You really can’t get  an easier homemade recipe. It’s literally two ingredients. You add them together and wait six weeks. So it makes me wonder why on earth it costs so much for those tiny bottles of vanilla extract??

However, because of the mysterious, expensive allure of vanilla extract, it makes for a wonderful gift that will have friends singing your praises. If you plan on making these for Christmas, make sure to mix up your batch around November 1st, so it has time to build up that rich vanilla flavor. I like to pair a 2 ounce bottle of homemade vanilla extract with a jar of homemade cookie ingredients with instructions. It makes a great present for men or women alike, families or house warming parties.

You can choose between using vodka and rum. Vodka is a neutral taste that will allow the flavors of the vanilla bean to shine. Rum will add another flavor depth to the vanilla which some people prefer. The only other trick to making it is to make sure that you scrap all the vanilla bean “seeds” or “pulp” out from the pod and add them, along with the chopped up pods, to the alcohol. Simply chopping the whole vanilla beans will result in a poorer quality vanilla extract. Scrapping the bean pod first seems to be the crucial step to making really good homemade extract.

Makes: 3 cups (or 6, four-ounce bottles or 12, two-ounce bottles)

10-12 vanilla beans
3 cups vodka or rum

 Directions:

1. Using a small paring knife, split the vanilla beans lengthwise. Use the paring knife to scrap the inside pulp out from each side of the split vanilla bean. Set the pulp aside to form a pile. Repeat with all the vanilla beans.
2. Add the scrapped vanilla bean pods along with all the vanilla bean pulp to the vodka. Place the lid on and shake well.
3. Write the date on the bottle. Set it in a spot out of direct sunlight. Shake or agitate the bottle once to twice a week or whenever you remember it.
4. After six weeks strain the vanilla extract. It should look nice and dark by this time. Place it in small, tinted glass bottles with good lids. If desired, you can place a piece of vanilla bean into the small bottle for decorative purposes and to let it keep growing in flavor.

Tips:

• You can keep creating more and more extract right in the same bottle! Keep a piece of vanilla bean in your extract. When your extract starts getting low (less then half) you can refill it with vodka or rum. That piece of vanilla bean will keep releasing flavor into the alcohol.

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This recipe for my favorite homemade shampoo comes from Rosemary Gladstar, an amazing herbalist, author, and educator. The herbal tea can be made from herbs that have good properties for the hair. The castile soap does the cleaning and foaming actions that we all love. The jojoba and essential oils provides nourishment and conditioning for the hair.

There are a lot of recipes floating around that use only castile soap, jojoba, and essential oils. I think the recipe is drastically improved by using a base of herbal tea. It is not overly foaming or drying like it is when using only castile soap.

Of course there are always other options for homemade shampoo. If this one doesn’t fit your fancy, then you can try some of the coconut milk-based recipes. They sound really interesting and I hope to do some experimenting soon to find out what I like the best.

8 oz. or 1 cup distilled water, boiled
1 oz. dry herbs (choose from chamomile, nettle, calendula, and/or marshmallow root)
3 oz. or 6 Tb. liquid castile soap
¼ tsp. jojoba oil
25 drops pure essential oil (choose from tea tree, rosemary, clary sage, peppermint, etc.)

Directions:

1. Steep the herbs in boiling water, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Strain and cool.
2. Slowly add the castile soap to the tea.
3. Add the oils. Store by the shower. Gently shake before using. Only a small amount is needed.

 Tips:

• Make in small batches, 1 or 2 times the recipe.
• I buy Dr. Bronner’s unscented/baby/mild castile soap with the light blue label. If you buy one of the scented castile soaps then you already have a fragranced shampoo! I personally like the scent of my own essential oils, which is why I get the unscented.
• Any herbs can be used, but the ones listed above have specific properties that support good hair health. If you love lavender or rose or peppermint feel free to explore different herbal teas to use in your shampoo. Rosemary has slight drying properties so it is best if used on oily hair.

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I like to be really honest and upfront about the reality of homemade recipes which is why I will preface this recipe by saying that tooth powders are not for everyone. Those of you who really love your white, foamy, creamy toothpaste from the tube will not like this recipe at all! That being said, I LOVE this tooth powder!

