Homesteader, I am not.

I would like to eat organic everything and use all chemical-free all natural products every day, but budgets and time constraints are major limitations. We do what is manageable. We buy the worst produce and dairy offenders organically. If we can’t afford organic, all-natural shampoo and soaps, we buy fragrance-free. We buy much of what we can second-hand in an effort to re-use and not consume new, new, new (and save green). And when I run across ‘recipes’ for things we use often or in quantity, I try them.

My first great success was whole wheat pizza dough in the bread maker. Then I stumbled in Once a Month Mom’s recipe for making yogurt in the crock pot. It was so easy and delicious and I felt good about making something wholesome for my family (though between you and me, I ate most of it). A few weeks ago I saw a ‘recipe’ on Heavenly Homemakers’ website for all natural liquid hand soap. Now, I’m not heavenly or a homemaker, but I gave it a shot.

I whipped up supper and put it in the oven. While I waited, I grated a bar of all natural soap and boiled water. I stirred in the soap shavings and still had lots of time before supper was ready. $2.00 for a bar of soap and I was well on my way to saving a ton of money on all-natural, chemical-free liquid hand soap. I used a hand blender to stir it about 15 minutes later and let it sit over night. The next morning it had thickened well. I mixed it again and poured it into storage containers. Voila!

Try to forget I told you how easy and inexpensive it was…you’ll probably be getting a fancied up jar of it for Christmas.