Homemade Window Cleaner

When I first got into couponing I went and bought every great deal I could find and stocked up on everything, including 7 bottles (Yes, 7!) bottles of Windex Glass Cleaner. I know....it is a lifetime supply of Windex, especially for slacker me with my windows. I have gotten better, believe me!! But, when I first got married someone gave me a bucket of cleaning supplies with a bottle of Glass Cleaner and the recipe to make it again. I found the recipe today and wanted to post it for everyone.

I really liked this recipe, I didn't notice any real difference between the Windex and the homemade cleaner (except the color) and it was nice to know EXACTLY what was in the bottle. And even better, it is AMAZINGLY CHEAP, like less than $.25 a bottle!


Homemade Window Cleaner
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1/4 tsp. Dawn dishwashing liquid (I'm sure you could use any brand and it would be fine.)
2 cups water

Pour all ingredients together into a spray bottle and shake to combine. That's it!

For more Homemade Cleaning supplies make sure to take a look at the Homemade Laundry Detergent, Stain Remover and Dishwashing Detergent Recipes!

Has anybody ever used a homemade window cleaner before? Or does anyone have any other homemade cleaning products that they would like to share. Leave me a comment or email me at iamafrugalone(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll post about it!

Frugal Birthday Cake Ideas!

Today Life As Mom is doing a great Birthday Cake Round up post for anyone that wants to post any of the birthday cakes they have made in the past to help others find great ideas for their own birthday cake making. So I thought I would join in. If you have never really decorated your own birthday cakes before I would highly suggest it.

There are some great cake decorating books out there for beginners and even cake decorating classes that can be taken at local craft stores to learn the basics, which is enough to know how to make some great birthday cakes. Some of my favorite books that I have learned from are the Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 for basic decorating, Course 2 for flowers and borders, or Course 3 for fondant and tiered cakes. These are all books that are used when taking the Wilton cake decorating courses but if you do not have time to do the classes, the books are very easy to follow and learn on your own. They show you step by step how to hold your bags, consistency of frostings, and how to squeeze and release for the proper shapes of designs.

Since my kids aren't very old (3 and 1) I don't have a whole lot of different birthday cakes that I've made but I LOVE making them. I don't think I've ever mentioned on this blog before but I actually decorate wedding cakes as a small hobby and by no means am I a professional but I know the basics and have been making wedding cakes for friends and family for the past couple of years and love the chance when I get to do one. But one thing I like even better than decorating wedding cakes is making cakes for little kids. I love that I can make a complete disaster of the cakes and my kids will still love me, not judge me for my mistakes, and think I'm the best mom ever for making something special for them on their day! And, not to mention that they are probably about 4 times cheaper to make then they are to buy.

So, here goes:

This is the EASIEST cupcake creation EVER. It is honestly quicker to make cupcakes into little roses than it is to spread frosting on with a little knife. And even the most beginner cake decorating person can do it with the right tip. I'll try to do a little tutorial on how to do this cute cupcake bouquet the next time I make it. This is a great cake to make for Valentines day, Mothers Day, Baby showers, Wedding Showers, and birthday parties. It is a quick decorative table center for any party and easy for adults and little kids to grab their own little cupcake without ruining the whole creation.

My little boy is a HUGE fan of Trains, so for his second birthday I made just a plain 9X13 cake, make it look like the grass and dirt with a little train track and then just added his new toy train he was getting for his birthday. Quick and easy! Using your kids little toys is a great way to decorate any cake. Just plop them on there and you have a masterpiece they will love.

This was a huge daisy I made for my daughter's first birthday party. It was a PAIN IN THE BUTT! Making the actual shape was really EASY but the frosting I used was a marshmallow type frosting so it was VERY sticky and just made a big mess all over myself, the table, and everything else in our kitchen. But it tasted delicious. The great thing about this cake is that you can just frost any cake white, put a little food coloring into some coconut and then sprinkle the coconut where ever you want on your cake. The center of the flower is also filled in with crushed pineapple to make the yellow center. Although the marshmallow frosting was messy, cutting the shapes was very easy. There are books out there like "Bakers Cutup Cake Party Book" that tells you how to take a 9X13 cake and cut it up to make different designs like Rockets, Flowers, Hot air Balloons, Teddy Bears, and Dolls.

