DIY Laundry Soap

Did I mention that I made my own laundry soap? I found many recipes around the net, but this one seemed to be the easiest. It works in HE washers, and front loaders, too.

You need three ingredients:

I found the Fels Naptha at the grocery store (or use Zote). The washing soda and Borax also at the grocery store (or Wally World if you prefer). Usually, Walmart is your best bet. None of them were particularly expensive. I think I spent $10 max on all three together and it makes more than one batch.

Now, the DIY part-

Use your handy dandy grater and grate the fels-naptha (or Zote).

To that grated fels-naptha, add

1 Cup borax and

1 Cup washing soda.

Mix well and you're done.

Yup. Done.

To use it- you use 1 Tablespoon per load of clothes. I've been using this for a week and have seen no difference between my homemade version and the expensive store-bought laundry soap.

Okay- one difference. Mine is cheaper.

I think out of the Borax and Washing Soda, I can get probably 5 batches of DIY Laundry soap. I just have to purchase a new Fels-Naptha for each batch. That's it.

Go me!

UPDATE 8/10/2011:

I did some research on OxiClean and guess what? It seems that OxiClean is made up of sodium percarbonate and some cute little secret ingredient blue granules. (Think, 'Color Safe Bleach.)

Now, what is sodium percarbonate, you ask? Simple, it's granulated hydrogen peroxide. When mixed with water, it turns into oxygen, water and soda ash. 

What is Washing Soda? soda ash. One common source of washing soda is the ashes of plants- for this reason it is called soda ash.

So what is this DIY laundry soap? It's a better version of OxiClean for two reasons-

1- Borax is better at cleaning laundry and keeping whites white, and

2- you know exactly what you are getting, unlike the OxiClean which had something 'secret' in it.

A third reason would be it is MUCH cheaper to make your own laundry soap!

With the DIY laundry soap recipe above, you are using Borax (a cleaner and whitener) with Washing Soda (a stain remover and cleaner) along with Fels-Naptha (a laundry soap bar helpful in treating stains).

So feel free to make your own laundry soap! You'll be glad you did!

UPDATE 11/17/2014: I've been using the 'liquid' (or rather, gel form) of the same laundry soap and it works just as well, and better on stains when you rub it directly into the stain. My fiancee works in manufacturing and comes home covered in machine grease. This works like a charm!
The original positing is HERE for the wet version of the same laundry soap- but the basic  recipe is like this:
Grate 2 bars Fels Naptha (or Zote) and dissolve in 6 cups hot water (not boiling), remove from heat.
Add 2 cups Borax and 2 cups Washing Soda. Mix well.
Let sit until top is solidified. Using a hand blender, mix well, adding in little bits of water to make end result smooth. Spoon into jars.
1 Tablespoon per load. Works great on stains. It's the only thing my mother uses now that I gave her some!

Pore Strips My Pocket of Cash

Do you use those pore strips? You know the kind, you remove the backing, get it a little wet and put it across your nose only to rip off your skin remove it in a few minutes along with the gunk in your pores?

Yes? Well, Have I got a money saving DIY for you.

You can make a homemade version of the same thing! Yes, you can!

I found this recipe here, if you want to go to the source. But here's what you need:

A make-up brush

A small dish

1 tsp milk

1 tsp gelatin

Mix the milk and gelatin in the small dish and microwave for about 10 seconds. Stir and verify it is kinda goopy and not too hot before you put it on your skin. Use the brush to apply it to your face (nose etc). Wait 10 minutes and peel off.

That's all there is to it. Easy peasy.

TP Organization

I organized my electronics drawer today....

Who knew TP rolls were so versatile?

Why Didn't I Think of That?

How often do you replace your shower curtain? If you're like me, you do it a couple of times a year, usually when the rings finally rip through the holes and no longer hold the curtain up.

I've been known to wash shower curtains, extending their life so long as the holes remain intact.

But I've another idea....

Winter is almost upon us. Okay, so it's not. It's like six months away...but if you start now, you might have a couple used shower curtains to use for this project.

Make your own Magnetic Windshield cover. (I know, right? Why didn't *I* think of that!!?)

Take your old shower curtain and lay it over your windshield. Cut around the windshield, leaving enough room for a hem. Then sew magnets into the hem and voila! An almost free, home-made windshield cover.

OR you can spend $20 bucks on something you won't have as much pride in...

