A Time For Everything

...or so I thought. I ran out Saturday afternoon and bought what I believed to be the very last gift. And what a gift--12-year-old Glen Moray Scotch in a gift box with a couple of glasses.


But then as I wrapping presents and admiring a piece of wall art I bought for my daughter, I realized the saying was off. All the phrases were there, they'd just been attached in the wrong order. Ugh. Yesterday morning I went back to the store from whence I'd purchased said wall art to see if they had any more of the same sentiment. But no--they had two others, neither of which I liked as much. I returned the thing since Customer Service had opened up while I'd been grocery shopping and then returned home. I searched Amazon, but didn't find anything I liked. I'll keep looking since I won't be giving that gift until after the New Year. I have a little time.

As for the busy...well, between wrapping presents (about halfway done) and writing, I've been making home-made bath products for my sisters-in-law. Chocolate, orange, and pumpkin spice. Don't those sound lovely? I tried out the orange bath salts last night myself and the bath was worth it for the smell alone! That whole endeavor would be even better if I liked taking baths more often, but I can barely stand to shower, much less soak. So I have to find a way to use up or give away whatever's left over.



I also found a simple method for getting labels off my cinnamon jars (or any jar)--soak them in boiling hot water until the water has cooled enough to work in, scrape the labels off with a sharp paring knife, and then use nail polish remover to remove the remaining adhesive. I'd been saving up those little jars for at least a year and thought they'd be perfect for a "serving size" of the bath stuff. I'm going to print decorative labels for them and voila!


Giving any homemade gifts this year? Do tell!

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??