Homemade Laundry Soap

People are surprised to learn that we make our own laundry detergent. The next thing they ask is, "What is the recipe?"

I was low on soap and needed to make a new batch, so I thought I'd photograph the process and put it on the blog. There are many many recipes for homemade laundry soap on the web. It seems to be the "in" thing to do (along with keeping chickens). I found a recipe and modified it to my liking. There is no one recipe - people like to tweak things.

I've been making homemade laundry detergent for maybe a couple of years. There are dry power recipes and wet (liquid) recipes. I chose to make the wet kind, since we are used to using liquid soap we used to purchase.

It's amazing how inexpensive it is to make your own soap. A 5-gallon bucket of soap costs around $2.00 for the ingredients, if that much. I don't know how many loads that is, but a bunch.The only time we use store-bought laundry soap is when I am in the middle of making a new batch of soap, or we have some other specific reason. We still use store-bought fabric softener; although there are a few recipes for that, it isn't something I want to experiment with right now.

The basic ingredients for my laundry soap are:

• Borax
• Washing Soda
• A bar of some kind of soap
• Water

That's it.

You'll also need some kind of container to put it in - I use an orange Home Depot bucket:

It is important to note that Washing Soda is not the same as Baking Soda, even though both are made by Arm and Hammer(and the boxes look somewhat similar, thanks a bunch). Also the choice of the bar of soap is up to you. There are a couple of laundry-focused bars of soap: Fels Naptha and Zote. I just discovered Zote at the grocery store while I was getting some more Borax. It's a Mexican hand laundry soap, and had a really nice smell. Plus, for $0.98 for a double-size bar, the price was right. In the past I've used Lever 2000 - it has a nice smell also.Any bar of soap will work - you are mostly using the soap for a little bit of the sudsing and the fragrance.

The first step is grating the bar of soap. You use a regular cheese grater, and put the shavings into a pot on the stove. Don't be tempted to use an electric food processor to grate the soap; the consensus on the internet is that you'll just get a mess of globby soap, and not nice flakes you need.

Then you add water to the pot and heat it up a little, stirring it to dissolve the soap. Be careful not to over-heat it; you don't want to boil the soap. Boiling it changes the soap into something you can't use. Also after you are done, don't let the mixture sit on the stove and cool. You'll get a solid blob of soap that you can't really use either (learned from personal experience).

While the soap mixture is heating up, fill your 5-gallon bucket with about 4 gallons of hot tap water. Another note on the bucket: I have a dedicated plastic measuring cup (2/3 cup) that I use. I made a little hanger for it that sits in the bucket:

It's made it really convenient to keep the measuring cup where I can find it (and it keeps the mess in the bucket).

After the soap is dissolved on the stove, dump the contents into the bucket (with the 4 gallons of water). Then add about 3/4C Borax and 3/4C Washing Soda. I say "about" because it doesn't need to be measured exactly. Play around with the contents and see what works for you.

And... you're done! Mix it up with a plastic wooden spoon (not a wooden wooden spoon, as the soap can soak in to the wood).

It will look like just diluted runny soap, and not very exciting. But when you leave it overnight, something magical happens. The soap solidifies into a gel-like substance. You then mix it up (break it up, really) with the spoon so you can scoop it out with the cup. I usually give it a stir every few hours so it doesn't solidify too much.

I use about 2/3 cup of this detergent in each load (the dedicated measuring cup). One thing you will have to change in your thinking is about "suds." Homemade soap doesn't suds up like you expect with store-bought detergent. The sudsing is mostly for looks - people don't think it's working unless they see suds. This soap doesn't make bubbles, but it cleans just the same (or better).

So give it a try! It's so cheap to try that if it doesn't work out the first time, you aren't out a lot of dough.

Coupons! Use Those Coupons!

I have heard many say they don't have time for coupons. I have heard many say coupons don't help them much. Now that the economy has soured, I have heard some say, "I used coupons and can't believe how much I saved". Yep.

Today, Steven went shopping. I wish I could say that all of the items that he were on his list were bought with coupons. But I can say that about a quarter of what was on the list was bought with sales, coupons, or a combo of each. Steven was able to even buy national brands because he had a coupon and it was cheaper. Yes!

Not only are the coupons from your newspaper helpful, the coupons from on-line, sales from drug stores along with their sales, and using the savings programs or the booklets at some of the drug stores will save you a bundle.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to save over half on my acne medicine. It was on sale from $7.29 to $4.99. Wow! But in the drug stores monthly coupon booklet, I was able to use their $2.00 coupon which brought the acne medicine (national brand) to $2.99. Yes, I went back each day and had Steven tackle another of the drug store in another town. I got 3 for the price of 1. Awesome! Ya just gotta look and keep your eyes open.

I won't say I am a queen at savings. I have a friend who saves so much and gets credits and such. I know she could make a mint if she put her knowledge into a business. But her secret is sealed. I admire her!