We be Jammin'

So I walked in to my local Wally World the other day and lo and behold, strawberries were on sale for $1.10 a pound. Yeah, I know! It must have been a bumper crop this year. Of course I bought some. Some? More like 8 pounds worth!

They are gorgeous, no?

I thought, hey, I can make strawberry shortcake, or have strawberries on cereal, or better yet, I can make jam! Yes....jam....now, how do you make jam?
The last time I made jam, it was as a spectator when my mother made strawberry freezer jam last year. Before that I was a child in Nova Scotia and making Blueberry Jam with my grandmother. (I won't tell you how long ago THAT was!)

So this morning I woke with a stream of mojo and decided to get with it...

Once I took off the stems and washed them, I started to mash them up.


Now, I can't make regular jam because I do not own a canning pressurizer or even have a pot large enough to cover the jars and boil once filled with the red deliciousness.

So I made the next best thing- Freezer Jam. It takes less berries, but works just as well. And all you do after boiling your mash is put it into washed, rinsed and sanitized jars. (I boiled the empty jars in a large pot to sanitize since I do not own a dishwasher, either.)

Once the jars were sufficiently cleaned, I put the sugar and pectin in a pot, boiled it for 1 minute, removed it from the heat, added the berries, mixing well and poured 1 cup into each jar. I put the lids on to keep dirt particles out and the only thing I have left to do is let them sit on the counter for 24 hours before I add the bands and put them in the freezer.
It's that easy.

Personally, I think I did rather well with my lack of equipment. And the best part? I still have 4 pounds of strawberries left!
What should I do with those?

A Lot of Dough

I have an ex brother-in-law that worked for a major bread company. He knew which breads were fresher than the rest. Somehow, I never bothered to ask him how to tell the difference. Well, the people at Wise Bread have shown me the light....or the wheat, so to speak.

Breads have different colored tabs. The tabs tell you when the bread was baked. If you ever forget what color is for which day, go by the alphabet, because the colors are in alphabetical order:

Monday: Blue

Tuesday: Green

Thursday: Red

Friday: White

Saturday: Yellow

And here's a handy chart:

Now that's what I call helpful!

DIY Liquid Hand Soap

First off, this recipe is compliments of Savvy Housekeeping.

I love doing some DIY, crafty, save money endeavors! This one did not disappoint.

Usually when you buy liquid hand soap, you're paying $2 for the cheap stuff and up to $6 for the good stuff. And that's usually the small sizes!

With this do-it-yourself version- you need water (got it!), bar soap (yeah, think I can come up with some of that, too) and glycerin (Okay, not usually on my shelf, but not hard to find at a pharmacy or discount store).

That's it, folks.

How easy is it? Three steps. Three steps easy. Here ya go:

10 cups water (use a liquid measuring cup)

1 cup shaved soap (use a dry measuring cup)

1 T glycerin.

Take your bar of soap- any kind you want (different bars render different results, so you'll have to play around) and your handy-dandy grater and grate your soap. As you can see, I grate my soap and then put it into a mason jar for later use in some other project.

Then, use a large pot and put in 10 cups of water, 1 dry cup of grated soap, and 1 Tablespoon glycerin. The mixture doesn't necessarily have to boil. You just want to heat it long enough that all the soap melts.

Then I turned off the stove and walked away.

Yup. That's it. I went out and ran some errands and had lunch and enjoyed my day.

When I got home, I checked the pot. The soap was now cold, and gelling (gel-ing? is that a word?).

I went ahead and added some essential oil at this point. About 10 drops of my favorite scent and stirred it through. Once mixed thoroughly, put into your existing, empty, liquid soap bottles. You will have some left over, depending on how many empty soap bottles you have. I just store my excess liquid soap in a 2-liter soda bottle under the sink. It's ready whenever I need to refill.

This goes a long way! You can get probably 5 or 6 bottles of soap out of this, depending on the size of your soap bottle.

Trust me when I say that you might need to play around a bit. Different soaps react differently. For example, if the soap you buy is a moisturizing soap, it may not gel properly, or if it does, it may not make bubbles when you wash your hands. If you do not use enough glycerin (the magic ingredient) it may not gel at all.

Some bar soaps are really lathery...that is, the type of oils used in making the bar soap is directly related to how much it lathers when used.

