How to Make Laundry Detergent

About three years ago, my sister gave me her super simple laundry detergent recipe.  It was around the same time when coupon deals for nearly free laundry detergent quit coming as regularly and it just seemed easier and much, much cheaper to make it than deal with the hassle.

Our family has had zero skin issues from this detergent and that's worth something!  We all of sensitive skin and I used Dreft for my Little Guy and Little Gal until they were about two, at which point I began using this without skin problems.  I find that it cleans our clothing/towels/sheets well, leaves them smelling fresh, and I don't find that it fades clothes or leaves them dingy.

Some people love tide or another detergent, have had bad experiences with homemade laundry detergent, or just don't want to fuss with it.  If you want to save money from your household budget, though, I suggest you at least try it.  Even if you only make one batch, Borax and Super Washing Soda have other uses.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Super Washing Soda (NOT regular baking soda!)
1 Bar Fels-Naptha soap, grated finely

Use the fine side of your grater and grate the entire bar of Fels-Naptha.  Pour it into your detergent container.  I believe my sister cuts her bar into small cubes and then she uses her food processor and washes it really well afterward.  Not really sure!  I'm sort of old school with my grater.

Add 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup Super Washing Soda.  Break up any clumps that you may find.  Tightly place the lid on your storage container and shake to combine the mixture.

To Use:  Add 1-1.5 TBS detergent per load of wash, following your machines instructions for when and where to place the detergent.  I am unsure of how much to put in a High-Efficiency washing machine, but probably the same amount since it is so little and this detergent doesn't really make a lot of suds as it doesn't have the added ingredients that make bubbles.

NOTE:  If I have towels or clothing that is especially soiled or mildewed, etc., I will pour in 1 cup distilled white vinegar with the water.

I did a little math for you so you can know (roughly) the cost.

Borax:  $.41 per 1 Cup/Batch
Super Washing Soda:  $.43
Fels Naptha Bar:  $.97

Total for one batch of Homemade Laundry Detergent:  $1.81

Number of Loads per Batch (rough estimate and determined upon about 1 TBS per load:  44ish

Cost of Laundry Detergent per Load:  A hair over $.04

Now, I usually like to do a full load of wash, and I usually have heavily soiled clothing (my kids like to play outside and they're 3 and 5), so I use a slightly heaped scoop.  I run at least 1 load of laundry per day and the last time I made laundry soap was just before October 7th in my Ways I Saved post.  I just made this batch on the 16th, so I'd say that's pretty stinkin' good!

Do you make your own laundry detergent?  Do you add other things?

How To Fix Footie Pajamas

Little Gal has long, slender, feet, unlike footie pajamas have.  The combination of long and slender vs. short and wide creates holes!  Two years ago, I had a pile of about 8 pairs of footie pajamas that had holes in the toes where her little toes had rubbed and worn the fabric.  After making attempts at mending them with darning stitches, hole-sized patches, cutting the bottoms of the feet out and sewing new ones back in, I gave up and discarded the pajamas.  It drove me nuts throwing them away because they were still very usable and not worn out at all.  Except for those feet.

When one of my son's footie pajamas got holes in them a month ago, I left them in his closet instead of tossing them because I really wanted to figure this footie thing out.  When we updated our kids' room, I cleaned out their clothes and had to face these pajamas again.  As I looked at them, it hit me.  I didn't need to anything more than sew an inner lining of the bottom of the footie, stitched in around the seams.

I mended two feet (footies? ha!) of the pajamas in about 20 minutes, and even let Little Gal help with about 10 stitches.  He has been using them off and on for about a week now and they're working great!  No complaints from him, which is the real proof of success.  I discovered the holes one night when he begged me to change his pajamas because the feet were bothering him.