Here are the pros: It leaves my teeth feeling really clean. I love knowing that it is a 100% edible food and there is no harm in ingesting it. It has myrrh powder which is healing for your gums and xylitol with has anti-cavity properties. If you use the thyme, that has anti-inflamitory and antiseptic properties. If you are a big fan of the whitening power of baking soda, that can be added too. Read the tips for how much to add.

Now for the “less good” aspects: Bentonite clay will cling to your toothbrush even after rinsing it and make it look funkier then most people are comfortable with. I remedy this problem by soaking my toothbrush once a week in a little water mixed with 5-10 drops of GSE (grapefruit seed extract). This also disinfects your toothbrush as well as cleaning off the clay residue. It will be a little grittier then tooth paste and it will not foam. Keep in mind though, that foaming is purely a sensory pleasure. It has nothing to do with actually cleaning your teeth!

Makes a “trial amount” of 2 Tb. for you to see if you like it!

4 tsp. bentonite clay
1 tsp. xylitol (ground into a fine powder)
1/2 tsp. dry thyme (ground into a fine powder) (optional)
1/2 tsp. myrrh gum powder
2-3 drops of peppermint essential oil

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together, taking care to really blend in the drops of essential oils. Store in a small container with a lid. Wet your toothbrush and lightly dip into the powder before brushing your teeth.

Tips:

• You can add baking soda to the recipe if desired. Simply add 1 tsp. of baking soda or replace both the thyme and myrrh gum with 1 tsp. of baking soda. The reason I don’t add it to my recipe is that sometimes my teeth have a sensitivity reaction the the abrasive qualities of sodium bicarbonate.
• I am fortunate enough to have a local herb shop that carries both myrrh gum powder and bentonite clay. If you have trouble finding these locally, there is always online options like Mountain Rose Herbs. However, the smallest amount you can usually order is 1/4 pound, which will give you lots of tooth powder!
• You can make this into a paste if you want. Just slowly add tiny bits of water until you achieve a thick paste.

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I have been making a lot of almond milk lately and have lots of leftover almond pulp. I feel really guilty not using it, but I have not been in the mood for baking experiments lately. Today I woke up feeling creative and decided to try making pancakes with some of the almond-milk pulp. They turned out great! You can alter this recipe if you are not gluten-free  to make almond and whole wheat pancakes. See the tips below.

Serves: 1-2 depending on how hungry you are

Makes: 8 pancakes

1/3 C. almond pulp left over from making almond milk
1 egg
1-2 tsp. agave or honey or sugar
1/4 C. cornmeal (fine grind)
1/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 C. buttermilk plus more as needed (or almond milk if you are dairy free)
handful of frozen or fresh blueberries (optional)

Directions:

1. Whisk the almond pulp, egg, and agave.
2. Add the dry ingredients and strir to combine.
3. Add the buttermilk or almond milk and add more as needed to achieve a pancake batter consistency that is pourable. (How much liquid you will need is not exact because everyone’s almond pulp will have a different amount of liquid in it. 1/2 cup is just a good starting place.)
4. Fold in the blueberries at the end (or sprinkle on top of the pancakes when you pour them in the skillet).
5. Cook on a pre-heated oiled skillet unti brown on each side.

Tips:

• For those not sensitive to gluten, omit the cornmeal and rice flour and just use 1/2 C. of whole wheat flour or 1/4 cup each white and whole wheat for lighter pancakes.
• If you are using almond milk instead of buttermilk, you can also use baking powder instead of baking soda.

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I have often thought that I am a major and direct contributor to the profitability of the deodorant industry. Not that I go through a ton of deodorant, but it’s just that I am perpetually buying a new one, convinced that this is going to be the miracle deodorant for me. We don’t know each other that well, so I don’t want to cross over any boundaries by going into too many details about my underarms. However, suffice to say that very few work for me. I seem to almost have an almost allergic reaction to aluminum-based anti-persperants and they make me perspire like crazy as if my body is staging a rebellion. I have tried crystal deodorants, both in the rock and liquid form. I have tried alcohol-based spray like Burt’s Bees and incredibly expensive sprays like Weleda. I have tried almost every natural deodorant on the market…not kidding. I have tried Lavolin and other brands of deodorants that you put on once a week. My armpits became incredibly sore for weeks and that ended that little experiment.

