Finances on Friday! Trouble Shooting with Homemade Laundry Soap

I'm linking up with Rebecca again over at Renaissance for Finances on Friday!

Well, I needed to make some more homemade laundry soap on Tuesday, but I was busy doing something else, so I asked my oldest son to help me make some. Actually, he was going to make it by himself with my instructions. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong, but it never quite set up to the right consistancy.

I think people have a love/hate relationship with homemade laundry soap, and I have to admit, so have I.

I started making my own soap, I think, six years ago (?) at the encouragement of a friend.  And, I've had to trouble shoot a bit, but I think I'm at a point where it seems to work adequately.

Here's the recipe I use for the liquid version of homemade laundry soap:

1 bar of Zote soap, grated
1 cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1 cup Oxy Clean (or similar alternative)
1 cup salt

Melt the grated soap on medium heat in a large pot filled half way or so with water. You'll want to almost continually stir this and I use a wisk to break up the clumps of soap. Place the other ingredients all in a five gallon plastic bucket. When your soap is fully melted pour the entire thing into your bucket of powders. Use a long handled spoon to stir until the powders are dissolved. Then use your pot to fill the bucket almost to the top with warm water (cool will cause it to set up a little too quickly) and stir it all with your long handled spoon. It will need overnight to set up, but you can go ahead and use it right away if you need to.

Troubleshooting:

• The original recipe was for Fels Naptha soap, but I like the Zote better. I couldn't get Zote in South Carolina, but they sell it in Walmart here in Oklahoma. Once I used Ivory and I didn't feel like it made the clothes seem quite as clean. The Zote grates easier, is less than $1 and smells a lot nicer.
• At the suggestion of a friend, I added in the Oxyclean. I've also tried the cheaper Sun brand and it works just as well. The ingredient list is practically the same.
• At the suggestion of the same friend I also added the salt. After we moved to Oklahoma I felt like the original recipe didn't seem to work as well as before. I don't know if it is hard water or what, but the salt seems to make a difference-maybe softening the hard water.

Certainly this isn't the only recipe out there, and you could also add in some essential oils, but I just haven't done that yet.

We all wear hand me downs, so by the time we get them, someone else has deemed them useless (for whatever reason), so our clothes aren't in pristine condition when we start out with them. I am particular however, because I don't want us walking around looking like we always wear second hand clothes. lol! But, it does take a little effort to keep them looking nice.

Here's what I've come up with:

• I keep a medium sized bucket by the washer for soaking clothes in Oxyclean (or Sun brand). If something is really stained (shirt collars, food on the front of kids shirts, or whatever) I'll stick it in the bucket and soak it with a scoop of Oxyclean. Sometimes I'll have to leave it in there a few days, but it has almost always worked. The only time it didn't get a stain out that I can remember, was a few months ago Brennan got some sort of weird grease stain on a shirt and it would not come out. I don't know what the stain was from, but it wasn't a normal grease stain.
• Homemade soap doesn't have the brightners in it that store bought soap does, so during the summer when everyone is wearing brighter things, I'll look for a sale with a coupon and get some store bought soap. Last year Kmart had a sale and I bought a huge box of powdered off brand soap and only used it for the bright loads. It worked great and lasted me a LONG time since I was only doing maybe 5 loads a week with it.
• I do about 4 loads a day. (There are 12 of us.) Unless there are blankets or something and that makes more loads. I tried hanging the loads out on a clothes line a few summers ago and it didn't seem like it was saving me as much money as the time it took was worth. So, for now I am just sticking them in the dryer.
• I don't use fabric softner because it makes my kids' eczema break out. I know there are some homemade recipes for that also, but really I don't even notice not using any.

So, if you've been putting off making your own, or you've made a batch and just didn't love it, don't give up on it! It really does save me a significant amount of money. The ingredients do last quite a long time. Try some of these trouble shooting tips and see if they work for you.

Don't forget to link up at Renaissance and let us know any frugal tips or ideas you have!

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Well, our birthday marathon is starting and first up is Thomas. His birthday was yesterday and he turned 7!

