little adorable Toms sitting on my bookshelf. If you want to know how to make them go here. I think they would look adorable as centerpieces for our Thanksgiving dinner.

How to Bake the Perfect Pie

Some of you know that I love pies. I am really good at making them as well. Last night I taught a class on how to make pies at my church. There I gave away some of my greatest pie secrets. I stayed up late last night contemplating whether I should post these tips on this blog. The final decision was YES! Now you can bake the perfect Thanksgiving pie and astound your own family. First I will post my favorite pie crust recipe and the ultimate apple pie recipe, and then I will put a whole list of tips. If you have have further questions about pie baking email me at janinasbakesale@gmail.com.

Perfect & Flaky Pie Crust Recipe - 9 inch pies

Single Crust:

• 1 ½ all-purpose or pastry flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup COLD All-Vegetable Shortening
• 4 to 8 tablespoon ice cold water

Double Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose or pastry flour
• ½ teaspoon salt (plus an extra pinch)
• ⅔ cup COLD All-Vegetable Shortening
• 5 to 10 tablespoon ice cold water

1. Combine flour and salt in large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbles about the size of peas or lentils.

2. Sprinkle one tablespoon of ice cold water over part of the mixture. Toss gently with a fork; push to side of bowl. Repeat until mixture is moistened and can be formed into a ball. (The dough should hold together when picked up and pressed, and should not crack).

3. Flatten ball of dough into disks (one for crust, two for double crust). Wrap tightly with plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight

4. Remove one disk of dough from refrigerator. Turn onto very lightly floured surface. If the dough is too hard, allow it to sit for 5 minutes to soften. Roll dough gently. Do not roll over the edge or it will be thin. If dough sticks to surface, dust lightly with flour.

5. Transfer dough to 9-inch pie plate being careful to avoid stretching pastry. Trim edges of pastry ¾ inch beyond edge of pie plate.

The Perfect Apple Pie

(Adapted from the Better Homes & Garden Cookbook)

• 1 recipe double pie crust
• 6 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples (about 2 ½ pounds)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ⅓ cup dried cranberries (optional)

1. Prepare and roll out pastry for double crust pie. Line a 9-inch pie plate with half of the pastry. Trim edges of the pastry ¾ inch beyond edge of pie plate.

2. Sprinkle the apples with lemon juice. In a large bowl stir together the ¾ cup sugar, the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ½ teaspoon salt. Add the apple slices, and if desired cranberries. Toss until coated.

3. Transfer apple mixture to the pastry lined pie plate. Cut slits in remaining pastry; place on filling and seal. Crimp edges as desired.

4. Brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar. To prevent overbrowning, cover edge with foil. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes. Lower temperature to 375°. Bake for 25 more minutes. Remove foil. Bake 20 minutes or more until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with ice cream.

Tips to Make the Perfect Pie

• For best results, refrigerate all ingredients prior to making the dough - even the flour (if not, just use cold shortening or butter with ice water).
• Use pastry flour or all-purpose. Bread flour has too much gluten to make a tender crust, and cake flour is too soft to give the proper body.
• Lard and shortening produce the most tender crusts. You may use half lard or shortening and half butter if you want the buttery flavor.
• The pockets of fat make the flakiness in the crust. Use a pastry blender or 2 knives to cut in fat. Dough should still have some pea-size pieces. Handle as little as possible with your hands.
• All liquids should be ice-cold.
• Blend liquid in just until the dough begins to hold together. Overworking toughens the dough.
• Chill the dough for 30 minutes for easier rolling and to slow down gluten development
• To prevent a soggy crust, refrigerate for 15 minutes before filling or seal by brushing with slightly beaten egg white, then refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Brush top-crust with milk or egg wash (egg-yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon water or milk) and sprinkle with sugar to make an even, brown and glossy finished crust
• Bake pie for 15 minutes at a 425° to start bottom crust cooking before all of the juices flow out of fruit. Then lower temperature to recipe recommended temperature and cook the remaining amount of time
• Pie dough can be refrigerated up to two days.
• Cool baked pies on a wire rack set on the counter. The rack allows air to circulate under the pie, preventing it from becoming soggy from the steam remaining it in.

High Altitude tips: Pie crusts are often too dry and need slightly more liquid to become pliable (be careful: too much liquid can develop gluten and toughen crusts). Baking pie fillings all the way through takes longer than it would at sea level. Cover pies loosely with foil during part of the baking time to prevent the top crust from burning before the fruit beneath is completely cooked. For more information check out: http://www.highaltitudebaking.com/adj_recipes.htm

Saving Money - Produce

Question of the Day:

Why does have to be SO expensive to eat healthy?

