The Value in Making it Yourself

Over the past couple of years, I have gradually been making more the things we use, instead of buying them. That includes food, body products, cleaning supplies, as well as things I can sew! Is it cheaper? Faster? Often, but not always. It's often cheaper, but sometimes I could find a similar item for a cheaper price. Sometimes it's easier and quicker for me to make something myself rather than dragging the kids to the store to buy the item, but usually I would buy it on one of my regular shopping trips, so that's not really an issue.
So why do I do it?
Well, for several reasons.
1. It's healthier. I use all real ingredients. No artificial ingredients, no chemicals, no preservatives. Just quality good-for-you stuff.
2. I get better quality for the price. Take bread, for example. I can find bread at the bakery outlet for a little over a dollar. It costs me about the same amount to make bread. But the homemade loaf is much healthier. If I were to buy a loaf of healthy all-natural bread at the natural foods store, I would probably pay around 3 (maybe more!) times as much. So the homemade bread really is a bargain for what I get.
3. It tastes better. Food that's homemade is fresher and that just tastes better.
4. It's an adventure. It's cool to find new recipes or patterns, especially for those things that you would never have thought of making yourself - and especially cool to have them turn out well! Then there's the experimenting and tweaking those things to make them just as you like them!
5. It's fun. I take a lot of pleasure in doing things myself and I get a great sense of accomplishment out of it.

The more I make things myself, the more it makes me want to try even more! I'm currently trying to not buy very many processed foods, so some of the things I (at least sometimes) make myself:

Baked Goods (Bread, muffins, cookies, pizza crust)

English Muffins
Tortillas
Yogurt
Granola
Granola Bars
Ice Cream

Jam

Refried Beans
Salsa

Pizza Sauce

Pasta Sauce

Ketchup
French Dressing
Deodorant
Multi-Purpose Cleaning solution

Some things I'll be trying soon:
Ceasar Dressing
Ranch Dressing
Bagels
Oil Face Cleanse
Laundry detergent
Dish soap

It really is fun and is often not as difficult as it might sound! I would encourage anyone to try to make more yourself!