Since our plan and prayer is to build our own farmhouse in the Hinkle homestead, I am focusing on ways to cut costs and see how to best pinch pennies. This is a challenge for me because I am not good with money. I find budgeting, recording, spending, saving in my personal life all confusing and overwhelming. For many of you out there, you must be thinking "this girl has to be an idiot. It is not rocket science." I agree but for some reason this is a big weakness of mine and area where I struggle personally. Now in the professional world, I was the cost cutting queen and could always stay on budget. I know, makes absolutely no sense. I have a masters degree but struggling balancing a budget. We all have things we have to work on, right?
I am currently OBSESSED with The Prairie Homestead website and Jill who is the blogger. I CAN'T STOP READING IT. http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/ I love that her focus is on simple, sustainable living and how we can all create our own little homestead no matter where we live. Oh, if you could see the happy smile on my face as I write just thinking about the site.
So, I am not crafty. I don't really like crafts. I know, you are shocked right. Tony will tell you that I am not detail-oriented but I am the queen of multitasking. I guess they don't go hand in hand. At any point in time, you can walk into my home and see at least 4 projects going on at the same time.
While I am not crafty, I do love to create things. I love to cook and bake and am slowly learning that I love making things from scratch. Who is this crazy woman who use to bow down to Target because anything she could dream up, they made and therefor she would buy?
Well, we don't have a Target, Costco, Marshalls, or Trader Joe's so I have to get creative. Praise God for Amazon.com. A small town girl's best friend, I tell you. I just ordered Castile soap (never heard of that stuff in my life) and glycerine (yeah, only knew of that word because of the song by the band, Bush, years ago).
What is a city girl going to do with these mysterious items? Well, I am making hand soap, all purpose cleaner and body butter lotion. I already make our own laundry detergent and am currently mastering a recipe for dishwasher detergent. Next up, window cleaner. Do you know how expensive and toxic current cleaners are for you? So it is like a double bonus, I can save money and also make sure that the products in my home don't harm me or my family.
So my project for January is to stay focused on simple living, not being wasteful and being frugal. I will have to keep you posted on how that goes. Pretty nervous about that!
In the meantime, here is the recipe that I use for our laundry detergent. Enjoy!
Leigh's Laundry Detergent
One 55 oz box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
One 4 lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
One 76 oz box of Borax
Two 400g bars of Zote Soap or Fels Naptha (what I use because I grew up on the stuff)
2.5 – 3 lbs of OxiClean (or any generic oxygen cleaner)
{I’ve used two 1.3 lb containers of OxiClean here but I think they make a 3 lb container as well and you can use that if you wish}
15-20 drops of an essential oil (love lavender or lemon)
You’ll also need a container to put the detergent in! This recipe makes 2 gallons of powder detergent so I would recommend a nice 2 gallon glass jar. I got this one from Walmart for only $9.97!
You’ll also need a container to put the detergent in! This recipe makes 2 gallons of powder detergent so I would recommend a nice 2 gallon glass jar. I got this one from Walmart for only $9.97!
Directions
1. Set aside the Fels Naptha Soap and the baking soda
2. Pour the remaining ingredients (Super Washing Soda, Borax, and OxiClean) into the bucket
3. Cut the Fels Naptha Soap in half lengthwise so that it will fit through the feed tube of your food processor. {If you are using a box grater you may skip this step}
4. Using the shredding disc on your food processor, grate the Fels Naptha Soap and transfer the grated soap to a large bowl. {If you are using a box grater, use the smallest possible grate. You’ll want to get the Fels Naptha Soap as small as you can since you won’t be using a food processor to take it to a powder consistency.}
5. Change out the shredding blade in your food processor and put in the regular blade. Working in batches, place about two handfuls of the shredded soap into the processor along with about 1.5 cups of the baking soda (just eyeball it).
6. Pulse the soap and baking soda until it forms a powder. You can add the essential oils at this time too.The purpose of incorporating the baking soda in this step is to help prevent the Fels Naptha from clumping. The baking soda should coat the soap so that it doesn’t stick to itself. If the mixture still looks a bit clumpy just add more baking soda until it looks like a powder. {If you are using a box grater, I would just add the baking soda to the soap in the large mixing bowl and stir it up so that the shredded soap gets coated with the baking soda. I would start with about 3 cups and add more as you need it}
7. As you process the Fels Naptha Soap and baking soda just add each batch to the bucket with the rest of the ingredients. And don’t forget to add any baking soda left in the box!
8. Screw the lid on tight and shake, rattle and roll until everything is mixed well! This is a bit of a workout so you can skip the gym on detergent making days. Also, husbands are good detergent shakers.
9. Once the ingredients are all mixed, you are ready to transfer it to your pretty container! To avoid making a big mess, I recommend scooping it out with a large cup until there isn’t much left in the bucket. Then you can safely dump the rest of it into your container.
10. Enjoy!
You just need 1-2 Tbsp of detergent per load. Many people say to add it directly to the washing drum but I put mine in the dry detergent dispenser. If you used a box grater for the Fels Naptha Soap, you may want to add the detergent directly to the drum so that the larger pieces don’t get caught in your dispenser. I wash most of my loads with cold water and have no problems with this detergent dissolving. I also have an HE washer and have no problems using this detergent.
1. Set aside the Fels Naptha Soap and the baking soda
2. Pour the remaining ingredients (Super Washing Soda, Borax, and OxiClean) into the bucket
3. Cut the Fels Naptha Soap in half lengthwise so that it will fit through the feed tube of your food processor. {If you are using a box grater you may skip this step}
4. Using the shredding disc on your food processor, grate the Fels Naptha Soap and transfer the grated soap to a large bowl. {If you are using a box grater, use the smallest possible grate. You’ll want to get the Fels Naptha Soap as small as you can since you won’t be using a food processor to take it to a powder consistency.}
5. Change out the shredding blade in your food processor and put in the regular blade. Working in batches, place about two handfuls of the shredded soap into the processor along with about 1.5 cups of the baking soda (just eyeball it).
6. Pulse the soap and baking soda until it forms a powder. You can add the essential oils at this time too.The purpose of incorporating the baking soda in this step is to help prevent the Fels Naptha from clumping. The baking soda should coat the soap so that it doesn’t stick to itself. If the mixture still looks a bit clumpy just add more baking soda until it looks like a powder. {If you are using a box grater, I would just add the baking soda to the soap in the large mixing bowl and stir it up so that the shredded soap gets coated with the baking soda. I would start with about 3 cups and add more as you need it}
7. As you process the Fels Naptha Soap and baking soda just add each batch to the bucket with the rest of the ingredients. And don’t forget to add any baking soda left in the box!
8. Screw the lid on tight and shake, rattle and roll until everything is mixed well! This is a bit of a workout so you can skip the gym on detergent making days. Also, husbands are good detergent shakers.
9. Once the ingredients are all mixed, you are ready to transfer it to your pretty container! To avoid making a big mess, I recommend scooping it out with a large cup until there isn’t much left in the bucket. Then you can safely dump the rest of it into your container.
10. Enjoy!
You just need 1-2 Tbsp of detergent per load. Many people say to add it directly to the washing drum but I put mine in the dry detergent dispenser. If you used a box grater for the Fels Naptha Soap, you may want to add the detergent directly to the drum so that the larger pieces don’t get caught in your dispenser. I wash most of my loads with cold water and have no problems with this detergent dissolving. I also have an HE washer and have no problems using this detergent.
Also add about 1/4 or half depending on load size of vinegar to the softener bin to soften your clothes and take out some of those yucky smells.
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