Homemade Laundry Detergent

I havn't posted awhile about the homemade laundry detergent I make.   I have been using it since February and still LOVE IT, LOVE IT!

Now, some people love it just as much as me, and others completely hate it, which is ok too!  I do live in the country with well water, but we have a water softner, which I am sure makes a difference.  I know some people say it doesn't do well with hard water. 

So, here is the recipe again for the homemade laundry detergent.  I make the liquid recipe, which I have only made once because it is lasting that long, WOW I know.  And I have a big family of 6 and do tons of laundry!  I do have a HE Washer, some people do not want to use it in their HE washer.  So, I cannot tell you to use it or not.  The homemade laundry detergent has no suds so for my washer it was better. 



HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT


The recipe I used was The Duggar's recipe site


Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value
4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar or Ivory barsoap
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.


-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water.

-Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)


-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled.
Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Here is another version using powder form...

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine


1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon.
For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent.
(Approx. 40 loads)

Hot Weather!

WOW!! Southeast Missouri is really hot! I mean steamy steamy hot hot! 

Like someone commented on facebook, "wish there were coupons for the electric bill!"

I really try keeping the house cool as I can.  Using certain appliances really can heat up your home and your air conditioner will have to work harder.

* I do not use the oven or stove, instead I cook on the grill or we will have salad and fruit for supper. 
* I do not use the dryer, I hang my clothes out to dry on the line.  I have to say I really really think this works.  The dryer can heat up your home, so I just use the HOT sunshine outside. :)
* I keep all the ceiling fans running, it seems to help keep everything cooler.
* I keep the curtains closed to keep that HOT sun out.

So, what are some things you do or don't do to keep your home cooler?

Garage/Yard Sales

I love couponing AND I just love garage/yard sales.  The only thing I do not like about them is ..  why in the heck do they have to start at the crack of dawn???  I really like to sleep in on the weekends!

ANYWAY...  :)

There are a few things we are wanting and I WILL NOT, CAN NOT and REFUSE to pay full price.  So, the next alternative, a garage sale.

Here are a few things we are wanting...  a treadmill,  furniture for my daugher's room, SOLID WOOD furniture, color doesn't matter because I plan on stripping it and painting the furniture ;),  I also need solid wood end tables for my living room, again, I plan on stripping them also.  My son is wanting a weight bench.

So, this morning I got my household up at 6am, because there was a garage sale that had a treadmill and the sale started at 7am.  Now I also have to be at work at 8:30am. 

On the way to the sale,  after I went the wrong way on Bloomfield because of the detour and had to turn around and go the other way ( my own fault, I knew Bloomfield was closed ).  All I am thinking is, it is probably an awesome treadmill and someone will buy it before I get there, kinda like couponing ....

Well I FINALLY got there.  The treadmill is an awesome treadmill, it works ( that is a plus ;)  AND it even inclines!  WOW, didn't even want that but hey, I will take it!  The price tag.....  $40.00 what, $40.00, load it up!  Also, they had a weight bench with all the weights for $25, so my son got that also!

So, did I find an awesome deal today, I think so AND I plan on getting the furniture I need too, just have to be patient!!  I had researched prices on treadmills and just a plain o'l treadmill cost right around $250.00~

Now,  to lose 15 lb......  Now that is a WHOLE other story!

What things do you do to save money?

Since you are here reading this, I assume you want to or already use coupons.  Coupons are great for saving money.  With rising food costs, along with everything else I try to find many ways to save money!


For my family and I, first we put out a big garden!!  That really saves money not only in the summer but all year.  Since I can lots of veggies we have them year around.  We have fruit trees also, but they are still young, but I am blessed with a apple tree my grandma let's us pick from.  I make applesauce, apple pie filling and apple jam. 

Even if you don't have room for a big garden, just start by putting a couple of tomato plants in a pot or what ever veggie you like!!  It will be a start!!

Also, with the free juice I get with coupons, I make Apple Pie Jelly, you can go here to get that recipe!  It really isn't that hard and you feel like you accomplished an awesome thing when you can your own food!!

One thing about canning is that even if there is a power outage, the food you canned won't go bad, like food in a freezer could. 

As many of you know I also make my own Homemade Laundry Detergent, recipe HERE.   I absolutely  LOVE my Homemade Laundry Detergent!!!  Just cutting corners like this really helps!

And as far as our new project, chickens, you can read about ours HERE.  Now we are not reaping from them yet BUT we will.  The chickens are not going to make us money. BUT the things I think about is, having the eggs in our backyard!  To know that I would ALWAYS have fresh eggs if some kind of disaster were to happen  etc.  

I have a few other things I am working on, but I can't tell ya ALL my secrets ;) at least not until I am ready to!

