Happy Christmas Eve! Whipped Body Lotion for ALL!

Happy Christmas Eve! Weather you spend it at home or with friends and family I wish you a joyous day!

As promised here is another homemade gift-able. Unfortunately unless you are as quirky as I, and have a teenage daughter who has been experimenting with making home beauty products for more than three years you might not have all the ingredients..... I even had to go out and buy more Apricot Oil last week (and to my dismay the coop only had one small bottle. I'll have to ask at the service desk about ordering a big bottle of apricot and a big bottle of almond - once I am back to work of course).

So here it is, and it is super simple. You keep a simple ratio of 3 solid to 1 liquid. Yep that's really all you need to know. 

This is what I used for this batch (and my recipe changes batch to batch, we keep tweaking it when we are 100% satisfied I'll update and let everyone know my final recipe).

520 grams of Raw Shae Butter (mine is the yellow kind, but I also get and use the white. When I purchase white Shae butter I make sure it is sun bleached and not chemically bleached. I get my Shae Butter for a rocking price from the African Store on S. Clinton Ave. It comes in chunks in plastic bags and is favorably priced. A shout out to the fabulous people at Aaron's Alley for sending me that way a few years ago when I was looking. RIP Aaron we all miss you)
99 grams of Cocoa Butter (I get Essential Living Foods from Abundance Co-op, this wasn't a complete package as Lu uses it for lots of her beauty products).
112 grams of Coconut Oil (I used up the last of a jar I had from Aldi's, yes you can get organic cold pressed coconut oil from Aldi's. In case you didn't know Aldi's is the outlet for Trader Joes....)

To that I added the following liquids
114 grams of Apricot Oil (Lu loves this for her skin.... and I picked up a few months ago after reading about it)
32 grams of Fractionated Coconut Oil (this was a left over bit I had from my EO days)

Once your solid oils are melted add in your liquid oils. You can use just one solid oil. I have made recipes with JUST coconut oil and fractionated coconut oil, but I personally LOVE Shae Butter and what it does for my skin. You could use just Shae butter, or just cocoa butter. Keep in mind Cocoa butter is a "hard" solid oil and so the resulting lotion may be stiff. It will still work you'll just have to "dig" it out and melt it in the palm of your hand. As for your liquids you can use just one vegetable oil (but not corn oil please) or any combo you like. Olive Oil is a favorite from the Mediterranean. There is also Sweet Almond Oil, Avocado (supposed to be great for mature skin), Apricot, Jojoba, etc....... The cost of the oils ranges....

Once the oils have cooled to a solid state, I reheat them. Double heating gives me the best results. Let them cool a second time, but not to a solid state.  Once they are cool but not solid add them to a mixer (you can whip by hand, but it takes more than 30 minutes) and add any essential oils you wish. I ALWAYS add Frankincense and Helichrysium, since both are great for the skin. To give you an idea a recipe like this I use up to 8 drops of Frankie and 2 drops of Heli.  This made 6 half pint containers and 6  four oz containers.

My original intent was to personalize each of the lotions with different EOs like orange, geranium, ylang ylang.... but when I finished whipping this batch

   It just smelled so heavenly I couldn't bring myself to add any other EOs to personalize them.  If you are not making a giant batch of one scent you would scoop out your individual amounts and add EOs. Again I recommend keeping it to no more than 3 EOs (unless you are copy catting someone else's tried and true recipe. I also don't count Franki and Heli when I use them in a recipe. 

The end result varies from batch to batch. This one was very butter-creme frosting like. If when the product completely cools you find it to hard or stiff you can remelt it and add some more liquid oil (not EOs) to it. Or sometimes just put it back in the mixer and whip it again. Now you will notice that I used a batter mixer on my Kitchen Aid, that is because this is my Mums old kitchen aid and she lost the whisk. My kitchen aid died after 3 years of use (I was disappointed to say the least. After all that old white kitchen aid which is older than I am is the reason I bought a kitchen aid. My mums lent us this one until we replaced ours. She has a new kitchen aid which is just fine 6 years later, but after the heartbreak of my first big married purchase breaking I'll just keep using her back up until it breaks down, which probably means I should seek out a whisk at a thrift store or garage sale.....)

