Homemade Cleaners

A busy time making homemade cleaners and baking.  The Christmas cake is now done and sitting in my store cupboard.

Homemade Cleaners
I decided from the first day of this year onwards I would not buy any more cleaning products from the supermarket, and that I would make everything I needed myself.  Last year I began buying the ingredients I would need and stored them away in preparation. A basic list from Bin Inn for me would look like this...

• Baking Soda
• White Vinegar
• Borax
• Washing Soda
• Citirc Acid
• Salt

The reality of this decision soon dawned on me in February as the purchased cleaners soon started running out.  So out came the recipes I had been writing up and the process began.  At the time Alex and I made it part of our homeschool life, and between us started making these products.  I wanted to be able to reproduce as much as possible the cleaners I was already using.  So for me, I especially wanted to make dishwasher powder, laundry  liquid and spray and wipe.  And to be honest that about covers most of what I use.  Add vinegar and baking soda in as well.  So Thursday was make cleaners day here. I have collected many recipes for cleaners from very good websites such as down---to---earth and .simplesavings.  Do go to these sites and have a look, they are full of great advice on living a more simpler life.

Dishwasher Powder

1 cup washing soda

1 cup baking soda

1/4 cup salt

1/4 cup citric acid

 Combine ingredients, then use 1 tablespoon as needed.  Use white vinegar for rinse aid.

  

Laundry Liquid

1 bar of sunlight soap

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax

water miscible oil if required for smell

Grate the bar of soap into a big pot.

Cover with water and simmer over a medium heat until all soap is melted, stirring occasionally.

Pour into a very large bucket.

Add the washing soda, oil and borax.

Add enough very hot water (I use the electric kettle) to fill the bucket.

Stir as often as possible as it cools down.

Let sit overnight to gel (and believe me, it will gel!) but give occasional stir as it thickens.

I use 1 cup per load.

If gel is too thick add more water.

Homemade Spray and Wipe

2 Tablespoons Cloudy Ammonia

1/2 cup white vinegar

2 Tablespoons dish washing liquid

4 litres warm water

Mix together in a well ventilated area.  Ammonia is very toxic so read instructions for its use very carefully.

Store in spray bottles ready for use.  I personally find this spray amazing.  It can be used in the bathroom, toilet and even to wash the floors with.

 8 litres of spray and wipe ready to use

3 buckets of laundry liquid almost being filled with water from kettle

Bye for now, Lee-Anne

Running on empty

Monday 18th October 2010

An unschooling day is called for today.

Georgia has had an exhausting weekend of activities.  It has been about 6 weeks since we have taken over the care of a standardbred chestnut called Spice.  There is a real little community of horse loving girls at the paddock where spice lives and we have slowly been intergating Georgia into it.  A bbq for the girls and their families was held on Friday night, followed by Georgia's first proper sleep over with all these girls. The weekend was then spent at the paddock, mucking out and riding.  Hence a very tired girl today.  We discussed having too much on at the weekend and being too tired come Monday morning.  Mmmmm, I told her one big activity only, like sleepover/riding or mucking out/taking horses swimming at the Waimakairi River.

So, we listen to an audio book, CHERUB CLASS A, by Robert Muchamore...

When Cherub kids go under cover, they can

 succeed in infiltrating criminal organisations that

have eluded MI5 and the police for years.

James Adams is on his biggest mission yet,

to nail Europe's most powerful cocaine dealer.

He'll need all his specialist training if he's going

to bring down the man at the top.

The reason for CHERUB'S existence is simple: adults

never suspect that children are spying on them.

For official purposes,

these children don't exist.

A story not for the younger set.  Written along the lines of Tomorrow When The War Began, I am pleased I can listen at the same time, just to monitor and discuss the adult themes involved, like drugs particularly.  So Georgia draws as we listen, I potter in the kitchen.

Out to the garden we go to tidy last of leeks.  I have noticed some are starting to go to seed.  Over the winter Georgia has been thinning out the carrots, so time to finally pick some.

We have been doing science in the garden, discussing the planting we did over the weekend, checking over the chickens, sorting out seed raising trays and watering them.

Off to secondhand bookshop to exchange big pile of horse books, come home with smaller pile of Star Trek books to read.  Library day as well.  Off to art class at 5pm.  All very tired by end of day.

These books took my fancy and couldn't resist getting them.  Homeschooling and purchasing books is so expensive, anytime I can get handy secondhand stuff I jump to it.  However I still have to stick to my budget.

Mmmm, these also took my fancy, Georgia is studying reptiles next up in Zoology 1, lovely illustrated herb book (really informative for someone like me just starting out) and another dictionary.  I love nice old dictionaries, especially Collins ones. This dictionary is massive and will be very handy. Trying really hard to get the kids to use a dictionary to look words up in (like we learnt) instead of going online.  I can forward one of my other ones on to my sister now, as she was telling me the other day how she wanted a nice old one like mine.

One day old chicks with very protective mother hen.  They live at the farm where Spice the horse is kept.  This mother hen has been sitting for about 3 weeks on her eggs.  These are the only ones that hatched.