Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

I know that laundry detergent is not a part of the grocery challenge, but I have to mention it because the savings is amazing! My family and I made our first batch of laundry soap in October 2009. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was super easy. Even if I would have messed it up, we would have only wasted a few dollars. It was worth the try!

Before using laundry soap, I was buying store brand eco friendly laundry soap at a wholesale store. We were paying around $17 for laundry detergent every 2-3 months. The homemade laundry detergent costs only about $.05/ load. It would be even cheaper if we had an energy saver washing machine. By using homemade laundry soap, we are saving about a hundred dollars a year. So, by the time our kids graduate from high school, we will have saved around $1800 on laundry soap!

I use the Duggar's recipe (scroll down) and found all the ingredients at Publix. My family of 5 will only need to make this recipe 2 times per year.

If you are new to homemade cleaning products, you are probably wondering what you are going to do with the leftover ingredients. After all, you will probably not have to make the laundry soap very often. I use the leftover borax and washing soda in my dishwasher.

Diswasher

Pre-Wash:

1/2 tablespoon Borax

1/2 tablespoon Washing Soda

Main Wash:

1 tablespoon Borax

1 tablespoon Washing Soda

I use white vinegar for the rinse.

The eco benefits of homemade laundry soap are that it's all-natural and it cuts out having to recycle those large laundry detergent containers (not to mention the ones not being recycled).

As and added price reducer, there is usually a Borax coupon (scroll down) for $.35 off, which will double at a lot of grocery stores.

After using homemade laundry soap, I will likely never buy regular laundry detergent again... unless it's free ; )

-Robin

Freezing Meat

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

I try to buy all of my meat at the lowest price. We usually have whatever meat is on sale for a meal or two and then I will stock some in the freezer for later. Last week, I bought cubed steak and pork chops. After having the steak for one meal. I froze all the pork chops and rest of the steak. If we are going to eat the meat in the next two months, I will store it in freezer bags. If it will be longer than two months, I package it with our food saver (this was a great Christmas gift for us a couple of years ago). A few months ago, we purchased a whole sirloin (they cut it whatever way you want it) and we packaged it with the food saver. We were able to get a great deal at a locally owned grocery store and paid only $1.79/ lb... we should have bought more for that price!

I make sure to write the date packaged, number of steaks, and what it is, on the package. It should last at least 3 months in freezer bags and much longer when packaged with the food saver. Sometimes, I will take the time to package the meat in a marinade or make it freezer meal.

Buying meat at it's lowest price is a key to big savings!

-Robin

Buying at the Lowest Price

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge





A few months ago, I started wondering how we could save more money. We don't spend money on extravagant things, but I was sure that we could do better as far as our weekly grocery, personal, and household supplies. After some research, I decided to start couponing. I had heard about a site called Southern Savers. It's a free website that does the coupon match-ups for many grocery stores and all of the drug stores in our area. As I looked on the Southern Savers site, I found some very beneficial information about how to buy things at the lowest price, how to use coupons, and where to find coupons. Southern Savers has some great tutorials with all the information you need to know about buying things at the lowest price.





I use the Southern Savers buy price list to keep me on track at the grocery store and I am filling out my own blank buy price list as I find great deals! When I first saw the Southern Savers buy price list, I could not believe all the items that I should be getting for free. After couponing for just a little while, it became clear to me that the savings was going to be BIG! I have not only "bought" items for free, but sometimes I "get paid" to buy them ; )



Buying items at the lowest price has been the key to my success. A big thanks to Jenny at Southern Savers for doing all the coupon match-ups and teaching me how to save LOTS of $$$!

-Robin

PS. I will never buy another tube of toothpaste with cash again : )

Banana Pudding (Pudding Made from Scratch)

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

I have posted many times about how I love to make my own mixes. One of my favorite mixes is pudding mix. They are easy to make and easy to store. You can make them for about the price of pudding on sale with a coupon, which was $.34 the last time I bought it.

Pictured above:

Top - Mix (only use 2/3 c. of it per recipe)
Middle- Making the pudding

Bottom- Banana Pudding

It is nice to make things from scratch and have them on hand when you get a craving for it. The recipe I use comes from my Make-A-Mix book.

This recipe was made with Publix Vanillla Waffers, the penny item a few weeks ago.

Bananas $.33/ lb

Milk- Free

Whip Topping- Free

Vanilla Wafer- $.01

A large Banana Pudding approx. $.40

Happy Menu Plan Monday!

-Robin

Week Two ALL YOU Grocery Challenge Totals

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

The girls and I were able to hit a few stores and our local farm this week for some great deals! We are having visitors next week, so we will be feeding 4 extra people. Knowing that we were going to have company, I have been stocking up for the last few weeks. Surprisingly, I have been able to stay on budget! Our ALL YOU weekly budget is $100 for the 4 of us... let's see how we did!

Grocery (including our Publix trip): $58.62

Non- Grocery (those pictured: spray and wash, charcoal, and glad trash bags): $6.36

Total for everything: $64.98

This week's savings after coupons and sales according to receipts for all items: $111.14

Wow! A great week to stock up on fruit, eggs, and some cool treats to serve when our visitors arrive on Monday!

2 Week Grocery Challenge Total:

Groceries: $90:15

This post is linked to Friday Finals!

-Robin

Free Milk

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

My best buy this week came early. On Sunday, I went to Publix to pick up a free Smart Balance milk deal that Jenny had posted on Southern Savers.

Smart Source Milk was BOGO $3.59. I used two $2 coupons and picked up 5 ears of corn for $.15 each to take up the overage.

Total: $.41

A great deal 2 weeks in a row on milk! See last week's milk deal.

This post is linked to Friday Finals!

-Robin

Making Your Own Mixes

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

One of my favorite frugal things to do is make my own mixes. Making your own mixes cuts down on preservatives in convience foods and helps keep your cabinets stocked so that you don't have to run to the store for anything. I have found that if you have stocked cabinets, you rarely have buy things at regular price when you need them. The key to making your own mixes is buying flour and sugar at the lowest price. Recently, I even bought flour in bulk to make several of my mixes. Flour in bulk is about $1.25/ 5 lb.

Most of the time, I buy staples with sales and coupons from the grocery store. I found a great buy price guide for staples on Southern Savers that I use to ensure that I am paying the lowest price. If a staple is at a low price, I stock up and make a mix.

Here are a few of my favorite mixes that I keep on hand:

Hot roll mix for pizza crusts

Whole-Grain Pancake Mix

Pasta Sauce

Chicken Mix

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Freezer Pie Crusts

Pizza Sauce Mix

The Make-A-Mix book is a great guide to making mixes. It's cheap and easy!

-Robin