HomeMade Liquid Laundry Detergent

I often get strange looks from people when I tell them that I make our laundry detergent. It really is much easier than it sounds and it saves a TON of money! One of the added benefits is that you can really tailor it to your family's needs.  We have a top load washing machine. My recipe works just fine and I have had no problems with it. I have tweaked a few ingredients to meet our needs, but it works wonderfully.

 I have used three different types of soap:

 1. Fels Naptha-by far the best (it is an actual laundry bar) but hard to find. Buy it here for about $1.50 a bar plus shipping.

 2. Ivory-not my favorite
 3. Dial (orange bar) has done pretty well for me. I am on my third batch using it.

Let's get started and then I will give a rough calculation on how much it actually has costed me.

ITEMS YOU WILL NEED:
1 five gallon bucket with lid (a clean one of course)
1 bar soap of your choice
Borax

Washing Soda **I am a kitchen chemist and actually changed the chemical compound of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to sodium carbonate (washing soda) and it worked just fine. Now that I know I can find washing soda (sodium cabonate) in the pool section at Walmart, I will relinquish my title as "The Kitchen Chemist." :)**

Here is the recipe:

4 Cups - hot tap water

1 soap bar

1 Cup - Washing Soda

½ Cup Borax

 Step one: Grate your bar of soap.

Step two: Add about 1/2c of water and melt your soap down

Step three: .Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.(Chris' grand idea was to attach a paint mixer to the end of his drill and BAM! I didn't have to stir and stir and stir. Just a few shots of this and it is DONE.) :)

Step four: Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Just a fun idea: You can also add essential oil to your detergent. (I sometimes, SOMETIMES, do miss the smell of Gain). I really like lavender oil and have it most often. 10-15 drops of your favorite oil per 2 gallons.

Okay. So, we all know (well, those that know me well) that I am NOT a math person. I have been making detergent since roughly November of 2009. So eight months worth of detergent for a family of 5. I have only bought ingredients (borax and soda) TWICE. All, yes ALL,of the bar soap used was given to me. We bought two five gallon buckets (to make two batches at a time).

Two five gallon buckets $16
Borax x 2 7$
Baking Soda x 2 6$ (Remember: I am a "former" kitchen chemist and I had a recipe to change this over to sodium carbonate because I COULD NOT find washing soda.)
Soap FREE
-----------------
Approximate total $ 29.00 for EIGHT MONTHS worth of laundry detergent :) I still think that is stinkin' awesome!!!  Usually, I would spend about 13$ a month on laundry detergent. Over eight months that is $104.00!! That is an (approximate) savings of  $75.00!!!!! :) Now, that alone gets you thinking of making your own detergent-right? :)

Whether you prefer liquid or powder detergent, there are many recipes to suit your fancy. You can tweak mine to your needs or you can google-there is a ton of info out there!  It does take some getting used to. Sometimes mine would be a bit thicker, other times it is more liquid. But at any consistency, it has always worked really well for us!!! :)

Next stop: Homemade Dishwashing Detergent :)

Sweet Summertime

I usually make it known that I am not a fan of summer. I do not like to be hot. I do not like to sweat. I do not like bugs. Living in the the south, I deal with these "do not likes" every single day. Blech!!!! My kids are always very happy when it becomes hot enough to swim or play in the water hose. Today after church (more on the service in another post) E and N were itching to go swim. The stuffed down their lunch and were ready for their sunscreen. We all were playing, but M got very fussy so we cam ein showered and she went down for a nap. I still hear the boys playing with their Daddy in the pool. Such a sweet sound to hear giggles of excitement from them as the play. I will have some very tired boys at the end of the day!!! :)

Another summertime favorite for my boys is VBS. Oh how they love VBS! M and I really enjoyed the one-on-one time with each other and a few visits with friends. Their first VBS of the summer was themed "Saddle Ridge Ranch" I think they had a really great time. We are actually going to try and do more than one VBS this year. Living in the south in a town choc full of southern Baptist churches the VBS "theme" variation is somewhat limited-especially when tons of VBS' are on the same week. Anyway, I think the one we may try the next week will be the same theme, but it is VBS none-the-less and they are learning about Jesus. :)

One more thing I wanted to share is a great website I found  with recipes to make tons of your pantry staple items, baking ingredients and snacks--- at home.  Trying to make snacks for my kids that are nutritious and with as few preservatives possible is challenging!!! (Example: brown sugar, onion soup mix, GRAHAM CRACKERS, granola bars, muffins) I am totally going to try some of these recipes! Click here for tons of recipes and HOMEMADE goodness! :)  I posted a picture of my very first batch of homemade granola that actually turned out worthy of a picture. It was yum. I added some pumpkin seeds, cranberries, soy nuts, wheat germ and flax to the mix. Super healthy! :) It made for yummy granola bars (add honey or agave nectar and bake) too!!!
Granola Bars
2C oats
1C brown sugar (Learn to make your own with granulated sugar and molasses)
1C whole wheat flour
1/2 TSP baking soda
1/2TSP baking powder (Learn to make your own here)
1 TSP cinnamon
1 TSP salt
1 TSP vanilla (Learn to make your own here)
1/2 C honey (or agave nectar)
Mix all ingredients. Will be crumbly when mixed. Grease (I always use EVOO) 11x13 pan. Press granola firmly in pan with the bottom of a measuring cup.
Bake 325F for 20-23 minutes until the edges are browned. Let cool, loosen edges with a knife and flip onto a cutting board for cutting into squares.  Store in an air tight container (I stored mine in the fridge) or freeze a batch!! :)
**Add ins: This recipe is so versatile that you can pretty much add in ANYTHING.  I even added some dark chocolate pieces to my last batch and drizzled unsweetened chocolate on top. They were SO good. Use your imagination! Wheat germ, flax seed, dried fruit, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almond slivers-GO WILD! :) 
These aren't lacking for calories, however, they are much healthier than the alternative (store bought) variety)!! 

I am a W-I-P

Lately, I have been struggling with the "Who am I?" syndrome. The obvious answer would be wife, mother, daughter, friend and so on.  But really "WHO AM I?" More often than not, I have to answer myself with, "You are a work-in-progress. You are being molded by God for His purpose."  And it hit me. Am I really being open to that "WIP"? Am I really just laying down WHO I AM now to the pallete of Who GOD wants me to be??? 
As I sit here, knowing that in just a few minutes I am going to get my morning started with breakfast, showering, and getting the kids ready for church. I am in such need for God's Word this morning and for worship time. I am such need for just personal, undistracted reflection and time with God.(Our worship time at church is one of my favorite things about this church, by the way. :) )
 Though I fail every second of every day...I really fail in my prayer life. To be honest, it is a roller coaster that I DO NOT like being on. It seems as though one week my conversations with God are often. The next week is just sporadic.  On those sporadic weeks, I feel so lost, so disconnected.
Being the scheduler I am, I feel like I need to even schedule quiet time with God. Not prayer (because that happens anytime, anywhere) but devotion, reflection and extra free-from-distractions prayer.  I find that I feel SO much better after I have this.
So anyway, I just had that on my mind. I am a W-I-P and God is creating in me the person that He wants me to be. All I have to be is open to let Him. That, sometimes, is the hardest thing to be.