Pinterest has started a homemaking revolution: if you use it, you can find a homemade recipe for it.
But what kind of homemade are you really willing to try, in order to save money or green up your home? Here is a look at the top Pinterest trends that may (or may not) be too extreme:
Homemade Laundry Detergent
Instead of $5 to $15 and up for monthly store bought laundry detergent, many Pinterest recipes call for about $5 worth of ingredients that could last you half a year!
Admittedly, you can save tons of money here. But it’s important to factor in that homemade laundry detergent requires time and tools: getting the finest ground soap and other ingredients requires a food processor or high-powered blender.
On the flip side, it’s much more economical and green.
Homemade Curtains
You never know how much things around the home cost until you move or buy a house. Curtains are one of those surprising ones! Getting curtains of the right height in a nice fabric is difficult if you aren’t willing to spend $50 and up on each panel.
Pinterest, however, shows you how to do it for the cost of $5-$15 worth of fabric (or even sheets you might have laying around!). If you have a sewing machine and the inclination, homemade curtains are a great way to save money.
Related: DIY Home Office Decorating
Giving Life to Old Shirts
T shirts have a hundred lives on Pinterest. From fashioning a gorgeous infinity scarf, to replacing the $5-$30 cost of a new pillowcase, t shirts can be cut, tied, and sewed into amazing things. If you use t shirts to replace a new purchase, like a grocery bag or a child’s dress, you can count that as a save!
Greening Up Your Home Cleaning
Pinterest homemade items can also help your bottom line in the kitchen. There are great recipes for making your own reusable cleaning wipes out of a canister, fabric (or paper towels), and vinegar.
And that’s just getting started — using baking soda, vinegar, and coconut oil, you can find an endless array of recipes for cleaning, from bathroom to kitchen to windows. All with cheaper, “more green” ingredients than buying from the grocery store or multipurpose store.
Daisy’s note: I use almost exclusively DIY cleaning products with vinegar, baking soda, lemon, etc. It’s clean without the chemicals, so why not?
But it begs the question: how homemade do you go to save money?
I love browsing Pinterest for craft ideas, not that I actually make most of them, but it’s fun to look around. Some of the ideas are amazing, but I think it boils down to time. If you have the time, perhaps it’s worth saving the extra buck or two, but if it takes more time to make homemade items, then it may not be as frugal as you think.
Great point! It’s only cheaper if your time costs nothing, right? Haha.
I’m all about DIY. Sure some things take time, but if you’ve got more time than money, then it’s worth it. Plus, I love being creative and repurposing things.
Thanks for your comment, Stephanie!
Besides being a great engineer, my wife is also a very talented seamstress. Just look at the great window valences that she made awhile ago.
Awesome, Bryce!
I change my own oil. Do most of my home maintenance, including my rentals. I wear clothes that should have been thrown out a few years ago, but I don’t want to get the new ones in the drawer full of paint of grease.
You can use soap instead of shaving cream.
If you are just sitting around watching TV, you may as well do something that either saves or makes money.
Definitely!
I make my own detergent and home cleaning products. Until I started doing it myself I thought it was extra effort for not much gain. But it’s actually surprisingly easy to do, takes one minute to make dishwasher detergent for example, so I love it!
Love home-made detergent!
Gardening! I’m a 28 year old diehard NFL football fan, and I’m more excited to work in my garden this summer than anything! I plant a large excess of everything, and then I do a lot of canning and freezing in the fall. Canned tomatoes and peppers all year long!
I can’t say that I make many things from scratch that aren’t food-related, but I think I might try this homemade laundry detergent. I hate how much money we spend on that stuff!
Food-related DIY is definitely a huge money saver, and fun hobby!
We use homemade cleaning supplies for pretty much everything we do. It’s cheaper, there aren’t any harsh chemicals in them, and they work just as well, so why not? I’m not skilled enough to do a lot of what I see on pinterest, but hopefully one day I will be. I’m all about DIY and homemade to save money!
It seems like DIY home cleaners is the “entryway drug” for switching to natural and DIY products… thanks for sharing Ryan!