Friday, February 15, 2013

better late, than never

Stu's Valentine's. 
As easy as--

{1} 

 {2}

{3}
Hope you all had a wonderful Vday spending time with those you LOVE!! We sure did!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Homemade Laundry Soap-- my version


My Mom and Mother-in-law have been using homemade laundry soap for a while and got me to love it! I hate, hate, DOUBLE HATE how much laundry soap costs. So I was happy to try it. After a few tries and changes here is my version, that I LOVE!

Homemade Tide
 Ingredients 
Borax (~$2.99)
Arm and Hammer Super washing Soda(~$2.99)
Fels-Naptha Soap bar (~$1.60)
50 oz. bottle of your favorite scent of Tide (~$7.99)
(all can be found at Walmart)
You will also need: a cheese grater and a 3.5 gallon bucket (or similar size)

Grand Total =  ~$15.53 for 112 loads!! That is about 14 cents per load! And, the savings will be even greater the next time (8 cents per load) because you will only have to buy the soap and the Tide. 
*Compare to Tide at 26 cents per load.
WAHOO!!!
1st-- Grate the bar of soap
**Make sure that you let everyone know that you are grating SOAP and not CHEESE! No samples needed!!! (0:

2nd-- add grated soap to 4 cups of water and stir over medium-low heat until melted and there are NO lumps. (about 10 mins.)

3rd-- Fill your bucket 1/2 full of warm water and add 1 c. of washing soda and 1/2 c. of Borax. Stir.
4th-- Add entire bottle of Tide.
5th-- Add melted soap mixture.
 6th-- Fill your bucket the rest of the way with warm water and let it sit over night. It will thicken up a little. (You will need to stir it before each use. A lot of the soap settles to the bottom.)
7th-- Wash all of your clothes and smell how clean and amazing they smell! Don't you just LOVE the smell of tide??!!!

** You can transfer your soap into cute bottles or milk jugs or like me just keep it in the huge bucket. I keep the lid from the Tide bottle and use that to scoop out the amount that I want. I use about 1/4-1/2 cup per load. (Depends on what Stu has been playing in that day!)

I hope you love this laundry soap like I do! And, if you don't change it up until you do.