Disclaimers:  Yes, that is a nasty crack on my dried out thumb.  I've been using more lotion and my hands are getting better.  Handling all of the fabric with the costume-making at Halloween plus the change of weather has been rough on my already cursed skin.  I'm sorry you have to look at it!  My hand model wasn't in for the photo shoot  ;)  Also, that nail polish was an experiment with Little Gal that has been on for a LOOOOOOONG time.  It's still on.  In fact, I'll probably go take that off after I finish this post.  Or maybe not.  :) 

Ready to fix some Footies?  Here's what you'll need:

-Thread
-Scissors
-Needle
-Thimble (not necessary, but helpful when the layers of fabric get really thick)
-Fleece fabric (flannel might also work.  You want something thick)
-Chalk or some sort of washable marker if you feel so inclined.  I didn't take this step as this project is VERY forgiving.

Turn the pajamas inside out.  Lay the foot of the pajamas flat on a piece of fleece that you'd like to use.  I matched the fabric in my daughter's because I had time, but my son got crazy orange as it was the color I had out.

Once you've got the foot of the pajama flat, cut around the foot, taking care to not cut the pajama fabric.  If you prefer, you can use your chalk in this step to trace the foot of the pajama, and then cut it out.

Line the footie patch up with the foot of the pajama, and pin in place.  It'll be neater if you do.  It'll probably forgive you if you don't so long as you're a decent hand-sewer and you take care to continue lining it up.

Using a slip stitch, sew around the patch and foot of the pajamas.  To make a slip stitch, stick the needle through, pull until snug and make sure you don't get knots in your thread.  Make sure your stitches go through where the original stitches in the pajamas are.

Next, stick the needle through about 3/8" away from the first stitch, with the needle going through the fabric in the same way it did the first time. You do NOT sew needle down, then up when making a slip stitch.  It will be needle down, needle down, etc.  The thread will make little loops over the fabric edge, closing the seam off.

Once you've gone all the way around, tie the knot off.  If you really want to go for it, you could, at this point, stitch (by hand, or by machine, perhaps, if you can get the footie into the machine) over the places that have holes to connect the patch and the pajama fabric together.  I did not find this necessary, but you may need to do something like this if the hole is severe.  I think prevention is the key here, friends.  Do this as soon as you see a hole, or perhaps BEFORE you see a hole.

Here is a finished footie patch, slip-stitched all the way around.  It's in there well, and very comfortable for the Little Wearers.  I'm happy they're comfy and I'm happy I didn't have to get rid of perfectly good pajamas!

By the way, my daughter found a hole in her pajamas as I was writing this post, that's why there are two sets of jammies here!  I was able to take some more pictures of a couple of details I'd missed the first time.  Off to fix the other footie!

Do you mend footie pajamas?  How do you do it?

Ways I Saved

I learned that the Rocket costume makes for an awesome hat  ;)

Last week was a difficult one for us. We had many obligations and invitations with Halloween, plus the costume-making and the regular, everyday things that needed to be done. Oh my, I was not very successful with the regular, everyday things last week. SOMETHING had to be put on the back burner!

Even though the result of our crazy past week was that the party is over, I'm left with lots of candy to monitor and a very unorganized house, I'm grateful. We had a very sweet Halloween with lots of nice moments with friends and in our community.

I finished up my son's Halloween costume.  He was the Pat Pat Rocket from Little Einsteins.  He LOVES Little Einsteins, and I wanted to try to comply with his desire to be Rocket for Halloween.  It worked out great!  He is so happy with his Rocket, dragging it everywhere, laying on it, and sitting on it.  I used as much fabric and stuffing as possible from my stash.  I had to purchase a bag of stuffing ($6), a yard of red knit ($4.50), and a yard of red fleece ($4.50).  The knit and fleece fabrics were used to make a red shirt and pants to go under the costume.  I will be stenciling or using an aplique on the shirt, which he can continue to use, and he will use the pants as pajama bottoms/lounge pants.  $15 for an elaborate costume, a shirt, and a pair of pajama bottoms is a good deal to me!