With the use of the sales and coupons, Steven was able to save $18 today. My goal next week is to beat that.

Happy Couponing!

Catching Up and Something New

Steven with one of his loaded frames of honey

The last time I blogged
according to the date
was in April 2011.

I just saw the pictures
posted on the blog and
I am amazed at how much
Michael and Jacob have
grown.

So many of you are
already in our lives and
know what is going on.
Facebook makes it so
to me blogging really
is not something I keep

The light honey

up with since I have
nothing to new to say.

I have decided to instead
do a new sort of blogging
with keeping a sort of
"public"journal of blogging
about being frugal this year,
2013.

With this year, all of us are
probably seeing less money
showing up in our pay checks.
Like us, many of you are pro-
bably wondering what would

The dark honey

be the next thing that needs
to be cut from the budget
or where the next extra money
is going to come from to pay
for that sudden extra bill
least expected.

All of you know we keep honey bees
mainly for a hobby (Steven). But we 
have found that it has been so great
for us having the little extra money
that many of you have been so great
with buying our honey. We had a great
abundance last August, 62 pounds. This
was from our hives.

Unfortunately, the hives took a huge beating with a tree falling on them when we had the huge snow storm in December. The wind blew a tree that was not seemingly to be rotted but evidentally was and came down right across all of our hives. Today, 1/19/13, Steven fed the bees bee candy to help them through the winter. We will be adding more until the bees can start fending for themselves with pollen this spring, if they survived the crashing of their homes. The brown hives seems to be the one that is the strongest. The other two big hives seem to have some activity but it is very small. There is no doubt Steven will need to order more honey bees which will come in, in April.

So, this is one way I have to say we are being frugal as you can do many things with honey as well as the health benefits with local honey.

Another new area of living frugally is sustainable living. No, this is not new but with everyone in concern of foods with pesticides, our economy in chaos, and those feeling they need to be independent of government dole outs, sustainable living is coming back big time. I have many friends who raise chickens, their gardens, and other ways to help live off their land and homesteads. I really admire them and wish I had the ability to do the same. But I don't think my town would be too hip on having my chickens running all over the neighborhood. Or neither would my neighbors. They're tolerating our bees with no problem. I don't think we want to push our luck.

I must say though that when I see the lawn chemical trucks spraying the lawns, I just want to cry as they are taking away the dandelions and clover that the honey bees really need. That is one of the honey bees top pollen producers for the yummy honey you get from a local bee keeper. It's also not good for you, your children, and your pets. I am not trying to step on toes. I'm just trying to teach others to help our bee populations increase. Without our honey bees, 1/3 of your food would be gone. You know those almonds that you love? Bees can only produce those through pollination. Our fruits, nuts, berries, and other foods have to be pollinated through bees. If the chemicals and pesticides that are used on farms and such keep being used, the honey bees will continue to die off. And we humans shouldn't be consuming it either.

No, my new blogging articles won't be preaching articles. I just want to be able to say what I say without offending any one. Please know I want to just teach and share what I know or what I find. I'm always willing to learn from others too.

I also believe in Provident Living. www.providentliving.org This is something from my church. Food storage and emergency planning is something that we might be finding ourselves using a lot more. I have had so many people I have talked about food storage and they have really thought what I said was dumb or coming from a crazy woman. But emergency food storage or 72 hour kits aren't that. Think about the economy with so many having no jobs, falling on hard times, having to pay for an unexpected health crisis or untimely car repair. How many times recently Steven and I have had to find ourselves cutting our grocery budget to pay for car repairs or other expenses that we weren't expecting? Going into debt is not something that wise at this time. Using cash has become something we have used and thank goodness. Ask yourself of how recently your kids decided to take a growing spurt at the same time. Michael and Jacob did just that. Wow! How many times I wish I could still find a whole outfit for $4.00, even $40.00! We have been able to pull the ox out of the ditch a couple of times. And thank goodness for the dealer I go to who has been so kind in helping me avoid being told I had a blown engine through doing all the necessary test for free to help me know the van is fine. Or recently, saving me from the wrong spark plugs put in and costing me $100 less than the guys who did the wrong work. Or putting in an under warranty catalytic converter. Warranties are a great thing. Just be careful to not buy an unnecessary warranty. Raising your car payment when you can't afford it to buy that extra warranty isn't wise. But having that extra food storage, extra cash or using coupons is wise. Using coupons will be a topic on my next blog.

Family Fun

For the 5 years I have lived up here, I had heard of the Purgatory Chasm. I read about it. I have experienced it. What a fun night. That, a picnic dinner, and the boys playing on the playground. This looks like a family favorite of ours to do.



We were amazed at how one minute it was warm and humid and the next we would look down into a cavity of the chasm and see snow that had not melted yet. Or the fact that it would be cool and moist then suddenly you could feel the warmth and humidity of the normal air temperature. We loved the moss, lichen, trees that were hallowed out and holding water in them just like a little well and ferns.

