A Quick Definition Of Essential Oils

Do you know what would be really awesome?!?!?!  If I spent 2 hours typing a blog post that I was really proud of, came back to edit it and just when I was about to hit post somehow the whole thing got deleted!

GRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGG!

To add insult to injury, blogger decided to do it's auto save right at the same time.  So I lost it all. The whole blog post gone *poof* 



So, instead of re-typing my entire post  I'm going to change gears and give you all a quick tutorial about essential oils. They are used in so many homemade products that I guess now would be a good time to give a quick run-down for anyone who may still be in the dark about what the fuss is all about.

An essential oil is the natural oil that is extracted from a plant. There are many, many oils and countless ways to use them, but mostly they are used for medicinal purposes, or for making your own products. 

Of course their are pro and con arguments for essential oils, but the basic argument is that oils are natural, so they are much healthier for you and there are no side effects like medicine or cleaning products can have. 

While you can buy essential oils in most health food stores, doTERRA is usually the most popular place to buy oils.  Young Living is another popular place to get essential oils. 

Personally, I think of myself as a low end oil user. My knowledge is pretty basic.  I have about 5 different oils that I use, but not on a regular basis.  Except for my melaluca (or tea tree oil) I use that stuff by the gallon and it is in a lot of my homemade cleaning products.

If you want to learn more about them then Camp Wander is a great blog to start with.  Or you can check out this facebook page about using doTERRA products.

So there you go, you can now jump into an essential oil conversation and pretend you know what people are talking about.  

Shower Cleaner In A Scrub Brush

If you are Pinterest person then I'm sure you have seen "the best shower/tub cleaner in the WORLD!!!!!"

And since everything on Pinterest has that same description, let me clarify. This is a shower cleaner that is half liquid soap and half vinegar.  You either spray it on about once a week or put it in a scrub brush and use it in your shower/tub every time you use it.

Like always, my curiosity set in and I had to try it.  The saying goes "curiosity killed the cat," but I think in my case it should be "curisity consumed the DIYer"  The amount of time I spend trying out new things really could be a full time job.

Like I said, there are two ways to do this, putting it in a spray bottle or into a scrub brush.  I chose the method of keeping it in a scrub brush.

Shower Cleaner
Supplies:
Dish scrubber with a sponge that you can fill with cleaner
Vinegar
Dish soap 

Directions:
Fill scrubber up half-way with dish soap followed by half-way with vinegar.  The vinegar-dish soap cleaner works great with 1:1 ratio,  allowing the vinegar to work it's magic and the sudsy soap to do it's best as well. When you're finished preparing the cleaner, simply wait until the next time you're in the shower and scrub down those walls and tub, toss or spray some water to rinse of the soap, and you're done until next time.  Keep this cleaner handy in your shower for quick cleanings that you have no reason to put off! 






Almost every Pin I have seen about this cleaning method recommends Blue Dawn as the liquid soap, especially if you are doing the spray bottle method. I couldn't find my Dawn, so I used whatever generic brand I had at the time. 

I easily found the sponge scrub brush with all the other dish scrubbers in the store and I filled it with my soap and vinegar. 

The Verdict: The fact that I have been using this for about 5 months now should tell you that it's a keeper.  I keep it hanging up in my shower and about every 3 days I use it.  I put shampoo in my hair, turn the water off, give the shower a quick wipe down, then continue with my shower.  It takes 30 seconds and my shower is always clean now. 

Back in September I did a post about a soft scrub I love because it got all the black gunk out of the grooves on the bottom of my shower.  As much as I love that soft scrub, it has been replaced.  If I use my sponge scrub brush on a regular basis, my shower floor never gets those black spots.  30 seconds of a wipe down every few days and my shower stays clean I LOVE it!!!!

One day I looked down in my shower and saw this beautiful spot of shower gunk build up.  Apparently I have been missing one corner every time I scrub the shower.

 So even though this cleaner is pretty fantastic, I wouldn't say it's the best ever. In my opinion, it's only the best ever cleaner when it can get up on it's own will and clean the shower for me while I sit and enjoy Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables

Mod Podge

I have a confession to make, I have never used Mod Podge *GASP*

For someone who is obsessed with homemade projects you would think that I use the stuff by the gallon.  I just never had a need for it before now.

