Thrifty Candle Fun

How many half used candles do you have lying around your house? You know what I mean; the ones where the wick has burned down to where the wax extinguishes the flame but there is still half a candle left. I’ve got a ton of them, and I’m really bad about keeping them because I love the jar or I feel guilty wasting the thing. Well, I finally got up the energy/nerve to actually try rewicking the candles. I went to Hobby Lobby and found some braided wick for pillar candles. I’ll admit here that I have no clue what I was buying. I found the one that looked closets to what the original looked like and had the cheapest price. I think full price it was $2.49 for 18 feet (that’s a whole lot of candles!) I only needed about 6 inches or so for my candle, so that breaks down to just under 14 cents a foot or 1 cent an inch.

For the jar I used, I had found some old mason jars at Goodwill for like 25 cents each. If you go on certain Saturdays everything there is 50% off. I usually only buy glassware, metal items or picture frames there, just because I’m a little germaphobic and those are items I know that I can completely sanitize. You could even use old candle jars, old spaghetti sauce jars, or even a drinking glass of some sort.

(Its tinted purple with modpodge and water and baked in the oven. I couldn't get it to look as nice as everyone else online. lol but it works great for my need. I did look it up and modpodge is non flammable, but use at your own risk.)

Now to make hanging the wick a little easier you need a wick clip. I’m not entirely sure why it’s called this, since it’s really like a little stand to hold the wick at the bottom of the candle; it kind of looks like a Christmas tree stand. Now you can go buy a pack of them at the store, or you can use one you already have.  Look at the bottoms of your used candles. You will see a flat metal piece in the bottom of the candle. These are completely reusable once you remove the old wick. I thought my candle had one, but it didn’t. I was trying to figure out what I was going to use. Then it dawned on me. I have some of those Glade scented oil candles: the ones that you buy the little refills for and it magnetically holds the candle in place, and I had one that burned through but I never got around to removing the wick holder. Now I have my free wick holder.

You are going to need a double boiler and a something to stir the melted wax with. You don’t have a double boiler? Well neither do I; never have. Here’s what you do: pick a small sauce pot and an oven safe glass bowl that is just a little bigger than the pot. In the pot put enough water to come up just a little way on the bottom of the bowl when you set the bowl into the pot. Now you have a double boiler. This will help you heat the wax without scorching your pan and without getting your candle wet.

The last thing you need is a stick, a straw, a pencil or something else that is sturdy, thin, and can lay across the top of your jar and give you enough space on either side to pour in wax. I have a whole bunch of wooden skewers so I used one of those.

Here we go!

Step 1:

To start, clean your candle off. I just used a dry rag, but I’ve heard that pantyhose are great for cleaning a candle. Next measure the height of your jar, add an inch or two, and then cut that amount off of your new braided wick. Take your wick clip and insert the new wick into it. Tie a knot in the wick on the bottom side of the wick clip, and pull the wick up through the wick clip just to make sure the clip is all the way against the knot that you just made. 

Now lower the wick into the center of the jar you are using, keeping it as straight as possible. Once it touches the bottom take your pencil/straw/stick and lay it on top of the jar. This is what you want to tie the other end of your wick to. This will hold the wick upright.

Step 2:

Get your double boiler ready and put your candle into the glass bowl. If your candle is still in a jar, you can skip the glass bowl and put the jar into the water in the pot, but I suggest once the candle is loosened to transfer it to a glass bowl and back onto the pot. This will make it easier to work with and to fish out the old candle wick.

(Notice where my temperature is set on the right burner knob. I found this to be a good temperature.)

Step 3: Turn on the burner to medium heat. It will come to a boil quickly. When it does, immediately turn it down to low-medium. Let the candle just sit there and melt down. You can stir it occasionally to help it along, but it’s really just waiting. WARNING: Make sure to watch the water. It should just gently bubble and not rise up any higher on the sides of the bowl.

(I was using a pair of scissors at first to lift up the old wick. Later I switched to metal tongs.)

Step 4: Removing the old wick. I used a pair of metal tongs, but you could use a fork or something to grab a hold of the old wick and pull it out. I found that it was easier to flip the candle upside down and pull the wick out from that side. Although, I’m sure you could just let the candle melt all the way down and then fish it out.

