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How To Make Homemade Laundry Detergent
Posted on November 9, 2012, by Kim, under Food | Health | Beauty.
You have to spend a ton of money on famous, name-brand laundry detergents like Tide and others to get your clothes clean. Wrong! Here’s the recipe and process I use in our home to make laundry detergent for pennies per load.
- 1/3 Bar of soap — I like to use the following soaps, Dove or Tom’s of Maine Lavender scented soap, I have also purchased homemade soaps made with essential oils as well.
- 1/2 cup of washing soda — This is made by Arm & Hammer, I believe it is baking soda, so if you can’t find washing soda, you can use baking soda.
- 1/2 cup of Borax powder — my preferred brand is 20 Mule Team Borax
Grate the soap (I use my food processor) and put it in a stock pot. Add 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the Borax and stir it until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket and add the soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.
-The finished soap will NOT be a solid. It will be more of a watery gel.
-The soap is low sudsing. If you don’t see suds, it’s okay. Suds are not what does the cleaning. Low suds also means it works great for front-loading washing machines like ours.
I figure that this soap costs pennies per load. I also use white vinegar in place of fabric softener.
The picture is around half of the last batch I made. Before you make a batch, be sure to have some large containers to store it in. We have two cats, the two largest jugs here are kitty litter containers that we washed out and use. They hold a bunch and make it really easy to pour refills into the last laundry detergent bottle we purchased also shown in the picture.
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The Benefits of Purging
Posted on April 24, 2012, by Kim, under Family | Relationships.
My children always have a wonderful way of making me face things that I deliberately avoid! Today, it came in the form of my daughter who approached me about a question regarding our refrigerator. As I was preparing for a warm and relaxing midday bath, I hear Abby loudly from the kitchen, “Mom, can you help me get this shelf out of the fridge?” I was not sure why she was asking me this question so I went to find out why she needed the shelf removed. Well, my very helpful daughter that was helping me put groceries away earlier decided that the fridge really needed to be overhauled. This was not news to me, as I tend to avoid the “nasty” duties of being a homemaker.
While I am leery to tell you what happened, I am going to, and hopefully, I can provide some humor! Abby said, “Oh my goodness, Mom!!!! You wouldn’t believe the sour cream that I found in here!” I said, “Oh, I am sure I would.” She continued by telling me how that sour cream was at least four different shades of green. Being a homeschooling mom, I immediately referred to this day as Science and we logged our time in our book while we discussed mold! Every moment is teachable, moms!!! Well, Abby continued to pull out one Tupperware bowl after another, after another, after another! I quickly reverted to sarcasm and said, “I think maybe I need to have a Tupperware party, as I definitely don’t have enough bowls here!” As Abby told me how she almost threw up looking at that sour cream, I with tears in my eyes, reaching for the Vick’s Vapor Rub to put under my nose to keep from smelling the death that was wafting from the garbage disposal, just smiled and nodded! It is so funny now, but it has me thinking!
How much junk and rotten things do we have in our lives? I mean, we are faced with junk every single day. It could be from a gossipy neighbor, girlfriend or co-worker, or possibly in the tv shows that we allow into our homes as entertainment, what about the books that we read or allow our children to read, the friends we keep, the activities in which we are involved. All of these things should be reviewed daily, weekly, even monthly! It has been about two years now that my husband and I cleaned our DVR of shows that we just simply couldn’t justify any longer! I will not name those shows because this isn’t a conviction post, it is just an encouragement to really just sit and re-evaluate what you’re allowing into your life (fridge), because whether we think so or not, it will always rot!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some things worth saving! I love eating left over soup, but if I don’t get to it after a week, it starts to go bad, much in the same way as a relationship problem. Sometimes, it is best to pray about a situation before discussing it with someone, it’s kind of like putting it away in a spiritual Tupperware bowl, but if you don’t address it, Satan will allow the mold and rot to set in and eventually it will spoil the friendship! Tend to it immediately, friends! It’s important to preserve relationships, as well as purge the ones that are rotting your lives!
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What I Needed, But Didn’t Always Hear
Posted on April 23, 2012, by Kim, under Family | Relationships.
Today has been a day of reflection for me. I am not sure why, but I do know that my mind has been saturated with thoughts. So, rather than beat around the bush, this is what I want to share in this blog post!
We all live life feeling like, whether or not we need it, that it would be nice to have someone tell us that we are doing a good job. We have things in our life in which we are passionate. My passion is raising my children to be fully devoted followers of Christ, to be kind, compassionate and loving, and to be a God honoring wife. I don’t think this is out of the realm of possibility with me and I strive for this daily. Sure, I don’t need to be told that I am doing a good job to do a good job, but it sure is nice to hear it. I remember being a young, stressed out, sweatpants wearing, puke and snot stained mommy of two and feeling completely under-appreciated. God gently rebuked me of this tonight. His words to me were, “Have you been telling the young moms around you how well they are doing?” The answer is, “no.” So, I hope this blog post will be able to reach all my young mommy friends out there, and even those I don’t know.
My dearest mommy friends that are just in the trenches of bringing up your children in the love of our Lord, take heart! These are very tiring times for sure! You may look in the mirror and think, “I am so tired of only wearing ponytails, or will this baby weight ever come off,” but take heart! You may be tired of waking up every. single. night. to nurse, change and burp your baby, but take heart. You may be so tired of repeating the word, “No” a hundred times a day, but take heart. I look at your babies in admiration, as they are all beautiful children with huge smiles on their face! A smile on a baby’s face says a whole lot! It means that you love them, take care of them, and nurture them. If you are doing those things, you are doing an awesome job!
I am telling you to take heart because as I was watching my children today accomplish tasks that involved my teaching through the very tough years, my heart was overjoyed. God allowed me to see something today that I haven’t seen in a while. He allowed me to see that all my repetitious no’s, and conversations have truly paid off. He allowed me to see that all those talks we’ve had about manners and respect have paid off. I also got to see that God is working on their hearts now. Why is that? Well, it is because I relied on God to get me through the toughest mommy moments and now I am seeing the blessings.
Take heart!!! It will happen, but until it does, just know I admire you and love you for accepting the highest calling a woman could ever have! You are the first one to teach your children to love, care, respect and succeed! From what I see in you, my dear friends, you are doing a great job!
