Homemade Laundry Detergent

There's something about mixing up your own household cleaner/detergent to make you feel very domestic! I've seen lots of blogs lately talking about going green in different ways including making your own cleaners. I knew that cleaners had lots of chemicals in them but if you really start looking at the ingredient lists, it's a little scary. I've had breathing issues after using bleach in cleaning and laundry and that's without any other respiratory issues. So while I'm not all 'save the planet, hug a tree,' I think that we should be good stewards of our environmental resources and if I can reduce the amount of chemicals in my house, that's got to be a good thing! In my quest to pinch some pennies and make our home a little 'greener', I found a recipe for homemade laundry detergent to try. (Thanks for sharing, Deana!)

I assembled my supplies: Borax, Baking Soda (I couldn't find Washing Soda), and Ivory soap. (It was on sale last week so I thought I'd try it.) I've seen other recipes that call for different brands of bar soap or adding some essential oils. I might try some variations down the road.

Using my handy-dandy KitchenAid mixer with the shredder attachment, I shredded the soap in about 2 minutes tops!

After shredding a bar of soap, I added 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of baking soda to the bowl and mixed it up. Using my canning funnel, I put it all into my Ikea Burken jar.

Some measurement info for future reference:
Borax 4lb 12oz (76 oz) = 11 cups
Baking Soda 4lb = 8 cups
9" Ikea Burken jar = almost 2 batches of detergent
The little bit of extra detergent that didn't fit into my jar went into a spare canning jar. I also shredded the 3rd bar of soap since I had everything out. That went into a canning jar too.
Then, I gave all my tools a really good rinse in the sink and then washed them in the dishwasher to be sure to get all of the soap residue off.

So the real question.... does it work?? Yes! I think so. I've done 2 loads with some dirty, stinky clothes (no names will be mentioned to protect the not-so-innocent.) After they were dry, I gave those stinky things a good sniff test. I have to admit, I was really hesitant to breathe deeply but everything smelled clean and fresh, and a dusty, dirty shirt that was used doing lawn work came clean too. Making the detergent took all of 10 minutes and cost about $5.00 for about 155 loads of laundry. That's $0.03 per load compared to my regular detergent at $0.18 per load after using a coupon! But I shall not kick myself for not doing this sooner. There's no time like the present and plenty more laundry to come to make detergent for!

Isn't it pretty? I think a new project for my to-do list is a vinyl label for the jar. Then, perfection!

My fav places to link up.


This project was featured here

Mr. and Mrs. Pillow Covers

This week, I tackled the next thing on the to-do list: Mr. and Mrs. pillow covers for our master bedroom. I've seen several versions of the Ballard Designs pillows.

Like the ones made by Knock Off Decor, Mrs. DIY, and here. Using the great 5-minute pillow cover tutorial from Restoration House, I cut Osnaburg fabric to size, sewed it up, and then tucked cardboard inside the flap so I could paint. I just used MS Word to print the letters to the size I wanted. Then, using the very old method of carbon paper (Do they still even sell that stuff? We have an old pack that's been hanging around forever!), I just traced over the letters with pencil. I used a brown craft paint and a small brush to paint them in. I haven't yet but should probably heat set them somehow so they can be washed. For now, they're in their new home so we don't forget who sleeps on which side of the bed.

Linking up here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Being quite-a-bit Irish, it just seems fitting to honor St. Patrick's Day. We're not into the leprechaun and magical rainbows aspect of it but like honoring the testimony of a great man of God. See here for more info on Patrick.

To celebrate and give the house a much needed dose of spring, I got crafty!
On the front door, I refashioned a grapevine wreath. I added some greenery picks and a berry sprig that I had on hand and a green bow with ribbon from my stash. Using my Cricut, I cut out 4 hearts and a letter 'J' to make a shamrock and tied it to dangle in the middle of the wreath. That dresses up our pitiful front door. (Yes, it has a crack in it. Yes, you can see daylight through it. Yes, it IS on the list to be replaced as soon as possible!)

On our mantel, I added some brass candlestick holders, 2 green candles, a boxwood ball from the dining room, and an Irish blessing printable that I found online (and didn't save the link, so if it was yours, please let me know!)

 

And I made a rag garland with fabric and cording that I had in my stash. (I love 'free' craft projects!) Using inspiration from here, I cut fabric strips into 2"x8" pieces and tied and tied and tied and tied.

 

A touch of green on our dining room table and buffet adds some spring too. 

Here's where I party!

Day #17 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The mail station)

I think this is my most favorite day in the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here but I'm at Day 17... the mail station!

We live in a culture that's just plain busy. We do our best to keep outside commitments to a minimum so that we can keep the stress to a minimum. With home, work, ministry, and 2 kids, however, there are things we need to keep track of. Having a space to keep important info in order and handy helps with that!

With our laundry room re-do, we left space at the end of the wall of cabinets for our Command Central. You can see more of the overall transformation here.
Here's a before pic of that end of the laundry room (looking towards the kitchen):

 

After all the old cabinets were removed.

Here are the almost done pics:

An overall look from the other end of the laundry room toward the kitchen.

