By Brandon Ballenger | Jun 08, 2011
According to the latest government data, Americans spend an average of $659 a year on housekeeping supplies. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which provides that figure, also says the average American earns about $787/week – which means many people are spending most of (if not more than) a week’s pay every year on dish soap, laundry detergent, and other cleaning products.
If that sounds crazy, here’s a better idea: Make your own. In the video below, reporter Jim Robinson explains how to make dishwasher detergent for a third of the cost of the commercial stuff. On the other side, we’ve got more recipes and advice for scrubbing your cleaning budget…
Recipes for cleaning products are as numerous as recipes for dinner. Here are just a few to help with dishes, clothes and more.
How To Make Dishwasher Detergent
Here’s a simple recipe for dishwasher soap: it’s the one you saw in the video above:
- 1 cup of borax
- 1 cup of baking soda
- ¼ cup of table salt
- 2 packets (half an ounce) of unsweetened lemon Kool-Aid
You can try to save even more by buying ingredients in bulk, but another idea is to find smaller and much cheaper boxes at your local dollar store: a good idea to since you’ll want to try a small amount at first to see if you like the results. The amounts listed above are good for 16 loads – one tablespoon each – so even small batches will last a while.
Other recipes online vary: For example, we found one that suggested combining only borax and baking soda, 1 tablespoon each per load. Another suggested adding a little citrus essential oil to make it smell nice: We didn’t try that one, however, because we had difficulty finding inexpensive citrus oil online. Then there’s this recipe, which goes in a different direction altogether:
- 2 bars of shredded Octagon soap
- 1 cup of baking sod
- ¼ cup of washing soda
- ¼ cup of lemon juice
This one calls for melting the shredded soap in five quarts of water and then mixing in the other ingredients. If that sounds a little like the recipe for laundry detergent we wrote about last year, that’s because it is.
Hand Dishwashing Liquid
No dishwasher? No problem. Here’s what to get:
- 2 Bars shredded Octagon soap
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup washing soda
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
For this one, shred the soap into about 5 quarts of water and heat until it melts. Then add the other ingredients and pour it into a sealed container. It isn’t supposed to create a lot of suds, but it’s supposed to work well.
Laundry Detergent
Here’s an easy recipe for laundry detergent. You’ll need:
- 4 cups of water
- 1/3 bar of cheap soap, grated
- 1/2 cup washing soda (not baking soda)
- 1/2 cup of Borax (20 Mule Team)
- 5-gallon bucket for mixing
- 3 gallons of water
First, mix the grated soap in a saucepan with 4 cups of water, and heat on low until the soap is completely dissolved. Add hot water/soap mixture to 3 gallons of water in the 5-gallon bucket, stir in the washing soda and Borax, and continue stirring until thickened. Let the mix sit for 24 hours, and voila! Homemade laundry detergent.
Other cleaning products
If you like the results of your homemade concoctions on clothes and dishes, why stop there? The next time you’re at the store, instead of picking up a bottle of some expensive cleanser, grab these six items and make your own cleaning supplies:
- Vinegar. It may smell a little weird, but vinegar can handle everything from dishes to laundry and even weeds. We’ve written about the wonders of vinegar before in Household Products Vinegar Can Replace.
- Baking soda. Eliminates odors and helps with stains, and also works as a natural method of pest control – ants hate it.
- Borax. This mineral salt beats bleach as a toilet cleaner and is also useful for scrubbing walls. And as you see in the recipes above, works with laundry, too.
- Fels-Naptha soap. This one’s actually made by one of those big cleaning companies: Dial. They recommend it for “pre-treating” stains. In other words, “use this in addition to a bunch of our other expensive products, like Purex!” But you can turn the tables by using it as part of a recipe for your own laundry detergent, and they can keep the Purex.
- Rubbing alcohol. Works as a disinfectant and is also a great glass cleaner. It also gets grime off plastic and metal surfaces like patio furniture or bathroom fixtures.
- Lemon juice. This cuts through dish grease and is an ingredient for homemade furniture polish – but it’s not the easiest thing to preserve long-term.
If making your own cleaning products sounds a little extreme, there are still simple ways to save. The best? Buying generics. (See our story 7 Things You Should Always Buy Generic.) And if you insist on using name brands, at least clip those coupons – but only the ones worth your time.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
How to Make Dishwasher Detergent (And More) | Money Talks News
Saturday, October 29, 2011
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Gas pump handles top study of filthy surfaces - Yahoo! News
(Reuters) - Just when you thought filling up your car could not hurt any more, researchers may have found another reason to avoid touching the gas pump: germs.