Step 5: Pouring the wax. Put your jar in the middle of your stove, this way if you spill its really easy to clean up the wax once it’s dry. Now once the wax is all melted, get some oven mitts on or get some pot holders and very carefully lift the bowl out of your pot. VERY carefully, pour the wax into your jar in the space next to the wick. Set your bowl on a pot holder and remove the water from the heat. You are done. All you have to do is give your candle time to set up and cool. I personally would let it sit for 24 hours, because it’s a lot of wax to cool and you don’t want it to shift.

Step 6: Trim the wick to just a ¼ of an inch above the wax line. You can use scissors or even better use a pair of nail clippers.

Step 7: Stand back and enjoy your handy work!

Price break down:

1 old candle: free

6 inches of candle wick: 6 cents

1 wick clip: free (taken from a used candle)

1 jar: 25-50 cents from the dollar store

1 wooden skewer or stick: free from my drawer or a free stick outside

Total: 31-56 cents for a brand new candle.

Price for the same size candle: $4 and up.

I accidentally spilled some wax because I didn't have a good hold on my bowl, but that's not a big deal. This is why I told you to do it on top of the stove. Let the wax dry and then just scrape it up. If you spill quite a bit and your stove is clean, pull up the wax, remelt it, and pour it into your candle. No big deal. I got these handy scrapers with some rather expensive bakeware that I had bought back before I had kids and no money. I use the scrapers MORE then I use the bakeware!!! But if you want to buy them I think that you can buy them by themselves from a certain kitchenware sales company that has in home parties. ;)

If you get brave, try this:

1.       If you have multiple used candles, pour the first one, let it cool, and then pour in the next one. Repeat this until you fill your jar. This will give you a beautiful layered look.

2.       If the candle is unscented, get some essential oil in your favorite scent and add some drops to the wax before you pour it.

3.       Use decorative shot glasses and pour several to give as gifts. No one will ever know that it was a used candle and that it didn’t cost you hardly anything.

4.       Use a cheap wine glass from the thrift store or dollar store to pour your candle into.

5.       Buy a huge candle from the dollar store, melt it down and make it into several smaller candles for gifts. 

Get a Head Start on Your Holiday Baking!

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking; “Are you kidding me?! It’s only May!!!” Just hear me out. This weekend my dad and I made homemade vanilla extract! It was unbelievably easy, and gave me one more reminder of how unnecessarily dependent we have become on things to “make life easier”. Well, unfortunately those things are forcing us to work longer hours just to pay for the conveniences. Now that’s not very convenient now is it? You know what is convenient? Making homemade vanilla extract.

Here’s what you need:

Vanilla beans (1 bean for every 6oz of vodka)

Vodka (the higher proof, the better the vanilla) (side note; you can use pretty much any type of hard liquor like rum, brandy, everclear, etc…)

1 or more containers (preferably a dark container as it makes for a better vanilla, but any sealable jar or bottle will work)

That’s it! Told you it was unbelievably easy! ;)


Directions:

You have two options: You can either cut your vanilla beans into equal sections and put them in the bottle, OR you can cut a slit in each bean starting ¼ inch from the top to a ¼ inch from the bottom, pry them open and place the bean into the bottle. If you cut the beans up, you will get little pieces and seeds floating in the bottle. It will be a stronger vanilla, but won’t look as pretty. The pieces do not hurt anything and are completely edible, just not aesthetically pleasing. I personally chose to cut a slit in my beans so that I had a cleaner looking vanilla. If you choose to cut them up, you can always strain the vanilla once it’s ready.

Anyways, take whatever container (s) you’ve chosen to use and start adding the vanilla beans. We used 1 bean for every 6oz of vodka. My dad splurged and purchased some cool amber glass bottles, which really isn’t that much of a splurge because the dark glass is better for the vanilla and the bottles can be reused over and over, so it’s really an investment. Our bottles were 8oz bottles, so we put in 1 vanilla bean and 6oz of vodka. It’s important that you leave enough head space so that you can shake it up (we’ll discuss that in a second.) Once you get the bean(s) in, measure out your vodka and pour it into the bottle over the bean(s). Put the cap on securely, and shake it for 30 seconds. Store the bottle(s) in a cool dark place. This is very important for the curing process.