I've been couponing for about 6 months now and I have come across very few coupons for fresh fruit and vegetables. There are some out there, but not many. So how would one save money on produce. Well, there is always growing your own. Which, let's face it, is not easy. What do you do if you don't have the time/space/know-how to grow your own produce?

I'm going to let you in on a little secret....Bountiful Baskets.

This is a volunteer based program that takes fruit and vegetables grown in your general area, puts it all together, and then sells it to the general public.

What I have loved about Bountiful Baskets is that the price is amazing and often I will get things that I wouldn't normally buy. It's been fun cooking with different produce. One of the down sides is that you don't know what you are going to get as it is different every time.

You can buy a basket/baskets (up to 3) every other week. They start selling at 9:00am on Tuesday (tomorrow for Arizona) and close at 10:00pm the next day, Wednesday.  You pick up your basket, at the location you choose when ordering, on the next Saturday.

For example, Tomorrow morning (Nov. 2) I will order a basket and then Saturday (Nov. 6) we will go pick it up. We won't be able to order again until November 16th.

The baskets include fruit and vegetables for $15.00 + 1.50 handling fee + $3.00 (for first time participants only).

There is also the option for organic produce for $10.00 more.

They also sell whole grain bread (it's yummy!), tortillas, boxes of fruit and vegetables (which is good if you want to can a whole bunch of something), and tons of other things. Again, every week is different. They won't always have all of the things I mentioned above.

After we pick up out basket I make our two-week menu based on what we got in the basket. Allrecipes.com has the option to list what you have and it will generate recipes based on those items. (SO COOL!)

If you are interested in ordering or getting more information just click on Bountiful Baskets. I would suggest setting up an account now just so things will go faster when the time comes to order.

(I was in no way compensated for this review. I just really love this program!)

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

The other night some twitter friends and I were talking about waffles. I know, random. Anyway, I promised Ozma the recipe for Chocolate Waffle Cookies:

I totally stole this picture from the google. I am not making these anytime soon

1 1/2 C sugar
1 C melted butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1/2 C cocoa
1 C chopped walnuts

Cream butter and sugar and add eggs one at a time till combined. Add flour cocoa, nuts and stir till just blended. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons full onto the sections of a hot waffle iron. Cook for 2 mins and then remove. It might take a few trys to see how long you need to cook them in your waffle iron, so experiment, your family will not mind! Dust with powdered sugar, or frost with your favorite frosting.

Variations: You can put different nuts, or no nuts, chocolate chips, sprinkles etc.

Before my son was allergic to peanuts I also did a yummy peanut butter frosting:

1 C smooth peanutbutter (or you can use almond butter which is just as good)
1/4 powdered sugar
1-2 T milk

Melt the peanut butter in the microwave and then add the powdered sugar. Add milk as needed to get to whatever consistency you want. Frost and let harden for about 15 mins.

Spooky Books

Here are a few Halloween-y book recommendations and one that is totally unrelated to this time of year but equally awesome. The first and second are part of a series and the third book is coming out March 2011. Here's the link to a website that tells more about the series: http://www.carrieryan.com/ It's basically a mix between the movies "The Village" and "I Am Legend". I couldn't put them down--very intense but not too ghory or freakish.

Book 1:

Book 2:

If you liked the movie I Am Legend, you should give the book a try as well, although there are some major differences between the book and the movie, I think both are great. It's a short book and a great read for October.

And finally, a book that has nothing to do with Halloween, but is in my top 3 favorite books of all time: A Thousand Splendid Suns. It inspires me to be a stronger woman and taught me about a part of the world I would've never learned a whole lot about otherwise (Afghanistan). It follows two women lives and most of the book covers the 80's, 90's and early 2000's including September 11. The author is from Afghanistan and it really offers a unique perspective on the life of an ordinary citizen there.
Happy Reading!

Who Wants To Save Some Money?

When it comes to saving money I want you to ask yourself one question. Where, in your budget, do you have the most wiggle room?

Really think about this. In our family it came down to the two most common areas. First - Eating out, going to movies, etc. (or what we call "Crazy Money"). Second - Groceries.

What I am going to focus on is how to decrease the amount you spend at the grocery store. How, you might ask, are we going to achieve this?

One word.....Coupons.  

I am what you might call a "coupon nerd". I love them. I have always wanted to use them but been to timid or confused or worried what others might think if they saw me using them, until about six months ago.