My calendar, tack board, magnet board, Ikea Ribba picture frame rail, and Kroken rail. I also got a little stationery sorter at Goodwill recently and that holds some current sale info, gift cards, and note paper. Here's a close-up of the ledge and rail. I painted Mason jar lids with chalkboard spray paint. The jars hold random things that we need to have access to here: box tops, Campbell's points labels, spare change, paper clips/push pins, rubber bands, and twist ties. The little pails, also from Ikea, hold bank info, pens/pencils, small notepads/bookmarks, and scissors/letter openers.

We made the tack board and magnet boards using 16x20 picture frames that we had on hand. We bought a 4-pack of cork tiles and cut them to fit, used spray adhesive to attach the fabric, and then popped it in the frame. The magnet board was easy too. I got a piece of sheet metal from Home Depot, covered it with coordinating fabric, and put it in the other frame. (Bonus: the fabric, which is decorator weight, was on clearance at Hobby Lobby.)

Another look at the new space!

The first cupboard at that end of the laundry room holds more needed info. A magazine holder has my current Taste of Home mags and catalogs. The red binder has important family info and contact info. The blue binder is school info for the kids. Phone books, church directory, and coupons for my mom are all in here too.

Everything's together and in it's home---where I can find it... usually. :)


See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #10 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Laundry Room/closet)

I'm jumping back to Day 10 in the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here.

Like most of the other organizing challenges, I don't really have a 'before' picture of the laundry room closet so just imagine it empty. Or imagine what the in-between looked like.... all our coats crammed in, a falling-apart shoe organizer hanging on the door with miscellaneous gloves, hats, and scarves falling out, cleaning tools, and a broken shoe cubby organizer on the floor.

When we painted the laundry room, I painted the closet too. We were running out of paint so I used my fav creamy white, Crumb Cookie by Olympic (from Lowe's.) We're using Crumb Cookie throughout the house on all ceilings and trim. It looks as yummy as it sounds! :)

Here are the 'afters' of the closet:

Off-season coats for me and hubby. Extra hangers for wet laundry.  

Steam and Sweep attachments in a box on the shelf along with my static duster. 

Vacuum, Steam and Sweep cleaner, folding step ladder, and extra folding hamper on the floor on the right side.

Mini hand-held vacuum, which doesn't charge that well, up there too.

Clean with room to spare and a home for my pretty ironing board!

The rest of the laundry room is coming along too! Here are the hideous before pics:

From the laundry looking towards the kitchen. The sink and its plumbing were so gross that they got ripped out and tossed right into the dumpster. Ick!

Next to the sink along that same wall were the previous owner's washer and dryer. Not exactly 'energy star rated', I don't think. They went out in the yard until a friend took them to the salvage yard for us.

After we moved in, our appliances got put in down at that end. We set up a folding table and little wood stand to hold bathroom stuff and painting supplies since the rest of the house was under construction.

A trip to our local Re-Store the week after Christmas netted us brand new cabinets for the laundry room and a few additional cabinets for an empty wall in the kitchen. We weren't really planning to re-do the laundry room at this point but the savings at the Re-Store made it totally worth it. To get the cabinets out of the living room, we got right to work removing the built-in green cupboards. I guess they painted around them after installation. :) (Note that the cupboards were green as was the wall, trim, ceiling, and doors.) Along with the old cupboards, we had to empty out the rest of the room too. Everything in here ended up in the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Before the new cabinets went in, we decided to write on the walls with a Sharpie to leave a time capsule of sorts for future owners. :) New cabinets in; junk back in there because of the bathroom reno; no baseboard molding yet but a huge improvement.

I thought we'd be leaving the room green for the foreseeable future but my mom (who has some mad-phat painting skills) offered to come out for a day to help with the house. This room was the only thing left on the list (that we didn't have to buy more paint for.) Here are the almost done pics:

We still need to install a utility sink and get countertop for the sink area and the corner cabinet. After the window is replaced (sometime this spring or at least when it's a bit warmer), I'll get a window blind and figure out the window treatment. I'd also like to put a shelf above the washer/dryer to keep the detergent handy along with a few pretties. On the list too is to replace the back door and someday put in recessed lighting.

And for anyone who'd like to be nosy but doesn't want to ask, the cabinet insides look like this (from left to right):

Paper plates, lunch bags, my coupon box, and the command central binders.

Extra paper products, light bulbs, smell good stuff, and batteries.

Laundry stuff on the left; Spare towels, rags, and lost socks on the right.

Beach towels and a jug of floor cleaner that doesn't fit elsewhere.

 

Extra cleaning supplies, hand soap, and vacuum bags.

Under the 'yet-to-be' sink: grocery bags, extra paper towels, bathroom cleaning supplies, cleaning buckets, and trash basket.

 

Phew----a lot goes on in this little space! Now that it's almost completely finished, it's actually peaceful to come in here to get the cleaning stuff or work on laundry. :)


See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #14 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Under the Bathroom Sink)

It's time for Day 14 Under the Bathroom Sink. I'm getting caught up with the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here.
Day 13 and 14 were kind of easy because our vanity is new. We just got it installed about 2 weeks ago, which means I don't have any before pictures. I wiped the shelf down and added paper.

I had the wire shelf on hand so I used that to keep the scale free from obstacles. On top, a plastic shoe-box container holds hair cutting tools and the lint brush. The brown box holds 'mom stuff'. And a thrift store find basket is our new trash can.

Simple, clean, and accessible. Love it! (BTW... see the great plumbing work my hubby did?)

See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!