So, what things do YOU do to try to save money BESIDES couponing???

Money Saving Tips!

I know we have some newbie's to the blog and I just want to say Welcome to our Coupon, Money Saving World!  ;)

I love to save money in everyway. 

You can read about my Homemade Laundry Detergent HERE

You can also read about  my family's NEW Money Saving Project HERE

Now here is a NEW money saving project.

Every year my family has a LARGE garden.  I love to can our produce. ( A hands on canning class is in the works for this summer, for those who are interested )

Well, I am a little behind on starting our tomato seeds, but Kaelyn and I started them last night...



Add caption

My daughter Kaelyn.  She put potting soil in the trays ( I purchase the trays at Sunny Hill Gardens, these are a one time investment, because you can reuse these)  and is adding ONE seed to each individual section! She just make a small hole with her finger to place the seed in.  The seeds DO NOT need to be planted very deep.



I bought these tomatoes seeds as some of our tomatoes because these plants will have less seeds, which is great for when you can and make sauces.

The tomatoes are early birds, so they will produce early than others.

Our finished product!  On warm days I will set the trays out on the deck.  Otherwise the trays will stay in our sunny Dining room. 

So, are you going to plant a garden???









My Family's Money Saving Project!

So, have you been wondering what my family's money saving project is????  Well, this project is a project in progress!  So, exciting!!!

This is the beginning of the project, just a box hmmm???

Look what was in that box!

Our chicks!!!  The beginning of raising chickens!

My daughter, Kaelyn, has named each and everyone of them

My son, Kolten, this chick is HIS, he says!

So as you can see our money saving project is a project in process!  We are raising chickens for eggs.  I will be posting pictures as the chicken coop is being built!! 

So any of YOU have chickens?

Money Saving Projects!

So, how many of you tried and are enjoying the HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT???

I have been using it about a month and just LOVE IT!!!

I have more money saving projects coming up. One thing is, I know many of you have mentioned about learning how to can. So, I am going to be doing some pictures and maybe even video of canning, jellies ( from the free juice you get from couponing ) , later in the summer I will teach you how to can salsa and a few other things!!!

I have another surprise money saving project I am doing this week. shhh, but that I will leave as a surprise ;)

My Money Saving Project

So, are you wondering what my moneysaving project was this weekend???

I did some research and found a GREAT, AWESOME, recipe and directions on....

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT

I absolutely LOVE the detergent. I have an HE washer and it works great if not better!!!

The recipe I used was The Duggar's recipe site

Here is the recipe from their site!



Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar or Ivory barsoap
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water.

Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled.

Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

So, how much did this cost to make? Well, the items I bought will make MANY 5 gallon buckets, so keep that in mind.

You can now buy ALL the ingredients at Walmart.  When I first purchased this they didn't carry everything, I think Schnucks has the ingredients too!!


WALMART: Borax $2.98

ACE Hardware: Arm & Hammer Super Washing Sode $3.79
Fel Naptha Bar Soap $1.49

So, I spent a total of $8.26.
As you see from the recipe above I only used 1/2 c of the Borax and it comes in a HUGE box. So, that will last FOREVER. The Washing soda is in a big box also and I only used 1 cup of it.

I had Ivory bar soap I could have used but I went ahead and tried the Fel Naptha Bar soap. Doesn't really matter which one I use, next time I will probably just use Ivory, since I already have it!

So, on average for the FRONT LOADING machine your cost is a penny a load!

If you want to add oils to your detergent, you can get it at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 each
There are MANY MANY flavors!!

I really love making my own detergent! It took about 10 minutes total to make!!

Here is another version using powder form...

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon.
For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent.
(Approx. 40 loads)

The liquid form I feel is the BEST deal!! So, let me know your thoughts on Homemade Laundry Detergent!!!

Amazon: DIAPERS???

I get ALOT of questions on how to get diapers CHEAP. Well a couple of weeks ago I met a local couponer who buys her diapers on Amazon. I thought that was really interesting! So, I had her email me on how she does it!....

* Head on over to Amazon Mom and register or login. By becoming an Amazon Mom member, you receive an additional 15% discount on top of the standard 15% discount when you sign up for Subscribe & Save delivery. You’ll also score FREE 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime.

* Then head over to Amazon.com and check out all the awesome diaper deals! Be sure to choose Subscribe & Save (on the right side of the page) and you will save an additional 30% off your diaper order and receive FREE shipping!

*Also, sometimes you can find ecoupons on Amazon that will be for Pampers or Huggies. These can also be used toward your purchase.