Enjoy your whipped body lotion. Again you can fancy up the packaging  with ribbon or fabric and tie on a label (always label your gifts with the ingredients) and some twine.  I can only estimate this recipe cost:

Cocoa Butter - $12.95
Shae Butter - $5
Coconut Oil - $4.99 (but I used 1/3 of that jar so @ $2)
Apricot Oil - $7.99
Fractionated Coconut Oil - $9.99 (but we used less than 1/4 of that bottle so @ $2)
Divide by 12 = $2 per container

Add
$.25 for Essential Oil
$1.80 for the 1/2 pint jar
or 
$.90 for the 4 oz jar

Making a 1/2 pint (8 oz) container $4 and a 4 oz container $3

Again not a bad homemade gift. 

Homemade Giftables! Bath Salts

So if you are a last minute Lucy, like myself, you might be scrambling to find gifts for all those who remain on your list. This is a recipe for ingredients you might already have on hand....

 1lb of Sea Salt (fine or coarse crystals)

4lbs of Epsom Salt

1/2 c Pink Himalayan Salt

Add Ins

Lavender buds

Chamomile buds

Essential Oils

Kerr 1/2 Pint Jars with Lids (19.00 1.60/jar)

Sharpie

Fabric or Ribbon

This recipe makes roughly 10 1/2 pint mason jars of bath salts. I used plain Epsom salts (I found them in with the medical supplies not with bath supplies), fine sea salt (I would recommend coarse sea salt but I had the fine on hand for making salt scrubs), 1/2 c of Pink Himalayan Salt (I found it in bulk at Abundance Co-op). This is your basic recipe. Mostly Epsom salts, then add some sea salt and pink salt if you have it. You could use just Empsom Salts. 

From here you begin to customize. I scooped out (using the 1/5 pint jars) into a small bowl enough of the salt mix for 2 gifts. To this I added Lavender buds and Chamomile buds (this was actually a yummy tea mix from Tracy's Teas) and 3 drops of Roman Chamomile and 2 drops of Lavender essential Oils. Mix well and package. This made my Relax Bath Soak for my MIL and Mums.

It is especially important with Essential Oils and bath salts to let them sit together for 24 hours before you decide if they smell is strong enough.

Then I took out two more containers worth and added orange peel, wild orange (3 drops), grapefruit (2 drops), and Ylang Ylang (1 drop) essential Oils.  This makes Shiny (as in sunshiny) Bath Soak.  

I already had ALL of these supplies on hand, I had purchased bits and pieces through out the year with the idea of doing a bath salts workshop. So technically these 4 gifts cost me nothing (and I have two coconut oil glass jars with salt mix to make more custom blends), but let's do a real cost analysis.  

I used a sharpie to write "relax" and "shiny" on my bath salts. Right on the metal lid. Use a little citrus eo to remove any residue or previous sharpie work. You could also cut a square of fabric to cover the metal lid and make it look super pretty, or use ribbon. 

The cost breakdown:
1 lb of Sea Salt (fine or coarse crystals) - purchased from Trader Joes for $.99
4 lbs of Epsom Salt - purchased from Wegmans for $3.99
1/2 c Pink Himalayan Salt - $1.25 at Abundance Coop Bulk Section
Lavender buds - Free the Tea was given to me as a gift and I enjoyed it very much this was just the very end of it. You could buy this tea from Tracy or go to Abundance Co-op and get Lavender and Chamomile in their bulk section. Better yet plant these in your garden this spring and dry them for next year.
Chamomile buds - same as the Lavender
Orange Peel - FREE
Essential Oils - about $0.05 per drop
Kerr 1/2 Pint Jars with Lids - purchased from Amazon through Cooks.com for 19 with shipping making each container cost $1.60
Sharpie - Free
Fabric or Ribbon - Free
So then each gift costs approximately - $2.50

If you do gift Bath Salts encourage the recipients to return the fancy jars for future gifting. You could also save other containers throughout the year or search garage sales this summer. I don't recommend plastic. 

