HOMEMADE SOAP

Homemade Soap Products - The Benefits of Using Natural Ingredients


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Report this article if you suspect it is not original content, is in violation of our Editorial Guidelines or our Author's Terms of Service.You can make your own lye soap at home; it’s not hard to do! All you have to do is combine fat with some sort of caustic agent, using water as your catalyst, and you have soap. ‘Saponification’ is the technical name for the chemical process between lye and fat.
And you won’t need anything exotic to make your own soap; most of the ingredients you need may be as close as your grocery store. What will you need? For a basic soap, you only need water, lye, and some kind of fat and oil. For a more luxurious soap, you might want to add coloring dyes and scented fragrance oils.
You probably have water as close as your kitchen tap; some people prefer to use rainwater or distilled water in their soap. And what’s lye, anyhow? It’s chemical name is sodium hydroxide; it’s a very strong base, so when you handle it. Make sure that you read the directions on the package of lye carefully, and following them scrupulously.

The first step is to dissolve the lye. Never pour the water into the lye; instead, pour the lye into the water. If half the water is ice, that’s even better. Stir; as you stir, watch for the reaction. The lye can even boil the water; if this happens, stop stirring until the bubbling stops, and let the lye water cool down to room temperature.
So what about the oil? Just about any fat or oil can make soap, from plant oils to animal fats. Coconut oils will give a rich lather. Olive oil will yield fine, silky bubbles. If you use animal fat, make sure it’ is clean, not rancid, has no salt, and is free of solid particles. You’ll find tallow or lard will give you a denser soap.
When you batch starts to thicken, that’s the time to add coloring and perfume oils. Pour the ‘traced’ soap into shape molds, and let it harden. It will have to ‘cure’ for one to three days, and then dry a bit longer before you can enjoy it.
Homemade, natural and specialty soaps are perfect truths for bath and body treatments. So if you are looking for a way to relieve your tension, forget about your bad day and just feel good, well treat yourself with some homemade soap products. They’ll make your skin soft improve any skin conditions you have and help you connect with yourself.
For more on homemade natural soap making as well as candle making and other do-it-yourself crafts visit the soap making resources center at Pure and Natural Soaps where you'll find articles, recipes, instructions, ideas and tips. To discuss these and other craft projects visit the Soap Making Forum - a community message board for soap and candle making as well as other crafts and do-it-yourself projects. Discuss techniques, share ideas, learn new methods, post your favorite recipes and meet new friends.

HOME MORTGAGE

Your Mortgage Broker is a Used Car Salesman and a Scoundrel


Think you know an honest Mortgage Broker? Think again! The nature of the retail mortgage industry is simply to take advantage of you. How do mortgage brokers hustle you into paying more? Most homeowners never even see it coming. Here’s how your mortgage broker is ripping you off and how you can avoid it.

Mortgage Brokers are nothing more than retail vendors reselling loans for wholesale mortgage lenders. Like any other retailer on the planet, your mortgage broker wants you to pay as high a premium as possible for your new mortgage loan. You’re already paying the Mortgage Broker origination fees for this loan. The origination fees you pay are typically 1-1.5% of the loan balance and are more than ample compensation for any Mortgage Broker; however, just like any used car salesman, greed slithers into the equation.

Your Mortgage Broker receives a bonus from the wholesale lender for overcharging you. It’s true; they even have a fancy term for it. This markup is called Yield Spread Premium, and here’s how it works. When you apply for a mortgage loan using a Mortgage Broker, the wholesale lender will evaluate your application and qualifies you for a specific interest rate. The wholesale lender provides your Mortgage Broker with a written guarantee of that interest rate. Now that your broker knows the interest rate you’ve qualified for, the hustle begins.

Just like a used car salesman sizing you up to overcharge you for an automobile, your mortgage broker sizes you up based on how knowledgeable or clueless they think you are. The Mortgage Broker writes you a separate interest rate guarantee on fancy company letterhead and starts a flea market pitch about what a great deal you’re getting. Think the interest rate the wholesale lender qualified you and the one your Mortgage Broker pitched you are the same? If you said “No,” give yourself a gold star!

Based on how much the Mortgage Broker thinks you will overpay, that person marked up your interest rate. Mortgage Brokers do this because the wholesale lender pays them a commission for overcharging you. Suppose the wholesale lender qualified you for a 6.0% fixed interest rate mortgage of $225,000. The broker pitched you 6.75%, and you agreed to the loan. Your mortgage broker overcharged you .75% on the interest rate; what’s .75% between friends you ask? This .75% amounts to your paying thousands of dollars in unnecessary interest, and that’s just in the early years of the loan.

What you don’t know is that the wholesale lender rewards your mortgage broker for hustling you on your new mortgage. For every .25% the Mortgage Broker overcharges you, the wholesale lender rewards them with a bonus of one point, or 1% of your loan amount. In the example above the broker overcharged you .75% on your interest rate and receives three points, or 3% of your $225,000. For ripping you off that Mortgage Broker receives $6,750 as a bonus from the lender! Still think Mortgage Brokers have a noble profession? The bad news for homeowners is that mortgage companies and banks do the same thing to their borrowers.

Because the Mortgage Broker already receives the origination fee for your new mortgage, Yield Spread Premium effectively doubles your costs for mortgage refinancing. Want to know how you can avoid paying double when mortgage refinancing? Homeowners that learn to recognize Yield Spread Premium markup in their mortgage loans can avoid paying it. To learn more about mortgage refinancing without overpaying including common homeowner mistakes to avoid, register for a free mortgage guidebook.

To get your free mortgage guidebook visit RefiAdvisor.com using the link below.

Louie Latour specializes in showing homeowners how to avoid costly mortgage mistakes and predatory lenders. For a free copy of "Mortgage Refinancing - What You Need to Know," which teaches strategies to find the best mortgage and save thousands of dollars in the process, visit Refiadvisor.com.