Category Archives: Cleaning

Natural cleaning, soapberries, vinegar, homemade cleaners & more.

How To Make Your Own Homemade Minty Mouthwash

by Texas Homesteader ~
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I wanted to eliminate plastic bottles of mouthwash. Although I found many ‘recipes’ for making your own homemade mouthwash, often they’re overly complicated or use specialty ingredients I don’t want to have to buy.

What’s my battle cry? Yep, y’all remember it well: 

Use Whatcha Got!

Making my own Homemade Minty Mouthwash helps me toward the zero-waste lifestyle I strive for. And using only simple ingredients, too! #TexasHomesteader

 

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Homemade Cold-Process Soap: Morning Motivation MINT!

by Texas Homesteader ~
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I was recently asked to give a talk to a delightful women’s group about the procedures of homemade cold-process soap. Of course there’s no way for me to actually make the soap as part of the presentation.

Not only would mixing lye not be wise in an unknown setting but start to finish it takes about 2 hours to make the soap. (although once the lye & oils are combined it comes together in only about 20 minutes) 

What??!  You don’t think I could be entertaining enough to engage a group of strangers for 2 whole hours??  LOL

So RancherMan & I decided to make the soap in advance. That way the soap could cure for 6 weeks before the presentation. We would be able to send everyone home with a sample of the finished soap all ready to use. But what soap shall we make??

After pondering a bit I decided to put that rambunctious mint to good use and make a mint-scented soap. I think I’ll call it “Morning-Motivation Mint”!  Come see how we did it.

This is a very easy recipe for a good homemade cold process soap. Morning-Motivation Mint Cold-Process Soap - Refreshing! #TexasHomesteader

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How To Line-Dry Sheets Outside On A Windy Day

by Texas Homesteader ~  

Do you struggle drying your clean sheets outside due to the wind? You know the drill, you fight to get the sheets onto the line. Then the wind catches them & makes them want to set sail into the next county!  

But I’ve discovered a secret to keeping the sheets on the line on windy days! 

Sometimes it's hard to dry your sheets outside due to the wind. But I've discovered a secret to keeping the sheets on the line! #TexasHomesteader

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Recipe: Vanilla-Scented Shampoo Soap Bars

by Texas Homesteader ~
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I recently shared with you the recipe for our Lavender / Rosemary cold process soap we made to include in our Christmas gift baskets. Today I’ll share the recipe we used to make a vanilla-scented shampoo bar.  Whaaaa???  A bar of soap you can use as shampoo?? Oh yeah!

As a matter of fact, I haven’t used commercial shampoo from a plastic bottle for several years. I love the creamy lather this bar makes. And you know I love that there’s no plastic bottle of shampoo for me to buy and then send the trash to the landfill. Plus these vanilla-scented shampoo bars were very well received by our gift recipients.

VANILLA SCENTED SHAMPOO SOAP BARS - See our cold-process soap recipe and procedures (including photos) for making your own shampoo bars. #TexasHomesteader

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Recipe: Homemade Cold-Process Lavender/Rosemary Soap

by Texas Homesteader
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I’ve had many requests for me to share our soap recipe so I’m sharing with you today. We made several batches using different oils and also different dried botanicals from our homestead.  We’re using dried lavender blooms from the beautiful lavender in my flower beds. I also enjoy using crushed dried rosemary from the mammoth rosemary bush at our porch.

COLD PROCESS LAVENDER / ROSEMARY SOAP. Making homemade soap is easy and fun, and makes great gifts! See my recipe complete with photos. #TexasHomesteader

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Homestead Hack: Quick Cleaning For Coffee Mugs

by Texas Homesteader ~ 

RancherMan & I like our morning coffee. A lot. 

Each morning before we begin our outside homestead chores we complete our computer work inside while enjoying those hot steamin’ cups o joe. 

When we’ve had our fill for the morning (Ok, after SEVERAL cups. OK TWO POTS – don’t judge me!) we rinse out our coffee mugs and place them on a shelf to await our morning coffee routine the following day.

But after a couple of days the coffee-bean oils begin to coat and stain the cup. 

Never fear, there’s an easy and natural way to bring that coffee mug back to its previous sparkling perfection. And I use a natural ingredient that in all probability you have sitting in your kitchen right now! Check out today’s Homestead Hack demonstration…

NATURAL COFFEE MUG CLEANING Homestead Hack. When coffee oils stain the mug, use a natural ingredient that you already have! #TexasHomesteader Continue reading