I had a photo project I wanted to do that required Mod Podge, but I only needed a little so I decided to make my own. 

Homemade Mod Podge
You Will Need:
Elmers Glue
Water
Container

Directions: Pour the glue into the jar. Now fill the empty glue container with water and pour that in the jar with the glue. Shake the jar

I mixed my glue and water and was surprised at how runny it was.  This didn't give me warm fuzzes about using it on photos so I decided to test it on a few things.  Since I have never used actual Mod Podge before, I have no idea how they compare, so I can only tell you what I thought of this.

For my photo project I was planning on gluing photos to wood so I decided to do a test run by gluing an old photo of the hubs and I, and regular paper onto a piece of wood.

Both the photo and paper went on great and they looked great but I still wasn't convinced.  I put them in my closet and left them alone for a month. Why a month you ask?  Because I forgot they were there.

The Verdict: The photo wasn't looking to good.  It had warped quite a bit, but the regular paper still looked pretty good.  A small piece on the corner popped up but that was all.

 Just out of curiosity sake I decided to try the stuff on something completely different to see how it would work. My #10 can of baby wipes was such an eye sore, so I decided to cute it up a bit with fabric

The Verdict: It's been 5 months since I used the homemade Mod Podge to put fabric on my can, and it still looks like this. It hasn't frayed or come apart at all.  That fabric is stuck to that can like a...... dang, I got nothing.  I tried to think of something clever to put there but I can't.  Anyone want to fill in the blank for me?

Since the regular paper looked pretty good, I decided to try the Mod Podge on my project since I would be printing the photos myself on thinner photo paper, and I was no longer going to use wood.  I decided to put the photos on fabric wrapped around Styrofoam

The Verdict:  No good.  This is how it looked the day after I Mod Podged the photo paper on the fabric.  If you look closely on the upper left corner you can see the color was also bleeding. 

Overall Verdict: Again, I have no idea what regular Mod Podge is typically used for or how well it works so I don't know how it compares, but it looks like this homemade stuff is a hit and miss.  Somethings the homemade Mod Podge will work great for, it and the project will get along happily. But other projects are just going to get punched in the gut.

I am planning on using it for another project I have coming up so stay tuned for that. What is your favorite thing to use Mod Podge for?

Cleaning Paintbruses With Vinegar

I was digging through my garage the other day for..... something.... I don't remember what and it's not relevant, when I came across a paint brush that I clearly had not cleaned very well after the last time I had used it. 

The bristles could still move but there was quite a bit of paint dried on it and if I tried to use it I'm sure I would have gotten some crazy unwanted design in the paint.

I jumped on Pinterest and found several pins about using hot vinegar to remove dried paint from paint brushes.

Revive Old Paintbrushes with Vinegar
You will Need:
Vinegar
saucepan

Directions:
pour enough vinegar into a saucepan to cover the paint brush.  Let the paint brush soak in boiling vinegar for about 10 min, or pre-heat the vinegar on the stove or microwave and pour it onto the paint brush in another container and let it soak for up to 30 minutes.  Wash with hot soapy water then rinse and let dry

I decided to go with the first method of letting the brush sit in the boiling vinegar.

The Verdict:  Another one bites the dust! This is one of those DIY's where not only does it not work but it makes things worse.  The paint sort of melted together then hardened into a plate of armor.  The bristles were so stiff that I probably could have broken them off it I pulled hard enough.

I got online to see if i did something wrong and I started to find blogs where other people tried the same thing and they had similar results. It's nice to know it's not just me.  Looks like I'll be heading to the hardware store before my next project. 

Wax On, Yank Off

I have three sisters.  You have met my oldest sister through her homemade cough syrup, and you have met my youngest sister through her amazing ability to pull hideous faces, but today I am going to introduce you to the second oldest.  Lets call her Andromeda because she took on the 'beautiful princess' roll in our family.

Andromeda is a fashionista.  She is the type of person that can walk into a Good Will store with $5 and come out looking runway ready.

