DIY Cat Toys

Get this:

From this:

Pretty easy! All it took was this: 

Yay for fancy duct tape! 

So if you're a cat owner you know that they will play with a box whether it's fancy or not, but if you're like me then you want your living room to not look like a trash heap. In comes the duct tape.

Take a mailing box or other not so deep box and cut some holes in the top big enough to fit some little kitty toy balls.

Add the duct tape.

And the balls

Ta da! Ok actually I did this one second and so was out of tape. This other guy took up all my tape!

But kitty thoroughly enjoys it :) So yeah....like...what...$3 for the fancy tape? a $1 for a bag of kitty toy balls form the dollar store? Not too bad.

Upcycling Plastic Containers

If you lived with a little old lady who was obsessed with keeping every sour cream/yogurt/margarine container (thus making EVERYTHING in the fridge look like you live on nothing but sour cream/yogurt/margarine) then you would probably start spray painting plastic containers too. 

Lets face it, she isn't going to actually stop keeping these things. And there is no amount of explaining that I can do to convince her that I would rather not because of carthinigens (however the heck you spell it) leaking into food from plastic. She can't stop me from painting the shit though, gosh dang it. (like that? trying to cut back on the swearing. nothing else was satisfying for the word "shit" there though... sorry)

Ok so this paint is pretty awesome, i have washed this containers a few times now and have yet to have a single issue with it. I would say hand wash it though, if you can. Think it's been through the dishwasher a time or two though... i am "releasing my need to control" on that one...  

The high quality lettering you see there is done with a Sharpie. Think I might rename this blog to "janky-white-trash-crafts". Come on, it's not like I have a "crickut" that I am doing schmancy stencils with. I'M POOR. Free handing and camera photos are what you get because it's what I've got. There is no point in pretending that I have the time/patience/money/space to make this look like the frickin pioneer lady.  And that's ok. If I can survive it, so can you! I believe in you!

I am doing this because people ask me "How'd you do that" and I am lazy enough that I don't want to write this three million times. Seriously people. It's efficiency. I email a link, you get an answer to your question, we're all happy little campers. And if other people get a kick out the idea, awesome. I couldn't be happier. But lets not operate under the delusion that I am ever going to be working towards being a paid professional blogger or something.  I've got other things to do. Like spray paint a bunch of plastic....

Tipsy Tuesday: Laundry Detergent

Hello :) yesterday I made my own laundry detergent for the second time (yay me!) and I thought, "You know what, not everyone thinks they can do this sort of thing but it saves so much money!" So even though this isn't some new recipe of mine, I thought I would write about our experience on it and hopefully encourage you to give it a try as well. Here's a quote from the site I found (The Simple Dollar DIY Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe: A Visual Guide), just to get you thinking:

"In other words, nine loads using my homemade detergent has the same detergent cost as one load of Tide with Bleach Alternative." 

If you go to the link and read the article, the guy does the math for you (and thank the Maker because I really hate math) not to mention a whole stain test to boot, and it was up against the top pick by Consumer Reports.

If you don't like liquid detergent then there are also a bunch of dry versions out there and you're probably looking at a similar cost ratio. My grandma likes the liquid stuff and we don't care either way /shrug. Personally, I kinda like that I don't have to use a magic bullet to get my soap shreds all tiny, which is seems you have to do for the dry stuff, but to each their own for sure. 

I don't regret it a bit so far, months down the line. It gets the clothes clean, no one's had any skin itchiness (even my aunt who has sensitive skin with detergent is handling it just fine). Because the article has so much information in it, with all of the pictures and the math etc. it seems really complex but when you just look at what you have to do? super easy. took me....30 min. tops. tip to toe. well apart from having it sit for 24 hours, but you get what I mean :) I will even copy and paste it here so you have it, but go to The Simple Dollar for the pictures and video: 

Laundry Detergent

1 cup washing soda (I use Arm & Hammer)
1/2 cup borax (I use 20 Mule Team)
1 bar soap (I use whatever’s cheap, in this case Pure & Natural)
Approximately 3 gallons water

You’ll also need a container of some sort to store this in (I use a five gallon bucket with a lid), something to stir it (I use a large wooden spoon), another pot to boil soapy water in (I use the pot in the picture), and something to cut up the soap (I use the box grater in the picture).

First thing, put about four cups of water into the pan and put it on the stove on high until it’s at boiling, then lower the heat until it’s simmering.

While it’s heating up, take a bar of soap and cut it up into little bits. I found a lot of success using our box grater, which resulted in a ton of little soap curls.

When the water is boiling, start throwing in the soap. I recommend just doing a bit at a time, then stirring it until it’s dissolved.

Stir the soapy water with a spoon until all of the soap is dissolved. Eventually, the water will take on the color of the soap you added, albeit paler. I used Pure & Natural soap for this, which was a white soap that looked a lot like a bar of Ivory.

In the end, you’ll have some very warm soap soup.

Next, get out your large container and add three gallons of warm tap water to it. I’m using a bright orange five gallon bucket that I had lying around.

To this bucket add a cup of the washing soda and the soap solution you made and stir. The borax is optional – some people say that it’s too harsh, but I’ve always found that it did a good job getting clothes clean and fresh smelling, so I recommend adding a half cup of borax to the mix.

After stirring, you’ll have a bucket full of vaguely soapy water.

Don’t worry if your batch doesn’t match the color of my own – it varies depending on what kind of soap you use. I made a batch with Lever 2000 in the past and it had a greenish tint to it, and I’ve heard reports of all kinds of different colors from other people who have tried this.

At this point, let the soap sit for 24 hours, preferably with a lid on it. I just took our bucket to the laundry room.

When you take off the lid, you’ll find any number of things, depending on the type of soap you used and the water you used. It might be firm, like Jello; it might be very watery; it might even be like liquid laundry detergent. Just stir it up a bit and it’s ready to be used.