Household Cleaning the Cheap and Green Way

Green living is a trend we all should follow. These days household chemicals bought at the store contain to many harmful chemicals. Well here's to helping you clean your home cheap and environmentally safer.

*Floor Cleaner
            1/2 cup of borax to 2 gallons hot water
*Furniture Polish
            Mix 1 pint of mineral oil with 2 Teaspoons lemon oil in spray bottle
*Air Freshener
            Spray- 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon lemon juice dissolved in 2 cups hot water
            Simmer sliced citrus in water on stove
*Window Cleaner
            2 tablespoons vinegar in 1 quart water
         For rust, lime removal on windows and shower curtains or doors
                               1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup ammonia, 1 cup vinegar
*To unclog a drain
            1 cup baking soda, 1 cup salt, 1 cup white vinegar. let foam and set for 15 mins then pour down  drain. After words pour several cups boiling water in after.

*Oven cleaner
            baking soda, salt and water paste
*Mildew remover
            mix 1/2 cup bleach in 1 cup water. pour over let set 5 mins and rinse with water
*Toilet bowl cleaner and odor removal
           borax and lemon juice

Please feel free to experiment with these mixtures to get you the right results.  Some are simply just you mix contents to get desired results.

Happy Green Cleaning

Easy Dandelion Wine

I remember when I was a teen, I was given the chance to taste dandelion wine. I remember my first taste of the pleasant tartness and familiar smell. Since then i have enjoyed the taste many times over and have learned that its simple to make dandelion wine.

Step 1. Collect a gallon of dandelion blossoms

Step 2. Rinse blossoms in water to remove debris and bugs.

Step 3. Press blossoms into a 2 gallon container.

Step 4. Pour a gallon of boiling water over them and let set for 3-7 days. 7 days being best.

Step 5. Strain through a cheese cloth, squeezing all liquid from them. Maintain the liquid compost the flowers

Step 6. Add the Juice and thinly slice rind and pulp of 3 lemons and 3 oranges.

Step 7. Stir in 3 lbs of sugar and 1 oz of brewers yeast.

Step 8. Cover with cloth and let stand for 3 weeks to ferment. You could also use a container with a relief value on it as used in making alcoholic beverages.

Step 9. After bubbling stops, Strain and bottle tightly.

Step 10. Enjoy your very own, you made it yourself Dandelion wine.

Cut Costs, Make your own grape juice

The are many ways a homesteader or a frugal person can save money. The all popular grape juice is one way to save that money. The one simple, cheap way I have read over and over again in many publications, you can do at home.

INGREDIENT'S AND SUPPLIES NEEDED

Hot, Sterilized quart canning jars with rings and seals
Seedless Grapes of any flavor
Sugar
Boiling Water

In a hot, sterilized quart jar add 2 cupfuls of lightly smashed grapes. Then add a cup of sugar. Follow by filling with boiling water to within a 1/2 inch of top of jar. Seal immediately.
Its recommended for safety to process in a hot bath as usually directed for juices.
Cool, label and store in dark, cool place for 10 weeks. When ready to drink strain juice in to container and enjoy.
To make a concentrate, double grapes and sugar.

Hopefully this is helpful to those who want to save money any small way they can.

Update

Due to financial restraint i have no internet and cant add bloggs as much as i would like. I am currently entering this blog through my phone which is not so easy. I will try to add blogs when i can at local libraries and such as time permits. Hopefully next month i will be able to continue blogging. Till then i will continue to write on paper what i want to add on here. Hopefully i can get a good selection going for you guys. Thank you and sorry. Keep checking for future updates.

Reference Books For You to Download

One of the best skills as a homesteader is knowledge. Knowledge is power, you need education of some form to gain knowledge. Most of what I have learned in my short 33 years of life is through books and some through actually experience. Most people can go to a library to learn and read most of what they want. These days libraries only contain the latest thriller or the latest love story. Where is that gonna get you on your homestead? So I decided to compile a list of links where you can get information for either download or you can print it right from your computer. Enjoy and happy reading.