Now, imagine this type of fashion sense in a teenage girl.  Looking good was her top priority back then and as much as I love her , I would have gladly sacrificed her to the Kraken when we were teenagers.   I'm sure the feeling was mutual since she was stuck with a fashion disaster as a sister.  I was a late bloomer..... a really late bloomer. I didn't care how I looked for a good chunk of my teenage years.  Andromeda once told me that my wardrobe looked like it came from a truck stop gas station. It was a pretty accurate description.

Being seen in public with me was very hard on Andromeda and she did everything she could to try and help me out.  She tried gifts, bribes, embarrassment, anything.  One year for Christmas she gave me an eyebrow waxing kit and I immediately put it in the back of my closet.

Several years later, when I actually started to care about my appearance, I found that waxing kit and decided to give it a try.  The instructions were long gone but I figured I could wing it.  How hard could it be to melt the wax, put it on my eyebrows and pull......

The results were about what you would think, horribly uneven eyebrows covered in 1st degree burns. Needless to say I have avoided waxing ever since.

There is a pin that I keep seeing about homemade hair wax.  At first I ignored it, but darn it if that little pin didn't wear me down.  After it popped up on my pinterest feed for the millionth time I decided to give in and try it out.

Hair Removal Wax with Honey and Sugar (This link will take you to a youtube video that is very helpful)
 You Will Need:
For Eyebrows
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp water
non stretchy cotton fabric cut into small pieces
Popsicle stick.

For Legs
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:
mix everything together and put it in the microwave. Monitor it every 15 seconds. Around 20 seconds your mixture will start to bubble.  Take it out immediately and let it cool for 10 minutes.  (for bigger batches heat it on the stove.) Using the Popsicle stick, apply a thin layer of the mixture onto your eyebrows. Place the fabric strip onto the wax and smooth it down with your fingers stroking in the directions of your hair growth. Hold your skin tight with one hand and quickly pull off the fabric in the opposite direction that the hair grows. 

I followed the instructions exactly due to fear of burning myself again, and started with my eyebrows. I mixed my ingredients and put it in the microwave.

 It took about 25 seconds for it to start bubbling. I took it out and stirred it again.  It was very thick.

After it cooled for 10 min I got my Popsicle stick and.... chickened out.  So I stirred it again while trying to pump myself up, brought the Popsicle stick to my eyebrow and...... nope.  It took several tries before I had the guts to apply the honey.  It didn't burn at all, phew!

 I put the fabric over the honey, pulled my skin tight and yanked as fast as I could...... huh, shouldn't that have hurt?  I was expecting a lot of pain, but nope.  It just stung a little.  Pulling a band aid off is more painful then that was.

 The Verdict: My eye brows are pretty blond so it's hard to see the hair on the fabric, but every little hair came out, even the little fuzzy ones that I didn't realize were there.

 I quickly did the rest of my eyebrow, then the other one, and loved how quick and easy and effective it was. Now it was time to get really daring and try my legs.

I mixed all the ingredients and stuck it in the microwave.  This time it took a few minutes until it was bubbling. Since it's winter, my legs were already prepped.  They were nice and hairy and ready to go. 

I slathered on the wax, put on my fabric and gave it a yank. 

The Verdict: Nothing! Not one hair came off. I tried again, and again, and again.  Nothing!  After about 7 attempts all I had to show for my hard work was a red leg and a huge sticky mess all over the bathtub.  My hands were so sticky that I felt like the scene in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation when Clark is sticking to everything, the magazine, the lamp, his wife's hair. 

I was really surprised that it worked so well on my eyebrows but not on my legs, but the ingredients are different between the eyebrow mixture and the leg mixture so that could be why.  I was tempted to make a big batch of the eyebrow wax to try on my legs, but then I looked around at the mess.  I had no desire to scrub myself clean just to make more wax and get all sticky again.  I may revisit this in the future though. 

I know I will never have the fashion sense that Andromeda has, but I have come a long way since my truck stop wardrobe days. 

Be Gone Diaper Pail Stink

I'm a bit of an organized freak.  I love charts and labels.  When I was expecting my first child I put together a questionnaire about baby products and sent it to everyone I knew who had a child in the last 5 years.  I then organized all the information I received into a template.