Now this is the hardest part: you can’t use it for 6 months. Trust me, it is really difficult. I have those beautiful bottles sitting in my pantry calling my name. Even though you can’t use them, doesn’t mean you are done with them. For the first two weeks you have to shake them once a day for a minute or so. After the two week mark, you shaking them once a month until you hit the 6 month mark. I was kind of worried that I would forget to shake them after the excitement died down, so I simply set reminders for myself in my calendar on my phone. While doing this I realized something pretty awesome; my dad and I did this at the exact right time! Our vanilla will be ready the second week of November! Perfect timing to use it in my Thanksgiving baking and Christmas baking! Plus if I decide to give any as gifts they will be ready to go without my friends and family having to wait 6 months.

What is even better then homemade vanilla? Everlasting homemade vanilla. Once your vanilla is ready to use, whenever you use it, you can just top it off with some more vodka, which means that you won’t have to do this again for a very long time! After that VERY long time, if you start to notice that the taste of vanilla is getting weaker, you know it’s time to make some more.

It’s really fool proof, so I’m going to guess that if you notice that its getting weaker, I’m sure you could just throw in another bean and perk it right up. Since the vodka is such a high proof of alcohol, the vanilla will NOT go bad. Like I said, everlasting vanilla.

Our finished product! (I made the label!)

Just looking at this picture makes we so proud and happy!

How much money does this save you?

Well that depends. It depends on what grade of vanilla beans you get and what level of vodka you get. You can make it as cheap or as expensive as you want. You can definitely make it cheaper than what you can buy it for in the store, but if you want to splurge and a bump up the quality, it really wouldn’t be that bad, because it’s not like you are going to be purchasing this vanilla every year. It will last you for several years, so in the long run it will save you so much money even if you go with the more expensive ingredients.

Let me explain the most common vanilla beans:

Tahitian vanilla beans- Highest quality and very potent

Madagascar vanilla beans- Next highest quality and have a medium potency

Mexican vanilla beans- about the same quality as Madagascar vanilla beans just not as potent

Sometimes the beans come as a bourbon bean. This does NOT mean that they have bourbon in them. It’s just named after the place that they came from.

Let me explain the alcohol:

Vodka is the most common and most popular because it gives the purest vanilla taste. You can also use brandy, rum, everclear, etc… Each of these alcohols will give the vanilla a different flavor. For example, brandy will give it a sweeter flavoring, which could be a great addition to cinnamon rolls. Imagine serving your friends brandy vanilla cinnamon rolls! They will be your best friends! This would be great to have on hand for changing up your baking recipes, or has a vanilla sampler set to give as a gift to someone. It’s definitely NOT something that they can just pick up at the store.

Did you know:

I’m sure many of you are just like me and grab the cheapest bottle of vanilla at the store, which is usually imitation vanilla. Well, while I was working on a post last night, my husband looked up and informed me of what is in imitation vanilla extract. It both shocked and horrified us. The easiest way to explain it is how we read it on the wiki page (yes I confirmed this on other real pages): “a wood by-product usually made by soaking alcohol into wood which contains vanillin. The vanillin is then chemically treated to mimic the taste of natural vanilla.” A WOOD BY PRODUCT??? WOOD SOAKED IN ALCOHOL??? Seriously? I probably don’t think so! I can just see it now, “here is the wonderful wood by product cinnamon rolls I made for breakfast guys!” lol yum…(insert sarcasm here)

Tips:

1. Make sure you store it in a cool dark place.

2. Do NOT purchase vanilla beans in the local grocery store. I have found that the prices are outrageous! (See the resources below.)

3. You can mix and match vanilla beans for different flavor profiles.

4. Try different alcohols for different flavor profiles.

5. Make homemade labels to personalize them for yourself or as gifts.

6. Make them as gifts, and give them the recipe. You may feel the want to keep it a secret, but empowering people is the greatest gift you can give yourself and others.

7. Take any extra vanilla beans and throw them in a jar with some regular white sugar. Keep it in a cool dry place and you will have vanilla sugar, which would be absolutely amazing in your morning coffee.

8.Vanilla sugar: also a great gift and so easy!