Other factors affecting the lather or bubble-ness of soap could be salt or sugar amounts in your brand. A third factor affecting the amount of bubbles soap produces is the water itself- hard water (water that contains lots of minerals) will not lather as much, no matter the brand of soap used. Whereas soft water will bubble a lot.

Again, play around with your circumstances. Maybe add a 1/2 t salt or find soft water if you are experiencing a non-lathering soap.

But, no matter what, the soap will clean without the bubbles. :)

Old is New to Me

Have I mentioned my love of old books? I haven't? Shame on me!

I love books. I love seeing them on shelves, in stacks, as decorations, you name it. I even like to read! (gasp!)

I like paperbacks for reading, especially if I am going to read a fairly recent work. But my real love is hardback books. The older the better.

Today, Grau and I went to an antique store and we noticed it was closed. Or at least it appeared closed as the gate to the parking lot was shut. So in my effort to turn around, I spotted a used book store. With 90,000 books in it! Holy Moly! I was in heaven.

They had the complete works of Dickens...the OLD ONES! Of course, I cannot afford them, but I can dream. I did, however, find two books I had to have. One is a 1896 book on Patent Law, the other a 1931 New Elementary Latin book.

I will probably only read the Latin book, but the patent law book looked very interesting. And old. I love it when I can find old books on interesting topics, in good shape, that are priced where I can afford them!

I would love to someday build my own home and have an old English library in it. Ah, to dream, perchance to live....

All Things Considered

Grau and I went to my daughter's graduation. It was a whirlwind trip. We tried to leave at midnight Thursday night/Friday morning, but his work schedule changed and he didn't get off work until 3am. By the time we left (aka, got on the road) it was almost 5am Friday morning.

I called my favorite OK winery on the way in, only to find out they were closed, getting ready for an Open House the following day. I was bummed! I told them I was the Illinois girl only in town for 36 hours, and they told me to call them Sunday and they would help me work something out.

Awesome! I did call them on the way out of town, and they opened their winery just for me. I love this place!

As for Saturday, it was run and rush all day. I had a couple of errands, like taking Grau to Dead People's Stuff, and my favorite herbal store (they have rows and rows of vitamins/natural products, and shelf upon shelf of gallon jars filled with bulk/ raw/ dried herbs). I found the bentonite clay powder I have been unable to find in my city. I know I can get bentonite clay online, but it is so expensive. I found it at NaNa's Paw Paw Patch for pennies of the online price.

Then came the graduation itself. I tried to get good pictures, but for some reason the lighting was off. I should have a couple pics that are salvageable, we will see.

I am just happy that my daughter graduated, unpregnant. Her class alone apparently has 22 pregnant seniors. Wow. It's an epidemic.

I tried to be cordial. I think I succeeded. Daughter asked me if I wanted to sit with them (or more to the point, if I wanted them to save seats for me). So I told her yes. With my mother coming along, I knew the ex and his g/f wouldn't say anything. (They don't say things in front of witnesses.)

But the ex did try to tell me that *I* needed to do something about middle son failing math and English in his first year of college. I basically explained to him that middle son does not work like the rest of the world, that he has Aspergers and that he needed to spend more time helping his son instead of blaming him.

The ex just kept saying, 'He's 20 years old, he should figure it out by now.'

Yeah, middle son doesn't work that way.

Then the ex tried to tell me that middle son passed the first semester, but failed the second, and that he (the ex) is making everything work, but that middle son just isn't doing his part.

I replied that apparently the ex wasn't doing everything, because the ex is never home, only yells at middle son, and that the failing 0 level classes proves that the ex is not putting in the time needed and that he needed to get off his ass and work with middle son.

Yeah, that didn't go over well.

I told the ex that he can not do the work for middle son, but that he did need to yell less, and pay attention more, and follow up / sit with/ and ensure that the work is being done. Help middle son understand what it is he's doing.

Don't get me wrong, middle son is highly intelligent. In other area's. Just not math or English.

After graduation Mom, Grau and I went to Chick-Fil-A since Grau's never been. When we got home, my dad wanted to take us to dinner....and we had to go because he wanted to spend time with Grau and I. We couldn't turn him down. So we ate again. UGH.

Then we met up with friends and had a good time with a couple drinks, lots of laughs and good food (which I did not eat- I was NOT hungry, lol).

I made plans for Grau and I to have breakfast with PBF and my daughter. The real reason was to let her know I did not approve of PBF, her choices, or her keeping me out of her life, but that she was my daughter and I loved her.