 

 

This is the only picture I have and I took it with my flip phone. Yes, I said flip phone. (Well, it still works and I can't bring myself to go update it. I don't need to do anything but call and text anyway.) I still don't have a camera and Brittany's camera battery wasn't charged. :(  Maybe David could get me a camera for our upcoming anniversary? Hint. HINT.

 

He wanted a ninja turtles theme so we just went with a few green and purple decorations and the girls made him the cutest pinata. It was a turtle face with a purple mask out of crepe paper. I took a picture of it but somehow it got lost on my phone. Anyway, it was very creative.

 

David and Brittany had to work, and last night was AWANA, so we waited until after that when everyone was home to have cupcakes and celebrate. Thomas got a little money as a gift and now he is BIG STUFF.

 

Happy Birthday, Thomas!

 



Monday Musings

Travis (3) and holding up fingers: "Mom is this Twosday or Thirdday or Fourday?"

Finances on Friday!

I'm joining Rebecca over at Renaissance for another Finances on Friday post!


Here is what went right this week:

-Used a coupon for a free order of chips and queso at the mexican fast food place down the street.

-Signed up for Google Ads. We'll see how it works out!

-Gave the kids haircuts. I cut all the boys' hair except Tyler. I don't know if he wants a shaggy look or he doesn't trust me.  I am NO EXPERT. And, I hope no one else notices that either. Their hair actually did turn out decently. Decently. I cut Bailey's (4) and Brooke's (10) hair, also, and might have gotten a little scissor happy, since around three inches came off instead of one. But, it turned out really cute in both cases. I have cut the girls' hair in the past, and David used to cut the boys, then when we moved here and my sister in law started cutting it. But, instead I decided to start taking matters into my own hands and this is probably the third time I've cut the boys' hair.

-A very kind man from church always looks out for us and on Sunday gave us a box with apples, oranges, some individual cereal boxes and some french toast slices leftover from a co-op at his workplace.

-The cashier at the shoe store looked up a coupon code today and saved me $7 off of $50 shoes for my son since I had a store rewards card. (THANK you nice cashier guy!)

-Stretched two random cans of soup into feeding all the kids for dinner. I put the two cans in the crock pot, added a few chicken breasts and some chicken stock from the fridge and a loaf of french bread-$1.18 from the discount bread rack at Walmart.

And, this is what went wrong this week:

-Had to spend $20 on another white button down shirt for my son for work since somehow a pen got into the laundry.

-Burned up a half tank of gas in two days doing errands. (I have a 15 passenger van with a very big, expensive gas tank.)

-Bought lunch while out doing those errands. (with nary a coupon! Shocking, I know.)

-The lemon pound cake I made for a fundraiser at church met it's demise before making it to church.  Let's just say it involved a vehicle, and sliding on ice.

Link up over at Renaissance and let us know what you did that was frugal, or not so frugal, this week!

Snow, More Snow (did I mention snow?) and the Duggars

Well, no one can say this hasn't been a real winter.

On Sunday it snowed for the fourth or fifth time since November. It snowed again today and is supposed to snow again on Thursday and Saturday. I can't even wrap my mind around it. When we left for church Sunday morning there were BARELY a few snowflakes falling and I thought, "Oh, this will probably stop in a few minutes," but by the time we left church it had snowed THREE inches! I didn't even know how we were going to make it home, but thankfully they got the highways plowed and it wasn't really ice, just snow.

I'm so ready for summer. (Will I still be appreciating that statement when it's 110 degrees? I don't know.)


So, on Saturday, Brittany went to a party at the Duggar's house. Yes, the same Duggar's from 19 Kids and Counting!

My friend has a friend who knows the Duggars from some political endeavors that her friend's husband has been involved in. The Duggars agreed to host a surprise party for the husband, and my friend's daughter invited Brittany to come along.

We learned something from this experience. My family may, in fact, actually be the Duggar family.

I will allow you to come to your own conclusions:

Tristan and Jackson could be twins.

 

 

 

 

Josie and Travis could be twins.

 

 

 

 

 

I have been told I sound like Michelle.

 

 

Now, if that isn't enough evidence I don't know what is.


