Beginning of Spring Cleaning!

Hello Everyone!
You may have noticed that I have a new logo on my Facebook page!!!  My friend, who is an amazing graphic designer, created it for me.  I still have to figure out how to put it on the blog itself, but I am working on it.  I know there has to be a way, but, for now, my skill set is lacking.  But this is what it looks like:

Pretty amazing right?!?!?  He came up with the design and inserted the girl I drew into the design.  Every time that I look at this I get so happy that I could burst!
So many things have been happening this week.  I had put a lot on hold for the past two weeks while I put out the two week menu for the blog.  Since I have to take pictures of what I cook and, very often, have to make note of how much of the spices and everything that I use- because I very often eyeball things, the dinner recipes that I post take up almost all of the evening, so I hadn't cleaned the house really.  When I finally pulled myself out of my blog and looked around, I realized that it was time to do a little spring cleaning.
So I decided that Spring Cleaning would be the perfect subject for the next few blogs. As I looked around my home, I realized that cleaning was going to be at least a three step process before my house even became presentable again.
Step 1:  Clean up all the clutter that had massively accumulated in every room.
Step 2:  Actually scrub every surface of the house.
Step 3:  Laundry.  Lot and lots of laundry.
Since steps one and three can be accomplished at the same time, I put on my house cleaning clothes and started to try to bring order back to the chaos that was my home.

This is me in my house cleaning outfit.  This is one of my favorite outfits.  As you can see the clutter behind me, its definitely time to start cleaning.

So, this particular blog is going to be about- Laundry.
As frugal as I am,I do not make my own laundry detergent.  I have thought about it, but I really love Nellie's Laundry Nuggets and they are so easy to use that I just haven't bothered to learn how to make my own yet.

I am not being paid to promote this product.  I just like it.

Yes, I have to admit that I was first taken in by the packaging.  But I also found them on sale and got a really good deal.  Now when I find such sales, I stock up.
But Nellie's does not make a dryer sheets or fabric softener.  They do make dyer balls.  And the set that I have does not have a spot to put a scent stick in because I got the old kind for $5.00 which are great for keeping clothes soft and static free but have no scent. So I had to come up with something that would make my laundry smell clean and gorgeous and not as perfume-y as the fabric softeners that you can get in the store.
I always have essential oils in the house for various things and a herb garden and a spice cabinet so I thought that I would start there.  And this is what I came up with.

 

Frugal Femme Dryer Packets

Ingredients
4 cotton balls
Essential Oil of your Choice  (I like rose and lavender, my husband like orange and cloves)
Herbs of Your Choice (For rose and lavender, you use lavender for the orange whole cloves)
1 sachet  (You can purchase this or you can make it from an old cotton pillow case.)

For this batch, I am making my husband's favorite Orange and Cloves.

Instructions
1.  Put about a teaspoon of the dried herbs into the sachet.  If you are using cloves, put about 4 or 5 cloves in the bag.  I like to use the broken ones that you can't use to perforate oranges with when making hot Christmas beverages.
2.  Place 4-10 drops of essential oil on each cotton ball.  If you are using two scents only put one of each oil on each cotton ball.  Do not saturate the cotton ball.  It is not necessary and in fact will give you too much fragrance.

See how little is on the cotton ball?  That is all you need. I cannot stress enough, do not saturate the cotton ball.

3.  Put the cotton balls in the sachet and pull the drawstrings to close the bag.

You are now ready to use this in your dryer when you are doing laundry.

The type of oil that you use will determine how many times you can use this in the dryer before you have to replace.  I have actually had one of mine last up for 20 loads before it stopped scenting my laundry!
When you have finished using it, to keep the scent stronger longer, keep it stored in a resealable plastic bag until you are ready to use it again.
The other great thing is that you can make this scent anything that you like.  Cinnamon and Cloves make your laundry smell like Christmas and is great for the holidays.   Lemon and Orange make your clothes smell like a citrus grove.  Rose and lavender smell like spring.  Ylang Ylang and Jasmine are exotic.  You are only held in by the essential oils available to you.
Essential oil can be expensive.  Don't spend more than $3-$5 for your oil it really isn't necessary.
A note of warning, some people are allergic to essential oils. You should do a skin test if you do not know whether you are allergic or not by putting a drop on your skin and seeing how you react.