9. Remember that most of the time making stuff instead of buying it is all about the experience. The experience of learning, learning with family members, getting everyone involved, and the quality time. Fun, entertainment, learning and a usable finished product!

Resources:

Here is the link to the type of bottle we used. This isn’t the one we got. We got a set of 8 of these from amazon. I just wanted to give you an idea of the bottles we are using.
http://www.amazon.com/Amber-Boston-Round-Glass-Bottle/dp/B007CM73OK

Here is the link to the place we got our vanilla beans:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_scat_724725011_ln?rh=n%3A724725011%2Ck%3Avanilla+beans&keywords=vanilla+beans&ie=UTF8&qid=1337152730&scn=724725011&h=5ec84cd853ff72da03fbc6d8da746304d2355acf

Make it shine without spending a dime!

After watching entirely too much “Antiques Roadshow” and “American Pickers”, my mom and I had decided to go scour the local Goodwill in search of buried treasure. We were in search of glassware, silver items, pictures, books, and furniture. We scored! We found a set of 7 silver goblets and a few serving trays for next to nothing. There is pretty much nothing wrong with them except needing a good amount of TLC. They were tarnished beyond belief. I have never owned real silver items before in my life. I knew that you could purchase tarnish remover, so I went in search of it. A small black bottle of the stuff was about $5-$6! Since the bottle was black, you can’t see what the product looks like and there is nothing listed on the bottle about what was in it. That worried me, especially with all of warnings on the bottle about the potential dangers of the stuff. I wasn’t prepared to pay that much money for something when I didn’t even know what I was getting. I headed home empty handed.

Luckily I did some research with my empty hands when I got home.  Guess what I found out? I could totally do it on my own at home with safe products I already had. Free? Yes please! Safe? Heck yeah!

Plus, you can drag the kids into the kitchen for a nice sneaky chemistry lesson. The foil will react with the baking soda to remove the tarnish from the silver. I also found that the foil picked up the tarnish that was removed. It is very cool and very interesting. It also produces a slight sulfur smell because the tarnish is sulfur based. 

Here’s what you need:

A kitchen pot big enough to hold your items or at least big enough to hold enough water to cover your items. (It CANNOT be stainless steel or copper. It will react badly with the silver.)

A bucket (If you don’t have a pot that isn’t stainless or big enough to fit your items, you can use a plastic bucket to put the silver in.)

Salt

Baking soda

Aluminum foil

Tongs

A soft clean cloth

Dish soap

Water

Directions:

1. Wash your silver in dish soap and water to remove all of the dirt and oils.

2. Take some foil and put it in the bottom of your pan (or bucket if you are using one). It doesn't need to be perfect; it just needs to be in there.

3. Put your silver in the pot. Try to make it so that all of the silver is at least touching the aluminum. I did mine in a bucket so I did a layer of silver, another layer of foil, and then more silver.

4. Now in your pot you want to fill it up with enough water to cover your items. If you are using the bucket to submerge your silver, just fill a pot with enough water to cover the items in your bucket.

5. Into the water add the salt and baking soda. There isn't really a set amount. Just try to do 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of baking soda for every quart of water. Like I said, it’s not a big deal if it’s a little more or a little less.

6.  Put the pot on the stove, turn the heat up to medium-high, and stir to dissolve the salt and baking soda. 

7. Let it sit on the heat until the tarnish is almost off of the silver. (If you are using a bucket like I did, once the water/baking soda/salt mixture is boiling, just carefully pour it into the bucket over the silver. Let it sit until the tarnish is almost off of the silver.)

8. Turn off the heat.

9. VERY carefully use the tongs to pull out a piece of silver. It will be very hot. Immediately use a soft cloth to dry and polish the piece. The rest of the tarnish should come off on the cloth.

10. Keep repeating step 9 until you've dried and polished every piece.

11. To keep from having to do this all of the time, just make sure to use a soft cloth and wipe down your silver every so often. That’s it!

 (Don't mind the circles on the cups, that's just my camera)

 Gorgeous!

It’s so easy and you should have everything you need right in your cupboard.

Let’s do the math:

$5-$6 for a small bottle of unidentified poisonous liquid

Or

Free for baking soda, salt and foil.

