DIY: Laundry Soap

I know I've mentioned this before, but it's so great that it deserves its own blog post.

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Last summer I decided to try to make my own laundry detergent.  I hated (still hate) buying laundry detergent and all those other cleaners.  They cost too much, don't last long enough, and most of them are in gigantic plastic containers with weird/dangerous chemicals.

I first tried a Pinterest idea for a liquid/gel-y kind of detergent.  It was pretty easy to make, but after using it for about a month I realized that it was HORRIBLE.

Our clothes still STUNK after being washed.  At least the ones that stunk before.  Sure they got clean, but if we got even a little bit stinky that smell would not be gone.

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So I decided to try one more recipe for homemade detergent and then just give in to the nasty detergent up if it didn't work.


Well, it worked out wonderfully!  It's incredibly easy to make and most of what you buy for the first batch will last you throughout the next two batches.  YES!  I even added a little extra of my own things to make it even better.

Here's what you need:
     ▪  2 cups of Borax
     ▪  2 cups of washing soda
     ▪  1 bar of Fels-Naptha (grated - I just used my cheese grater)
     ▪  1 cup of Oxiclean
     ▪  10+ drops of any essential oil you desire (for scent. It doesn't add that much scent to it, but I think if you were to play with it you could add more to make it have more of a stronger scent)
     ▪  1/2 cup of baking soda  (because what CAN'T baking soda be used for?)


Put everything into a large bowl and mix well.  Store in any kind of container and viola!  You have homemade laundry detergent that will make your whites whiter and your brights brighter!  Okay, not really, but you get the idea.

I have a tablespoon measuring spoon in my container and I usually use about two tablespoons for large loads and just eyeball it from there for smaller loads.

It's not supposed to get all sudsy and bubbly, so don't freak out if it doesn't do that.

This lasted us about 5 months.  We usually do about 3-4 loads every two weeks.  That should give you an idea for how long it will last you.

Now, off to do laundry!

Dear Friday...

Dear Subaru,  I am so excited that we bought you.  You are such an awesome car.  Thanks for being there for us when we were looking for a new car! YOU ROCK!

Dear paddle board, be nice to me today!  I want to not fall off and have lots of fun, thank you!

Dear Nick, you are going to be a great father someday.  I'm sure of that.  You love playing with J and I love watching you two interact.  I'm very proud of you doing what you do.  Keep it up!

Dear Songpop, you are too addicting for me.  I play way too much.  Stop being too much fun and time consuming.  Thank you!

Dear laundry soap, oh. my. goodness!  I love you!  I made this laundry soap before and it didn't work at all.  Well, it did work, but we get stinky and sweaty sometimes around here (especially Nick) and it just didn't get the stink out of our clothes.  I finally found the right one!

 2 cups Borax

2 cups washing soda

1 Fels-Naptha bar (grated)

1 cup Oxiclean

5-10 drops of essential oil (we used Jasmine)

IT WORKS!  The even cooler thing is that you only need about 1 1/2 tablespoons of it for each load.  I'm so happy and excited about this (can you tell?!)


Dear J, you are so much fun and I'm glad we get to play together almost everyday.  You are also incredibly adorable.

Dear week, you have worn me out.  Four days of working from 5:15 - 5:30 is to much for me (kudos to you that can do that all the time!). 

Dear Friday, thank you for letting me sleep in (kind of) today!  Even if it was just til 8:30, I'm still fully rested and ready for a fun day!

Dear corn bread and chili, I am going to eat you now.  Goodbye!






PS.  Does everything on the blog load for you guys?  Like the buttons on the side and the pages up top?  They kind of freak out on me every once in awhile.  Just checking with you guys.

Top Ten Tuesday: Frugal Moving

Today I'm going to link up with Amanda for Top Ten Tuesday.  Here we go!

Since we just moved, I thought it would be a great idea to make my top ten list about moving!  Here are some tips on how to move while still being frugal.

1.  Purge things.  This really helped in our move.  If you have something that you never/hardly ever use, get rid of it!  There is no point in taking up box space for a thing you don't really need. 


2.  Pack like things together.  When you unpack (and even pack), it's so nice to have like things together.  This includes all of the bedroom things in one box and all bathroom things together, etc.  When you need to find one thing it is such a hassle when you think you put it in one box, but you just can't find it.  This tip allows for a little less chaos (even though there still might be a little bit of it).


