Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

1/3 Bar Fels Naptha Soap, grated
½ cup Washing Soap
½ cup Borax
2 quarts water
2 quarts and 1 gallon water
2 gallon bucket

In a large saucepan, mix grated Fels Naptha Soap with 2 quarts water. Cover and heat over mid-low heat until the soap flakes are dissolved. Watch closely: it will boil over however covering it speeds the melting process. Add Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until dissolved and then remove from heat. Add 1 gallon and 2 quarts water to the bucket. Add the soap mixture and mix well. Mix occasionally over the next 24 hours while the soap cools.

Yield 2 gallons
Use ½ cup of mixture per load.

ARM & HAMMER Washing Soda is a detergent booster which adds cleaning powder to this recipe. Washing Soda helps to neutralize and eliminate odors. It is unscented and contains no water pollutants or dyes. Washing Soda is an all-natural product and an effective cleaner that is safe for the environment and your family. Washing Soda is found in the laundry aisle in some discount store and grocery stores. You can also order it online.
Note: Baking Soda should not be used in place of washing soda, completely different products.

20 Mule Team® Borax is made of 100% Borax, a naturally occurring mineral composed of sodium, boron, oxygen and water. 20 Mule Team® Borax is also safe for washing machines, plumbing or septic tanks. This product is also a laundry boost and it conditions water. So if you have soft water, you may find that you only need 1/3 cup 20 Mule Team® Borax in your recipe. 20 Mule Team® Borax is also found in the laundry aisle usually high or low on the shelf and an easy find at discount store like Wal-mart or your local grocery store. It is available through internet stores also

Fels Naptha Soap is made by Dial Soap Company and also found in laundry aisle. In my area, this is more difficult to find. I purchase it from a farm supply store that carries general household goods also. I have also seen it at a small Mom and Pop type grocery stores. Just look around in the laundry aisle as you are doing your regular shopping, you should be able to find it. Ivory Soap bar would also be an acceptable solution.

Essential oils can be added for additional scent although they do impact the cost. I prefer to save them for the vinegar rinse.

Keeper / Moon Cup, an alternative to tampons and pads

Did you know that over 12 BILLION pads and tampons are USED ONCE and disposed of annually. That creates alot of garbage in our landfills, beaches and everywhere else they may end up.

Well, here's a solution "The Keeper". It is an internal reusable menstrual cup that is an alternative to other feminine hygiene products. I have been using this product for close to a year now and I love it. It is healthy, reusable, convenient and environmentally friendly.

It took me about two cycles to get used to it. I was accustom to tampons for so many years but this product is great alternative. Once in position, it can be left in place for a longer time than a tampon. I don't need to worry about changing in public restrooms. Also there is no waste, my husband can't even tell when I have my period anymore! Well, the moodiness does give it away but he still has to take a guess!




With my daughter quickly approaching her menstrual years, I plan on ordering another one in the smaller size for her use. I can make this one time investment that will meet her needs for years to come!

Also they have this great tell a friend offer. You can earn $5.00 for each new referral. So check out their website and if you decided to order one, here is my info.

Referral Name: Stacy Hugh
Customer ID Number: C5521J.

Then the referring offer will be extended to you!

Images are property of www.keeper.com

Looking back on the Cloth Diapering years

We were cleaning out the garage this past weekend and found these--diaper pins! I have no idea why we would have put them in a bucket of screws but I quickly rescued them! They are probably the only remnants left of my cloth diapering past. Quickly approaching their teen years my children now speak of sex, pubic hair, hair removal, tampons and why testicles don't flow through to the other side of the sack! Ugh! I have no answer for that last question; any advice would be helpful there!

It seems like a life time ago since my days of young motherhood. Following in my mother's footsteps, I made the choice to cloth diaper all my children. Some of the benefits included financial savings, reducing waste in landfills, no nasty smelling garbage can and a healthy child's bottom! In fact, Dana had rashes quite often from the perfumes in disposables and cloth diapers where about the only diaper possible for her delicate skin! I used a diaper pail from a garage sale, Gerber prefold diapers, rubber/vinyl pants, and pins all from Wal-mart. I also bought pink and later blue package of wash clothes that were specifically for diaper clean ups. This probably is still the cheapest method for today.

Even though I had two children in diapers at once, I didn't feel that it was that much work. Wet diapers would go directly into the dry diaper pail and poopies where rinsed or plopped out in the toilet. Kirk never found the rinsing out part tolerable and so he would leave poopies for me. Sigh. I washed diapers and wash clothes together at least every other day and used the outdoor line for drying. When the diaper pail was empty, it too was washed and air dried. Oh, and it wasn't unusual to find a pile of clean diapers lying on my couch waiting to be folded.

Modern cloth diapering has come along way. Wow, you don't even need pins anymore! A quick Google will show you a list of modern cloth diapers websites. I am no longer an expert on cloth diapering however I thought this site offers many choices so you don't have to cloth diaper the way mom (or I) used to! www.greenmountaindiapers.com/

I wouldn't change my cloth diaper past and if blessed with another baby today, I would do it all again. So enjoy your diaper years with your young child because time slips by so fast...