Free ALWAYS wins!

 Enjoy your beautiful sparkly silver! 

How Much is Convenience Really Costing You?

I embarked on huge mission recently; to change my family’s views on everyday life.  The first step I took was eliminating our cleaning supplies made from chemicals. As you’ve seen in my previous post, I’ve gotten down to using baking soda and vinegar, however I’ve also discovered some other wonderful natural products (I hate to use this term because it totally evokes an image of unshaven arm pits, Birkenstocks, naked babies, free love, and some really “homely” smells.) Making the switch saves so much money. You have to ask yourself at some point; is it really worth the large amounts of money that I'm paying for stuff just to get it in a pretty package and to save 15 minutes? The answer is NO. You spent 5 minutes driving to the store, 5 minutes picking out your soap, and 5 minutes back home, but you just paid 94% more for that laundry detergent then you needed too and spent gas to get there! So try saving some time and money. Here's how:

Cleaning solution for…well EVERYTHING:

Dr. Bronner’s castile soap: This stuff is insanely awesome. You can seriously use it for EVERYTHING. It comes in all different scents or unscented. The only thing that gives the soap a scent is essential oils that are pure and natural. I personally find the lavender scent to be overwhelming, but I completely adore the peppermint!!! I thought it would be awful to clean with, but it’s so light and fresh.  Tonight I bought the tea tree oil scented solution, and it smells pretty good. It isn’t like a perfume kind of good, but it just smells like tea tree oil. I bought this because my husband and my daughter both suffer from seborrheic dermatitis. This is basically extreme dandruff that cakes up on the scalp but also looks like dry flaky skin around the eyebrows, mouth, and nose. The best thing to take care of it is tea tree oil. Many essential oils are disinfectants and natural cleaners, and because Dr. Bronner’s is completely natural with essential oils its completely safe to use on your skin, hair, teeth, and then turn around and use it for all of your cleaning purposes!

It seems a bit pricey, but if you think about it, it’s really not. For a 32oz bottle you will probably pay between $13-$16; however it is highly concentrated. The first time I used it I had gotten a 2oz bottle from the travel section at Target. I poured that into a large spray bottle and filled it the rest of the way with hot water. So, if you break it down, if you just use it for a cleaning solution, you would get 16-24oz bottles of cleaning solution! Most all-purpose cleaners average about $2-$4 a bottle and most bottles are about 24oz.

Let’s do the math:

16 x $2.00(the cheapest cleaner)= $32 for 384oz of harsh chemicals (16 bottles x 24oz a bottle)

Or

384oz of cleaner made from 2oz of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap mixed with water for $16 (the highest price for the castile soap)

Answer:

$16 safe dollars spent is much better than $32 unsafe chemical dollars. The dollar amount alone is enough to make you switch.

As the bottle says, it has 180 uses; including as toothpaste, shampoo, laundry soap, etc… It cleans everything. It’s safe and I don’t worry about it touching surfaces that our food touches. This was a huge plus for me. I’ve recently developed a sensitivity to bleach, and I’ve always used a diluted bleach solution to clean my counter tops. When I realized that the bleach was making me sick I freaked out because I didn’t know what the heck I was going to sanitize with without using chemicals. Needless to say, I was ecstatic about this stuff.

Well now that I’ve gushed about Dr. Bronner’s castile soap…let’s move on to making our own laundry soap. This was probably the scariest thing I’ve decided to do, and yet it is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

I am the pickiest person in the entire world. I’m not germ a phobic, but I definitely have my neuroses. I will NOT use a public restroom unless it is forced upon me. Hotels freak me out; I mean the idea of sleeping in a bed that a million strangers have slept in just kills me. A person wouldn’t dream of going into a stranger’s house and sleeping in their bed and yet that’s exactly what we do when we stay at a hotel…anyways, that’s a “soap box” for another day! My point is, if it looks weird, gross, questionable, or commune style, I won’t touch it. A long time ago I was introduced to the idea of making my own laundry soap. The source; the Duggars on TLC. It really intrigued me, but I was still too scared to try it. Plus it seems like we are always broke so the idea of potentially wasting money just killed me. Then recently I’ve really embraced the idea of being self-sufficient. I have gotten so tired of everyone bullying me into thinking that I NEED to pay for conveniences. My child does not NEED to go to preschool, especially if she can learn from her mama at home one on one. I don’t NEED to buy expensive detergent with the latest greatest twist. My kids do not NEED mp3 players, computers, or video games. And this last one will probably offend most but I’m tired of hiding my feelings; my children do not NEED scheduled play dates(this conversation is better left for another day)!