Easter 2011

I don't think I will get too many more Easter bunny pictures from Michael and Jacob, especially Michael. This was taken at the neighborhood Easter egg hunt. They had the egg hunt for the younger, which Jacob participated in. He was disappointed that he didn't find the golden egg that had the cool prize. Michael participated in the older kids games which was building a cushioned container to see if their egg would break. His broke. But it was a fun time.

No candy for the boys this year. It just makes them so hyper. So we did the baskets with their favorite toys and they got a big item. Jacob chose a scooter with a swivel wheel in the back. I tried to ride it but thought I was going to be flipping over the handlebars so I just stopped immediately. I am definitely not cut out any longer for swings, skates (maybe ice skates), roller coasters, or anything that moves faster than I do. Michael hasn't decided what he wants.

Today, Michael is at his 1/2 year mark. In 6 months exactly, he will be 14. And be able to start going to church dances. Even school dances. Michael is eager to finish 6th grade. He is doing well but it's been a rough year. He has grown another 1/2 inch and another shoe size. It won't be long until he towers over his parents and starts shaving. Michael is 1/2 way to Eagle rank for Scouts. He's working on his Star rank. Then it will be the Life rank, then Eagle. Summer camp in July will help him achieve a lot of the requirements that he needs to get his Star rank.









Jacob loves being 10. He is in Webelos. He has a lot this summer he is going to be doing with the requirements. Much of the requirements will have him going places and exploring or finding the results of experiments. He loves the science parts of the requirements. While Michael and Dad are gone to summer camp, Mom and Jacob will be going to the ocean and other close places or just hanging out at home. Perhaps the painting in the house might get done that week. Jacob loves to do that. And he's good at it too. Jacob will done with 3rd grade in June, and entering into his last year, 4th grade, of elementary school in August. Hard to believe!








This is what I love best about having family time together. The smiles of fun. Easter for our family is what the holiday is really about. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We allow for the non spiritual side of the holiday but not until after church and given time to reflect what the Savior has done for us. And time for a nap. Then out comes the tradition of egg coloring. We used the Paas Magic Stix. They were ok. Nothing to rave about. They were hard to use. But it was fun to try new things. Steven is the master egg colorer. The one in the upper right picture with the four colors is one of his creations. The one that looks like a watermelon is Michael's. I think the lime green colored egg (mine) is my favorite. There's just something about that color. Maybe I'll paint my kitchen that color. Hmmm...

My Guy

Today I am just full of gratitude to, "My Guy". I have been married to him for what is now almost 22 1/2 years (will be on the 26th). And I still feel like I am married to the right guy.

Have you ever had your guy come to the grocery store in the morning on his way to work because he had to drop a redbox DVD and decided to come into the store and find you, just to tell you to have a nice day and that he loves you? My guy did today. What a treat!

Have you ever had your guy come home from work after a long day and very tired, but washed the dishes because you didn't get to them?

Yes, I'm bragging, but I am so thankful to be able to be a stay at home Mom and housewife. My guy finds it more important than any amount of money, fancy vacations, fancy cars, and feels we benefit with the boys having me at home. I am so thankful that I can come home and work around the house and do what needs to be done. My guy likes me to be home when he gets home knowing the house is in somewhat of an order even if only the fact that the boys aren't strangling each other.

My guy is a natural Mr. Fix-It. He can fix anything.

I'm so thankful that all I have to do is let him know what is needed fixed or just ask for help.

I'm so thankful for my guy being close to Heavenly Father and honoring his duties in the church.

I'm thankful for him caring about the Scouts he is in charge getting their requirements done, including our boys.

I'm so thankful my guy is so smart with math and the other subjects that our boys have in school as he just "gets it" and can help them do it right.

I'm so thankful my guy is so patient. He never gets mad at me. If he does, it has never shown. He is so patient with the boys. He is so patient with everyone.

I'm so thankful my guy is a flirt. Believe it or not. He is lovable, fun, and I know I don't have to ever worry about him leaving or going astray. My guy just knows better.

Well, I've bragged enough about my guy. Yes, I do get upset with him, frustrated with him, but my guy is the best in the world. And, he is romantic, a teddy bear, and my eternal sweetheart.

I love you Steven and always will! Thanks for being my guy!

It's A Hard Life For ACabin-Fevered Cat In This House

Poor O'Malley. He is very unhappy being stuck inside with all this snow and ice. He has ventured out a bit but the cold snow and rain makes it hard for him with his paws and old body. After all he is 10 1/2 (about 71 in human years). Don't let him fool you. He's quite capable of hallowing it up in the middle of the night, running through the house all day and into the night, and begging without any problem for food, playing or wanting to maybe let out. And tripping me if it suits him. As I write this, he is standing on the top of the recliner butting his head against me and rubbing against me with his face and now laying on my chest as I am reclined back with the laptop on my lap. Ever since the other cats have been gone, O'Malley is now king of his domain and is thoroughly enjoying all the attention he can get or wants. No, I don't want another cat.