Home Made Detergent, Ya'll!

I'm always looking for ways to save money on essentials, as I love to buy non-essentials.  Laundry detergent can be super expensive, so why not try making your own to save some major cash.  I literally do loads of laundry every day, so when I heard about this recipe that can be found here, I decided to make some and enlist the help of my daughters.

OH GIRLSSSSSS!!!!! Get to grinding that soap!  "With a smile, mom!"

I spent around $14 to make my own detergent that should last me a year at 1-2 tablespoons per load.  I mixed all ingredients together in a 5 gallon bucket and then measured out 100 loads into my glass canister and put the rest up on the back porch closet. 

100 loads of laundry detergent right here.  I use an overflowing tablespoon per load.   I'm going to keep track of how long this lasts in my household of 5. 

That's where it goes and that is all you use.  Here's to hoping my clothes get clean.

I opened the door during the wash to see what was going on and if their were any suds.  Here is what I saw.

NO suds.  Just some dingy water. 

Later on, after pulling them out of the washer and dryer, I inspected them for cleanliness and color.  I must say I was impressed.  This homemade betty detergent does a better job than my current detergents which float between All Clear and Purex All Natural.  The clothes were indeed brighter and cleaner than normal.  I put on my favorite green tank (which was greener than normal) and I had no allergic reaction. Yay! I'm just waiting to see how this detergent fairs with my husband as he is allergic to several detergents on the market. If he finds himself itching and carrying on, I will just purchase him a separate detergent.  Cause that's how I roll. 

So, I'm telling you to give this a try.  Save some money.  Spend some somewhere else.  Or not.  But you should.  It's good stuff. 



Merry Christmas!

Fabric Softener and maxi pads, OH MY!

Im not in love with the deals this week but I did manage to score some essentials for a very good price, saving this family of five a good amount of money.

My favorite deal of the week was the Stayfree maxi pads at Walgreens on sale for $2.99 with a $2.99 register reward to use on next purchase.

Making this deal even better was visiting  stayfree for a $1 off coupon making your out of pocket only $1.99. Yes, you made a dollar to take these babies out of the store. You can do this twice if you print off two coupons (simply hit back button twice while first coupon is printing)just don't do it in same shopping trip and don't use your previous RR to buy the next Stayfree purchase.

Ok, so far I have only spent $2.11 and I have a $2.99 RR that I am now ready to use on this next deal:

Clorox toilet bowl cleaner was on sale at Walgreens 2 for $3 after in store coupon. I also printed off a Clorox toilet bowl cleaner coupon a week or so ago that is no longer available, to make this deal even better. I got 2 for $2.25. Walgreens also has a hot buy in the boxed Popsicles. We love the Authentic Italian Ices that are made in Chicago and for $.60, you can give them a try. I added these to my order and didn't pay anything out of pocket.

To recap, I have a pack of stayfree maxi pads, a box of popsicles, and 2 clorox toilet bowl cleaners and I have only paid $2.11.

The next day I used my second Stayfree coupon and rang the pads up first as my first transaction. I paid $2.11 and got my $2.99 RR. I then applied that to my second transaction which was the Purex Crystals softener. I had two coupons for these I found in sunday paper making these $1.99 a piece. That my friends, is a deal. I've since tried the softener crystals and I love them. Im hoping to find some more coupons by a miracle to buy a few more at this great price. In order to use the 2 manufacturer coupons and the $2.99 RR, I need 3 items so I always look at clearance bin. In metropolis, we have $.24 KY wildcats silly bands or. $25 Glee items. Snag one of those items for a door prize or as a9 gift for a child. So, I have $4.25 in items and $2.99 RR.

My OOP on this transaction is under a $1.40. This combined with the $2.11 from the day before comes to $3.51.  I got 7 items.  That is $.50 per item.  I'm LOVIN it!!






Tip: Always print off a coupon for an item like this because you never know when it will go on sale and you want to get the best deal. Also, check out foods, toiletries, and household goods out on facebook. They often have coupons you can print for liking their page.

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Let's Coupon Ladies!

Ok, so I first started my coupon journey about a week ago. I never took the time to coupon before, but after seeing the show Extreme Couponing, I thought I could do that too.  It could be my part time job!  I love shopping and I love hunting for things (in the words of my nosy daughter, "I love going to the dumpster!") so this gig was gonna be a lot of fun and perfect for me.  Going back to the dumpster thing.  It's really not a dumpster.  It's a recycling bin that resembles a dumpster.




 Groceries are expensive!
 Gas is expensive!
 Everything is expensive!  Ok. I started this draft a week ago. Im just now getting back to it. I have a busy life and adding couponing to it just made it a little more than busy. I made a terrible mistake a walgreens yesterday. Im going to tell y'all about it so maybe I wont beat myself up over it anymore. I mean, I could seriously bite myself. I thought I was doing so good. I had my $3 off of Nivea body wash coupons coupled with the sale they were already having on the body wash, making them .79 a piece. SCORE! LOVE BODY WASH! I usually stick to the baby kind with cocoa butter but when you are on a budget its best the find the deals and grab them when you can to save money. I bought 10 bottles because I had 10 coupons. I found a new coupon or two everyday I visited the recycling. So lets break it down. I spent about 9.00 for 10 great body washes that normally retail for $5 a piece. I didn't even leave my husband out of the deal either. I found about 4 Coupons for Nivea for men bodywash so I scooped him some up too. Ok, so back to the biting. REGISTER REWARDS want to be the death of me or maybe its shopping with three kids. I haven't figured it out. I started off with my coupon for Colgate toothbrush. They are on sale 2 for $6 with a $4 register reward so with coupon it was 2 toothbrushes for a buck or it would've been had I not been shopping with 3 kids. I also had a coupon for the toothpaste and it was the same deal so it would've been 2 for $1 had I not used my previous register reward toward its purchase. The poor young guy checking me out didn't look like he wanted to deal with it so I just sucked it up and vowed to bite myself later. It was a novice mistake. It wont happen again. I was rushing trying to get the kids to put the back scratchers down while the manager gave me a fuddled look. Listen man, im just trying to get some deals, I told him with my dirty look. Lesson learned. Pay attention to register rewards and product you will be buying with that register reward. I just screwed it all up. I lost $4 on the deal and once you start couponing, $4 becomes $100. No lie. You will see. One more tip for walgreens shoppers with coupons. U must have an item for every coupon. So say you have 3 items and 3 coupons. You also want to use a RW. You now need a 4th item. It doesn't matter what that item is so find the cheapest item. Ask the manager. He will know what it is. Stay tuned for deals to be had starting Sunday at Walgreens and perhaps CVS. We don't have a CVS in Metropolis but I do occasionally zip down to Paducah for a really great bargain. Ill keep you posted. Ill start writing the draft today!

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