I would love to meet her and ask her how she keeps up with all the kids toothbrushes. And, how many pencils does she buy for the school year? I bought probably 200 pencils last August. We now have twelve left. TWELVE. Half way through the school year. WHERE DO THEY GO???  It's these type of things that I just haven't figured out yet as a large family mother. And, how, HOW can children possibly eat so much food?

Maybe you just smile and deal with it the best that you can, because you know that in the blink of an eye they will all be grown and then you'll think, "Well, what am I going to do with all these 200 pencils?"

Monday Musings

Me: What happened to your doll's clothes?

Bailey (4): Well, apparently Bethany and Brooke were playing with them and (hands up with quotation marks) "got them torn up".



Some well know Christmas carols according to Bailey:

Joy to the World: "repeat the seeds of Joy, repeat the seeds of Joy....."

"We wish you a Merry Christmas to you and your Kim, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..............."

Finances on Friday! Except that it's Saturday!

Ugggh.

Sickness.

That's where we are this week. Thankfully there is no puking (I even hesitate to say that too soon) but lots and lots of snot and coughing. That might be TMI, but I like to keep it real around here. Unfortunately, even I, the one who really doesn't get sick often, have fallen victim to the yuck. I haven't felt terrible, but on top of being pregnant, I'm really drained of energy.

So, I am a day late, (and maybe even a dollar short which would fall within the theme of frugal living) to link up to Rebecca's Finances on Friday post over at Renaissance!

I still managed to do a few frugal things this week:

-Bought a scratch and dent dryer that saved us $300.

-Made burgers with elk meat added to some ground beef. We were given a freezer full of elk meat last year. The ground meat really blends in well with whatever you're cooking. Now, the steaks taste a little "game-y-er" which is the reason we don't care too much for venison. Even the ground venison tastes too much like game to me. But, I can handle the ground elk. I had taken a little break from cooking with it while I had morning sickness, because if I eat something that doesn't sit right with me when I'm pregnant, I don't want to eat it again. EVER. And, since we still have half a freezer of elk left, I didn't want to risk it. I used two pounds of ground elk, 1 pound of ground beef (80/20), chopped jalepeno from our garden last year, chopped garlic, salt/pepper and some Eskimo Joe's meat seasoning. They were yummy!

-I'm trying to keep the heater at 68 degrees. It has been a super cold winter here since November. Crazy. The windows here are AWEFUL, probably the original 50 year old windows, so we are trying to keep blankets over them when it is really cold. We can't hardly stand it set any colder than 68, but it does make a big difference on the bill when we don't bump it up to 70.

-One other thing we do regularly around here is to reuse towels after baths before we wash them. Especially if it's just a little kid who doesn't get the towel very wet. My mom made me do that when I was a kid and I HATED it, but my kids don't seem to mind. And I appreciate having a little less laundry to do!

And, where things went awry........

-Forgot to put the garbage out at the curb (twice!) and had to buy $3.00 worth of tags for the extra bags that wouldn't fit into the can.


And.........update on the house hunt!

We've been house and land hunting for about a year now and seriously looking for the last six months. We have been wanting to do some small scale farming since we first got married and feel like the time for that to become a reality is finally here. I've been praying that God would bring the perfect house at the perfect location for the perfect price at the perfect time. Well, last Wednesday a friend texted the number of two houses she had passed on her way home. One number she'd given me last month, but I didn't call because of some other things going on and we were just going to take a break for Christmas.

Anyway, long story short, I called them Wednesday, David happened to have a long break between driving on Thursday, and we went to see the house during his break.

Well, we loved it! I feel like it's exactly what I've prayed for! It's only two acres, where we had really wanted five or ten, but it already has pens for animals and plenty of room for probably two cows. It meets all the other criteria that I had in mind, and an older Christian couple own it and have lived there for many, many years, so it's very well kept. The only thing we know of that needs to be done is some siding boards and trim need to be replaced. And, the financing company will not approve it until that is fixed. Also, we don't know if they may find any other problems upon inspection, that could make it not be approved. So, I am praying, praying that if this is the house God wants for us that the boards and trim can easily be repaired and that nothing else is wrong with it and it can be ours!

Thank you for visiting my blog this week! Head over to Renaissance and see what ideas others had!