This was one of my first fondant covered cakes I ever made. We had an African Themed Party for my hubbies family! It was great practice for learning how to do a small tiered cake and learn how to color fondant. Also I was not very good at laying fondant over cake yet so this was a great cake to learn on because if I made mistakes I was able to cover them up with the spots and grass.

If anyone is interested in learning how to decorate cakes but doesn't know where to start, I would suggest the books I mentioned above for the Wilton Cake decorating classes and I would also invest in this great starter decorating kit by wilton as well. It has some of the most common tips that are used for the basics as well as bags for your frosting, food coloring, and everything else you need for the basics. You can order it online through Amazon HEREor you can also go to Roberts, Michaels, or any Craft store that carries cake supplies and the y should have the starter kit and books available there. Make sure to use the 40% off coupons that Roberts and Michaels have to make them even cheaper.

Curried Black Beans and Rice!

One of our "comfort foods", "frugal recipes", and "Oh crap I've been sitting on the computer all day, the house is a mess, there is no food on the table and my hubby is going to be home any minute" meal is called Curried Black Beans and Rice. I was NEVER a beans and rice fan until I found this recipe and randomly made it one day when we had nothing else in our kitchen to make and now we make it at least 2 or 3 times a month! The thing I LOVE about this recipe is that it is very quick to make (15-20 minutes), it is also very versatile, if you don't have ground sausage you can use ground turkey, ground beef, chicken chunks, sliced sausage links or no meat at all and it would still be good!

This recipe is also a pretty "frugal recipe" to make; it is the classic beans and rice recipe and although I used canned beans out of convenience, you could easily soak some beans and still get the same effect making the meal even cheaper. So here goes:

Curried Black Beans and Rice
1 T. Oil
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. Curry powder (more or less depending on your preference, I usually end up putting in about 2 Tbsp, I love the curry flavor!)
1 lb ground sausage (we like using a spicy sausage but you can easily substitute beef, chicken, or turkey)
3/4 cup chicken broth (or 2-3 boullion cubes crushed in hot water)
2 (16 oz.) cans black beans drained
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups uncooked Rice

Rinse your rice and cook as directed in your rice cooker or pot, however you prefer. While your rice is cooking, saute onion in oil with the curry powder. Add sausage. Cook about 5 minutes. Add broth and beans. Cook 4-5 minutes longer. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Cost Analysis:
Rice: about $.50
Black Beans: about $1.20
small onion: $.30
Sausage: $2.75
Chicken broth: $.30
Final Price: $5.05

Cook time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 4-6 people

To see other Frugal Recipes including Homemade Tortillas you can go HERE!

Does anyone else have any great comfort foods or frugal recipes that they would be willing to share? I would love to hear some new ideas!

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent!

Remember these two little guys.....

Now you can add onto the list of things that these two little ingredients can do! A couple of weeks ago I talked about the Homemade Laundry Detergent recipe that I have been using and now I've got a recipe for Dishwasher Detergent!

All you need for this quick, cheap recipe is:
20 Mule Team Borax
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda

Both of these ingredients can be found in the Laundry detergent aisle at most grocery stores. However, I have NOT been able to find these at Walmart, just so you know! They are priced for around $4 for a box of Borax and $3 for a box of Washing Soda. These boxes will last you for quite a while, so they are definitely worth the $7 up front.

Another little side note about these ingredients is they would be GREAT for Emergency preparedness or Food Storage items. You can do tons of different types of cleaning with these two ingredients and they will take up minimal space for your emergency preparedness. Instead of stocking up on boxes of Laundry Detergent or Dishwasher detergent and taking up a large amount of space, you can simply buy maybe 2 boxes of each of these items and a couple of Fels-Naptha soap bars for your Laundry and you are all set for a year supply of laundry detergent and dishwasher soap. These can be made in minutes and will take up minimal space in your house!

