Making your own natural laundry soap is a great way to save money and become more self-reliant. The great part is that it’s easy to do and doesn’t cost much! In fact, you can make a year supply of laundry soap for under $20 with a little bit of searching and 5 minutes of mixing time. Here are some things you’ll need: Fels Naptha Soap. This brand of soap has been around for decades and has proven itself as a reliable cleaning agent. You can usually find it in your laundry aisle at most local grocery stores. You can also use Ivory soap if that’s more readily available. The other great thing about Fels Naptha is that you can use it for other purposes like treating exposure to poison ivy, poison ivy or other skin-irritants. Washing the area with a very small amount of Fels Naptha will breakdown the oils that carry the toxin. However, using the soap has been known to cause irritation to people’s skin. You can buy a typical bar of Fels Naptha soap online for $1.99 [...]

As your family begins to move outdoors for the summer, you’ll have to take precaution against mosquitos and other insects. Using mosquito repellent helps reduce your risk of exposure to West Nile virus or other diseases, it allow you to enjoy your summer activities with a low risk of disease. Even if you’re indoors, it’s recommended that you use mosquito repellent, especially at dusk or when the sun goes down. Products that use Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus have been found to last a lot longer and work better. Besides applying repellent, you should also take steps to avoid any exposure to mosquitoes. For example, wear long pants and long sleeves while you’re outdoors, use mosquito nettings and get rid of standing water near your home in order to avoid mosquito nesting grounds. You can also make your own mosquito repellent – which will save you time and money. Check out these recipes below to see how you can make your own repellent and add your comments below: Garlic Repellent There is good reason that they say that garlic repels vampires. [...]

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is a great skill to know in case of an emergency. In fact, CPR doubles a person’s chance of survival after a sudden cardiac arrest. Modern methods of CPR help the body maintain a flow of oxygenated blood to the brain and heart, keeping these organs alive until more help can arrive. With sudden cardiac arrest, the heart changes from a normal beat to a fluttering beat called ventricular fibrillation (VF). This happens in nearly ⅔ of all cardiac arrest incidents. VF is fatal unless an electric shock can be given. CPR does not stop VF but it does extend the window in which a defibrillation can be effective. Check out these instructions on the basics of CPR. You can also find a pocket guide to CPR that you can print here. There are also free iPhone and Android apps that you might find helpful. 1. Check the Victim Check the victim. Did you see them collapse? If that’s the case be weary of your surroundings. Perhaps they were stung or bitten by a nearby insect. Be [...]

You don’t know when disaster will strike, and neither does the health care system. The emergency room may seem the epitome of preparedness, but Stephen Flynn, a former Coast Guard commander and author of The Edge of Disaster; thinks that medical care in the United States may be unprepared to cope with a catastrophic emergency, wide spread pandemic or a large terrorist attack. During the economic downturn, hospitals have been doing what everyone else has been doing, says Flynn. “The medical community has been moving in the direction of much of our economy,” he says, “which is wringing out the extra capacity in order to essentially focus on the bottom line.” In the event of a major crisis and the likelihood that you may not have access to immediate medical care, it is important to be aware of medical care that you can do yourself at home, especially with first aid. There are many natural and homeopathic first-aid treatments used effectively for thousands of years that are still accepted by the modern medical community as viable and effective treatments, especially ointments, tinctures, [...]

Last year, the United States suffered one of the largest droughts in its history. More than 50 percent of the nation was declared in drought conditions. In fact, nearly 1,000 counties and 28 states were in a drought last year. With drought conditions, it’s important to know how you can protect your home garden. This will help you have fresh, healthy produce no matter the season. Here are a few points to consider when trying to conserve water in your home garden. Space them Out For flowers and vegetables, use wider spacing to reduce competition for soil moisture. You can also place mulch in between and on top of the soil to prevent water from evaporating out of the soil as quickly. Since the mulch is thicker, the water will stay trapped. Layer on the Top Placing a layer on the top to trap in the moisture is a great way to conserve water. Many families water the garden in the early morning or late at night and spread the lawn mowing clippings over the top of the soil to [...]