Gas pump handles turned out to be the filthiest surface that Americans encounter on the way to work, according to a study released on Tuesday by Kimberly-Clark Professional, a unit of personal hygiene giant Kimberly-Clark Corp.
A team of hygienists swabbed hundreds of surfaces around six U.S. cities to see what everyday objects are breeding grounds for the worst bacteria and viruses.
The top offenders, following gas pumps, were handles on public mailboxes, escalator rails and ATM buttons.
Closely following on the filthiest list were parking meters and kiosks, crosswalk buttons and buttons on vending machines in shopping malls.
"It comes down to the fact that nobody cleans the things that you're going to touch on a daily basis," said Dr. Kelly Arehart, program leader of Kimberly-Clark's Healthy Workplace Project.
Testers analyzed swabs of the surfaces for levels of adenosine triphosphate, which signals the presence of animal, vegetable, bacteria, yeast or mold cells, and the high levels found suggest they can be transmitting illness, researchers said.
Swabs were taken in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia.
Arehart's colleague Brad Reynolds said germs from people's hands can transfer seven times before leaving the skin. People should wash their hands as soon as they get to work, he said.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh in Washington; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Saturday, October 22, 2011
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Things your pet shouldn't eat | Pets - Yahoo! Shine
You may share your backyard and even your bed, but it's probably best to avoid sharing a meal with man's best friend, or any other pet for that matter.
Listed here, from most (1) to least (4) dangerous, are common foods and drinks that make pets sick. If you think your dog, cat, or bird has consumed one of these items and you are concerned, contact your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (888-426-4435).
1. Chocolate
Why: Stimulates the nervous system and the heart. Poisonous to: All species, but dogs are most likely to eat dangerous quantities. Possible effects of poisoning: Vomiting, increased thirst, restlessness, agitation, increased or irregular heartbeat, increased body temperature, tremors, seizures.Related: Solutions to Common Pet Problems
2. Grapes, Raisins
Why: Damage the kidneys. Poisonous to: Dogs, cats. Possible effects of poisoning: Increased thirst, increased urination, lethargy, vomiting.
3. Garlic, Onions
Why: Damage red blood cells, causing anemia. Poisonous to: Cats, dogs. Possible effects of poisoning: Vomiting, red-colored urine, weakness, anemia.
4. Xylitol (Found in sugarless gum.)
Why: Causes increased insulin secretion, resulting in lower blood sugar levels. Poisonous to: Dogs. Possible effects of poisoning: Vomiting, lethargy, lack of coordination, seizures, jaundice, diarrhea.
Keep Reading: More Things Your Pet Shouldn't Eat
Don't Miss:
How to Choose a Pet
At Home Dog Grooming
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Football player dies from head injury sustained during game - Prep Rally - High School Blog - Yahoo! Sports
The towns of Phoenix and Homer, New York are reeling from the shocking death of 16-year-old Ridge Barden, a high school football player at Phoenix High School, who collapsed on the field during the third quarter of Friday night's game against Homer (N.Y.) High School.
As WSYR-TV in Syracuse reported, Barden collapsed on the field following a hard hit from an opposing player. After laying face down following the play, trainers rushed to his side and were able to get Barden to sit up. While he was coherent at the time, the 230-pound junior complained of a headache and then fell over when he tried to stand up.
That's when officials knew something was seriously wrong. Barden was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon after. While the autopsy report hasn't been officially released, WSYR-TV obtained a copy of the report and noted that Barden had died from a hit during the game -- presumably the one he took prior to being rushed to the hospital.
According to police, autopsy results show Barden died of bleeding in the brain, due to blunt force trauma as the result of a football injury.
"It still is shocking. He's with us and he's gone," Barden mother, Jacqueline, told WSYR-TV.
Barden's family was in disbelief following the news of their son's death, but even in the family's darkest hour, Barden's mother wanted the football players at Homer to know the injury wasn't their fault.
"He just would not want those people to think that it was their fault. It was just an accident," Jacqueline Barden told WSYR-TV. "Everything that Ridge did, he did with full gust. I'd say just take that attitude with you."
