Housewarming Gifts DIY
I never know what to give as wedding or housewarming gifts. I think back to when the Chief and I got married and quickly realize our most used gifts: a wok and cleaning supplies!!! It seemed silly to get and give cleaning supplies, until those rough times came and we needed them!!! Ahh, the joy of being young and in love and broke!
I decided to hook up a wedding gift using homemade cleaning supplies, along with instructions on how to make and use them for future use. I prettied up a jar for the laundry detergent (recipe below) and re-used, and of course re-decorated, an old carpet powder bottle for the carpet cleaner. Found the recipe for carpet cleaner over at Mrs. Happy Homemaker.
I’ll be adding homemade glass cleaner to it as well (windex is so expensive AND it leaves streaks!), but I didn’t want to make it and leave it sitting in the bag awaiting it’s new home as I’m afraid it will leak.
Another addition will be fabric softener (recipe below), homemade reed diffusers, Hand Scrub, and who knows what else I will come up with! LOL. I am happily travelling down a journey of all homemade chemicals! No more purchasing laundry detergent, body soap, cleaning supplies. They have become insanely expensive and more often than not they are inadequate! I’ve been giving ‘samples’ to friends and family and they all love what I’ve tried so far, so I’m quite pleased with the results!
To Make Window Cleaner:
- Get a spray bottle (the one I use is came from Dollar Tree)
- Fill halfway with water
- Fill the rest with vinegar
- Shake and use!
After some experience, I am going to say that the fabric softener was a bust. Don’t waste your time & money. 😀
Laundry Detergent:
- 1 bar fels naptha (soap found in the laundry section)
- 2 cups borax
- 2 cups washing powder
- Grate/shred the bar of fels naptha into fine shreds,if you use larger shreds, the soap won’t completely dissolve in the washer.
- Mix all together.
- Place in jar for storage.
- Use 1 tbsp (yes, you DID read that right!) for normal loads and 2 tbsp for absorbent loads.
Update: I have found that the liquid laundry detergent is much more efficient. It’s a little more work but completely worth it in the end. Check out the recipe for liquid laundry soap.
We would love to hear your suggestions about making soaps, cleaning supplies, etc. I’m honestly too lazy to do the in depth, time consuming ones, but I LOVE the simple stuff!!! I welcome links to any of DIY cleaning or hygiene ‘recipes’, so long as they are on topic! 😀 Hope you’ve had a great time at the Zoo!!!
This is such helpful info, thank you so much for sharing! I always like to make my own cleaners if I can help it.
I’ve never tried making my own cleaners like this. I do like the idea of knowing exactly what’s in the cleaners I’m using.
Sounds like a great idea
What a thoughtful gift for a young couple! Thanks so much for linking it up to the Tuesday To Do Party! Can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to this week! Smiles! Jami
This is an awesome post! So glad I found you, thanks for your email. Love your blog … always feel free to use whatever I have over at bles-id, I would be so honored! So nice to have a woman of faith to “blog” around with! I will do a little feature on you asap… Happy Blogging! Jules from bles-id
I just made liquid laundry soap! You have some great ideas!
We would love to have you come link up to our Crafty Lassie Tuesday Link Party. We are also having a giveaway! Hope to see you there.
Thanks!
Rose & Heather
This is such a great idea. I think it is nice of you to share your recipes too, since newlyweds usually need to save in every way they can. Great post!
I make my laundry detergent too. I use ZOTE instead of Fels Naptha, I like the scent better. My recipe is a bar of ZOTE, 1 cup each of Borax, washing soda & oxyclean. I also make mine in my food processor. it looks just like the store brands it grates & mixes is so well!