Recent Frugal Efforts.

My work was giving a lot of things away so I scored a free wooden dining table with three chairs along with various craft supplies.

My son and I made lavender goats milk soap as part of a Mother's Day gift.

My son and I started making Mother's Day cards.

I opened my Etsy shop. My camera broke right before I started taking pictures so I had to make due with a decent one.

I unplugged and put away the space heater until Fall.

I entered Dave Ramsey's $20k giveaway.

I listened to The Minimalists free podcast.

I borrowed free ebooks from the library.

I attended a free class that helps parents get their kids ready for Kindergarten. They gave each parent some toys and tools with instructions on how to use them in a creative/educational manner. 

I used some of my credit card rewards points to buy more ink for my printer since it was a good price.

Someone in my area set up a little free library stand by their driveway. We picked two books, and we'll be looking for some books to donate to that library. Such a cute idea.


What have you done to save money recently? Are you planning a frugal Mother's Day? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section.

How to make lavender goats milk soap.

Mother's day is coming up, and my mother in law let me know that her soap stash is almost depleted. I used to buy her lavender goats milk soap, but I spent $20-$25 for four bars shipped. I decided to try making my own.

Supplies needed:

1lb melt and pour goats milk soap base
1tsp lavender essential oil
4 cup liquid measuring cup
a knife or pastry cutter thing
cutting board
Soap Mold

I bought a Soap Mold on sale on Amazon for $7.xx

I bought my soap base from Bramble Berry. I had the base in my cart for a few days, and they emailed me a free shipping coupon. The base cost $3.30 for a one pound block.

I already had the other supplies on hand.


How to make the soap:

1. Unwrap the soap base and cut it into small cubes.
2. Put the cubes in the measuring cup and microwave in 30 second intervals until completely melted. It's good to stir in between to make sure it doesn't burn.
3. Stir in 1 tsp lavender essential oil.
4. Carefully pour soap into soap mold, as it will be hot. 1 pound of soap base ended up filling 4 soap bar cavities all the way, and a fifth one about 3/4 of the way.
5. Let sit for approximately 3 hours so the soap can cool and harden.










Once the soap is hard you can easily pop them out of the mold (if you used a silicone one like I did) and wrap them in plastic wrap. Some people say to gently blow dry the wrap so it's more secure? I skipped that step and put my wrapped bars into decorative organza bags perfect for gift giving.































This was super easy, and my son enjoyed helping. I can reuse the soap mold so I plan to make my brother lots of soap for Christmas. (that's what he always asks for.) I can reuse the mold when my mother in law needs another soap stock up.

This turned out to be a fun money saving activity. Have you ever made soap?


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