I got over caring what people thought very quickly. It was actually one of my first trips using them when I saved around 70% at the grocery store. I thought, "Who the heck cares what people think because I am saving money!" And then I found myself with a really, REALLY addictive hobby.

It's almost like a game, seeing how much you can save. My personal best was 102% saved. (No, that's not a typo.) I walked out of the store with an extra $1.08 in my pocket. (Yup, they PAID me.)

In the "Saving Money" tab at the top of the blog I will start by going over coupon lingo, how they are processed, when you can use them, where to find them, how to organize your coupons, and many other things.

If you have a coupon question or want to know about something specific when it comes to coupons just leave a comment below.

Until next time...and then the real fun begins!

A Cute Crafty Scarecrow

This week I am trying to plan a Halloween inspired craft each night.

Last night was pumpkin carving and then pumpkin seed planting.

(This is for your little ones. They plant the pumpkin seeds in the ground and then "magically" in the middle of the night the pumpkins appear. My kids loved finding them this morning.)

Tonight's activity will be these adorable scarecrows

How stinkin cute are these!

(And I can keep them up throughout November too.)

Wednesday nights activity will be Janina's inspired candy corn wreath.

Thursday will be Decorating Halloween cookies. And then the weekend is filled with parties.

Happy Crafting!

Yummy Eyes

I try to find something fun and spooky to make for a Halloween treat every year. My favorite, thus far, has been Peanut Butter Eyeballs. Oh my goodness. If you love peanut butter cups you will definitely enjoy these eyeballs!

(Photo courtesy of Taste Of Home)

You will need:

- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 cups powered sugar
- 2 or 3 cups of white chocolate chips
- A bag of M&Ms separated into colors. (Keep the brown, green, and blue to use as pupils.)
- Red gel icing

In a large bowl mix the peanut butter and butter together until smooth. Add the powered sugar. Once all three ingredients are mixed together make 1-inch balls. Place balls on wax paper that is on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least an hour.

When the peanut butter balls are done in the freezer, melt the white chocolate chips by placing them in a pan and then put that pan in one that is slightly larger and half full of water. Stir the chips until they are smooth and creamy.

Pick up the peanut butter balls with a toothpick and dip them in the melted chocolate. Let the excess drip off and place it back on the wax paper. Add an M&M to the top while it is still wet. Put in the fridge to cool.

Once they have cooled use the red gel icing (that comes in a tube) to make the eyes look bloodshot. Chill until served.

And that's all...unless you have a dessert problem, like me, and in that case your next step would be to not eat them all yourself. :)

Mummy Pizza

Today I have been going through my old pictures and reminiscing. As I was lost in the past I came across these mummy pizzas that I made last year for Halloween. They are simple to make. I used mini bagels, marinara sauce, string cheese for the wrappings and black olives for the eyes. I then stuck them in the oven at around 375 until the cheese melted and slightly browned. At the party we took them took they were snatched up faster than when witch grows a hairy wart.

Candy Corn Wreath

I really love hot glue. But what I love more than hot glue is candy corn. I came across this idea for a candy corn wreath from a friend's blog who got the idea from the Woman's Day magazine. 15 hot glue sticks later, two bags of candy corn and a sugar high I had a beautiful wreath to hang on my door. Happy Halloween!!

How to be Inspired

Like many of you I am incredibly busy. As I write this I am procrastinating laundry, homework and even more homework. But even worse than procrastination, one of my biggest struggles is finding an assortment of good meals to cook. I first wanted to do a blog with just meal ideas, but then I realized that there are so many other good ideas to be shared. These include but are not limited to: books, crafts, date ideas, holiday ideas, baking ideas and inspiring words of wisdom. I thought that perhaps us bloggers of the world could post about these ideas on one common blog. This is a way to showcase what YOU have have been baking, cooking, crafting, or thinking about. Of course this will take time, but this is why I can't do it alone.

That is why I am trying to enlist as many people as possible who would love to share their knowledge and ideas. I am looking for various authors. You can post on your area of expertise such as crafting, baking, reading, relaxing, sewing....or whatever else. I just ask that you post at least once a month. This way the blog will be continually updated and it will not be a huge time commitment from anyone of us.

As I write this my thoughts are scattered. Hopefully you can get the gist of what I am trying to accomplish by setting up this blog. If you would like to be an author, add any input or have any feedback leave a comment or email us at abitofinspiration@gmail.com. If you know of anyone else who would love to be involved in this project please let them know. This will be an extraordinary success if we get a plethora of ideas.