Home-made

 

Homemade Mosquito Repellent Recipe  

Ingredients:

• 5 drops of Lavender Essential Oil

• 5 drops of Citronella essential oil

• 3 – 4 Tbsp Homemade Vanilla Extract

• 5 drops of Lemon Essential Oil

Directions: Mix all of the above ingredients in a 12-16 oz spray bottle and fill the rest up with water (or a mix of water and vodka, or a mix of water and witch hazel)... Spray away!!

 
 
 

 



All Natural Weed Killer!!

Recipe:
1 Gallon Vinegar
2 Cups Epson Salt
1/4 Cup Dawn Dish Soap

You can also put it in your Round-Up or Garden Sprayer.

 IT WILL KILL ANYTHING YOU SPRAY IT ON. I HAVE BEEN USING THIS FORMULA FOR A WEEK NOW, AND I CAN HONESTLY TELL YOU... I WILL NEVER BUY ROUND-UP AGAIN.

A Fantastic New Recipe for Laundry Detergent -

Quick and Easy Homemade Laundry Detergent:

3 tablespoons borax

3 tablespoons washing soda

2 tablespoons Original Blue Dawn dishwashing liquid

Find a one-gallon container with a tight-fitting lid. Pour in the borax, washing soda and liquid Dawn. Add two cups of very hot water. Apply the lid and shake until the soda and borax have dissolved. Now fill the container with cold water. Reapply the lid, label and you’re done. To use: Add 1 to 2 cups to each load of laundry depending on the size and soil levels.

This recipe multiplies so well, I make three gallons at a time!

3 gallons of laundry detergent!

Cost. You’re not surprised that this would be first on my list. In my own unscientific way, I have done exhaustive research on this. When a bottle of Tide or ALL laundry detergent promises “82 Loads” consider the fine print. Check it. Realistically, you have to cut that number of loads in half if you have a high-capacity washer. Read the instructions. They are talking about small loads of laundry.

My research has determined that on average, regularly priced laundry detergent costs from $.35 to $.50 per load of laundry. That may not sound like much to you until you consider that you can make your own detergent for about $.03 to $.05 per load.

Performance. My homemade detergent just works, and that’s saying a lot coming from a laundry stickler like myself. I know exactly what’s in it, too.

My whites comes out white, colors come out bright and all my laundry is super clean. This homemade version is low-suds, which makes it perfect for the high-efficiency (HE) washers.

http://www.everydaycheapskate.com

 

Orange Vinegar (a “green” cleaner)

Several years ago, as I was spraying some household cleaner on my kitchen countertops, it occurred to me as I inhaled the strong fumes that they were probably settling in my water glass that sat nearby! And did I really want all this toxic residue on the surfaces on which my children ate, leaned, and played? Having read a bit about the effectiveness of good old vinegar as a cleaning agent and disinfectant, I dug out a spray bottle and poured some in. I never turned back!

When I saw the idea to steep the vinegar in orange peels, I marveled at how that could be a simple, clever, and inexpensive way to turn ordinary vinegar into a boutique-type cleaner (which could probably fetch ten times it’s value!).  But would the orange essence or the vinegar smell dominate?  Mind you, the vinegar smell never bothered me, but I do love that fresh, sweet smell of an orange being peeled!

After two weeks of steeping in the vinegar, the essence of the orange peels did, in fact, permeate the liquid and the result was a sweet smelling success!  While I used the following amounts, you could choose any size jar with a tight-fitting lid, stuff it with peels, and fill with vinegar.  Although it would require more fruit, lemons, limes, and clementines would be excellent options!

Orange Vinegar:

1 16-ounce canning jar

2 oranges, peels only (eat the insides!)

vinegar to cover

Curl the peels around the inside of the jar.  I used two large oranges and would not have been able to fit another peel.  If your oranges are small and you could fit another peel, feel free to add one more.  Pour vinegar into the jar to cover the peels and close tightly.  Store in the cupboard for two weeks, then transfer the vinegar to a spray bottle and use for all your cleaning purposes!

Sore Throat Remedy -

Every now and then, I take a break from my typical recipes so I can share a food or herb-based natural home remedy. I’ve been meaning to tell you about my favorite sore throat remedy for some time, so here it is: garlic honey.

I just love remedies that feature ingredients you probably already have in your cupboard or refrigerator, don’t you? And this one is so simple to make…

As you may or may not know, garlic is a powerful immune-booster. It is very effective against nasty bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Honey also has anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties, so when you combine the two, you’ve got a great aid to help you fight sore throats, colds or the flu.

To be most effective as an antibacterial/antiviral/antifungal, though, garlic needs to be eaten raw and in rather large quantities. This is tough for most of us…maybe even impossible.

So here’s a tip: when infused in honey, raw garlic becomes far more palatable. Yummy even. So I like to keep a jar of this on hand at all times. At the first sign of a sore throat (or a cold or the flu), I start popping my honey infused garlic and try to eat one clove every hour or two all day long. I decrease the amount the next day, but continue to eat a couple of cloves a day until I’m all better.

So make up a jar of this and keep it in your fridge so that you will be all set for next winter (or the next time you get sick). The garlic is ready to eat after a few days but tastes much better when it has hung out in the honey for a few months. I try to replace the garlic cloves with fresh ones whenever I’ve taken some out for use, so the jar remains pretty much full at all times.

Garlic Honey Home Remedy

Ingredients:

*3 heads of garlic, peeled and separated into cloves (about 24 cloves)
*raw honey to fill your glass jar of choice (raw honey is more nutritious than store-bought honey)

Directions:

1. Fill jar with garlic cloves and then pour the honey over the garlic. Allow mixture to infuse for several days before using, then store in the refrigerator where it will keep for a year or more.
2. At the first sign of illness, start eating a clove every hour or two. Aim for about 6 cloves per day. The honey can be taken on its own by the spoonful as a cough syrup. You could also mix a teaspoon of the honey with some raw apple cider vinegar and hot water and drink this as a tonic when you're sick; feel free to add a dash of cayenne pepper, too- this is excellent for your sinuses.