Barden's death once again brings up a major issue regarding the safety of youth football. Plenty has been done over the years to make sure head injuries, such as Barden's, never happen again. But even the newest helmet technology and concussion regulations can't keep the sport from the vicious hits that occur on football fields across the country on a weekly basis.
To add emphasis to that point, two other football players were also hospitalized with head-related injuries on Thursday alone. In Texas, a North Mesquite (Texas) High junior varsity player was sent to the hospital following a scary collision which may have involved in a pinched nerve in his neck, according to the Dallas Morning News. More worryingly, the Los Angeles Times reported that a Los Angeles (Calif.) High junior varsity player underwent brain surgery to relieve hemorrhaging after he collapsed on the sideline during his team's Thursday night game.
The state of New York enacted a Concussion Management Awareness Act earlier this year in an effort to make sure players don't take the field following a head injury. But Barden's death was sudden; nobody had an idea how serious the injury really was until he tried to stand up and collapsed.
Naturally, that makes his death all the more tragic and hard to comprehend.
Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Related: health issues, tragedy, football, New York
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
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Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Knox leaves Italy to head home to US - Yahoo! News
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) — Amanda Knox headed home to the United States a free woman Tuesday, the morning after an Italian appeals court dramatically overturned the American student's conviction of sexually assaulting and brutally slaying her British roommate.
The Italy-US Foundation, which has championed Knox's cause, said she departed shortly after noon (1000 GMT) from Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport on the way to London, from where she will catch a connecting flight to the United States.
The 24-year-old Knox, who is returning to Seattle, arrived at the airport in a Mercedes with darkened windows and waited for boarding inside a private waiting area, out of public view.
Back in Perugia, the family of slain British student Meredith Kercher remained stunned by the verdict and searching for answers.
"It was a bit of a shock," said Stephanie Kercher, the victim's older sister. "It's very upsetting ... We still have no answers."
Lyle Kercher, a brother, said the family is still trying to understand how a decision that "was so certain two years ago has been so dramatically overturned."
Lyle Kercher said the family has been left to wonder who is guilty in the 21-year-old Kercher's death after the release of Knox and her one time boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito on appeal. A third man has been convicted in the brutal slaying, however his trial concluded he did not act alone.
"If the two released yesterday were not the guilty parties, we are obviously left to wonder who is the other guilty person or people. We are left back at square one," Lyle Kercher said.
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini expressed disbelief in the verdict, and vowed an appeal to Italy's highest criminal court.
"Let's wait and we will see who was right. The first court or the appeal court," Mignini told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
"This trial was done under unacceptable media pressure. The decision was almost already announced; this is not normal," he said.
If the highest court overturns the acquittal, prosecutors would be free to request Knox's extradition to Italy to finish whatever remained of a sentence. It is up to the government to decide whether they make such a request.
Knox and Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, a 21-year-old British student who shared an apartment with Knox in Perugia. Knox was convicted to 26 years, Sollecito to 25. Both had been in prison since Nov. 6, 2007, four days after Kercher's body had been found at the apartment.
But, the prosecution's case was blown apart by a court-ordered DNA review that discredited crucial genetic evidence.
Knox dissolved into tears as the verdict was read in a packed courtroom after 11 hours of deliberations, and she needed to be propped up by her lawyers on either side.
Two hours later she was in a dark limousine that took her out of the Capanne prison just outside Perugia, where she had spent the past four years, and headed to Rome.
"During the trip from Perugia to Rome, Amanda was serene," said Corrado Maria Daclon, the secretary general of the Italy-US Foundation, who was with Knox in the car. "She confirmed to me that in the future she intends to come back to our country."
On Tuesday, Knox thanked those Italians "who shared my suffering and helped me survive with hope," in a letter to the foundation.
"Those who wrote, those who defended me, those who were close, those who prayed for me," Knox wrote. "I love you, Amanda."
Sollecito, meanwhile, arrived back home near the southern Italian city of Bari before dawn on Tuesday. He was quoted by Italian news agencies on Monday night as saying he was looking forward to seeing the sea, but he declined to make any appearances after reaching home.
Sollecito's father Francesco said that his son remained stunned by the events.
"He is trying to recover himself," Sollecito's father told reporters outside, the news agency ANSA reported. "He is going around touching things as if he is a child who needs to take back the things of his life, to acquire forgotten elements."
While waves of relief swept through the defendants' benches in the courtroom, members of the Kercher family, who flew in for the verdict, appeared dazed and perplexed. Her sister Stephanie shed a tear, while her mother Arline looked straight ahead.