I fixed my crockpot lid!  The plastic handle was being held on by glue to a screw that was drilled through the glass lid.  The handle came off and after several burns while using the crockpot with the lid in this condition, I grabbed a few bits of hardware to try to fix it.  I drilled a hole through the plastic lid, put a new screw through the handle and lid, and it was fixed.  No more burns, and the lid has an awesome Frankenstein screw going through it.

We updated the kid's bedroom and I cleaned the garage up.  I am very pleased with our work.  On Saturday, I spent 9 hours in the bedroom and garage.  My husband bought a few pieces of furniture for me, helped me move things, helped me with the children, repaired a picture frame, and pretty much was my knight in shining armor and did whatever I asked him to do all day long.  The bedroom has been getting worse and worse.  Even when things were put away, it looked awful.  I should have taken a before and after picture, but I'll have to post their new space soon so at least you can see the after.  They needed storage bins, shelving, a dresser, a step-ladder, and a bookshelf.  I moved and organized all of their toys into some inexpensive plastic bins and put them into their closet where their clothes had been.  Their clothes went into the new dresser, and their puzzles and books went onto the new bookshelf.  The shelf, toys, and dresser are all at their level, and I organized EVERYTHING so that they can access it all and put it all away on their own.  The step-ladder will assist if they need it.  We purchased all of the pieces used so that we could get better deals and have nice, solid construction.  We're really happy with the way the room turned out!  The garage is awesome too.  Very clean.

When I was cleaning and organizing the kid's room, I found a pair of footy pajamas that were in perfectly good condition with the exception of the feet.  My son had worn holes in the toes.  I've tried repairing footy pjs before without much success.  I thought of a new way to fix them, so I did.  He's very happy to have them fixed.  They are some of his favorites.

We went to home school group, to which I brought homemade sugar cookies, food coloring, and sprinkles which we already had.  The kids had a great time playing and decorating together.

How did you save this week?  Any great finds or spending discipline moments?

Ways I Saved

My daughter wanted to be a pink dog for Halloween last year.  We had been working at my husband's new job for just two months after getting a Master's degree, I couldn't find any pink faux fur, other colors of faux fur were incredibly expensive, and in the end, she decided she wanted to be a princess after my boy picked out a costume that was 70% off.  Whew!  We really didn't have that kind of money.  It made me sad to not make his costume (it was the first time I hadn't made a costume), but they were a princess and a frog, and I couldn't have made that frog costume the same way.  All this past year, my daughter has remembered that she wanted to be a pink dog!  Last month I was telling my neighbor about her determination to be a pink dog, and my dilemma for finding fabric.  She said, "Oh!  I have some pink faux fur that I was wondering what to do with.  Would you like it?"  I was amazed and felt blessed that she had it and offered it to me.  Pink faux fur is a random thing to have sitting around in my mind!  Anyway, I said yes please, and finished the costume pretty quickly in a day.  I didn't buy a pattern, just designed one myself, and used her clothing to size it.  Turned out great!

I used up lots of leftovers this week.  I turned some into a casserole, some were eaten for lunches, etc.  It was a good week for using up leftovers.

We went to home school group where we made some cute little aprons.  The material had been purchased at a thrift store for about $.25 per child, we used paint (we made stamps out of leaves) that we already had, plus ribbons and thread that we had on hand.  It's refreshing to collaborate with two other women who find fun, creative, things to do without spending a lot of money.

I made French Bread, cookies, Hint of Cinnamon Kettle Corn (Oooee!  I'll be sharing this recipe this week), waffles, ranch dressing for my husband since we had run out, black beans (I threw them in the freezer and added them to my Freezer Inventory Chart), vegetable noodle soup, and Sweet Chili Thai Sauce.

I spent time in the garden sowing seeds.  I also got two pots for my blueberry bushes for 70% off.  I don't want to plant them in the ground here, so I need to transplant them quickly.

