Money saving tips

First off HAPPY 6 MONTH to Reegan! Our little angel is 6 months old today. Nick and I love her more and more every day! She is the best baby ever, even if she cries every night before bed ;)

Ok so I know most of my family and friends are stay at home moms (lucky) and with only one income I know that money can be tight. So I have come across a few do it yourself money saving tips. The first thing I do is make my own baby food. This really just takes buying fruit or veggies and sticking them in the blender. I then portion it out into ziplock bags and stick in the freezer till I need it. Normally about 5 bananas will make 12 little jars of food. The second thing I do is make my own baby wipes and here is my reciepe!
Ingredients:

baby lotion
baby shampoo(or body wash)
baby oil
1 - 1 1/4 cups water (depending on how big the roll is)
roll paper towels
storage container (air tight)
Tablespoon (from silverware)
whisk

an easy way to pick out the container is to get a roll of paper towels and bring it to the container section so you can pick one that will fit. The one I have is a clear square and the lid has 4 snaps. It was about 10 bucks from Wal-mart and it's only tall enough to fit half the roll.

Directions.

measure out water ( I put in glass measuring cup) and stick in microwave for 2 mins. Cut roll of paper towels in half lengthwise ( I use the bread knife ) and remove brown cardboard roll from the center. Place paper towels in the container cut side down. Make sure you have the end of the paper towels sticking up a little bit from the center. This is where you will pull from. Once the water is done heating up take the tablespoon from your silverware (not the actual measuring tablespoon) and fill with baby lotion and dump in water. Then fill the tablespoon with the shampoo and let it run over the edge into the water for about a second then dump the spoon in the water. Then do the same with the baby oil also letting in run over the edge into the water for about a second. once all three are in the water, whisk for about 5 -10 seconds, just enough to mix everything and dump over the paper towels in the container. put lid on and let sit for about 5 mins or so then they are ready to use. *I normally use more baby oil than any of the other ingredients, but to each their own, you will find something that works for you enjoy!*

Lastly I found this reciepe for homemade laundry detergent. I know with my growing family we always seem to have to buy this. Now I'm not sure where to buy all the ingredients, but the blog I got this from found them all in the laundry section of her local store. So good luck with the search.
Ingredients:
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap or Zote Soap
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is different than baking soda, and comes in a larger box)
40-Team Mule Borax (also in a large box *note 40-team is the name not the quantity you need*
Cheese Grater
OxyClean product-must be in powder form **optional**

Directions:
The first thing that you need to do is grate up the fels-naptha soap with the fine side of the cheese grater. It should grate to a very fine powder. Once you do this, put the powder into a dry container with a lid that you will want to store you detergent in. Once you have this in the container, add one cup of the Super Washing Soda and one cup of the Borax. Mis these together so that they are well combined. At this point, if you want to add some OxyClean, you can but it is not necessary. If you do want to add it though, add about a half cup and mix in with the other ingredients. That's it. For a small load of laundry use 1 Tablespoon. For larger loads use 2 Tablespoons.
*per the blog I got this from, it will smell like cleaning products so if your like good smelling detergent try using fabric softner. or my idea is use half the bar of soap and maybe half a bar of Zest or some other bar soap that smells good.*