I selected Kerr jars because they are made in the USA and I try very hard to support this local economy of ours.  I ordered mine from Amazon then saw them for the same price (sans shipping and handling at Target). As much as I don't like the big box stores, I can justify this kind of purchase there. 

Let me know if you have a favorite bath salt recipe....

Company is Coming, Quick Put Out the Fancy Soap!

Often times in this house we "run out" of liquid hand soap. And by run out I mean I simply don't want to take the 3 minutes it takes me to make new foaming hand soap. When this happens the dish soap gets used for hand washing at the kitchen sink and the bar soap moves between the shower and the sink in the upstairs bathroom....

Now when I know we are having people over I TRY to make sure that we have plenty of foaming hand soap, I wouldn't want them to think me uncivilized. Who am I kidding they are family, they know me....

At any rate I made fresh foaming hand soap and I decided to share my recipe with you. I will not link to the original recipe (which is just an advertisement for a essential oil company) primarily because I have modified the recipe and I believe the amount of Essential Oil they are calling for is excessive. I am not an aromatherapist so any of my comments regarding essential oils are my opinions after more than 2 years of reading about the subject. When selecting the oils you plan to use consider the following:

Who will be using this soap?  The exposure to essential oils is very minimal total of 6-10 drops per entire bottle, but if you have little ones, elderly or pregnant mommas using your soap make sure to check the oils for safety for these "special populations".

Am I adding Essential Oils for Smell or for Purpose?  Do you know the REAL purpose of hand soap? Hand soap NEED NOT BE ANTIBACTERIAL. You remove bacteria with proper hand washing. Good hand washing is done with WARM soapy water and at least 2 minutes of friction. Soap is a surfactant. This means that soap reduces the surface tension of grease, oils and germs to make them more readily removed from your hands. If you wash your hands with warm soapy water for a minimum of 2 minutes with friction, not just placing them under running water, you should have no worries about germs. If you are worried about resistant germs, I have bad news, antibacterial soap contributed to the evolution of that bacteria and isn't the solution. That being said many essential oils have antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties. One can search the interwebs to find out what the properties of an essential oil are (please note if a website promotes or is in some way connected to a specific company and use wise judgement when accepting the information put out for the purpose of selling a product) and decide what ones to use. Keep in mind however unless you have the science background and the ability to GC/MS test (and read the results) of the oils you are using you never really know what and how much you are getting. 

The beauty of Essential Oils is that LESS IS MORE. No that is not a question. Anyone who tells you differently is simply uninformed or out to sell you more product than you need. Our bodies are wonderfully complex devices and just like the human body can only process so much water at a time (roughly 4 cups per hour, if your kidneys are healthy) it can only process so much essential oil at a time. The concern with essential oils is that they are lipid based. IF they were water based (such as vitamin B) you would simply pee out the excess. However lipid based items (like Vitamin D and K) actually get stored in body fat and can accumulate to dangerous levels. Use the least amount of essential oil you can for the purpose you are seeking. Are you simply seeking smell? Then add a drop or two of you oil and let it blend for 24 hours. If the smell is enough you are done. If you desire a stronger smell add 1 or 2 more drops. Are you seeking a therapeutic effect? The same rules apply. Generally if you can smell it, it is enough to have an effect.

At some point I will do several posts about essential oils. The purpose of my essential oil posts will not be to direct you to any company but to clear up misinformation being supplied by sales reps for some of the leading essential oil companies and to encourage my readers to do their own research (from non-affiliated websites and books) and make their own decisions with the guidance of their medical team. 

At any rate back to the soap:

You will need
Liquid Castile Soap - I use baby gentle mild, if you want to use one of the fragranced ones then omit any additional essential oils
A foaming Soap Bottle
Essential Oils (maximum of 10 drops and 3 oils)
Water

The original recipe called for the addition of fractionated coconut oil, presumably as a hand moisturizer. I made my initial batches with the FCO, but found that even if I remembered to shake the container before I used it the oil settled to the bottle. When I got to the bottom of the container the oil felt greasy. I omitted coconut oil and because castile soap is so gentle I did not find the soap drying or have a need for the oil. So as a time and MONEY saver I omit any kind of liquid vegetable oil from my recipe. 