"We still trust the Italian justice system and hope that the truth will eventually emerge," the Kerchers said in a statement.
The Kerchers had pressed for the court to uphold the guilty verdicts, and resisted theories that a third man convicted in the case, Rudy Hermann Guede, had acted alone. Guede, convicted in a separate trial, is serving a 16-year sentence.
The verdict reverberated through the streets of this medieval hilltop town, where both Knox and Kercher had arrived for overseas studies programs four years ago.
Hundreds of mostly university-age youths gathered in the piazza outside the courtroom jeered as news of the acquittals spread. "Shame, shame," they yelled, adding that a black man had been made to shoulder all of the guilt for the murder.
The jury upheld Knox's conviction on a charge of slander for accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of carrying out the killing. The judge set the sentence at three years, less than the time Knox had spent in prison.
Prosecutors said they would appeal to the nation's highest criminal court, after reading the court's reasoning due out within 90 days.
Just before deliberations began Monday, Knox tearfully told the court she did not kill her roommate.
"I've lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible," she said. "I'm paying with my life for things that I didn't do."
____
Patricia Thomas contributed to this report.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Meredith Kercher's Family Is Not Ready to Forgive - Yahoo! News
The family of Meredith Kercher said today they still believe Amanda Knox took part in her murder and are in no mood to think about forgiveness.
Kercher's family spoke as the six jurors and two judges were deliberating whether to uphold or throw out the 2009 murder conviction of Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
CLICK HERE to watch the full story on "20/20" and, for more on Amanda Knox, CLICK HERE.
The Kerchers have stayed away from the nearly year-long trial in Perugia, Italy, until today when they arrived to witness the appeals verdict.
Meredith Kercher's mother Arline was joined by her sister Stephanie and her brother Lyle. When asked if they believe in the original guilty verdict, Stephanie Kercher said, "We were satisfied with the verdict… Nothing's changed."
The family spoke with dignity, but made it clear they are intent on justice for the family member the remember as "Mez." Lyle Kercher said their hurt has not been eased since the November 2007 murder.
"It's very difficult to talk about forgiveness at this time, with the [media] hype around the case. And the defendant is involved in that. The brutality of it has been forgotten," said Kercher's brother, Lyle. "There comes a point when we are just battling against what's essentially a PR machine."
Family of Meredith Kercher Not Willing to Forgive
Referring to the gruesome autopsy photos that were shown during the trial and appeal, the brother said, "If we had them all up here," he said pointing to the wall behind him, "you would find it hard to forgive someone who had done that to your loved one."
"I'm not sure we'll be looking for forgiveness for a while," he said.
The Kercher family, who traveled from their home in Britain, are wary about the current attention on Knox instead of Meredith Kercher.
"It's been four years now, and the focus has shifted for obvious reasons onto the proceedings at court at the moment, but Meredith has been forgotten in all of it," said Stephanie Kercher.
If the appeal is overturned, Knox and Sollecito will be freed from prison. If the conviction is upheld, Knox may have to serve out her 26 year prison sentence and Sollecito will have to complete his 25 year term. Those sentences could be reduced or increased to life, which is what the prosecution is seeking.
Kercher, a student at the University of Leeds, was studying abroad in Perugia for a year when she was killed. She had been sharing an apartment with Knox, an American student studying abroad, and two Italian women. She was found partially nude and with her throat slit in her bedroom on Nov. 2, 2007.
A third person, Rudy Guede, 22, was also convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in her murder.
"Her death was unreal in many ways," said Arline Kercher, Meredith's mother, "and still is. I still look for her."
During her final statement to the court in pleading for her freedom today, Knox said Kercher was her friend, someone she "shared my life with.. She cared for me."
Kercher's mother downplayed their friendship.
"I don't think they were that close... Amanda only got there in the beginning of October and Meredith was murdered on the first of November," Arline Kercher said. "I think they were friendly, but not that close."
The family remembered Meredith Kercher. "Mez was just a lovely girl ... she was always there for everyone," Stephanie Kercher said.
Arline Kercher cited a line in a story she read about the murder saying, "I think it happened to Meredith because she was all that they weren't."
CLICK HERE to watch the full story on "20/20" and, for more on Amanda Knox, CLICK HERE.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
PIC: Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore Reunite For Kaballah Center Meeting - omg! news on Yahoo!
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