Awesome Floor Cleaner

Anyone that knows me knows I am always trying to find good floor cleaners. When I spotted this pin I jumped right on it. It was named homemade cleaner that neutralizes boy bathroom smell... kinda long name so I shortened it. So here is what you will need to make it:

1/2 cup Borax

1/4 cup baking soda

1/4 cup vinegar

1 T dish soap or baby wash

2 gallons hot water

Add the dish soap at the end so it doesn't get to sudsy. I used it all over my house, kitchen, bathroom, & front porch area where my animals have their potty pads and kitty litter. It worked so well and had a great smell. I loved this because I don't like to use harsh cleaners on my floors and hurt my fur babies. When I would have to use bleach I would mop then go back over the floor with a towel to try and dry it. Then stand guard to make sure no one walk onto it and burned their paws. Here is the link to the original post  and I also used her pic because I forgot to take one...LOL  http://frugalfun4boys.com/2010/09/02/homemade-cleaner-that-neutralizes-boy-bathroom-stink/

How to get Red Box free codes

I thought this was interesting and was super curious to see if it worked. So I followed the link that was attached to the pin. It took me to http://www.prettyprovidence.com/2012/04/never-pay-for-redbox-again.html. So here are the codes they had on their page:

Redbox promo codes that work at any kiosk:

DVDONME

 BREAKROOM

REDBOX

Codes that work at Redbox kiosks at specific stores: 

DVDATWAG - Good at any kiosk at a Walgreen's store.

DVDATKROG - Good at any kiosk at a Kroger affiliated store (for Utah it's Smiths)

DVDATSONI - Good at any kiosk at a Sonic Drive-In

So, Excited to see if this works I headed out to give it a try. I love the Red Box and we use them weekly so I had no problem finding a movie I wanted to see. I stopped at the Walgreen's Red Box because it was the closest, picked my movie, used the DVDONME, and low and behold IT WORKED! I finished my transaction and had another movie I was dying to watch so what the hey lets try another. I used BREAKROOM and it also worked. Now she explained these are good once per credit/debit card. So if you use several cards you can get several free movies. She also gave a page where they keep track of the codes that are working and give you new ones so here that is http://www.insideredbox.com/redbox-codes/ .

Crock Pot Chinese Chicken

So I am a few weeks behind so gonna post 3 this week to get caught up. I am gonna start out with a crock pot recipe. I love crock pot recipes because they are so simple and I love simple. This one had no title so I just called it crock pot chinese chicken. What you will need:

A medium crock pot
1 LB of chicken
1 cup of pineapple juice
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of soy sauce
4 Tbsp of corn starch
6 Tbsp of water

First mix together pineapple juice, brown sugar, & soy sauce together in crock pot. Next add your chicken. Season your chicken to taste. I used season salt, pepper, & garlic powder. Now set your crock pot to high for a 2 hour to 3 hour cook or low for a 4 hour to 6 hour cook. Now all crock pots aren't going to cook the same. Now set it and get on to other things! So when your chicken is finished remove it from the crock pot and set it aside. Now mix up your cornstarch and water and add to crock pot. If you cooked yours on low make sure to set to high and let sauce thicken up. This will take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. If ya don't wanna wait (and have to eat this asap) I put my sauce in a microwave safe bowl and stuck it in the microwave for 5 minutes. It thicken up great! Next chop your chicken into bite size pieces and toss into thickened sauce. Now you can serve this over rice or Chinese noodles. Usually I give the link for the original recipe but this didn't have one.

Six Minute Microwave Caramels

So this week I decided to do a recipe again. I like to keep things super simple and when I found this recipe for microwave caramels I just had to try it. Anyone that has made or attempted to make candy knows the time and difficulty it takes. So here is what you will need

A microwave safe bowl
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of light corn syrup
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of sweet and condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