So, back to the recipe.......

All you are going to do for this dishwasher detergent is mix equal parts of your Borax and Washing Soda together. If you have Hard Water increase the washing soda by a little bit more.

To use your dishwasher detergent you use 1 tablespoon for every load. If you use too much soap you will know, you’ll feel a little bit of a powdery coating on your dishes.

Now, I have a confession. I have actually never used this dishwasher detergent myself! I don't have a dishwasher right now. At this stage in me and my hubbies lives we are living without a lot of things like a disposal and dishwasher, which I hate, but we are definitely blessed for where we are able to live so I guess I can't complain. So I just wanted you all to know that. BUT, I have looked online at multiple different locations for dishwasher detergent recipes and almost all of them called for these same two ingredients!!

So try it out! What have you got to lose. If you have already bought the ingredients for the laundry soap then you are already set and you aren't out any money for trying. For those that haven't tried the laundry soap out yet, I highly recommend it. For both of these recipes if you don't like how they turn out then you are only out about $7 for the initial cost of the items and you can still use these ingredients in different ways. Both of the boxes have multiple suggestions for how to clean with these ingredients!

Let me know how this recipe works out if you decide to try it, I would love to hear about it! Does anyone have any other frugal recipe for cleaning or food items that they would be willing to share with me. I'll try to post about them if there are any other great ideas out there!


For More Frugal Recipes like Homemade Laundry Detergent and Stain Remover you can go HERE and HERE!

Frugal Snack Ideas!

I have been trying over the past couple of weeks to be a little more efficient and organized with my life. It seems like I have no order in my life and no schedule for anything and it is starting to get out of hand. So, because of this I have tried to pin point a few things that I have really been struggling with. One of these things was being prepared when I go out the door to run errands.

Almost everyday I get up with the kids, take my hubby to school (we only have one car!), come home, sit on the computer for a little bit, get ready for the day, pick up a little bit and then I usually try to go run errands or just get out of the house for a little bit before my kids naps. It seems to tire them out better for a longer nap. :)

My problem is that we don't get out the door until 11:30 and I don't think to grab any food so my kids and me within a half an hour are screaming and want food. So what do we do....we stop and buy food somewhere! I know that is terrible, and so many people struggle with this, so because of this I have devised a plan to be more prepared. I made premade snack packs with things I already had on hand so I can just grab them and go. I have heard about people doing this and even have done it once or twice in the past but never stayed with it. So here was my plan. I took Gold Fish, Raisins, Vanilla Wafers, Saltines, Triscuits, and some homemade cookies and threw them into small individual baggies.

Now I can just grab them and go and at least I will always have something to tide us over until we can make it home for lunch.

You could do so many things for little snacks besides the things I listed above, and they would be so much cheaper than buying premade single packs from the grocery store or buying restaurant food.

Other Ideas would include:

Fruit Snacks
Granola Bars
Popcorn
Mini Marshmallows
Bananas
Pretzels
Club Crackers
Chex Mix
Fruit Roll ups
Fruit Leather
Craisins

You could also keep a small bowl or tupperware in your frig or freezer with bagged items as well like:

Muffins (you could make a huge batch and then freeze them)
PB&J (you can freeze these as well)
Yogurt (you can freeze yogurt containers and make your own little Go-gurts, my hubby does this all the time for school.)
Carrots
Celery
Small bags grapes
Apples
Oranges
Pears
String Cheese

And probably a ton of other ideas! Has anybody else ever done this before and would like to add to the list of items you could use as a grab and go item? I would love to hear other ideas!

Homemade Stain Remover!

This is a great and easy recipe that I got from a close friend about 2 years ago and I have used it every time I have done my laundry since! I LOVE IT! Not only is it amazingly cheap to make but it works great! I will never pay for a laundry stain remover product again, unless I can get it for free or make money off of it!

