Homemade Laundry Detergent

A few years back I had begun making my own laundry detergent but after months of making my own I ran out and didn't have the ingredients on hand to make another batch, so I just grabbed a bottle at the grocery store for convenience, and fell back into that old habit.  I am lazy by nature, have I mentioned that before?

So, anyway, we now have another of our sons and his family living with us temporarily.  That makes 8 people in our household which generates a never ending pile of laundry....and noise, in case you were wondering.

With the economy the way it is, I once again felt the need to try to tighten our household budget and cut back any way we could, and I was reminded of my homemade laundry detergent.  Last week I picked up all of the ingredients and whipped up a batch.  There are a couple different recipe's for making your own and you can make a powder version or a liquid version.  I always made the powder version, even though I prefer liquid detergent, I just didn't want to go through everything required to make my own.  The recipe I used to follow is very simple with just 3 ingredients: Borax, Super Washing Powder, and Fels-Naptha.  This time, though, I followed a different recipe.  Here's what you will need if you want to make your own:

Silly me forgot to take a picture, so I borrowed this one from The Happy Money Saver

Ingredients:

1 Box of Super Washing Soda 3 lb. 7 oz. ($3.24)
1 Box of Borax 4 lbs 12 oz. size ($3.38)
1 Box of Pure Baking Soda 4 lb. ($2.24)
3 bars of Fels-Naptha 5.5 oz. or you could also use Zote or Ivory soap ($0.97 x3)
1 container of Oxy-Clean 3 lb ($7.52)
*optional: Purex Crystals 28 oz. for scent  (or you could use Downy unstoppables ) ($4.76 ea. I used two bottles of the Purex)

{The prices are what I paid at my local Walmart and totals $28.81.  You can reduce this price by finding them on sale, using coupons, and also cutting back on some of the ingredients.  For instance, you may only want to use a 1.3lb tub of oxy-clean versus the 3lb that I used.}

The first thing you need to do is grab your cheese grater and grate the Fels-Naptha.  Since I am a lazy person, I skipped this and went straight for my food processor.  I chopped the soap up into squares and threw them into the food processor, then ground up the soap into a fine consistency. After I got the soap into the consistency I wanted, I then started adding a little of each ingredient into a 5 gallon bucket, mixing thoroughly as I went.  (Be aware that this is powdery stuff and it flies around.  I got it up my nose, several times.)

You will want a container with a lid so that you can store your laundry detergent and keep it air tight. After you get it all mixed up, you could use it straight from your bucket or find a smaller container to keep near your washer.  I filled up one of the empty Purex Crystals bottles with mine.  The lid on these bottles has some measuring lines so its great for measuring how much you are using.

Now, here's the best part:  It only takes 1-2 Tablespoons per load!!  This recipe makes enough for about 520 loads so that works out to about $.05 per load!!  How awesome is that!  I've used this on our laundry all week and it is working great, has a wonderful smell, and even works with my daughter-in-laws sensitive skin.

I have been thinking that this could be a great housewarming gift, or for a bridal shower, or even as a Christmas gift.  You could find some really cute containers, maybe something sweet like this:

I found this lovely container idea here.

**I don't have a High Efficiency washer, but I have read that this is safe to use with them because it is low-sudsing.  But, if you have one, please research before trying this out.**

Do you have any other frugal ideas that you are trying at home?

Vintage Vogue V8728

Last week I told about making a dress to wear on my Valentine's date with the Mister, so here it is.  I used the Vintage Vogue pattern reprint of V8728 and a jersey knit, because I was looking for comfort.  

The pattern looks complicated but, really its not.  It went together rather quickly and simply but I did have to make some adjustments.  I chose the size that best fit my measurements but the bust and waist area were way too large so I had to take them in.  The length was just perfect for me, but I am 5'9" --on a good day-- so for someone shorter, they may want to adjust the length.

The pattern comes with two closure options, a snap placket or zipper.  I chose to do the zipper since I was in a time crunch but I think doing the snap closure would be a fun option next time.

All in all, this pattern was a very quick sew, as I did the whole dress up in one afternoon.  The most time consuming part was getting all the gathers in place and attaching the neck band.  It will be a definite sew again pattern.

This is how I styled the dress for my day out, since the pattern was a reprint of a 1946 original dress.

*Outfit Details*

Dress:  Made by me

Cardigan:  Walmart

Seamed Stockings:  Secrets In Lace

Shoes:  Aerosoles

Belt:  T.J. Maxx

Jewelry:  from a lady's auxiliary sale

Flower:  Belle Blossoms

Busy Homemaker

I have been busy, busy lately.  I've done some cooking and baking plus some sewing.  On the cooking front, I decided to make pizza for dinner the other evening and since it is getting close to Valentine's Day, I decided to shape our pizza into a heart.  What do you think?

I also made a pineapple pizza with a stuffed crust for my son.  I used string cheese to fill the crust with, but we weren't happy with the results, so I will be testing this again with a different type of cheese.  Any suggestions?

While I was in the cooking mood I decided to make my sweetie a special dessert, or two, actually.  I am under the thoughts that you can never have too many or too much dessert!  Anyway, this first one is a Cherry Shortcake.  It was pretty simple to make, tasted delicious, although the general consensus at our house was that I should have used strawberries instead of cherries, but it was yummy, none the less.  You can find the recipe for it here.