A homemade toothpaste recipe

Here is a great toothpaste recipe to use the next time you find your favorite store bought tube is empty. My kids like store bought toothpaste best but I don't like all the nasty ingredients. The kids use free sample when possible but to fill the gaps between free samples and still save money this is what we use. I think it works quite well and so does hubby. We have been using this for over a year now actually our dental check-ups have improved. It is so simple to whip up that we usually delegate the chore to the kids.

3 part baking soda
2 part Glycerin*
1 part salt
1 part flavor: peppermint, spearmint, or mint.

The peppermint is what gives toothpaste the “spicy” that kids don’t like. We usually do a mix of peppermint and mint which seems to keep the whole family happy.

Store the toothpaste in a sealed container. Rubbermaid makes a mini-round that is small and compact which is a convenient place to store this homemade toothpaste.

I truly don't know the shelf life. I just grab a spoon out of the kitchen draw and use it. Generally we make the homemade toothpaste about twice a week. It would be best to adjust the size of your parts to your family's needs in order not to have too much.

*Glycerin is found in drug stores and some Walmart pharmacy sections. It is often used as a skin protect ant for dry hands and lips. I have also seen recipes where coconut oil is used in place of the Glycerin.

Looking for a free sample of toothpaste? Here you go!

https://www.timeinc.net

Drying Clothes on the Outside Clothes Line

It was a perfect day for line drying: the weather was warm and sunny with a slight breeze!

Kirk and I put up these clothes line poles last year. I had not had an outside line for nearly seven years! And now I use the line almost everyday and I have unplugged my dryer for the summer.

Our house is not convenient for outside line. I actually need to carry the baskets quite a distant. For that reason, I will often wash all my laundry for the day and head out only once with all my wet clothes. I will often enlist a young one to help me carry baskets. Today we washed four loads and quickly filled the lines.

You can sometimes find clothes line poles for free. They are many people who don't use their poles so spread the word that you are looking. Local tradio shows or small paper want ads are a great place to start. I had three return calls when I advertised and these were given to us. We just had to dig them out!

Gardening in small spaces

We spent the day revising our current raised flower garden bed. We built the plot last year for just ornamental flowers and a place to feed the birds. There was also enough space for a couple of tomato plants and some lettuce. Well this year, I have more time to spend gardening and caretaking for plants so we wanted more fresh garden vegetables. Gardening is also one of Kirk’s previous passions; he really enjoys spending the evenings in the garden. Our problem was the yard area or lack there of. It is not very large and we didn’t want to give up a lot of space because the child and hyper hounds need a place to move and run around.

First we expanded the existing bed by adding more to the east with some bricks that we still had from last year. The addition reduced some of the walking space between the bed and the clothes line pole. However, there is still plenty of room to walk through without getting clothes-lined!  The dirt in the bed was terribly hard, lumpy and difficult to work with so we mixed in sand, peat moss, and some new topsoil. The kids mixed, turned, pulled and pushed mixing the new additions with the existing dirt that Kirk had previously tilled. Once it was full, Kirk came back through and tilled again. The new mixture was a tremendous improvement to the quality of the soil.



Next, we mixed up equal parts of new topsoil, sand and peat moss in the yard wagon to fill large pots and other containers. We will be trying some container garden this year. Containers will help up utilize the limited space that we have. And since we got a late start at this, I am hoping we will be able to bring container pots in and keeping them going late into the fall.

We also planted green beans around the fence posts and peas in a small wasted space between the property line and the other clothes line pole. Urban gardening on small ground does create some challenges however I was amazed that amount of wasted space we did find once we started looking. Oh sure, I won’t have enough produce to do much canning or freezing but we will have some fresh organic vegetables and the kids are learning a new skill. And that absolute best part is…we did it together!

Thanks for all your help today, kids!

Reusing plastic grocery store bags in the kitchen garbage

Since we recycle and compost, I have a smaller sized can for garbage in the kitchen. The plastic bags from our local grocery store fit nicely but Wal-mart bags are just a tad too small. The mouth of the bag doesn't quite fit around the rim of the can and sometimes fails in making a mess.

I picked up a bag of little hooks for $.25 last week at a yard sale but our dollar store also carries them. The Commands are nice but pricey. I save them for the cupboards, walls and valuable items. Anyway, I attached these little hooks to prevent the bags from falling down inside the can.

First I cleaned the plastic can thoroughly with a small cloth and rubbing alcohol. Then I attached the hooks upside down on the outer edge of the rim. Now when a bag is just a bit to small, I can link it around the upside down hook and the side will stay up.

Another option would be to attach the hooks right side up on the interior of the can. It all depends on the size of the can verses the size of your bags you are dealing with. Adjust accordingly to your situation and the bag will be held upright in correct position.