Make your own Laundry Soap.

It’s so easy. And CHEAP! We love Cheap & Easy!! 😉
It comes out to around 50 to 60 cents per gallon.

That is all you need!
5 Gallon Bucket
Sauce Pan
Grater
Giant Stick
Borax
Washing Soda
5.5 ounce bar of soap.

Shred 5.5 ounces of bar soap.

Put it in a pan with 4 cups of water over medium heat and cook it until every last piece melts.

While that is happening…
Fill your 5 gallon bucket about half full with hot water.

Into the bucket goes:

1 cup of Borax and 2 cups of Washing Soda.
Stir until dissolved.

Want it to smell pretty? Add some essential oils.
I am all about Ylang Ylang and Lavender these days, but I will be honest with you –no matter how much oil I have added lately… the soap smells good, but there is no smell on the clothes after, so… this might just be a wasted step! Ah, well, I get a nice yummy scent to enjoy when doing the laundry.
(This goes for any brand I have tried, so don’t tell me I need to use YL or the other brand! lol I have tried those! And I am not willing to pour a whole bottle in.)

By now the soap on the stove should be melted. Pour it into the bucket and stir it up.

Then fill up the bucket with more hot water.

Stir it well, put the lid on it and set it on the floor. This will be heavy (50+ pounds). Make sure you can lift it out of your sink, otherwise, fill it while it’s on the floor.

Let it sit at least overnight. I usually neglect it for a whole day.
When you pop the lid off it will be a giant congealed blob. Stir it until it’s not! (It will still be a little clumpy, that is fine, unless you are Super Susie House-maker and want to run it through a blender, but that is really not needed and over time it will separate on your shelf anyway.)

See? The stick will stand upright in the goop.

This next part gets a little messy, but consider that you will only have to make this 1-4 times a year depending on how big your family is.
Get a funnel, ladle and empty containers a fill ’em up! Use glass jars or get empty laundry soap containers from your friends who just won’t listen to you about making their own! 😉

Catch up on Episodes of Rookie Blue on your laptop while you do!

Done! Damn near 5 gallons of laundry soap.
Use 1/4 cup for an avg load in a regular machine.
1/8 cup in a HE machine.

It lasts a long time and will seperate a bit on the shelf, so I give the bottle a little shake before I use it.

Share with friends. Get them making it, too.
STOP USING TOXIC laundry soap that smells gross. 🙂

PomStream Silicone Baking Mats Product Review & Gluten Free Chocolate PB Cookies

First up, this is a product review.
Don’t ever count on me to give you an actual decent recipe when it comes to baking. I make things up as I go along. I will kinda-sorta include the recipe here… but your guess is as good as mine on how I made these 🙂 As far as gluten free goes, however, they’re pretty awesome.

So here are the baking mats that I got from PomStream.

They say for best results hand wash –but I tossed these in the dishwasher and they are just fine. Maybe that will wear them down over time, but I just wanted to see what would happen 🙂

They are a bit small to fill my biggest baking sheet and a bit big for my smallest.. but that is really no matter, they worked fine anyway.
These mats are also freezer and fridge safe… and well, obviously… oven safe!

The cookies I made came right up off the mat, no worries.
Nothing stuck.
Here is the before:

Here is the after:

They are non toxic.
Easy to clean. I love the idea of saving some $$ on all the parchment paper we go through. Now I can just use these baking mats.
They don’t retain food odors —so very multipurpose, you don’t have to worry about using one for certain foods and one for other types of food –you won’t have odors and tastes from past recipes mixing in.

Not sure why I held out so long to try silicone baking items. Now that I have I need more 🙂

The cookies? Well…

I knew I had peanut butter and rice flour.
So I found this recipe. I had most of the ingredients. Sort of.
I used 1 cup of coconut sugar and 1 cup of Demerara Sugar.
I didn’t have any butter so I used 1 cup of unrefined coconut oil.
The eggs, peanut butter and baking soda were added as stated.
Only… half way thru this I realized I didn’t have Rice Flour because I NEVER use Rice Flour. I have no idea where my head was…  I use coconut flour! BUT… coconut flour is very absorbent and soaks up all your liquid.

So I found this recipe using coconut flour and had to try to fix my mess. These were going to be grain free, but now I had to grab some kind of flour to hold these together without really messing things up.
I grabbed my box of King Arthur Gluten Free flour mix and used one cup of that.
I noticed that I had some cocoa in the cupboard –that is why these look a little “burnt” They are not burnt. I just put a little bit of cocoa in for taste, not enough to make them look chocolate.  How much?  Not a little, not a lot.
I took from this recipe the idea to put some vanilla in these and the pinch of salt.

So now… I had that all mixed up really well and started adding in coconut flour a little bit at a time. I’d sprinkle just enough to cover the dough in the bowl, mix that up, and then add a little more.
YES, coconut absorbs everything up… but coconut oil needs something to help hold it together. It’s no ideal for baking –but like I said, I was out of butter/shortening.