So on to the fun part. I first melted my butter for easier mixing. Then added all ingredients together in my micro safe bowl and mixed well. Now I cooked mine for 8 minutes stirring every two minutes. This is where the trial and error comes in being everyone's microwave isn't the same. The original recipe called for six minutes but after reading comments on the page some people had to increase their bake time due to their caramel not setting stiff enough. Now this was my second attempt because mine too did not set stiff enough the first time. So if it happens to be to stiff decrease your cooking time, not stiff enough increase cooking time.  I decided to use those silicon ice cube trays for my caramels so I greased those up generously so they would be ready to pour my caramel into as soon as it was done. Now some people choose to use 8×8 to 9×13 baking dishes. The smaller the baking pan the thicker the caramels. They then cut their caramels into bite size pieces. Like I stated before I like to make things simple and that is why I used the silicon ice cube trays. No cutting and making a sticky mess. I bought my trays at the dollar tree for a buck each. So back to the task at hand. When your caramels are finished remove from your microwave and stir well. Be careful your bowl will be super HOT! I decided to add some vanilla for extra flavoring or you could add whatever extract that floats your boat. I am going to do orange next time! Next pour the caramel batter into whatever well greased pan or tray you picked. Now I have 4 of those silicon trays various types and it took all four with this recipe. I then placed my trays in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Now if you choose to use a baking dish only leave it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to make cutting less difficult. So after I took them out of the fridge I just popped them right out of those trays onto a piece of wax paper. Then I cut up smaller pieces of wax paper to wrap them in. Now the first batch that I made that didn't set stiff enough I poured it in a mason jar and have been drizzling it over homemade cookies. I am also going to use it as an apple dip and have a few more ideas for it. Nothing goes to waste! I would like to give credit to the page I got this recipe from http://www.food.com/recipe/microwave-caramels-367414

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

So this week I decided to do a recipe. After some thought I had to choose this because it was super easy and I had all the ingredients in my pantry. 

Here is what you will need

2.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast

salt & pepper

1 cup of honey

1/2 cup of soy sauce

4 Tbsp diced onion

4 Tbsp ketchup

2Tbsp canola oil

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

4 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tbsp water

First salt and pepper your chicken and place in your crock pot. Next in a bowl add all ingredients except cornstarch and water. Mix together well and pour over chicken in crock pot. Cook on high for 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours or  3 to 4 on low. After your chicken is cooked remove from crock pot and set aside. Next mix up your cornstarch and water until it is fully dissolved and add to your sauce in your crock pot. Stir well and cook the sauce on high for 10 minutes to thicken. Cut up your chicken to bit size pieces and add back to crock pot. I choose to serve mine over steam rice but you could use Chinese noodles or whatever floats your boat. Also I would like to give credit to the site this came from http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/08/crock-pot-honey-sesame-chicken.html .

DIY Coconut body butter & Satin hands scrub

Week Two

Home made DRY laundry soap

 

This is one of the most simple DIY projects ever and think of the money that could be saved using this. Here is what you'll need...... Two Bars of Fels Naptha $.97 per bar, One 4lb box of Borax $3.38, One 3lb box of Arm & Hammer SUPER WASHING SODA $3.24, One 4lb box of Arm & Hamer baking soda $2.18, Three 32oz containers of LA's Totally Awesome oxygen cleaner $3.00, Two 28oz Purex Crystals (optional) $4.76 per bottle, & One large bucket First I know some people have never heard of Fels Naptha soap or Arm & Hammer super washing soda they are found by the laundry soap at Walmart. The reciepe I had called for a 3lb container of Oxy Clean so I just used the cheaper version sold at the Dollar Tree and saved like 4 bucks.

This by far was the hardest part. It calls to use a cheese grater to grate the bar soap. I first heated the soap in the microwave to make this a little bit easier. After letting cool for a few I got to work and by work I mean WORK. After about 10 minutes I reliezed hey I own a mini chopper why not. The mini chopper worked perfect. Your soap will look like yellow cheese pic above. Next It called to layer each ingredient in your bucket. After each layer I used a big wooden spoon to stir it. Continue until all ingredients are gone.

After that I used the left over containers to put my soap in. This reciepe says it only takes 2 table spoons to do a load of laundry. If you use the Purex Crystals container the cap on that makes a perfact 2TBSP right at the 3rd line. It also says that this could last up to a year so the saving is incredible. This is also ok to use in HE washers because there are no suds from this soap. My total was $23.26 some might vary depending on what you use and where you get it from.

Also I wanted to give credit to the blog attached to the pin I used this from. http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/

The first week!

Being new to Pinterest I was super excited to find tons of crafts and DIY project to last me a year. I decided to try one a week and blog about it. I know some people are afraid to spend the money or don't have all the time to do some of these things and maybe I can give some insight on some of these fun money saving DIY/craft projects. For my first one I choose a DIY "homemade" powder laundry soap. I read the blog attached to the pin and her followers were really happy with it. Stay tuned later in the week for my experience.