The-City-Peoples-Book-of-Raising-Food
Joy-of-Gardening
Indoor-Gardening-Secrets
Edible-Rooftop-Gardening
Future_Garden_How-To.
Saving-Your-Own-Vegetable-Seeds
Every-Step-in-Canning
Field-Care-of-Harvested-Big-Game-
capturing_heat
Rain-Water-Harvesting
Cheese-Making-Made-Easy
SelectingPreparing-CanningFruit-FruitProducts
SelectingPreparing-CanningTomatoes-TomatoProducts
CanningVegetables-VegetableProducts
Preparing-CanningPoultryRedMeats-Seafoods
Preparing-CanningFermentedFoods-PickledVegetables
Preparing-CanningJams-Jellies
Construction-of-the-Zigzag-Solar-Water-Heater
Run-Car-on-Water-stanley-meyer-resonant-electrolysis-cell-system-collection
homemade batteries.
Water-Power-for-the-Farm-and-Country-Home
How to solar power projects
Homesteading-for-$3000
A-Poultry-MiniManual
Poultry-a-Practical-Guide
Hog Trapping
Poultry Raising Guides
Rabbit Raising Guides
/Holistic-Alternative-Medicine-101
First-Aid-Full-Manual-FM2111
/Where_There_Is_No_Dentist
Herbal-PDRsmall
How-to-build-your-own-underground-home-construction-plans
Foxfire-One
Foxfire-Two
Foxfire-Three
Foxfire-five
Practical-Blacksmithing-
/Farm-Blacksmithing
Hide tanning

How To Make Your Own Dish Soap

Now that we covered making you own laundry detergent, I am sure people are wondering, "How do I make my own dish soap?" Well i think i have the answer for you. Today with the economy dropping like dead flies out of your window seal, we all are looking for ways to say every last penny we can. Well heres one more tip to help you save all you can.

Ingredients
2 Cups of Small Soap Shavings
2 1/2 Cups of Hot water
1/2 Cup of Lemon Juice

1. Put soap shavings in a large bowl and add hot water. Let set overnight.
2. Next day the soap should be softened. Mix the soap and water till mixture becomes smooth adding water if needed to give the thickness you desire.
3. Add the lemon juice to the mixture to give that lemony smell as well as helping it fight grease.
4. Add mixture to recycled container, such as old dish soap container.
5. Shake well before using to ensure its properly mixed.

Tip: To save further money, use that left over chunks of bath soap you can't seen to use in the shower.

Homesteading and Such Links

I decided to write a blog listing some of the various links of homesteading and survival that i frequent. Please visit these links and learn all you can. Some links will contain mass amounts of information and some will just include basic information and ways to find more. Enjoy!

Homesteading Links
How to Homestead
Modern Homesteading Resources
The Modern Homestead
Pioneer Living Survival Magazine
Build An Ark
Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute

Of course there are many more websites you can obtain information about homesteading, but these are my favorites.

Heres one more that pertains to much more then homesteading, its filled with vast knowledge of anything from homesteading to survival, to how to survive the end of the world as we know it.
Survival Blog

Window Farming

This is information obtained from Window Farms.org. It is a beautifully crafted website with very detailed, free information on how to build or design your own window farms. Great for beginners and city people with no room to grow. Or just to have your own small indoor greenhouse.

"Windowfarms let you grow food year-round inside while maximizing space. They are vertical food-growing gardens that use a dirt-free technique called hydroponics. You can buy a kit or build your own using low-impact or recycled local materials. Having a windowfarm is more about the activity and experience of windowfarming, these are living systems, not just a pretty thing to look at." (Window Farms.org).

Homemade Laundry Soap

These days laundry soap seems to be going up in price and down in quantity. Here is a simple, yet highly effective way to make your own soap.

Ingredients Needed:
1 Cup of washing soda
1 Bar of soap, your choice
1/2 Cup of Borax
1 5gal, bucket w/lid
3 gallons of hot water
1 lrg spoon or stick to stir with
knife
measuring cup

1. Put four cups of water on stove in a pan and heat till almost boiling. While water is heating shave bar of soap with knife into water. Shave complete bar into water, stirring to dissolve whole bar. Finished product will be very soapy water mixture.
2. Place the 3 gallons of hot water into 5 gallon bucket. Add soapy mixture made from step one, while stirring awhile. Add cup of washing soda and stir for about a min or two. Then, add 1/2 cup of borax. Continue stirring for a couple of mins and let set overnight to cool.
3. Next day you will have a slimey mixture that will be similar to the color of the soap you used. Roughly one cup of this mixture will be what you need to do laundry.

What is Chaotic Sustainability?

Chaotic Sustainability is a blog about homesteading and back to the land knowledge. I am a inspiring back to the lander, and i wish to share with you my knowledge of how-to's. Chaotic part deals with the chaotic mass of this information coming out of the deep recesses of my mind. I know many things, I read many things, but due to amounts and years I have obtained some of this knowledge it is chaos.
I plan to slowly post ideas, how-to's and all the ideas that float in my mind. I am in hopes that these ideas can either help someone with there homestead or give someone the idea that they may want to move out of the cities and start there own homestead. I am open to learn from readers any information they wish to share.