There are only 3 ingredients for this recipe:

1 part Ammonia
1 part liquid dishsoap
1 part water

I put "part" because it doesn't matter the amounts you want to put of these 3 ingredients as long as they are equal. When I make my stain remover I usually put 1 cup of each of the 3 ingredients into a spray bottle like this one and shake it all together to make my stain remover. You could mix up a large batch of this stain remover and put it in something like a milk jug and then just reload your spray bottle whenever you get low. Whatever works for you!

So, like I stated before, just take all 3 of your ingredients with equal amounts of each, put them in a spray bottle or whatever you want to use and shake it around and you are done! Don't forget to label your bottle, I still haven't, but really should. :)

To use your stain remover simply spray it on your stains, new or old, let it sit for a minute, then scrub out the stain while running under hot water. Now just throw it into your washer.

Initially for your supplies you will pay about $1.00 for a small generic brand of Ammonia at your grocery store, you can get the small bottles of dish soap on sale ALL THE TIME for $.60 or less and there is about 2-3 cups in the little bottles, and your water is FREE or almost free I guess. You can also buy empty spray bottles at grocery stores for I think around $1. I bought mine at Walmart for $.97.

Cost Analysis:
Shout Stain Remover: about $3.00 a bottle
Zout Stain Remover: about $2.75 a bottle
Spray and Wash Stain Remover: about $3.00 a bottle

Homemade Stain Remover: about $.30 a bottle or cheaper!!

To find other Frugal Recipes including Homemade Laundry Soap you can go HERE.

How to make your own pumpkin puree!

I haven't really done a whole lot of Frugal Friday posts on this blog but I had a week with a few Frugal Finds, and they weren't for groceries! I got I guess you could say "inspired" by Money Saving Mom's post yesterday on cooking in bulk and freezing and wondered what I could make to freeze for later. So as I was pondering upon an idea I looked out my window and saw this little guy sitting all alone.

It hit me! I LOVE pumpkin recipes and thought "Why can't I make my one pumpkin puree?" So I googled making your own pumpkin puree and found this website that walked me through the whole process. It is actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. It took me about 30 minutes to make my puree, mostly because it was in the microwave for 20 minutes of it and then it took about another 45 minutes to make my bread and muffins. I don't know why I have never tried this before! I'm not a big fan of carving pumpkins (weird, I know!) but I hate just throwing away pumpkins after they sit on my porch for a couple of weeks either. So I finally did it and I made my own puree and it was WORTH IT! These homemade muffins are SO much better than making them from a can! Here is my final result!! I was able to make about 16 muffins and a loaf of bread from half of my pumpkin puree.



So, if any of you still have pumpkins that haven't been carved yet, I highly recommend taking a look at THIS website and making your own pumpkin puree! You will not be sorry!! And the best thing about these muffins is that I will be able to make 2 different batches of muffins (about 64 muffins total) or 4 loaves of bread from one small pumpkin that only cost about $.25 a lb for. I think that can definitely be considered being "frugal" in my book!

I am so glad I tried making my own puree, I think I'm going to make a tradition of it every year! I now want to try that pumpkin cookie recipe I posted about a little while ago with the rest of my pumpkin puree. Oh....I can't wait! If you are interested in making the exact recipe that I made, which is delicious, you can go HERE to learn how to make the puree, and then HERE for the bread recipe which I used for the bread and muffins. I would suggest only cooking your muffins for 18-20 minutes instead of the amount given for the loaf of bread!

The best Pumpkin cookies!

We had some family over for dinner last night and pumpkin carving and I was so excited to make my favorite pumpkin cookie recipe for the night! These are THE BEST pumpkin cookies ever and not only for their wonderful goodness but because of how cheap you can make them as well as how fast and easy they are to make!! I am all about the time to goodness ratio, meaning no matter how good something is, if it took me an hour to make it's just not worth it. I love recipes that are super quick to make and taste amazing in the end! Who doesn't want that?

This recipe only has 3 INGREDIENTS. They are:

1 box Spice Cake Mix (any brand cake mix)
1 bag chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semi sweet)
1 15. oz can pumpkin puree (not pie filling!)