As my cousin so appropriately told me, to make the laundry soap is so cheap and easy to make its ok if you don’t like it and don’t use it. So here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1-Fels Naptha bar of soap (Yeah this one was the hardest for me. It pretty much screamed hippie, but actually it is made by the Dial Corporation.)

1 Cup of Super Washing Soda or basically Sodium bicarbonate. (Do NOT use baking soda. It’s not the same. Sodium bicarbonate is another handy thing to have around the house because it’s just like the Dr. Bronner’s; safe for everything.)

½ Cup of borax (Again, another thing that has multiple purposes, like drying flowers…who knew?!)

Hot water

(If you want, you can also add a few drops of your favorite essential oil if you want it to have a certain scent.)

That’s it!

What you’ll need:

1 pot

1 - 5 gallon bucket with lid/foil/plastic wrap

1 grater

1 long spoon

Funnel (optional but definitely makes things easier and cleaner.)

Several clean and empty detergent bottles, juice bottles, or even cat litter jugs…pretty much any container that you can recycle from what you already have to store the detergent.

Instructions:

Use a grater (like an A-frame cheese grater; I used the course grate) and grate the entire bar of soap into a pot. Add 4 cups of hot tap water. Cook on medium until all of the soap is melted. Make sure to keep stirring it.

Once that’s done, fill a 5 gallon bucket half way with hot tap water. Now add your melted soap mixture, the borax, and the super washing soda. Stir, and then finish filling the bucket with hot water. Stir again.

Once the bucket is completely full, cover it and let it sit overnight to thicken. The next day, stir the soap, fill each recycled container half way with the soap mixture, and then fill each container the rest of the way with hot water. Shake each one and then you’re done!!!

If you have a top loading washer, use 5/8 of a cup of the solution per load. If you have a front loading washer, use ¼ cup of solution per load.

Let’s do the math:

1 Gallon=128oz, 10 gallons=1280oz

Store bought:

1-100oz bottle of tide original is $11.97 through Wal-mart.com. This breaks down to .1197cents per oz.

1280oz of Tide = $153.22

Or

Homemade:

1 12oz box of 20 mules borax at Target $3.39

1 55oz box of Super Washing Soda at Wal-mart $3.24

1 Fels-Naptha bar of soap $1-$2 depending on where you buy it.

$3.39+3.24+$2 = $8.63 +the cost of your tap water (very minor amount)

1280oz of homemade laundry soap = $8.63 (And you have a huge box of washing soda and borax left to use for other stuff!!!)

So 1280oz of harsh chemicals in a fancy bottle for $153.22, or 1280oz of natural effective soap in the same fancy bottles for $8.63….no brainer!!!!

You seriously save $144.59 per 10 gallons of detergent. That is HUGE!!! I LOVE the detergent. It actually works better than my regular detergent with a tide stain booster pack. You can always add extra amounts of borax or washing soda to boost the power of the detergent, but I don’t feel that I need to. I HIGHLY recommend switching to making your own laundry soap. It’s so much cheaper, you save tons of time by not having to shop for soap all of the time, you can buy in bulk, you have materials leftover, its dye free, etc…It is almost impossible NOT to make this instead of buying it.

Here is the link to the Dr. Bronner’s soap (You can buy it on the website, or Target just started carrying it. In fact, Target carries travel sizes in case you just want to try it out first):

http://www.drbronner.com/

Here is the link to the original recipe:

http://duggarfamily.com/content/duggar_recipes/30455/homemade_liquid_laundry_soap_front_or_top_load_machine_best_value

 This is what it looks like after its been all mixed and left to sit over night. 

(I had already poured some into bottles. That's why it isn't completely filled up.)

 This is three out of seven bottles that I was able to fill!

Enjoy your new found money and some really good laundry soap!