The next dessert I made was Chocolate Raspberry Hearts.  This was also very simple, except I had some difficulty shaping them into the hearts, but once I got the hang of it, it went fairly quickly.  It was, by far, my favorite of the two, full of hazelnut chocolate yumminess.  Here is the link for the recipe, I highly recommend it.

  
The Mister and I are planning a little Valentine's Day date and I have been searching for a dress to wear.  You may remember that discussion from this post where I shared a variety of Modcloth dresses with you.  Well, I have looked for weeks and just could not make a decision on a dress until time got away from me and I was afraid that which ever one I chose would not arrive in time.  I was also struggling with paying that much for a dress, that hopefully would become to large for me in the future, being that I am determined to loose some of my midsection.  

With all that being said, you may remember from this post, that I had plans to make a dress using the Vogue 8728 pattern, so I decided to break out the sewing machine and give it a whirl.  I used a jersey knit because I wasn't wanting it to be too formal and I wanted to be comfortable.   

Look for a future post on how this baby sewed up and what I think I will do differently next time I use this pattern.  So, what have you dolls been up to lately?

Hungry Caterpillar Dress

As I discussed in this post, my granddaughter will be celebrating her 3rd birthday this week so I wanted to make her a dress to wear to her party.  I didn't have a whole lot of time to get everything accomplished so I wanted something simple to make.  I got my inspiration for her dress from here.  

Here's the fabric I used.  The theme for the party was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

I bought a simple little t-shirt at Walmart and used it for the top portion of the dress.  I thought about using a long sleeved shirt for this but thought she could get more wear from a short sleeved one by adding a sweater when needed.  I then appliqued a cute little caterpillar onto the top.  Here's the finished dress.

The only problems I encountered was with the overall length of the dress.  I had cut my sections too wide for the correct length for her so I had to make some adjustments and its still a little too long for her, but that will allow her to wear it for a longer period of time.  So here's the little birthday girl modeling her party dress.

She loved it which made her Nanny very happy indeed.  I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoy seeing her in it.


Linking up with: The Glamorous Housewife

The Backup Plan

Let's take a moment to calmly think about this.  So I'm just a little bit stressed.  The fabric that I ordered to make this dress has been delayed and the wedding is this weekend.  I guess its time for Plan B, wait, do I have a Plan B?  You should always have a backup plan, right?  Of course you should, but do I?  Heck no!  

What about all those lovely dresses hanging in your closet, you say?  That would be wonderful, if only I could get them zipped.  (I knew eating that entire bag of cookies was going to come back and bite me.)  

Maybe I could pull a Scarlett O'Hara and yank the drapes down off the wall to fashion me a dress.  Hmm, I don't think mini blinds are suitable dress material for a wedding.  Although I'm sure Lady Gaga could rock the look, this Grandma, not so much.  (Plus that would require me to break out the duster.)

I suppose the next course of action would be to find myself a Gentleman who would take this lovely lady dress shopping.  (I think I know just the gent to ask.)  Yes, I have my Plan B, now cross your fingers that I can actually find something that appeals to me.

See you gals later, break time is over and I have work to do.

Upcoming Projects

here

I have a very busy few weeks ahead of me and several projects to complete.  Next week will mark my Granddaughter's 3rd birthday and we will be celebrating this coming weekend with a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party.  I will be making her a dress to wear to the party, along with the thank you gift bags, plus her birthday cake.  You can expect to see future posts with details.

The following weekend, a very special friend will be getting married and I will be making her wedding cake, (actually, she is having cupcakes) plus the groom's cake.  Expect to see a post on this too.

I am also planning on making my dress to wear to her wedding.  I will be attempting to make the Vintage Vogue 8728 pattern reprint you see here.

Casey of Elegant Musings sewed this dress up last year in a beautiful cream jersey.  You can see her post here.  I wanted something a little more dressy for wearing to the wedding so I will be using a beautiful blue satin.  However, I loved the idea of making it with a jersey fabric so I plan on making up another one.  I will be sure to share how it goes with you guys.

While searching for fabric, I ran across this site, Pink Chalk Fabrics and thought I would share.  This site is great if you are looking for quality natural fibers for quilting, sewing, or craft projects.  They also sell patterns and I fell in love with this little guy.

here

He would be so cute for my granddaughter's party but I think I will have to save that project for another time. ~  There's only so many projects this Grandma can cram into the day.

Sew Retro

I am in the mood to sew up something pretty, like a new dress.  I have a couple other projects in the works that are already cut out and waiting to be sewn together, like a diaper bag for my daughter-in-law and a beach bag for me, but I'm just itching for a new dress.  I will keep you posted on my creative dilemma.

Wrapping Gifts

This weekend I will be attending my cousin's wedding.  I will also be making her wedding cake so watch for a post on that in the future.  The cake will be my gift to them so there is no need for wrapping paper, but it made me start thinking about the different papers you find in your local store.  There is never any that truly appeals to me and it's usually very cheap, thin paper that tears easily.  Well, this morning I see a post in my facebook feed linking to a company manufacturing and selling vintage/retro wrapping paper and cards.  I immediately had to check this out.  Can you say, Adorable?!

The company is Sweet Vintage Wrapping Paper and they produce their own line of retro/vintage cards and stationary for many different occasions.  All of their designs are actual reproductions of a private vintage collection.  Their products are American made, high quality and reasonably priced.  I am tickled pink with this discovery and I'm placing an order now.  I cant wait to wrap a gift!