Radishes, spinach, and some purple broccoli are all getting their true leaves.  The radishes are beginning to bulb, too!  Our snow peas are producing.  I tried one, and even though it wasn't mature yet, it still tasted pretty good.  It was nice to eat something fresh out of the garden.  We're supposed to get a light frost tonight, so I'm probably going to be spending time mulching out in the garden today.  I am really pleased with my fall/winter garden so far, so I'm hoping I can protect well enough what needs to be protected.

It's getting much colder so I'm trying to be careful with how we run the heat.  I want it warmish in the house, but we need an affordable electric bill too.  I've also been more aware of our electricity usage and I've been turning off lights when we aren't using them.

I'm hoping that once all of the Halloween festivities have all been enjoyed, we can take a little breather.  We've had so many activities and extra things that we've been doing, I haven't had much time to budget this week, clean this week, or save this week!  

These are the ways we've saved this week!  Did you have any special savings this week?

Ways I Saved

A few months ago, I found The Prudent Homemaker blog. My favorite post is a weekly post called Last Week's Frugal Accomplishments. It's so inspiring and makes me so very much more aware of the way we spend.

This week was a good week in many ways! But it was an especially good week for living within our budget.
First off, we finalized our budget. I always draw up a draft budget with what I think we'll need in the various categories, at which point my husband and I give it a look through. We make any necessary adjustments and give it a final stamp of approval. This is a wonderful way to discuss our financial goals, stay open about finances and it keeps us on track.

I prepared lunches for my husband to take to work. I usually do this, but I found that I packed some inexpensive goodies, leftovers, and notes a little more this week to make it more special, but thrifty.

We went to story time at the library.

I made rice two times this week. I've been wanting to make it more often because it's very inexpensive, filling, and the two recipes I use most are very versatile. I made my Spanish Rice (recipe to come), and I made my Simple Yellow Rice. We used the Simple Yellow Rice for two full meals and a snack.

I sorted through the green tomatoes ripening on my counter to dig out the red ones. I pulled out almost a full gallon bag of red ones. I'm going to wait for about another week, at which point I'll pick out more ripe tomatoes and then I'll make more Basil-Garlic Tomato Sauce.

I went through my craft boxes to make some pretend play objects for the kiddos. I used some hemp and large craft sticks to make fishing poles, which they have been playing with for three days now!

I planted lettuce, radish, spinach, carrot, and leek seeds this week in the garden and greenhouse. I also planted some more Garlic Cloves.

My husband found some free materials to build me a garden bed!! I love the unique box(es) and it is quite deep. It's my very first raised garden bed that I have ever owned, and I can't wait to see what we can get to grow in it. I plan on coaxing some fall and winter gardening out of it.

We used compost that has been building up in our backyard. It it is actually really rich, which was exciting as we jut inherited it when we moved in.  We've been adding our scraps to it all week, quite diligently.

A friend, HER friend, and I started a little home school group. We're just going to meet once a week for science/music/craft type activities as we are all using a different core curriculum. It was very nice to meet up and feel supported and share ideas!

I was able to create a terrarium this week, something I've been learning about and wanted to do for awhile. I purchased the actual terrarium on a steep discount (talk about right place, right time for the exact and unique container that I wanted), purchased a small bag of charcoal vs. a big one, gathered small rocks for gravel from my backyard instead of purchasing a bag, and I was selective about the plants I used. I spent more on one of the plants that I really wanted, then chose a few others that I liked, but was willing to sacrifice for savings. I also made some terrarium accessories instead of buying them. It was way more fun, and I used items I had at home to create the items. I love how it turned out, and I'm excited to watch it mature and cheer up our home. It's a unique decoration/plant!

My garden is quite bare at the moment, however, I did use some parsley out of it this week.  I'm hoping the things I planted will grow quickly.

I made laundry detergent.

I was very aware of electricity usage and tried to flip lights off when not in use.

How did you save this week?