A Time For Everything

If I ever bought expensive name brand laundry soap, it was so long ago I can't remember. I just plain couldn't afford to for a while and then refused to at some point after that. And it's not that I don't enjoy the smell of clean laundry washed in Tide or Gain and dried with a Bounce dryer sheet, because that would probably be on my list of favorite scents, but I just couldn't abide paying twice or three times the amount of money for clean clothes.

Recently, I've been on somewhat on a health and wellness, holistic, natural approach to a lot of things. not all of it is about that though. Some of it is about being cheap. The side benefits are a bonus. So today, cheap laundry soap.

I've been using homemade laundry soap for, oh, a couple of months now, and it's cheap, easy to make, and seems to work just as well as the store bought brand I used previously.

For me, the cheap is the primary draw, but the lack of funky chemicals against my body, in my clothes,  and in the sewer system is a nice side benefit.

Here's the recipe I've been using... To give credit where credit is due, I found it here, and the woman has a lot of details and an FAQ although I'm going minimalist. I really recommend reading her info.

a bar of Fels Naptha or Ivory soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax -- safe for septic systems according to a friend I gave trial batch to
two gallon or larger bucket/tub with lid or cover

*save an old laundry soap jug or a couple of plastic milk jugs if you want to store your home made laundry soap that way instead

** since this is a very low sudsing product it is safe for those HE washing machines


The Ivory would be found with the bath soap, everything else is located in the laundry aisle.

To make--

Shave or grate 1/3 of the Fels Naptha (if using the Ivory, use the whole bar)

Mix the soap and six cups water, bring to a boil
Add the powders and stir until dissolved.
Put four cups water into the bucket, then add the hot soap mixture and stir.
Add another gallon plus six cups water and stir some more.
Let sit for 24 hours to allow it to gel.
Stir every so often for another day or so.
Pour into cleaned out laundry soap or milk jugs, if desired.
Use 1/2 cup per load.

And there you have it. According to Crystal, the blog lady, a two gallon batch costs approximately $.71, a load, $.01, depending on the price of the ingredients. She breaks it out on the web page.

What do you think? Willing to give it a try??

There are few pleasures I enjoy more than the smell of my bedclothes after they've been washed and line-dried. Now that spring is here and I had a good weather day yesterday, I was able to hang my sheets, blanket, and bedspread outside to dry.



And last night when I snuggled into bed...smelled the fabric softener and fresh air...ah, heavenly!

At the March meeting of my writers group, I was presented a hanging planter for my work on the contest I coordinated (and am still coordinating). I joked that it was something else I could kill, but here we are a month later and the little guy is hanging in there--literally and figuratively--and finally looks as if I'm going to get some blooms.



The initial burst of azalea blooms are wilting and falling off, but the Sweet Williams are now starting to open up.



Hope you had a super weekend~

There's not a whole lot to report. It's too hot to do anything 'round here, but let's see...

I have a clothesline now. Again. Finally. I love to smell my sheets with the scent of outdoors and fabric softener in them. Plus with as much as the A/C is running these days, less use of electricity is always a good thing.

Speaking of A/C and the heat, it's been over 100* for many days in a row. Ugh! Though I do drive home with windows down. After sitting in A/C all day I actually do get cold so I get to thaw out. Plus it's only a ten-minute commute.

Um, started watching a new TV show. It's nothing to write home about, but it's entertaining so with the men gone...

I--we--have added a new writer to our critique group. She's a newer member of my writing chapter and she's a lot of fun. So now we are four! And we also need to get back on track with bi-monthly critique sessions. Which means I need to write or edit one of my many WIPs. Ugh...but another chapter-mate made in interesting comment about self-publishing which piqued my interest and got me to thinking about my YA that's still languishing, almost complete, on my hard drive.

I've decided (again) to check into going back to school and getting a two-year English degree. Nothing major, but I've come to the conclusion over the past two years that I prefer editing to writing. And a basic degree would be beneficial. So I'm going to have DD take me to the counselors office at the community college and see what it's going to take.

No word on the fireworks show yet. Hubby has been trying to get in touch with the Venus VFD, but no one has called him back yet. I went to their website and sent an e-mail.

Thunderstorms are in our forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday and that should break our heat wave. After that our temps should drop down to the low-to-mid nineties. Whew! And down at the store yesterday, it was supposed to be 106*!!! Yikes.

Well, that's my ramble for the day. Back to work--I'm feeling productive, so I'm hoping to complete my to-do list for today.

KEEP COOL!!