Mix all the ingredients together. You DO NOT make the cake mix as you are directed to by adding the oil and eggs you are going to just add the dry mix with the pumpkin and chocolate chips. Once those 3 ingredients are mixed together you simply spoon the delicious cookie dough onto a pan and back at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. And don't forget to eat the guilt free, no egg, yummy cookie dough while you are waiting for your cookies to come out looking like these!!!
Oooohhhhh Buddy!! These are good.

Overall price for these cookies:

1 cake mix: $.88
1 can pumpkin $1.00
1 bag chocolate chips: $1.50
Final Price: about $3.50

I found some Libby canned Pumpkin coupons for $1/2 HERE. Click on the canned pumpkin coupon and you may be directed to register for the website. Just register and then it should take you straight back to the coupon.

There is also a $.75/2 coupon for Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips on that same link.

Also keep your eye out for coupons in the near future for baking supplies like cake mixes, flour, and all other baking supplies. These will be coming on sale during the next 2 months or so for the holidays so stock up!!

Homemade Laundry Soap!

For the past six months or so I have been making our own laundry soap. I was a little skeptical at first to make my own and wondered if it would really work on my kids dirty clothes. But because of the cost of making my own laundry soap, which is about $.01 a load, I finally gave in and decided to buy the supplies one day when I was in need of some laundry soap. I figured it cost me about the same amount to by the supplies as it would to buy me a thing of laundry soap so if it didn' t turn out I wasn't really out that much money. I was VERY surprised at how easy it was to make the soap as well as how it worked in getting my family's clothes clean. I am now on my 3rd batch of laundry soap and have never had any problems with the soap. Each batch of laundry soap makes about 2 gallons of laundry soap or more than 70 loads of laundry.

With that said, I thought I would take pictures of the process while I was making a new batch of laundry soap.

To get started you will need:

20 Mule Team Borax -about $4

Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda- about $3

Fels-Naptha Soap bar- about $1


Total, all of this cost about $8, but the Borax and Soda you are only going to be using 1/2 a cup so this will last you for a LONG TIME. For the Fels-Naptha bar you will only be using 1/3 of the bar for each batch of laundry soap that you make so you will only have to buy one of these bars every once in a while and it is your cheapest cost. One thing to note about these ingredients is that I was NOT able to find any of these ingredients at Walmart. All of these ingredients can be bought at smaller stores like Albertsons, Smiths, and Maceys in the laundry section of the store.

To get started bring 6 cups of water to a boil. While your water is coming to a boil Grate 1/3 of your Fels-Naptha bar with a cheese grater. It will look like this:

When your water has come to a boil add your grated soap bar and mix until it is dissolved. When it is dissolved add 1/2 cup of Borax and 1/2 a cup of Soda to the mixture and stir again until it is all dissolved. It will look like this when it is all dissolved:

Now take 1/2 of the mixture, about 3 1/2 cups, and pour it into an empty milk jug. Now add water to the milk jug until it reaches the top and put on the lid. Shake the jug for a couple of minutes to mix it all together.
At this point you can either leave your first half of the laundry mix in the milk jug or you can do what I do and pour it into an empty liquid laundry detergent bottle like this one:
If you pour it into the liquid laundry detergent bottle then you will want to pour the rest of the mixture that is still in your pot into the milk jug again and repeat the process of adding the water and shaking the bottle again to finish making your laundry soap. When you are done you should have 2 gallons of laundry soap made. You are now done with your laundry soap!! I am able to pour 1 gallon of the laundry soap plus about a third of the second milk jug into my big bottle and then I just leave the rest in my milk jug to be used later when my bottle is running low.

To use this laundry soap, shake up the mix before each use and then pour a 1/2 a cup of laundry soap into each batch of laundry.

If you are wondering why this laundry soap works like I did, let me tell you why:
Mule Team Borax is a natural laundry booster that helps your laundry detergent to work better, Arm and Hammer Washing soda is a laundry booster as well as neutralizes and eliminates odors, and the Fels-naptha bar is a stain remover.

