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Monday, May 20, 2013

DIY Homemade Laundry Powder Detergent!

So...I'm VERY into homemade non-harsh cleaning products, but one I hadn't tried yet was laundry detergent. My aunt had made some a while ago, but since we've been living with my parents, I haven't had to buy laundry detergent lately. But the other day while we were grocery shopping, I saw the Fels-Naptha bar and all the supplies to make it (cost less than $10!), so I thought I might as well.

The source I got the recipe from says that the final mixed amount will be enough for 60 loads, so about 15 cents per load. But you'll also have enough of the Borax and Super Washing Soda to make at least 2 to 3 more batches if you don't use it in other places around the house. An 150 oz container of Tide is roughly $18 for 90 loads or 20 cents per load. It may not seem like a lot, but if you do a load a day for a year, that's a savings of about $18.25, which adds up. Especially if you replace the other chemical cleaners in your house for cheaper homemade alternatives.

All you need is:
-20 Mule Team Borax, roughly $3 at Walmart
-Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda, roughly $3 at Walmart
-1 Fels-Naptha (yellow) or Zote (pink) laundry bar (they do essentially the same thing, but Fels has a cleaner scent, and Zote has a flowery scent), less than $1 at Walmart


Take your cheese grater (it's safe!) and grate up the bar of soap (only half the bar if you're using Zote). I've heard you can use a food processor to annihilate the soap into tiny pieces so it mixes with the other ingredients better, but mine just made little tiny soap balls in the bottom, so I won't try it again. If you're a prankster, put this in the fridge or on the counter and see how many think it's cheese. Just kidding. Don't do that. :)


1 cup of Borax.


1 cup of super washing soda. Easy peasy.


Stir to mix. Or you can put a lid on it and shake it, but when I did it, it made a layer of soap on top and everything wasn't mixed together very well.

Throw in a tablespoon of the mixture with each load. That's it! AND, it works well enough that it got out the blueberry stains that had been left on my son's clothes for a day. This will be the only detergent I use at home for the rest of my life! So cheap, easy, and safe. :)

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Wake Up Call

Update: In a few days, I'll finally be posting about my son's birthday party and I'll try to attach downloadable templates for the decorations I made.

On topic: I know religion is a taboo topic in this world, but I'd like to share an experience of mine. This may be a sloppy post and all over the place because I didn't put too much thought into it before I wrote it. Haha.

I realized the other day, I hadn't been to church since I was early in my pregnancy...and hadn't been a regular church go-er since before I GOT pregnant. As most of you know, my son just turned one and that's a LONG time to go between visits.

Here's a little bit of background (and I really hope my family doesn't get mad about me posting this): My family is Christian (specifically Catholic), but my parents were never really church-going other than Easter, Christmas, and Baptisms, at least once my brother and I got older. We were baptized in a Catholic church and I can remember going to CCD (?) and doing all the preparation for my first communion, but I never attended my first communion (and I don't remember why). From then on, we tried a couple of churches in the area when we moved, but none of them stuck. Not saying my parents aren't religious people, because I know they both very much believe in God, I just think they never really found anything that FIT them.

I went to youth group and church by myself from the time I was 13 until I was 18. I went to three different churches throughout that period of time; one for youth group until I could drive, one by myself (which is my "niche" and the one we're attending now), and one with James once we got together that was in our area. They're all great churches, but my FIT was definitely with the 2nd church. I had been going there for two years and I was almost a member by the time I stopped going. Then I went to college, dropped out after a semester, and experienced a "dark period", which was also when I ended up getting pregnant. After that, my faith was at the bottom of my priority list.

I never felt like God had given up on me. At the time I had "more important things to do". I realize now that they weren't as important as I had made them. I also felt like if I went to church pregnant, while everyone knew I wasn't married and wasn't planning to get married anytime soon, that I would be uncomfortable and unaccepted. There are always people who are going to judge, but my fear was more my feelings than actuality. I don't think any of the people I talked with in church would have disassociated me because of it, I was just so AFRAID and ashamed, that every time, I talked myself out of going. There were days we'd be completely ready to walk out the door and I'd psych myself out and change my mind. We had DRIVEN to church and once we got there, I told James to keep on driving.

ANYWAY...the point of this whole book...
This past Sunday, I finally sucked it up and went, and it was GREAT. Totally refreshing. They just combined with another church, so most of the people didn't even think we were new, they just thought they hadn't met us yet, so it was less awkward for us to introduce ourselves to a bunch of people. And a lot of them remembered me, which made me feel better too, since I thought most of them would have forgotten me by now. I have a feeling that a "side effect" of attending is going to be a renewed interest in music. I had pretty much given up on that when I got pregnant too, but it felt GOOD to be singing in church. It's hard to describe just how amazing this was for me, unless you've been at this kind of turning point yourself. :)

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