Breakfast was indeed surreal. When the pleasantries and eating were over, the discussion began. I could go in to all of it, but I won't. Suffice it to say that I told her (and her pbf) I would NOT accept pbf because of several reasons: it was morally wrong, he was too old, he was still married, etc.

I said the age thing could be overcome in time, like in 20 years, but that the married thing was a deal breaker. PBF is too much like her father, cheating on his wife. I cannot and will not change my mind about that. It goes against my grain.

In the end, Grau and I said our piece, they said theirs, and the understanding of say what you feel, but at least SAY IT, was brought into the open and we left with hugs and handshakes.

We then went to my favorite winery, which was closed but they opened just for me (I love this place!) and then took off for home.

We ate lunch (technically, dinner) in Joplin, leaving when the sirens went off and in which we thought we were ahead of the storm. As it turns out, the storm was slightly in front of us, but the tornado was off to our West and we were able to pass it without harm.

We then hauled ass out of there at 80 mph...and the 'nader was going 20mph, so we won that race.

All in all, it was an informative and pressure-releasing visit. I feel better about the situation, at least.

1770 Isn't So Bad

I spent last weekend reliving the 1770's. Complete with skirt (yeah, don't die of shock on me just yet!), petticoat, apron, etc. Yeah. It was a sight to behold.

I really did have a good time. Of course, we had a GINORMOUS tent. 20' X 36'

The center was the 'common' room and either end had two sets of 'room's.'

There were three couples and two kids occupying the rooms. We had two game tables, poker, dominoes, dice and cards. Fine china, screwdrivers & mimosa's. Oriental rugs on the floor and we even had a silver 5-candlestick table candelabra sit-down dinner for 18.

It was LOADS of fun.

What I thought fabulous was that the night we had the formal dinner, we also had a 'get-together.' Basically, we were the biggest tent in town and everyone came to us with their drink bottles to pass and stories to tell....Rain didn't stop our good time. Someone played the guitar, another the fiddle, spoons and some other instrument I could not even begin to tell you what it was. Laughter, gaiety and comraderie....But the get-together is not the best part.

I wake up early. I always have. It must have been around 0530 or 6am, late for me but seriously, I could not hold my pee any longer. So I got up and got dressed for the trek to the porta-johns. As I return, all hunched over, huddling my arms to my chest for warmth, the 'neighbor' says,

"I like your sign.'

"???"

"I like your sign" he says again.

Confused, only half from being so early and frigidly cold I reply, 'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

And he points to a spot behind me....and what do I see?

"Awesome!" I reply. And laughed the rest of the day. :)

Just a few more pics of the weekend:

Git R Done

I've forgotten how much I love to be busy. But I have noticed one thing; I like to be busy with just a little bit of free time.

I get so much more accomplished when I have a bit of free time mixed in with my busy.

I managed to take down curtains, wash and dry them and get them back up on the same day. I also cleaned off the kitchen table- it had taken on clutter of gigantic proportions. I managed to finish decoupaging the mirror I started four months ago.

I then hung the new sign Grau and I purchased for the downstairs bathroom. We are going with a theme in this little potty....hahah.


Grau and I also went to one of his co-workers places....we searched and found three old doors. I would post pics of them, but they are still loaded into Grau's vehicle.
One is an old white door which I will turn into a headboard. The second is a half-style door (vertically half, not horizontally) that I will use for either a footboard, or make a cool overhead shelf. The third I am really excited about- it's an old exterior door, solid wood, with a half-moon glass panel(s) at the top, an old escutcheon panel, knob and key! and the door is red. That I will add a cabinet door or smaller door (horizontally) along with some old spindles and table legs I picked up months ago...it will be a background piece, near the corner in our bedroom. I plan to add some old wall lamps (candles). This picture is of something similar, but not exact. (Of course you know I have to put my own spin on things, right?) My door only has a half-moon opening at the top- and I refuse to put one of those 'awnings' over the top. ewww.

Anyway- I have been really excited about all the projects I have going on....even my shoes- yes, I have not forgot about making shoes. I have the lasts made, but am finding it hard to find the leather, or the money. Usually I have one or the other, but not both at the same time! lol

Oh- and I went to my favorite wine store today and picked up a couple tasty treats! Yeah, heaven could not be closer than it was today! Well, maybe if I win the lottery.