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!

I was excited to shop this morning!  I got 8 Crest toothpastes at Kroger for free.  Yes.  All of them were absolutely free with my $1 off Crest coupons.  I do know that at one time you could load a $1 off Crest coupon onto your card because it gave me that discount today on one of my toothpastes.  I actually got a coupon back because of it so I will have to go back and get another tube for free.  I gave 2 to my neighbor so they are not in the photo.  I also picked up some Kellogs cereal because one can never have to many boxes of cereal with kids galore!  They are on sale at Kroger for $1.98 and I had coupons for $1.50 off of 3 boxes so that made them $1.48 a box.  I bought 6 boxes.  See photo below.  I got fruit loops, rice crispies, and cocoa crispies.  Also at Kroger they had Purex Laundry detergent 2/$5 and I had two coupons for a $1 off each one so that made them 2 for $3!  Last on my list at Kroger was a free 3 bar pack of Ivory soap.  I don't use Ivory but it was free so we will use it!

Next was my trip to Walgreens where I picked up another pack of Stayfree for $2.00 and earned a $3 RR. 
I later went to my Walgreens in Metropolis and did this deal again.  I now have 3 catalinas for $3 off. 

Last stop was Walmart.  I was searching for the $3 Nivea Body wash and the shelves were clear.  I was not taking my big gas guzzling vehichle to the south side so we will never know if they have them at that location.  I will just wait and hope they get them back in stock before the coupons expire on the 14th of May. The coupons are for $3 off so that will make them free.  I printed off my $1 off coupon for any reach floss and the floss is priced at $.88 so i made .$12 to take it out of the store.  While in the store I noticed they had Airwick Freshmatic Ultras on special for $4.98 and I was pretty sure I had coupons for $4.00 off and I did.  I had 4 of those coupons so I bought 4 of the kits for under $4.00! Only 3 are pictured because I cracked one open as soon as I got home to put in bathroom.  I also found 2 coupons that someone just laid down by the trial size Cascade completes which are $.98 and the coupons were for .$50 off so I scooped up two of the trial packs for under a dollar.  I always find coupons at Walmart on the shelves so be on the lookout for these as well.   I made a stop at the magazine rack and picked up the latest edition of All You magazine which has tons of coupons in it and I was done for the day! 

This shopping trip cost me $ 20 OOP.  $14 when you take into consideration my $6 in RR's for Walgreens.   If you have any questions, please leave me a comment and I will answer as soon as possible.  Have a beautiful day!

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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