*Finally, use the 20% off coupon from the November issue of Parents Magazine (expires 1/31/11!) or any other Amazon.com coupon. I have also found codes in the Parenting the Early Years magazine. You can stack multiple codes if they start with a different letter. For instance, September's issue of the Parents Magazine started with a certain letter and November's started with a different one. Therefore, I could stack them both together. This made for some really cheap diapers!

So, look through the Parents Magazine to see if there are codes to use on Amazon. Infact if you can get a cheap subscription it would be worth it. Also, if you do swagbucks and earn amazon cards, well, that will help pay for it!

Let me know if any of you start buying diapers from Amazon and how cheap you get your diapers!!!

Thanks Sarah B. for the info, I think it is GREAT!!!

Money Saving Tip

I have been thinking about money saving tips and this is my latest one.

I have 3 boys and 1 girl. When they all get haircuts it cost about $40.00 ($10 each or so).

My friend Christy has cut their hair for years. So, thanks Christy, I have watched you and thought, I can do that, hmmm sort of. (BUT I will never be like Christy ;)

So, I bought a set of hair trimmers, that came with hair scissors etc...

My 8 and 10 year olds hair turned out great. Their hair is easy all buzzed except their bangs. Of Course Kaelyn's hair I just trim the ends.

THEN came Dylan's hair. He wanted his sides and back buzzed but the top scissored cut. Now I have NEVER scissored cut ANYONE'S hair except the bangs. SO, I told him ok, if I mess up I can just buzz it off.

You know what, it took me awhile BUT it actually look good. HE even liked it!!!

So, next I look at my husband and say "You're next" (and Christy you KNOW how picky David is about his hair)

I really didn't think he would let me cut his hair, but this weekend I am suppose to cut it. I will let you all know how it turns. ( hmmm, Christy he might have to come see you next week;)

So my money saving tip, if you have young children, try cutting their hair yourself. I spent $13.00 on trimmers. I also plan on cutting their hair MORE often since I have the trimmers. We just take a barstool onto the front porch and have a haircutting party!! :)

Money Saving Tip of the Week

This week's money saving tip is a little different.

Did you know that your expired coupons could be more helpful than just throwing them in the trash?

Overseas military bases accept expired coupons. I think it is a great way to pass on the blessings by sending out expired coupons to them.

You can go here to get some addresses and more info on this wonderful project!!! :)

This is a GREAT way to bless a military family!

Money Saving Tip of the Week

I seen this tip on a Thirfty Mom, I thought it was great and plan on doing this myself :)

If you have lots of news papers left over from all the coupons you get out of them you can put them to good use for spring. I like to grow my summer veggies from seeds, very Thrifty because I get a lot of plants at a fraction of the cost, so I use the news papers as pots. Just roll them up like you would for a telescope, cut in half then fill with dirt and your seeds. I put a lot in a tray so the water is collected in the tray. When it is time to plant you just unroll your veggie plant. This is free instead of buying the small peat pots for starters.

(Just use the black and white papers, I read that colored ink isn't good to use because of it getting to your plants :)

Money Saving Tips

This Week's Money Saving TIP...

With spring right around the corner, my garden has been on my mind.

A Garden can save you soooo much money and the fresh veggies are so much better than the store veggies. If this is your first year for a garden, start small. You could get overwhelmed by trying a BIG garden for the first year.

This will be my 2nd year having a garden and we are doubling the size. I LOVE having a garden. My daughter loves it just as much as me. We love planting, picking and then canning.

Some people think canning is hard. But you know, last year was the first year I canned and it is soooo easy. I canned everything.... Salsa, greenbeans, apple pie filling, peaches, pickles, jelly, jams, deer meat(i canned this, this winter) etc. It is great to open up a jar of the veggie or fruits you canned last summer. I have a great place in our basement I store all of the jars.

So this spring I will start posting on how to can fruits and veggies. You will be sooo proud when you have all of those jars filled with things you grew!!!

So think about having a garden and what you want to grow. What are you thinking about growing?

MONEY SAVING TIPS

I am starting a new label today. Money Saving Tips. Once a week I will be posting a money saving tip BESIDES coupons. Really the idea just hit me while I was cleaning my kitchen. LOL

Ok so for today's money saving tip.

I use cleaning spray on EVERYTHING, counter tops, toliets, etc.... but you know when the liquid gets to low that it won't spray out, very irritating.

Some might just throw the bottle away even though though there is still liquid in the bottom, BUT I get a new bottle and pour the liquid from the old bottle in.

If there isn't enough room, just wait until a couple of uses of the new bottle and then pour the old bottle liquid in. I mean why waste the cleaning spray, every little bit counts!! :)

S0 how was today's Money Saving Tip? Silly maybe but hey that was what I was doing when the Money Saving Tip Label came to me. Trust me it will get better. LOL