I have no idea how much I used. I did the sprinkle and mix thing a few times until the consistency seemed like it would hold together. Check out the before/dough ball shot above.
Maybe I used between 1/4 and 1/2 cup.
350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. You have to let them cool a bit on the tray before moving them to the cooling rack because they are just too soft. The first one that I tried to put on right away just fell right though the cooling rack!

As far as GF goes… they are yummy.
WAAYYY too much sugar though –so you know the kids love them.
Next time I will just follow that second recipe.

How I earn quick $$ for my online spending. Mainly, for Amazon gift cards.

Who doesn’t love free money?

This post is the warm up post. I am working on one to tell you how to get started doing product reviews through Amazon. In the past month I have “bought” nearly $4,000 in items through Amazon, but only paid around $95 –and of that, $60 was money I earned through the methods listed here. I’ve only come out of pocket on $35, and while some items have been things I could live without… MOST have been supplements we all NEED: Fish oils, Vit D3, Probiotics, Digestive Enzymes, new headphones (those really are a *need* here), essential oils, carrier oils, etc. That blog is coming soon. This one is to show you some ways to support your habit once you get started doing product reviews.

#1 Ibotta. https://ibotta.com/r/w9khq
Ibotta is a mobile device app where you can get money back on specific purchase at specific stores –there are usually plenty to pick from in your area. I used to find it hard to rack up the change, but now they do money back on non branded items, and those refresh often. Bananas, onions, peppers, frozen veggies, coffee, etc… There are some allergen friendly food items, also paper products.
Lately I’ve been stocking up like mad on Scotties Facial Tissues. They are $1 at Walmart and each time Ibotta is giving me back 75 cents! STEAL.

Sometimes a phone is picky and will tell you that ibotta doesn’t work on that device. This is my current situation –it doesn’t work on my phone. But it does work on my old phone. There is no service on my old phone but I use it over the wifi at home. The only draw back is that I don’t have it in store to check deals and scan deals right then and there, but I overcome that by looking at the app before I leave the house, and writing down all the items I think I *might* purchase that day and jot a little note on the deal to make sure I get the right one, for example: “Enjoy Life Crispy Cookie, 7 oz package, $1.50 rebate”
So if it doesn’t work on your phone, ask around. I beet you have friends with old smart phones lying around that you could try it on.

Also you can earn money through referrals.

You can cash out through paypal when you hit $10, or various gift cards. I pick Amazon gift cards and they email them to you right away.

Sign up for Ibotta here.

2. Swagbucks. www.swagbucks.com/refer/jwebs94
I go in phases with this. Sometimes I try harder if I have some more downtime. I will answer surveys, or look for money making deals (ex: buy this product for $20, get back $25 in points). I really do try to remember to make purchases thru Swagbucks because you usually earn 1-4% back (I can take a month to post).
I also print all my coupons through them –you get 10 points (10 cents) for each coupon that you redeem.
There are surveys, and videos you can watch, points for searches, and all sorts of ways to let the points add up.
There are specific activities you can do as well, like transcribe things… so much stuff I haven’t even got in on yet.
If you are a casual user you will most likely get points thru purchases or coupon use.
Also you can earn money thru referrals.

When you cash out it usually takes about a week for your reward to post. (There are other rewards, but I go for Amazon Gift cards every time!) Warning: Five rewards per month. So if you become a heavy user keep that in mind. You might want to wait and cash out a $25 Amazon gift card instead of 5, $5 ones and then be unable to get any more that month.

Sign up for Swagbucks here.

3. Earn Honey. www.earnhoney.com/home/?referrer=cC3Ph6Qu
This is new I believe… because it still looks like they are adding stuff to it. Here is what I use it for… the videos.

There are a few video playlists that run commercials every 10 flipping seconds. But here is the good part, you get around 3 “nectar” for every commercial. 10 nectar = 1 Honey Dollar, which = 1 penny. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up quickly.
UNLIKE the videos on Swagbucks, you don’t have to click to watch each video. You can just let them play (and for the most part with the volume down –sometimes an ad will turn up the volume, but after clicking it back down a couple times the volume stays off for a while again), now, it’s not like you can let them run all day –after a while it will ask for captcha code to continue, but so what? I let those videos roll while I am cooking, washing dishes, getting a shower, leave the house… I’ve totaled up $8 in the couple weeks that I have been doing it while using very little effort on my part.

There is a game you can play which is frustratingly addicting, ads play while you play (but I found it slows my old computer down pretty bad after a while).
There are supposed to be polls but I haven’t seen one yet.
There are one-time profile badges you can fill out for 5 honey dollars each.

As I type this, I have one of their videos rolling in the background. I’ve made 35 cents running the videos off and on this afternoon.
You also get referral bonuses.

Sign up for EarnHoney here.

4 InstaGC. http://www.instagc.com/jwebs94
This is like swagbucks in that it’s offers and surveys and videos. Honestly, I haven’t used it much, but it’s another way to earn.
Pretty sure there are referral bonuses there, too.