People made fun of me.... a lot.  But when it was time to start buying baby products, it was a breeze.  I knew exactly what products were must haves and what where not necessary. I knew what brands to look for and what to avoid.  Everything that I bought I have not regretted.

Plus, all those people who made fun of me absolutely loved to fill out the questionnaire.  Give a women a chance to tell you about newborns and the things needed for them and she will promptly neglect her children and tell you all she knows. 

Anyways..... when I was getting all the information about the diaper pails one of the things that several people said was "it doesn't matter what brand you get, eventually every diaper pail will have a permanent smell."

We have had our diaper pail for about 2 1/2 years and this summer it started to smell. Oh boy did it smell!  It smelled awful and was starting to consume the entire upstairs.   

One day I went upstairs and was blasted in the face by the odor.  I went to the diaper pail expecting to see it open. To my surprise it was closed but what I did see horrified me.  It was surrounded by little flies.

It was like I had just walked into some cliche cartoon. All it needed was the green stink lines coming up from it.

Each of those black dots I circled, is a fly.   

Of course I promptly jumped into my research mode to try and find the best way to get rid of the smells in a diaper pail.

Here is what I found; As time goes on the stench slowly seeps into the plastic that the pails are made of.  Trying to use any sort of cleaning product can make it worse. The chemicals react with the smell and will either not work at all or make the smell stronger.

Your only option is to mask the smell with some sort of odor fighting product and according to several people, kitty litter is the best option.

So I decided to try three different odor masking  products. I placed each one in the bottom of the diaper pail and marked the days until I could smell the diapers again. 

Baking Soda (of course)
Kitty Litter Deodorizer
Pet Air Freshener

 I started with the Baking Soda because to me that is the obvious solution.  I grabbed one of those fridge and freezer fresh boxes and tore off the sides.  I placed it in the bottom and started the countdown.

 The Verdict: A few hours later I went back upstairs and my nose did a little happy dance because the smell was gone.  It was completely gone!!!!  Oh Baking Soda, is there anything you can't do? 1 week later I went to get my daughter up from her nap and my nose crinkled. I quickly took her to the changing table and stripped her down.  Her diaper was clean.  The diaper pail stink was already back.  1 week. The smell was gone only 1 week!  Baking Soda, you have let me down, you are fired and I am now taking resumes for a replacement.

Several websites I read talked about using kitty litter to mask the smell of diaper pails.  They say you should look for a kitty litter that has carbon in it.  I went to a local pet store and when I hit the kitty litter aisle I realized that it would take me forever to read all the labels. I found an employee and told her what I was looking for and why.  She quickly handed me a bottle and told me several people buy this for the same thing. It only cost about $3

I poured the whole thing into an old nylon and placed it in the bottom of my diaper pail.  I then started another countdown.

The Verdict: This one had a very strong perfume odor that was almost worse then the poop smell.  It was pretty strong and eye watering.  When the diaper pail was opened the perfume smell would mingle with the diaper pail smell and it was enough to make me run for the hills.  Literally, I would toss the diaper in the pail then grab my daughter and run.  Fortunately, as time went on the perfume smell eased up and it continued to mask the diaper pail smell.  About once a week the diaper pail smell would creep back, but I would just give the nylon a shake and the kitty litter would continue to mask the smell.  This lasted 32 days before the diaper smell took over again.  However, each time I shook the nylon, some kitty litter dust would come out and make a lovely mess. That's exactly what I wanted to spend my time cleaning, smelly sand.

This brings us to my final attempt.  I wanted something to mask the smell for a long time but not leave a gross mess like the kitty litter did.

I saw this in the pet aisle and decided to give it a shot.  

The Verdict: This also had a perfume smell to it, but it was pretty mild. I had to be near the diaper pail to smell it.  It didn't mask the smell completely like the baking soda did, but it masked it enough that it was worth the $4.  This little disk made it 16 days before it gave up, but it put up a good fight.

