Psoriatic Arthritis Journal - 2.5 year Update Page 63

[Lesliec1]

Me too! I had no idea about spices. That's crazy.

[nicoles]

Hey Michelle. Sorry! I was really bummed when I learned that, too.

There is a local spice shop where I get mine - it is kind of fun really! But also you can get really good ones at Penzey's online.


xoxo

Nicole

[nicoles]

Leslie - glad I mentioned it! Yeah, it is really a bummer. The things that can be gotten away with with "proprietary recipes" in terms of packaging and disclosure. Or lack of disclosure! So many laws to protect the producers, so few laws to protect the consumers.

[eri]

You make your own laundry soap? Do tell! What do you use & where do you get the ingredients? Tell me about the shampoo & lotion too.

[lmggallagher]

OMG, ROFLOL - "Planet of the Apes" hysterical, but so accurate in the case my feelings on this issue.

[nicoles]

Michelle, I know! It was exactly how I felt, too!!!

Eri - Making laundry soap is really easy, and super cheap.

I copied this recipe from the interwebs, but did not wite down the link, so here it is in entirety

Homemade Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

• One five gallon plastic bucket with a tight fitting lid. (Can be found at Walmart or Home Depot near the paint sections.)

• One bar of gentle soap (You can use Ivory, Dr. Bronner’s or any other non-beauty bar. In other words, no lotion in the soap! My Amish friends told me they use 1/3 of a bar of Fels-Naptha for their homemade soap. That’s a little harsher than I want to use on my allergy-prone babies, but there’s no doubt that’ll get dirt out of anything…)

• 1 cup Washing Soda (This is available in the laundry aisle at Walmart and my tiny small-town grocery store. I’m sure you can find it. If you don’t have luck, Amazon.com carries it.)

• 1/2 cup Borax (This is also available in laundry aisles and Amazon.com.)

• 4 cups warm water plus 4 gallons warm water, separated.

• Optional, 10-40 drops of essential oil of your choice (Strictly optional, folks. But shhhh… I used 35 drops of lavender essential oil. Don’t tell the menfolk. They don’t care for smellin’ purty.)

Grate the bar of soap on a metal cheese grater. (Do not use a plastic cheese grater as plastic is more likely to absorb odors from the soap.)

Put into a stainless steel or glass saucepan on the stove with 4 cups of warm water. The same warning applies here as to the cheese grater. Don’t use a pan that will absorb odors. Non-stick surfaces are more likely to soak up that soapy scent and flavor.

Heat while stirring until the soap is all dissolved. Set aside.

Put 4 gallons of warm water into the large bucket and thoroughly stir in the Borax and Washing Soda. When those are dissolved into the water, stir in the melted soap. After pouring the melted soap into the bucket, plunge the pan up and down in the water a few times to stir the contents.

Stir in the essential oil at this point if you are using it.

Allow the soap to sit, tightly covered, overnight.

The next morning you will find the soap to have a thick, gelatinous appearance. Use a long spoon to break it up and stir it. And don’t forget- use a spoon that won’t soak up the scent or soap flavor.

You will probably not be able to completely break up the lumps, but this is not a problem.

Congratulations: You have now joined the Tightwad Fraternity. But you don’t have to tell anyone. Just reap the compliments when people remark that your clothes look so nice and so clean and smell so fresh.

This is now usable! Store tightly lidded for up to two months.*

*If you cannot use this quantity of laundry soap within two months, you can definitely reduce it. To make a much smaller batch: use 1/4 of a bar of soap, grated into 1 cup of warm water; 1/4 cup of washing soda, 1/8 cup of Borax, and 1 gallon of warm water. If you opt to use the essential oil, you would use between 3 and 10 drops in the micro-batch.

To use:

Use one cup (8 liquid ounces) of the laundry soap per load of laundry. As this soap does not create suds, it is acceptable for use in high-efficiency machines as well as being good for the standard top-loading machines.

[nicoles]

And Here is Dishsoap:

Homemade Liquid Dish Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

-1 ½ cup of hot water

-½ cup liquid castile soap (I usually use Dr. Bronner’s baby mild liquid soap, but feel free to use any scent just be sure to adjust/omit essential oils accordingly. You may want to use a variety that is already scented for a more frugal option.)

-1 tablespoon of white vinegar

-1 tablespoon of Arm&Hammer’s Super Washing Soda (used to thicken the soap)

-1/8 teaspoon of tea tree oil (optional)

Update: To really thicken the soap to be more like store-bought dish soap, add only 1 tablespoon of shredded bar soap (I use my homemade, old-fashioned lye soap and the grease cutting ability is incredible) to the recipe above.

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and then pour in 1 1/2 cup of very hot water. Be sure to whisk/stir this mixture until all ingredients are thoroughly blended (and the bar soap is melted).