EDIT UPDATE: I’ve been using this a LOT lately and I LOVE it. I’ve made $110 in the past couple months just doing surveys and random sign ups for emails, etc (I recommend getting a new email address to use for these types of activities so that you don’t flood your regular email).

Sign up for InstaGC here.

6 I also just started using Inbox Dollars. You need $30 to cash out and I am half way there. You get 2 cents for every email you click on, but there are surveys and other offers that can help you to earn faster.

Sign up for Inbox Dollars Here.

5 23andme.com http://refer.23andme.com/v2/share/6150681196149336693
I don’t know if you have to buy the kit first to be able to refer. But I wrote my MTHFR blog and have had several people buy the kit through my link and you earn $10 per new customer through Amazon Gift Cards.

Go here to check out 23andMe.

Those are my top 5 ways to cash in for bucks to be used on Amazon.

The other thing I do while IN Amazon, is I order prime items separately and pick “delayed shipping” –This gives you a $1 credit for each item to be used towards MP3, Video rentals/purchases, and ebooks. OMG I can’t get enough ebooks so I use the crap out of that delayed shipping service. (takes about a week to get your items)

Doing product reviews is really helping that to add up. In one month’s time, I have received $110 in delayed shipping credits. $110 for items that I only paid around $95 for… so $15 in PROFIT on $4,000 worth of retail items. Yes. You read that right.

My next blog will be about how to get started doing product reviews. For now, go sign up for those services and figure out a way to implement them into your life. And if you know of any more that I am missing out on, that are easy earners, send my your referral links and hook me up!

The other way I am bring in the change, change that adds up is by using Tsu as my social media platform. Tsu pays 90% of ad revenue back to the users. SO much better than Zuckerdork’s Facebook.
Here is your invitation: www.tsu.co/janeknowitall –after a month of using Tsu my back account is near $8 and I am not spending a whole lot of time there… not nearly as much as I wish I could.

RUKI home Spiralizer. It was an exciting day :)

Pasta of any kind is always exciting. Even non-pasta pasta:)
Those of you who know me, know I am a carb addict and I love my pasta. But I try to not eat it. I try to stay grain fee, and very low carb. (*try*). I never thought I’d be OK subbing out pasta with zucchini in my lasagna, but I finally tried it, and loved it even better than the wheat pasta.

So you know I wanted to get my hands on a spiralizer to try “zoodles” –I had bought one before and didn’t really like it, so I was glad to have the chance to try another brand. I got this one from RUKI Home.

This one even comes with a brush to clean it! Sweet!

The zucchini cooks down. Look at this picture. These two zucchinis made enough zoodles for ME and me only (generous helping 😉 ) –so I guess it was a good thing that the kids turned up their noses at my creation. More for me 🙂

Here it is all sliced up:

This is what is left behind after you slice it down as far as you can. Those are the leftovers that I give my dog. She loves all raw veggies.
DO use the end cap to grip the vegetable as you near the end of it –it will save your fingers from the blade.

Don’t over cook it. You don’t want mush. A few minutes is enough.

Drain it… and you know what I need? A salad spinner. This veggie is already very watery and I was left pouring off water from my plate even after I strained it. I bet a salad spinner would work great for that!

Top with your favorite (organic) sauce and (homemade with grass fed beef ) meatballs and chow down.

Yum.

Copper Mugs & Moscow Mules –Product Review.

I jumped at the chance to review this copper mug when it popped up, little did I know that it was the proper vessel for serving the Moscow Mule –look, I don’t get out much and it’s not like I am a bartender or some sophisticated drunk!

I actually didn’t even have my first Moscow Mule until a couple of months ago when some friends were visiting and made one for me. I was just happy to try a copper mug because I had read there were health benefits to drink from copper –an essential element found in our bodies (P.S. MTHFR/Autism crowd –a lot of us have too much copper and bad copper/zinc ratios, so you might want to do some blood work before making a copper mug a part of your everyday drinking habit). This mug is NOT lined, so you will get the benefits of the copper.

Gather your supplies… Limes, Vodka, Ginger Beer (REAL Ginger Beer –not some weak ass ginger ale), ice and I love adding mint.
Believe it or not, I still had some vodka left from when my friends brought it two months ago (See, I am not nearly the alcoholic I that I joke I am!).

Take about three ice cubes, and smash them –to me, this drink calls for crushed ice. I put a cube in the palm of my hand and crack it a couple times with the back of a big spoon.
Cut a lime in half and squeeze the ever living crap out of it, into your mug.
Throw in two shots of vodka.
Pour in a bottle of Ginger beer.
Add a lime slice and some mint for garnish… I even smashed a few mint leaves and put them in the mug.

This made for a very sweet drink as the ginger beer I used –while delightfully spicy, was a bit intense with the sugar. So once I had drank about half the mug I topped it off with some more vodka. I realize my mistake now… I found myself tipsy before 5 p.m.

If you plan on making a steady diet of these, maybe cut the ginger beer with carbonated mineral water.

Go, go get your mug set! Enjoy!
–by the way, I was not required to write a blog as part of my review, but you know I am going to tell you about the awesome things that I try!