The Overall Verdict: Clearly that Citrus Magic is the best choice of the three.  It didn't last as long as I hoped it would but it was easy to use and didn't have a cheap dollar store perfume smell.  So, if your diaper pail smell is taking over and you aren't planning on having it much longer, then this is a great way to help mask the smell.  But if you plan on having that diaper pail for a few more years, then it will probably be cheaper to just buy a new one.  And your nose will thank you for it.

Basic Laundry Detergent

Whenever I talk to people about DIY projects and how much I enjoy them, one of the first questions I get is "do you make your own laundry detergent?"

Laundry detergent is one of the most popular DIY right now.  My guess is because of the savings.  A bottle of Tide can cost close to $20 and will give you about 90 loads.  Even though there are many ways to make your own detergent, it usually costs a few dollars to get the same amount of loads.  Some people claim they can do 150 loads of laundry for $2.

Making your own laundry detergent has become so popular that some Walmart's have jumped on the band wagon and are making displays using the basic ingredients for homemade laundry detergent.

But where to start?!?!  There are countless ways to make your own detergent and a plethora of variations.   Which ones are the best?  Which ones aren't worth the hassle?  Have no fear, your own personal guinea pig is here. I've been testing a few and will continue to test many more and will share my opinion with each one.

Today lets start with a basic and more popular type of laundry detergent. This one requires three basic ingredietns.  All of them can be found in the laundry detergent section of any store.  While there are many variations of how to combine the ingredients and the amount to use, you will basically get the same results. And at this point I have said basic basically 100 times so I should probably use all my money I'm saving on laundry dtergent to buy a basic Thasarouse.

The process I used is below but you can find another similar process here , and here is the recipe the Dugger's from TLC use.

Liquid Laundry Detergent
You will need:
1 bar of soap (any kind you want)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of washing soda
a big pot ( that holds more than 2 gallons)
a grater
a funnel
a long spoon
2 empty gallon jugs/containers
 
Grate your bar of soap into your pot. Fill one gallon jug and pour water into pot with grated soap. Cook until the grated soap dissolves. Add the Borax and washing soda. Bring to a boil. It will coagulate.Turn off the heat. Add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir well.Pour 1 gallon of your detergent into each container. Now you have 2 gallons of homemade laundry detergent.  I use 1/2 cup per load.

If you have a food processor or a good blender I highly recommend using that to chop up your soap.  Grating it by hand with a cheese grater is very time consuming and not very fun for your fingers.  Cut your soap into small squares, place it in your food processor and within a couple of minutes you will have grated soap.

For my first batch of laundry detergent I used a Fels-Naptha soap bar.  Within a week my poor husband was sporting a lovely rash on his legs.  I looked on the back of the Fels-Naptha wrapper and had a good laugh

Did you catch that?  A bar of soap with the sole purpose of cleaning your clothes can cause skin irritations with prolonged contact.  I understand that there is a rinse cycle and that the soap should all be rinsed away but it isn't.

Here is a fun fact for you, this comes from my mother-in-law who taught clothing and textiles at a large University for 30 years.  Laundry detergent is never fully rinsed off your clothes.  There will always be a residue, so you don't have to use as much laundry detergent as the container says because there is already some on your clothes.

Anyways, I threw away my batch with the Fels-Neptha and started over using Ivory soap.  I poured it into an old All laundry detergent container because it had a nice easy dispenser. 

The Verdict:  My clothes smelled and felt really clean and they didn't have any sort of residue on them that I could see. The last few loads weren't as clean though.  The detergent kept separating so I had to shake the container before each use, but clearly I didn't shake good enough because I had mostly water for the last few loads. 

I liked the gel consistency, I don't have a particular reason why, I just liked it. How is that for a helpful opinion!?!

After about 5 uses, the spout on my dispenser and the cup started to get a gross build up.  The only way to avoid this was to clean them both really well after each use. 

 Overall it was great at getting the laundry clean but it is a bit high maintanace.  I got annoyed that i had to shake it everytime (i'm really glad I had a container with a handle, it made the shaking easier)  and that it caused such a build up on the dispensers.  Call me lazy, or maybe i'm the high maintance one, but I like thigns that don't cause extra work. 

So one down, a plethora more to go (any Three Amigo fans out there, or is my use of plethora just confusing people?)