2. Allow mixture to cool completely on the counter. Stirring occasionally.

3. Store in any dish soap dispensing bottle and use as you would the commercial brands.

Note: You may choose to naturally increase the anti-bacterial qualities of the soap by adding 1/4 tsp. of lavender or eucalyptus essential oils.

The switch to making your own household cleaning products may seem overwhelming at first, but once you establish a routine it will become second nature. From the following items, 100% of my basic cleaning needs are met:
 Borax
 Baking Soda
 Super Washing Soda
 White Vinegar
 Castile Soap
 Essential oils are not necessary but they can be fun to experiment with (I order mine from here. They’re generally less expensive)
You can find most of the items above in the laundry aisle of your local grocery store, a well appointed health food store, or online through Mountain Rose Herbs.
It doesn’t get more frugal than that!

Mountain Rose Herbs is also a great place to get herbs, spices and teas.

[nicoles]

For Hand Lotion, I either use organic coconut oil, straight out of the jar, or when I have time, I use this excellent tutorial to make incredible lotion. I even considered giving it as a gifts this year, but it was too time consuming an idea.

The same person also made a recipe for faux petroleum jelly which seems cool but I have not tried it yet.

For shampoo, when in a bind I either use Dr Bronner's liquid soap, and follow with apple cider vinegar as a conditioner, or use Baking Soda, like Moonwatcher mentioned in her journal, and follow with the cider vinegar. It is really good for my hair because our water is very hard.

Also, I have tried this recipe for shampoo

Shampoo
1/3 bar bronners, shaved and melted in tea from fresh or dried herbs of your choice, 1 table spoon olive oil, 1 table spoon apple cider vinegar.

Or

Basic Shampoo:
1/4 cup distilled water
1/4 cup liquid Castile Soap - I use unscented, but you can choose your favorite
1/2 teaspoon jojoba, grapeseed, or other light vegetable oil

Mix together all the ingredients. Store in a bottle. Shake before use.
This mixture isn't as thick as commercial shampoos - you'll need to just tilt the bottle over your head. Or add some baking soad to thicken it.
Lotta lather though!

And as for conditioner, you can mix 2 cups water with one cup cider vinegar for a regular conditioner.

For deep Conditioning try this:

Hair Thickener Conditioner

1/2 ripe avocado

1/4 cup coconut milk

In a small bowl, mash the avocado with a the back of a spoon or fork, mix in the coconut milk to form a thick gel substance.

Apply this gel like mixture to clean hair and comb it through. Leave it on your head for at least 15 minutes, and then rinse it out.
Try this conditioner recipe if your hair tends to be limp or fine. It is much cheaper than the hair thickener products on the shelves.

[nicoles]

Just wanted to share this excellent blog post by Leo Babauta on how to begin doing what we actually say we want to do, or what we know we should do. Food for thought for the Holiday season, and upcoming New Year.

[eri]

Thank you, Nicole!! I am so going to try the detergent. I think I've seen that recipe, but never tried it cuz I got tired of looking for the washing soda. I will look more closely next time. I have tried ACV, but I don't love it. Maybe I use too much product to see good results. I need to try that lotion. Do you buy the unrefined oil?

[Lesliec1]

I would never guess that cider vinegar could be a conditioner!

[nicoles]

You're welcome Eri! Yes, it was hard to find the washing soda for me, too. I know know if you have Ace Hardware's locally, but they usually have it, or if they don't they can order it for you cheaper than buying it on amazon.

Leslie, I know ACV is a miracle substance. Although I should add a caveat: It is worth it to me to not put any extra chemicals on my skin if I can help it, so I tolerate less-than-salon hair quality after using it. It works, well enough. I can live with the results. But it's not quite the same as regular products.

[Lesliec1]

You're welcome Eri! Yes, it was hard to find the washing soda for me, too. I know know if you have Ace Hardware's locally, but they usually have it, or if they don't they can order it for you cheaper than buying it on amazon.

Leslie, I know ACV is a miracle substance. Although I should add a caveat: It is worth it to me to not put any extra chemicals on my skin if I can help it, so I tolerate less-than-salon hair quality after using it. It works, well enough. I can live with the results. But it's not quite the same as regular products.

haha. My whole person is less-than-salon quality so it sounds like a fit.

[Lesliec1]

Just wanted to share this excellent blog post by Leo Babauta on how to begin doing what we actually say we want to do, or what we know we should do. Food for thought for the Holiday season, and upcoming New Year.

That is excellent!!! The more you learn about people in general or yourself, it really is all about fear. All! I know the basics of dog training and dog behavioral issues. Even that's all fear too.

[nicoles]

Yes, Leslie, that post is RAD! I read it the other day and it is already helping me out. Once I took a look, I see I am riddled with unfounded fears. But fear is not real. It is just a real sweet talker that convinces you it is something else, like common sense.

Also noticing it in others, and it is making it easier to forgive people some of their difficult personality tendencies.