Cheap fun with the kids!

Last week I did another fun project with my boys-- we cleaned out some of the broken crayons in their crayon box and made some new ones! They thought it was lots of fun- and it was very easy!

You can do them a couple different ways, but we chose to put them in muffin tins and melt them in the oven. I preheated the oven to 260 degrees and lined the muffin tins/ silicone liners I planned to use. I found some great Wilton Square Silicone Baking Cups on amazon that were perfect! I thought it might be easier to color with something square shaped versus round, but did make some others with my mini-muffin tin as well.

We first sorted the crayons by colors, keeping similar colors together. Then, we put the crayons in the tins. I could have filled them up more...











Then, I put them in the oven for about 20 minutes and closely watched them and when they appeared to all be melted I took them out. You can use a toothpick and swirl the colors to make them even more fun!



Once they cool, you crack them out of the muffin liners and you have new crayons to use! The first few times some of the edges did crack off and were a bit messy, but my boys are having fun with their homemade crayons!

More homemade laundry detergent

After making my own liquid laundry detergent a few weeks ago, my neighbor found another recipe- that's a powder- that uses Castile soap instead of Fels Naptha. I've made a couple batches and I think I like it even more than the liquid.

I would put pictures, but my brother gave me a hard time for the last round of detergent pictures-- he said it looked a little too much like a meth lab...

1 bar Castile soap- $2.99 for 3 pk at Meijer- finely shredded (I use my Parmesean cheese grater)
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- $2.79 at Meijer (found in laundry aisle by stain removers)
1 cup Borax- $2.99 at Target (also at Meijer in the laundry aisle by stain remover)

Mix all 3 together- I've put them all in a blender to get more of a fine powder (really hard on the blender), but found that putting it in a ziploc bag and mashing it with a rolling pin works just as well!

Use 1-2 tablespoons per load. I use one heaping tablespoon and it works great!

This does cost a bit more than the liquid detergent-- it's $1.71 per batch- which makes 48 loads (conservative estimate)- making each load around $.03! Still cheaper than buying regular detergent at the store and much easier than making liquid.

Some cheap fun!

A couple weeks ago I needed to do a major coupon cleanout- but I needed to come up with a project for my boys to do that would keep them busy. They like playing Play-Doh, but instead of just getting out the whole bin of Play-Doh stuff, I let the help me make our own Playdough! It was a lot of fun AND because we made it ourselves, they played with it a LOT longer than they normally play with Play-Doh.

There are lots of different recipes out there... but this is the recipe I used- I got it from my mom who made it for my brother and I when we were little!

Homemade Playdough

1 cup water
1 cup flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
food coloring

Heat over stove, stirring constantly until ball forms. Add food coloring, let cool- and play! I usually it in the fridge (I don't know if you really need to but I think it stays together better when it's cold) in a ziploc bag or in a glad container.

I gave the boys the playdough and some cookie cutters and they played for over an hour-- and came right back after naptime and played some more! This activity was definitely a hit in our household!