Final Price for 2 gallons of laundry soap:
$.33 for 1/3 of the soap bar
$.30 for 1/2 cup of the borax
$.20 for 1/2 cup of the soda
Final Price: about $.70 for a batch of laundry soap or $.01 a load!!

That is ALOT cheaper than even the Purex brand Laundry soap that I was buying before which costs more than $5 for 65 loads of laundry,

So give the homemade laundry soap a try and save some money in the process!

Homemade Tortillas! YUM!!

Okay, I'm not going to be posting very much today, Sorry!! It's been kind of a crazy morning and I'm exhausted and want to take a nap while my kids are sleeping, So because of this I'm going to post a new VERY FRUGAL recipe for homemade tortillas that are DELICIOUS!

I've tried a few different homemade tortillas recipes and so far this one is my favorite. And the best part is I can make 7-10 tortillas, depending on how big you want them, in about 10 minutes and they cost me easily less then about $.50 to make them all. I love a good Yummy Deal! So here is the recipe courtesy of a friend of a friends blog called ourbestbites.com.

Here goes:

Flour Tortillas

2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. very hot water
1 tsp. salt (Kosher salt if you have it.)
1/4 c. shortening

Directions:
In a heavy-duty mixer, combine flour and salt. Add in shortening and mix until well combined (it will resemble coarse bread crumbs). Add hot water. The water needs to be hot enough to melt the shortening, but not SO hot that the dough turns into gooey mess. I usually get relatively warm water from my tap and then heat it for 45-60 seconds in the microwave.

After you add the water, the dough will start to come together. When it is fully combined, remove from mixer and divide into portions. The recipe yield depends on how many tortillas you want. If you want small fajita sized tortillas then you'll probably get around 10-12. If you want medium burrito sized tortillas then you'll probably get around 8. For large tortillas, like for salad wraps, you'll get around 6. Shape portions into round balls. Here is a picture courtesy of ourbestbites.com.

Now, Preheat a non-stick skillet to medium-low heat. If necessary, spray your table top with non-stick cooking spray; you may not need to because the dough isn't particularly sticky, but it may be and you also don't want to add any more flour to your dough. Press your palm against the surface of the dough ball and then place your rolling pin in the middle of the dough ball and roll to desired thickness, shaping in a circle as you go. I roll mine out pretty thin when I make them, they tend to come out thicker than you think they will.

Place a raw tortilla on you preheated skillet. Your first tortilla may not work out great just so you know, it's like the first pancake you cook. Watch for bubbles. If you get little blistery bubbles, your skillet is too hot and you need to reduce the heat. You're looking for big, fat, slow-bubbling bubbles. When you start to see them, flip the tortilla over and cook for another 30-45 seconds or so. Take your tortillas off of the skillet before they get the dark spots on them, they will become more brittle when they cool down so you want them just a little undercooked. Ourbestbites.com recommends looking for a kind of "greasy" look inside like they are not quite done. In my experience making these that is the best way. These ones are cooked enough to not taste raw, but they're also very soft when they cool and they hold up to being wrapped, folded, twisted, and turned.

If you're cooking these quickly, you can just stack them on top of each other and they'll stay warm. You can also wrap them in damp paper towels and then wrap them in foil and keep them in a warm oven (170 degree oven) until you're ready to use them. I have been making mine on Sundays when we are all home together and then letting them cool down and storing them in a ziploc bag to be used throughout the week. I have used these tortillas to make breakfast burritos, salad wraps, tuna wraps, fajitas, and chicken enchiladas so far and LOVED them all!

So there you have it, the most delicious homemade tortillas you will ever taste.

Cost Analysis:
Homemade Tortillas: about $.50 for 7-10 tortillas
Store-bought Tortillas: anywhere from $2.50 to $4.00 for 8-12 tortillas

If you like this recipe you can go HERE for more delicious recipes by Kate and Sara at ourbestbites.com