Easy 3 Ingredient Moisturizing Lotion

I love to cook and I enjoy my job (I work as a Cook), however I do not love my dry hands. We work with raw meat and seafood so unfortunately we use Antibacterial Soap. I say unfortunately because it dries the heck out of your hands! In the winter it's the worst. I come home some days with my hands so dry that they feel like sandpaper. It's not pleasant and some days quite painful. 

I've used numerous different moisturizers, lotions and body butter's but haven't found something that has it all. You know what I mean, moisturizing action, a nice scent and not greasy. That last one is important for me. Then I came across a post on Jillee's blog for Make Your Own SIMPLE Moisturizing Lotion and I thought maybe, just maybe this one will work. It's easy, anyone can make it.  You only need 3 ingredients and it has Coconut Oil! Which I only discovered in the last 6 months. Yes I know, I'm WAY behind the times! lol

Carrying on. I already had the 1 cup of Coconut Oil that the recipe called for but I had to go out and buy the Baby Lotion and Vitamin E Cream. This was apparently a harder task than I thought. The Baby Lotion I found no problem. But every time I tried to find the Vitamin E Cream they were out!! Without a word of a lie, I went 6 times over a period of 3 months and it wasn't until the last time I tried about a week ago, that I FINALLY found what I was looking for. There's a little under 1/2 a cup in a small container of Vitamin E Cream so I bought 2. In hindsight I probably should have grabbed a couple more! lol

I gathered the ingredients together along with a bowl, my electric mixer, a 1 cup measuring cup, an empty well cleaned honey bottle (figuring I would use the baby lotion bottle and the honey bottle to hold the end product) and a spatula and set to work. 

You will need:

2 cups Baby Lotion

1 cup Vitamin E Cream

1 cup Coconut Oil (in it's solid state)

A bowl for mixing.

An electric hand held mixer.

Sealable Containers to put the lotion into when it's done.

Combine the 3 ingredients in the bowl and mix until it looks similar to frosting. I kept my mixer on low which worked fine for me. 

I decided after it was finished to use the Vitamin E Cream containers as well as the now empty Coconut Oil jar and another small container that used to contain lotion to put it in. 

Then I tested it. My hands were so soft, not dry anymore, not greasy, and I like the scent as well. After trying many different products I've found one that works for me. :) 

~Kay

3 Ingredient Fabric Softener

Part of my New Years resolution this year was to live a healthier lifestyle and try to make more things at home. I can't stand all the chemicals that are packed into everything nowadays. Fabric Softener is something I love but I never buy it for three reasons, one it is too expensive, two the cheap stuff never smells very good to me (I am picky when it comes to the scents I use in my laundry), and three have you ever read the labels? I can't pronounce half of the ingredients! 

A few months ago I came across a post on my favorite blog One Good Thing by Jillee, (Let me tell you, if you have not checked out this blog yet, DO IT! Seriously! I don't say it is my favorite for no reason! ;~P) for Homemade Fabric Softener using only 3 ingredients (which you probably already have on hand) and pinned it, intending to make some soon. Well let's just say "soon" didn't happen as quickly as I would have liked but now that I have made it, it is TOTALLY worth it! 

You will need a 1 gallon sealable container. I prefer plastic on the off chance that I drop it walking to the laundromat (half a block away isn't far but still). The container I used was 2.8 liters which is smaller but not by a whole lot, and everything fit in mine with a tiny bit of room to spare. You'll also need a bottle of your favorite Conditioner (yep you read that right!) and some White Vinegar and Water. That's it! It's as easy as measuring, mixing and using! It is very quick and easy to make. And since the Conditioner is where the scent comes from it can have whatever scent you choose! I used Pantene Nature Infusion. 

Please ignore the dirty panel on my stove. That is a project I'm going to tackle this weekend. Ok, to make the Fabric Softener pour 6 cups of water, 3 cups of vinegar and 2 cups of conditioner into your container. Do not shake it as it will foam.

I used a whisk to mix mine. It took some doing but eventually it all mixed together.

That's it! You can either pour it into your load of laundry when you wash it or you can put some in a spray bottle and spritz it on a cloth, then throw the cloth into the dryer when you dry the laundry. I was too excited to see the results to try the latter this time but next time I do laundry I will try the spritz method. Make sure you label it. If you make a lot of things at home it is easy to forget what is what. I used a Sharpie and wrote on the side of the jug. 

Easy as that. And I had my little helper Bella wandering around my feet the whole time trying to figure out what I was doing. lol Her sister Kooper wasn't as interested, she was asleep in the living room. Bella on the other hand is ALWAYS interested in what's going on. <3

Once it was done, I couldn't wait to make the short walk over to the Laundromat to throw in a couple loads of laundry! And the results? LOVE IT! My clothes came out so soft and smelled wonderful!

Now that you're armed with the incredibly easy recipe go ahead and give it a try and then let me know what you think! It's a winner in my books! I had forgotten how much I missed my Fabric Softener. Now I can make my own with less chemicals and not pay an arm and a leg! 

Enjoy!

~Kay