Homemade Counter Top Spray With Essential Oils

Having pets and kids has made me so much more aware of what I use, both with cleaning products and body care.  I began making some of my cleaning products for that reason, and also because it is a lot cheaper to use what I have on hand.  I took to Pinterest and searched away.  Because I wanted to use what I already had in the house, I used this recipe and tutorial. I loved the printable that came with it too! You can also find the Pin here.

 

First, I gathered all my ingredients and my helper.  I didn't have mint essential oil on hand, so I used some tea tree oil since it is used for cleansing.  Well, that's the bottle says, and I've used it before and seems to work so I used it again.  I did add some fresh mint this time (only because I had so much overflowing from my herb garden).  I don't know if it really did anything different but at least I used some up.  I used Dawn for the dish soap, because it is my go-to and I find it works better than anything else. To make it even more natural, you could use an all natural dish soap instead.

I let my helper do most of the work.  His favorite part was giving it a good shake at the end and the thumbs up let me know we were ready to clean!  And judging by the background of that thumbs up pic, my house needed a good cleaning.

**I believe you can order bottles online, but I like to be super thrifty so I used some leftover bottles that I had from Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day spray. 

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Money Saving Monday-5 Things to do This Week

Happy Monday! Let's start it off right with some money saving tips to try this week:

1. Do you ever have those "I'm so proud of myself" moments where you want so badly to buy something, but you resist?  That pair of shoes, that amazing top, that hardcover book.  This happens to me a lot and it is hard to resist sometimes.  Something that makes it a little easier is to take that money I didn't spend, even it it's $5 saved not going to Starbucks, and put it somewhere meaningful.  Have a credit card you're paying off? A student loan? A savings account or a savings for a special house project (for us it's a fence)?  Put that money there!  You'll be surprised how quickly you forget about those things you didn't buy, especially when you see your monetary goals being realized.

2.  Remove the temptation to spend.  Do you get those millions of emails filled with deals claiming they will never be back (they will)?  Or those special coupons just for you that you have to you use? I mean come on! It's just for you! It's not. Every day I would wake up feeling so overwhelmed when I checked my email.  Instead of a positive step to get me saving, I was bombarded with retail peer pressure to spend.  I did the only thing I thought would help and clicked that liberating UNSUBSCRIBE button.  It takes a little while to kick in, but its wonderful to not have all those offers staring me down.  They are great, don't get me wrong, I'm a girl who loves a sale, but I can't have them all. 

3. Meal plan.  I'd like to tell you that I do this all the time.  That I plan it all out, and make my list with my coupons and get my cash envelope (so I won't go over budget) but that isn't true.  However, I am working on it.  I get a general idea of what we will eat for the week, and when I go grocery shopping, I get our essentials that we use and run out of weekly (like milk, eggs, etc) and then what I need for the meal plan.  If you can sit down with Pinterest and really make a plan, it will save time and money, and then you should come back here and tell me about it so I can be inspired to do it more.  Before I decide what we are going to have, I look at what's in the house. Sometimes we say we have no food and need to go grocery shopping right away, and then I look, really really look, and realized there are many options hiding in the pantry, fridge and chest freezer. Be creative and use what you have before buying.  You'll be surprised how much you actually have to eat!

 (Bow tie optional Build Your Own Burger Night)

4. Shop your own house.  This is one of my favorite things to do.  We change things around at our house a lot.  Because we live in an old home, we are working on updating (very very slowly) and to make things fresh on a tiny budget, and I like to shop my garage, or basement, or even other rooms and see what I can come up with add some flare to a room. Change the purpose of an item.  One of my favorite things to use for this is hanging fruit baskets. I have one in my office for sewing supplies and one in my bathroom for use as a catch all over the counter.  Re-purpose and use what you have, and if it isn't working, then go on the hunt for what you need.  (That's an old church pew below).

 (Before and after of one of our recent house projects, the sun room.  I shopped our house to furnish and decorate most of it.  It isn't done yet, and some was temporary until we buy furniture, but you get the idea)

5. Use up all your bath, body and beauty supplies before buying any more.  This sounds odd, I know. You're probably thinking, "But Amanda, if I have shampoo still, why would I buy it?"  Look under your sink. Look in your other bathrooms if you have them.  I bet you have some there, just waiting to be used.  Lotions, I know you have a million.  Use them!  Once you have purged your bathroom of all of them, then you can buy more.  Saves money, and reduces waste.  And you'll probably smell really good.

Do you guys have any tips on saving money? I'd love to hear them! Give a shout!

And to see more of our projects and gluten free meals follow @KnapTimeKnitter