3.  Label everything.  This has been a life saver.  Label your boxes with everything.  We have been able to find certain items because we labeled the boxes with a basic idea of what was inside of it.  Near the end I was getting tired/lazy so some say "miscellaneous" and that does me no good.  BUT, if you can and have time to label things nicely, DO IT!


4.  Use an old phone book (or free one) instead of buying/collecting newspaper for breakables.  This may have been a little awkward at times, but do you know how easy it is to get free phone books?!  It's also easy to get free newspaper if you know where to go in your town.  I just ripped out the phone book and didn't worry about how many papers I was using!


5.  Use towels to pack breakables.  This helped me because I didn't have to worry about packing towels!  I figure you could use all of your pot holders and kitchen towels/washcloths for kitchen supplies and then you still have everything together! 




6.  Look on craigslist or freecycle.org for people giving away free boxes/bins.  We got some really nice U-Haul and Ebay boxes for FREE because a business was unpacking and needing to get rid of boxes.  Always be on the lookout.


7.  Who do you know?  Seriously, start talking to people and see who you may know through the grapevine.  We ended up getting to use a furniture truck from my mom's friend.  This saved us SO much money!  If you know people with trucks or people that can get a hold of a big truck, offer to pay them gas/food/whatever!  We couldn't have done our move without them! 


8.  Get boxes from the liquor store.  We got almost half of our moving boxes form the liquor store.  They are so nice and sturdy!  If you are able to go get them, do it!  Some of them even come with dividers.  Check it out!

This was great for packing wine, glasses, wine glasses, vases, extra wine bottles, etc.


9.   Purge!  Yes... I said it again.  If you can, do it!


10.  Grandma's trick: use paper plates or pot holders in between plates.  It really does protect them!  And it's super cheap/free!

11.  Take breaks!  I spent one day packing/cleaning for about 10 hours with around two 45 minute breaks.  I almost burned out and got frustrated with myself!  Don't let yourself get burnt out or exhausted.  Take some time to yourself or even just go for a little walk.  I put a movie at one point and packed things slowly while enjoying a nice movie.  Even that helped a little bit!

Fridge paper holder

I got the inspiration for this craft from There's a Hole in My Bucket via Pinterest.  It was super easy to make and it’s a great way to hold mail/receipts/coupons/anything that gets cluttered around the kitchen/dining room.    I needed something like this and all I had to do to make it was eat a bunch of Triscuits (with the help from my wonderful husband)!

All you’ll need is:

·         Cracker/cereal box

·         Scissors

·         Glue

·         Tape

·         Magnets

·         Paper that you want to cover it with

 

You'll first need your box.  Cut it so it looks something like this shape

 

 I also added tape around the edges to reinforce it.

  

Get your paper ready and start gluing it on as if you were wrapping a present.

 Add magnets to the back and...

...put it on your fridge and admire your work!

 This has already come in handy and I hope you find it helpful too!  I love Pinterest!

A few Christmas decorations

One of my goals for this blog is to share with you some ways that I have created things by being frugal.  I'm going to call this frugal-ness.  :)

I believe that everyone can find goodies with very little money.  So this is my first post regarding frugal-ness and I'm excited to share with you what I've found/done!  I spend a lot of time finding ways to create things for as little money as possible. 

This is our first Christmas as a married couple and we're also hosting our first Christmas party in a few days.  I wanted to make sure our house looked somewhat cute & decked out in Christmas gear.  I found a few great ideas on Pinterest (check out my Holiday Pinterest Board).  I took those ideas and put my own twist on them so that it would be a little of my own as well.

The first thing I did was fill some glass jars/containers with candy canes and ornaments.

I found the smaller containers at the local St. Vincent's Thrift Store and the large ones were a wedding gift (although I have seen some similar at the dollar store).  The ornaments and candy canes came from the dollar store.  You can get a pack of the little ones (glittered or shiny) and it comes with 15 of them!  All I bought was 4 boxes of small ornaments, 2 boxes of big ones and that's it!  I think this whole decor (included on both sides of my fireplace) cost me about $11!

I also saw an idea for framing wrapping paper and cool Christmas-y quotes.  That is where these frames came from.  The only ones that aren't wrapping paper are the "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on the top and the middle frame.  All of these frames were bought from Walmart for about $2-4 (I can't really remember, it's been awhile).

This frame has a wonderful Dr. Seuss quote from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  I just took the quote in Microsoft Word and played with font sizes/colors.  It was fun and the hubby even helped! 

I hope that gives you a little inspiration if you are looking for some.  Nick and I did another art project yesterday, not Christmas related, that I'll show you when it's finished drying.  :)