Not only is butter found in your favorite meals, dishes and desserts; it’s also a great multi-use tool for food preservation, cleaning, medical needs and more. Check out these eight ideas on how you can use butter to help save time and money. These ideas will help you become more self-reliant and prepared. Keep Mold Off Cheese Is your cheese growing moldy too quickly? Rub it in butter! Lay a thin coat of butter on semi-hard cheese before you re-wrap it and it will help extend the shelf life of the cheese. Foot Ache After a long day of walking, soothing your feet is a must! Massage your feet with butter, wrap them in a damp, hot cloth and let them sit for 10 minutes. Your feet might smell a little like popcorn but they’ll feel great! Removing Sap If you’ve been out working the yard, cutting down trees, you’ll probably have sap all over your hands and arms. Picking off this sap can take a long time, but butter can help you get it off quickly. Rub your hands [...]

In recent years, beekeeping has grown as a hobby to help families grow healthier plants while also helping the families be more self-reliant. You might be thinking that beekeeping is going to be too advanced but in reality, it takes about the same amount of time and means as gardening or other outdoor hobbies. Check out these tips on how you can start your own beehive at your home and reap the rewards! Where Will You Keep Them Bees are like any other pet that you might have and need a place to stay. Think about where you’ll put them in your yard. Is your yard big enough for a beehive? Are they going to be a problem for children? Do you have zoning laws that speak to beekeeping? All these are questions you’ll have to answer. You’ll also need to consider your neighbors. While it might be OK with the city laws, no one wants to be the troublemaker in the neighborhood. Consider if your neighbors have allergies to bees, if the hive will be too close to their [...]

Using a home canner is a great way to preserve foods in mason jars. Using a home canner can help you save money and become more self-reliant. However, not everything can be canned! Home canners are great for canning certain vegetables and fruits but are unable to reach the heat required to properly can foods that are too oily, have high fat content, or are too viscous. Commercial canneries also use additives, preservatives and processing equipment that you can’t replicate at home. - Check out this high-end, inexpensive canning equipment -  Check out this list of 10 items that you shouldn’t can at home: Milk Milk, or items containing milk, aren’t recommended for home-canning. Milk has a low-acid level and supports an environment which fosters botulism growth at room temperature. Many times, the fat in milk can also protect botulism spores during the canning process. Lard With the high density and fat content, lard is just not a good item to can. The fatness and density won’t allow the heat of the canning process to penetrate the contents, allowing the [...]

Making your own cheese is a great way to become more self-sufficient while saving money for your family. Many people, after researching how to make their own cheese, leave a bit disinterested because they have to use ingredients that are hard to come by – rennet, tartaric acid, calcium chloride, etc. However, there are simple ways to make cheese with a gallon of milk, lime juice and salt! It’s easy. Here’s how you do it: You’ll Need: • One gallon of Whole Milk (You can use pasteurized or raw milk but not ultrapasteurized) • 1/2 cup of Lime Juice (about 4 limes) or 1/4 cup of White Vinegar • Salt • Strainer or Colander • Cheesecloth • Candy Thermometer (optional) Directions 1. Place the gallon of milk in a large, non-aluminum pot. Bring the pot to a medium-low heat for about 10 minutes or until it looks like it’s about to boil. Be careful not to actually let the milk boil though. (If you have a thermometer, the milk should be at 185 degrees.) 2. Add 1/4 cup lime juice [...]

If you start to raise chickens to be more self-sufficient, you want them to be as productive as possible. But what if they aren’t laying as many eggs as you’d hoped? The most common reasons that chickens aren’t laying eggs is because they are too young, too old, the hours of daylight are too short, it is molting or the feeding is not of sufficient nutritional value. You might not be able to affect those first points, but you can help contribute to a stress-free environment for your chickens while keeping them healthy and well. Chickens will typically lay one egg or less during a day and that will decrease with age. Their egg-laying years will typically last for 2-3 years. - Check out these high-quality chicken coops -  If you are experiencing a low yield of eggs from your chickens, check out these tips below to see what you can do to help them lay more eggs. Quality Feed You don’t have to go crazy with some cutting-edge feed that’s guaranteed to make your chickens produce eggs the size [...]