Two things that I've made: Homemade Deodorant and Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent. Both were really easy to make and really cheap (which I like!)
The deodorant I liked: It was really simple to make just 3 ingredients (Coconut Oil, Baking Soda [I used aluminum free], and Arrowroot). We carry all 3 things in the store, but besides the coconut oil, they're all relatively cheap. I don't really sweat and I don't really get that lovely sweaty smell (I do sometimes). When I was pregnant with Ave I managed to get away, for the most part, without wearing deodorant. I do think the homemade deodorant works well for me.
However, Matt doesn't like it. He really wanted to like it and tried it for 2 weeks, but it just doesn't work for him. He works hard, physically, every day...he's out in the heat and lifting constantly. His complaints, it didn't really mask the odor (which I am going to see if I can fix) and it did nothing for the sweating, which resulted in him having some major chaff-age and break-out issues. For now, he's back to using his old deodorant, for at least the rest of the summer...maybe in the winter he can use it.
Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of making the deodorant. There really wasn't much to photograph.
The Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent was really easy to make too, and I did take pictures of that process....although there are some great pictures on the blog I linked to. I did the same as she and only made a 1/2 batch, which works out to about a gallon. I didn't want to have a ton of this stuff sitting around if I didn't like it.
I've been using Pu.rex Free and Clear for the past 4 or 5 years, especially since cloth diapering (one of the highest recommended). It used to be a lot cheaper than anything else, but since being "green" is now cool they seem to bump the price up and only certain stores (none in our town) carry the detergent.
I used a 1/2 a bar of lye soap (which we carry in the store), then bought my borax and washing soda. Just an FYI There are 2 different kinds of lye soap: The raw lye soap which everyone thinks of when they hear lye...the kind that will burn your skin off your hands, and then there is the processed lye soap which is actually a very gentle and great soap.
Grating my soap...the finer you grate your soap the better, it takes less time to dissolve then.
Adding in the Borax and Washing Soda. This part stumped me a bit: The original blogger said that it would start to coagulate, but the person who's post I followed said that their's never did until 24 hours later. Mine did not coagulate during the boiling, we'll have to see how it sets up.
Unfortunately I don't have a pretty container to put my detergent in. I'm going to put my MIL in search of one, she always finds those kinds of things. For now, my laundry detergent looks like a gallon of skim milk sitting on the counter. I suppose I should somehow label it, so that Matt doesn't try and drink it ;-)
The cost of this: Insanely cheap! I figure the boxes of Borax and Washing Soda probably cost me around $10-12, but when you only need a 1/2 cup of each to make a gallon, I probably have enough to make 15 gallons of detergent. The lye soap wasn't cheap ($7 a bar), but I grabbed it from our store and just wrote it on our tab.
I will update once I've actually used this detergent...probably tomorrow or this weekend.
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