I already had foaming soap containers on hand. If you don't then ask around you probably have friends who do. Or you can buy new plastic ones that look similar to the short ones with black lids at a place like Aromatools. I have purchased from them in the past (no I am not being compensated, they don't even know I have linked to them) and had excellent customer service. I am sure based on the inexpensive price these items are made in China in horrid conditions, but I have yet to find a US supplier. If anyone knows of any I would LOVE to check them out. Or you can go for the Mason Jar style. If you google then the lids will come up, you can even buy the complete jars through Esty. Again I am sure the lids are made in deplorable condition and I would LOVE to know if anyone knows of a US Manufacturer. Lastly, you can do what I am going to do in the new year: Repurpose glass jars with screw on lids and the foaming pumps from these bottles. I'll post when I get that one figured out. 

There is some debate about using essential oils (especially the citrus ones) in plastic containers. I have used citrus essential oils in these containers and had no known issues. If the citrus oil is breaking down the plastic I haven't seen evidence of that. That being said I DO PREFER to use glass with everything, especially my essential oils and storing products with essential oils. However I am also cost conscious so I use what I have. 

Take you old (or new) foaming soap container and give it a good rinse. Put clean hot water in it and pump it through until it stops foaming. 
Now take the castile soap and add 2 Tablespoons of soap to the container, I use 3 TBSP in the larger container.
Add your essential oils (I use 2 drops of Tea Tree and 2 drops of citrus, this time it was grapefruit).
Fill with cold water (filtered or distilled not necessary), leaving enough room for the foaming pump.

TaDa!

You're done!
For less than $1 worth of materials and supplies I have filled 3 foaming soap dispensers and this will last in my house for at least one month. 

. Let me know if you make your own hand soap, foaming or otherwise and your favorite scent combinations......

Cleaning - The Down and Dirty!

Google green cleaners and you will find articles and links to commercial "Greenwashed" products as well as recipes for all sorts of cleaners.

You can clean most everything in your house with:

Baking Soda (washing soda for laundry)
Vinegar (plain white)
Citrus (soak your waste citrus peels in white vinegar and you have a powerful window and surface cleaner)
Liquid Castile Soap

Most of the cleaning in this house is done with just plain white vinegar. White vinegar kills MOST germs, but not salmonella bacteria. You can kill Salmonella bacteria with warm (notice I did not say HOT) soapy water. 

The best cleaner in your arsenal is plain liquid castile soap. We do not need to disinfect surfaces (we really would be healthier if we had limited and regular exposure to common bacteria and germs).  

When I want a gentle scrubbing agent I use baking soda, castile soap and a touch of vinegar. 

Adding Essential Oils to your homemade cleaning products can make them smell good, may increase their ability to cut (emulsify) grease (like citrus), may add to the anti-bacterial effect, but they are not necessary. 

In 2015 I'll share one cleaning tip per week and share all my tried and true cleaning solution recipes (all 2 of them).

The best advice on cleaning is to keep up with it. So whether or not you are way behind (I am) or you clean regularly, doing a little bit each day/week makes all the difference. 

If you try to clean you whole home at once you'll be so exhausted (if you are able to finish) that you won't want to do any kind of maintenance the next day and thus the cycle continues. 

The holidays have started for some (Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice) and are just around the corner for others (Merry Christmas), but if you have company coming and you need to clean-up your home and your act here are some simple tips and guidelines:

1. They are there to see you, so unless you live in a place that is truly filthy relax.
2. Clean only those areas they are likely to see.
3. Pick your battles.

Remember your guests are your guests. They are there to visit with you and celebrate the holidays. They are not there to judge your housekeeping. Not many people actually keep homes worthy of being in a magazine. My house is lived in, and yes it could be cleaner (and it will be in 2015) but it is my home. I am grateful to have a home.

