Both time and money can be saved with making your own personal care products and cleaners. Yes, I did just say you could save time as well as money. The truth is most DIY products are not complicated and time consuming.
DIY products is a fabulous way to personalize products to your own liking. What’s better than coming up with your own preferred aroma or texture? Need extra moisturizing but prefer a specific scent in your lotion? It’s entirely possible when you make your own. The ingredients can be exactly what you like and need each time. It’s like having your own personal store at your fingertips. The best part of making your own DIY personal care and cleaning products is the assurance of what’s in the item. You can make them chemical free and good for you.
There are many recipes and tips for DIY products you can try. I have tried a lot of these recipes in my own quest to replace items. The trouble is if you make something and it doesn’t work or it’s not quite what you intended you could end up wasting a lot of ingredients. In my own experience I have found that if I stick to a basic recipe I can modify it to fit my exact needs.
Living Example
I have posted this recipe a couple times but it’s perfect for showing how it is not only inexpensive to make and fast but also able to be modified for your needs.
Below is the basic recipe for making dishwasher detergent. You can make this into tablets by pressing the mixture in a silicon mold or leave it as a powder. This recipe costs pennies per load of dishes.
I add 1/4 cup Borax to my recipe. Borax is a natural cleansing booster that not only helps with spotty dishes but adds to the cleaning power of the other ingredients.
When I make this recipe I make 2 batches and it lasts a couple months, about the same as a box of detergent. On average it takes me 20 minutes to make and again it costs pennies per load. So, I can’t go to the store, find the aisle with the detergent, select one, pay for it, get home and put it away for 20 minutes. Hence, saving me time and money making my own.
Ingredients for the recipe also were purchases in a savvy way:
Baking soda – purchased when I did normal grocery shopping (need 1 box for 2 batches)
Food grade citric acid – purchased online at Amazon
OnGuard Concentrate and essential oil – purchased through doTERRA on my monthly loyalty order
When I buy baking soda I usually buy 6 boxes of as it is an ingredient I use in other products around my home. The other ingredients have lasted for several batches of these tablets and I also use them in other recipes.
For a lot more of my personalized recipes be sure to check out the March blog posts where I share many of my home’s cleaners that I make and offer suggestions on incorporating them to your home.
If DIY Isn’t For You
I get that some of us just don’t have the inclination to start whipping up our own cleaners and personal products. That doesn’t mean you need to stay with products that are filled with toxins from chemicals either.
There are some cleaners that I still purchase. Not because I can’t make them but it fits what I need so I can focus on other things. With working full time, managing a small business on the side, raising a family and keeping up with life I don’t have the time to make everything. However, when I made the choice to purchase rather than make it had to follow the same rules of saving me time and money.
For my laundry detergent, I purchase the doTERRA OnGuard Detergent. It is a bottle for 64 loads of laundry and it costs less than what I was paying for a large bottle of Tide. The doTERRA detergent is 100% natural and comes in a much smaller bottle too.
Yes I could make detergent that would cost even less but this wasn’t where I needed to focus right now so I saved a couple bucks and changed. Perhaps at some other point in my life I can revisit but for now this is a workable solution.
Figuring It Out
We each have a unique situation in our home that we must look at when deciding when and how to transition to a more natural solution. It doesn’t have to be fast and it can be personal to you. Perhaps you don’t want to make any of your products or maybe you’re like me and want to make some and buy others. It can all work and it can be done in a way that saves both time and money.
To start, pick one room in your home or one area of your life and focus on that. If it’s wanting to change your hair products, lotion or cleaners it’s cool to start small. The point is to be intentional and really assess the impact of both your time and money with that change. We can all say our health has not price, which is a true statement but we all don’t have an endless budget or loads of free time to make that happen. Be realistic with yourself and make a plan.
Interested in more?
If you are interested in looking how living natural can be possible without busting the family piggy bank, then you have definitely found the right blog site. It is possible and it’s here that I share my own journey as well as monthly focused information to help you navigate the natural world on a budget.
If you have questions please reach out. I’m happy to help.
amyk@dragonspitapothecary.com
The best way to get started is to do your research. doTERRA’s products and essential oils are 100% pure and individually tested for quality. doTERRA is also economical to fit living natural on a regular family’s budget. Click here to get started:
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