So please believe me when I say how amazing this recipe is! It really works and I can make it at home! Remember that there is often an “adjustment” period to let your body chemistry adapt to a new product before determining if it works for you as good as it works for me.

The reason I am calling this recipe “tube deodorant” is because it is too firm (because of the beeswax) to put in a jar. It works great in a recycled deodorant tube or a new one you can purchase from places like Mountain Rose Herb Company. The most popular DIY deodorant on the web is for a coconut oil/baking soda combo that you need to keep in a jar because if it gets too warm in your bathroom the coconut oil will melt out of the bottom of the tube. This recipe for tube deodorant does not melt and holds up well to cold and hot temps in your bathroom. I have not tried it in extreme temps though, so please leave feedback if try this recipe and you happen to live in Alaska or Hawaii for instance.

The other unique piece about this recipe is that it calls for shelf-stable probiotics. Something about adding probiotics is supposed to help support the good underarm bacterias and ward off the bad bacterias that create bad body odor. I have not looked into the scientific validity of this, but I just like to go off of personal experience. For me it works! If you don’t have any shelf-stable probiotics on hand it is a wonderful purchase to make because it is such a good supplement to take. Sometime supplement shops have a bunch of sample pack of items and you can  try asking it they have any.

Most of the ingredients can be found at a well stocked natural food store. They might be a little pricy, but they will last you a very long time and can be used in so many other natural homemade beauty products like face lotion.

Makes: 1 tube of deodorant

1 Tb. cocoa butter
1 Tb. coconut oil
1 Tb. shea butter
1 Tb. beeswax
1 Tb. baking soda
2 ½ Tb. arrowroot powder
¼ tsp. vitamin E oil
15 drops essential oil (lavender, tea tree, jasmine, rose or any combo of your favorite)
2 capsules powdered shelf stable probiotics

Directions:

1. Melt the cocoa butter, coconut oil, shea butter, and beeswax over low heat, stirring occasionally with chopsticks, until all the solids are melted.
2. Remove from heat and add the arrowroot and baking soda. Stir with a chopstick until thoroughly dissolved and combined. Add the vitamin E oil and essential oil(s). Allow to cool in the pan until luke-warm and the consistency of pudding. Open the probiotic capsules and mix in.
3. Use a spatula or spoon to put the deodorant mixuture into an empty, clean deodorant container.
4. Place in the refrigerator to harden. Once hardened, remove from the refrigerator and keep on the counter.

Tips:

•  For very sensitive skin replace the baking soda with arrowroot powder. Also you can omit the essential oils too.
• The top might seem a little hard at first, but after the first use or two it will become softer to apply.

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Most people are familiar with Old English Furniture Polish and Pledge aerosol spray can. They make your furniture super shiny and leave a nice lemony scent in the air. However, if you search for the ingredient list and the safety warning on products like this you might think twice about buying them again.

The more natural furniture polishes can be pricy and tend to sit around for years in your cabinets because it it hard to use the whole bottle. This homemade recipe from Do It Gorgeously is essentially safe to eat, although that is not advised for obvious reasons. You can make half the amount if you just want to test it out first or if you don’t have that much furniture that requires polishing.
1 cup olive oil (cheap stuff or “pure” olive oil)
¼ cup distilled white vinegar
¼ tsp orange essential oil
¼ tsp lemon essential oil

Directions:

1. Whisk all the ingredients to combine
2. Store in a squeeze bottle or other container
3. Apply to rag and work into real wood furniture that has already been finished. Do not use on wood floors. Do not apply to unfinished wood furniture.

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I did a lot of research and trials to give you my two favorite (so far) recipes for homemade glass cleaner. As usual I found a ton of very different recipes online and in books. Glass cleaner version 1 I got from Whole New Mom and version 2 is from Frugally Sustainable. My sister and I did a “glass clean off” to compare and we both seemed to work equally well. You can make whichever one you have more ingredients for.

