My Homemade Weekend

I like crafting, and I loooove to read about crafting by people who are far better at it than I am, so I usually spend a good portion of my lunch hour looking at crafty blogs every day. One theme I see often is people proudly making something that is "homemade" when it would be either cheaper or just as much money to get it from a store.

For example, I attended a relief society meeting about making homemade jam. What. a. HASSLE! The whole process takes well over 45 minutes (which is about 44 minutes longer than buying it) and costs more than buying the stuff. "But you can make so much with the recipe". Don't care. I'm not in desperate need of more. Jam costs me about $2.50 at the store and usually one jar lasts several months (hmmm....after typing this out, that sounds kinda gross...oh, well). 

Another one- I've seen a lot of tutorials on homemade deodorant and shampoo, homemade toothpaste, etc...Usually these end up costing MORE than something bought, leads to making a mess, and takes up time; precious time that could otherwise be spent watching Law and Order: SVU. No, thank you.

However, when a homemade tutorial DOES claim to be cheaper and better than store bought, it peaks my curiosity. So, this weekend I tried a few "homemade thingies" out.

Homemade Thing #1: Greek Yogurt
Jordan has been successfully becoming more healthy this year. He has lost 15+ pound since Christmas and has been getting more exercise. Mainly, he has been watching his calories and eating better. I'm totally fine with this, as it means when I make cookies they are ALL FOR ME! Or when his dad gives us a chocolate bar, I know I don't have to share it. Muhahaha (hmmm...after typing THIS out, that sounds kinda gross...I can live with that). Anywho, one of Jordan's favorite new treats to eat is Greek yogurt. It's all the rage right now, apparently. It IS really good, but the packs that Jordan likes are $1 per HALF cup. This lead to us spending about $35 a month on yogurt alone.Yikes. So, when I stumbled upon a homemade yogurt recipe, I thought it would be worth a try. I made some this weekend and....

Hurrary for yogurt!

The Verdict: WE LOOOOVE IT! It takes a while to cook in a crock pot and you have to babysit it a little more than I like, but in the end it taste the exact same as store bought, it costs $2 to make about 3 1/2 cups (where store bought would be closer to $6). Plus, I got the satisfaction of sounding more domestic by proudly texting my mom "I just made yogurt!" I ended up making more on Saturday as well! (Here is the recipe: http://shannonskitchencreations.com/2011/05/30/crock-pot-greek-yogurt/ ((the only difference I made was sticking the towel covered crockpot in the oven with the light one- I learned that from another website))

Homemade Thing #2: Laundry Detergent
So, I've been hearing about people making homemade laundry detergent for a while now. Initally, I thought it sounded like something that was way more trouble than it is worth. But then I read more blogs about how it makes your clothes sooo much cleaner and smells sooo much better than normal detergent, so I thought I would give it a try. It actually didn't take very long at all  make, AND I got to watch Law and Order while I made it so no time was lost :).

The Verdict: Meh. It works fine, but I didn't notice anything different or special about my clothes. They looked equally clean and didn't smell like much of anything. I'll keep using it until it runs out because it works, but I'm not sure if I'll make more. Probably will just stick to buying it from now on.

Homemade Things #3: Necklace
There is no special story. I made this necklace:
 The Verdict:...um, jury is still out on this one. When I initially made it, I thought it looked dumb, then I kinda liked it, then I went back to not liking it, etc. I'm gonna wear it to church today to see if anyone comments on it in a positive or negative way before I make up my mind.What do you think? Does it took obviously homemade? Should I just chuck it? It won't bother me either way because it cost about 30 cents to make.

And THAT was my homemade weekend!