Are your guests likely to be in your basement, will any bedrooms not be used, how about your home office? Concentrate on the following rooms in this order:

Bathrooms - Bathrooms should always be clean

Kitchen - if you are cooking or they are eating in your home you want the kitchen clean. We are not talking about cleaning the fridge, instead give the floor a sweep and mop, wipe the counters and stove down with warm soapy water and put away any unnecessary clutter. 

Dinning/Living room - Clean the floors, wipe down table surfaces for dust, put away the clutter, and shake the furniture cushions (preferably outside)

Guest Room(s) - Clean up only if they are in fact staying with you or if they have small children who might need to nap. I just shut the down on my and Thia's bedrooms.....

So take a moment prioritize and remember that your guests are coming to visit with you not judge your home. 

Priorities and the Small Wins

Truth be told my Thanksgiving post was written 3 weeks ago, and for whatever reason I left it in draft. Immediately after typing the post I did some work to clean out the downstairs bathroom and even pinned up the blanket. Check out my progress:

My downstairs bathroom is in better shape and I am going to keep working on it, but the next weekend, when it was time to update my progress, I was battling a head cold and I needed a simple win. Instead of doing more work on the downstairs bathroom, I decided to tackle something I could complete (the laundry I had waiting for me). I did not take pictures of all the laundry I had before me because when I pulled out the camera the battery was dead. I did take pictures once the battery was charged.

I also established what will be my office.  I have had an office for years, but it is overwhelmed with clutter. I decided to establish a new space that I can feel like I am not disturbing people.

 


From the downstairs bathroom I removed a dishpan and some cast iron cookware which I need to clean and put to use. I also cleaned out some junk and listed a few items on a Facebook garage sale site.  It is looking better, but then we get to priorities.

Christmas is just around the corner and I have been out of work since March.  Funds are non-existent for this year's celebration. I am determined to make this a holiday to remember and not to be remembered as that holiday we didn't have any money. That is where the priorities come in. I have been pinning on Pinterest (follow me I am Tree), but I stopped because I felt like I was never going to get back to those pins to try them. I have decided that for 2015 my goal will be to attempt all the pins on my Pinterest and let you know how they shake out.

I am going to start with the things on my boards that I can make for Holiday gift giving. Fortunately my darling husband and I have a tradition of not gifting to each other on Christmas.  If we find something that is just perfect we might purchase it, but we don't feel obligated to purchase. That leaves me with needing gifts for:
LuLu (16 year old girl)
Thia (13 year old girl)
My Momma
My Father
My MIL
My Step FIL
My FIL and Step MIL
Dear Hubby's younger brother's (Billy a Freshman at the Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, and Joey an adult embarking on his own life with a wonderful woman named Amanda).
I don't gift to my friends.

I have a few bath salts and whipped body butter recipes I want to try out and that I will use as gifts for my Mom, Step MIL and MIL.  I know Lulu plans on using some of those items for her gift to her little sister.

For Thia I found a Toothless Plushie Tutorial on Pinterest and I am hoping I can come up with the fabric to make a toothless.  That would be her "big" gift. We typically only do one big gift, an ornament and then something they have asked for. I have a few pins that might help me to fill her stocking. I was thinking about making a Coupon book for each of my girls and for my mother. Since I am hopeful to be back to work come early January I am going to keep the monthly tasks under $10 till at least June and then I am hopeful that we will be back on track and able to do more fun things.

I am a big believer in experiences and time spent together being more important that material gifts.

I have to keep mum on the items that are for Lulu since she is also on this blog, so I'll let you know post-holiday what items ended up being for her.

Lulu is launching her own business. She is making mini Octapi and Mochi as well as pencil cases. I have attached a picture of her Octapi model and hope she does well.

So while I am looking for accountability, I know that I have to prioritize and right now I need to prioritize to clean out the dinning room, living room and kitchen for the upcoming holiday.  I also need to work on the crafts that will help me put together a wonderful and fun holiday.