Version 1 was a little nicer to wipe up but you had to shake it lightly before using to mix up the baking soda that settles to the bottom. Neither of these recipes was great for the mirror we tested it on. They both left light streaks unless we diligently wiped up all the cleaner. You can certainly use it, but we are going to do a little more trial and error before posting a homemade mirror cleaner.

Homemade Glass Cleaner Version 1

2 cups cold water
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup rubbing alcohol (isopropyl)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch (helps to prevent streaking)

Directions:

1. Mix the cornstarch with a small amount of cold water and stir to combine
2. Add the remaining water and ingredients
3. Pour into a spray bottle and shake.

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There are a lot of things you can use to clean your toilet ranging from store-bought blue goo in a fancy curve neck bottle to just shaking some straight baking soda. I really like this recipe for homemade toilet bowl cleaner from a great homesteading book: Do It Gorgeously. It smells amazing, deodorizes the toilet, and does a great job cleaning. (Though you still need to scrub. There is no way around that!)

Equipment:

1 recycled toilet bowl cleaner container or 1 squeeze bottle (recycled dish soap bottle) or 1 food dispenser bottle (looks like restaurant ketchup bottle)

½  cup warm distilled water
½ cup baking soda
¼  cup castile soap
2 Tb white vinegar
¼ – ½  teaspoon tea tree essential oil
¼ – ½  teaspoon lavender essential oil

Directions:

1. Mix baking soda into warm water and stir to dissolve.
2. Add remaining ingredients and stir
3. Pour into a squeeze bottle or recycled toilet bowl cleaner bottle
4. Gently shake before using.

Tips:

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Dish soap is one of those strangely, deeply personal household items. People get very attached to their dish soap when they find one they like. I myself am more concerned with the earth friendly aspect (first) and cost effectiveness (second). I have never gotten attached to any one brand, so the transition to homemade dish soap was pretty painless for me. This makes a great product that is a little thinner then commercial dish soap. Check the tips below to see how you can thicken it if this is a big issue for you to try homemade dish soap.

Source: Do It Gorgeously

Makes: enough to fill one recycled dish soap container

1 ½ cups boiling water
1 Tablespoon washing soda (sodium carbonate)
½ cup liquid castile soap (Bronner’s unscented)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon essential oil (I like lemon, lavender, or grapefruit)

 Directions:

1. Pour boiling water into a heat-proof container (like a mason jar)
2. Add the washing soda and stir until dissolved.
3. Add the castile soap and vinegar and stir
4. Allow to cool and add the oils of your choice
5. Pour into one of the following: a squeeze bottle, empty dish soap container, olive oil dispenser, or container with a pump top

Tips:

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If you use Comet or  Bon Ami for cleaning around the house, you will be delighted to find that you can make your own. Scrubbing powders are great for cleaning skins, tubs, toilets, and showers. Any spot that has soap scum or other dirt build-up needs a little abrasive scrubbing action and homemade cleaning powder is the one for the job. Adding part tea tree oil as in the recipe below or using all tea tree oil can give it a disinfecting and antibacterial property.

The magic about this recipe is that it doubles as the most amazing bathroom air freshener if you keep it under your bathroom skin or by the toilet. Use the tips for how to make your owns shake top for easily sprinkling the powder when cleaning.

Equipment:

1 quart mason jar (wide mouth)
A sprouting lid or a lid ring a piece of thin cardboard (like a kleenex box) (which will serve as a shaker for the top of the jar)

Makes: 3 cups

1 cup baking soda
1 cup borax
1 cup salt (fine grind or blended to a powder)
20 drops lavender essential oil (or scent of your choice)
10 drops tea tree oil (or scent of your choice)

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl
2. Stir to combine and evenly disperse the essential oil
3. Store in a jar or container with a shaker. (see tips)
4. Pre-mositen the area for cleaning then shake the power cleaner to cover the area. Work in with a sponge or rag and rinse.

Tips:

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