Swinging Hammers

We have lived in our house almost 6 years now, and I must say it is quite a different place from the one Bill bought 7 years ago. We've painted, we've landscaped, we've finished the downstairs. I even surprised Bill in a huge way by tearing apart and painting the kitchen one day a few years ago.

That was the kind of stuff that would happen when my preschool had spring break. I think Bill is glad I am too busy to get ambitious about house projects now.

Anyways, a big thing on our list was to fix up the backyard. We love being outside, but our backyard is a MudHole. Well, specifically a MudHole right outside the back door. Grass refuses to grow there and every time it rains the nice muddy slop deposits all the mud right on the patio. Pain In The Butt.


But this summer, we are actually HERE. We aren't in Tennessee, or Alabama, or anywhere else for Bill's work-we get to be HOME. So this summer, is the summer of the backyard. Here is what we are working on and hope to have finished in a few more weekends:

Three weeks ago, we decided to go for it:

We tore up concrete and put in some joists....
Then we stacked out the perimeter....my arms are still sore from digging post holes.
And soon, we will be drinking some wine on our DECK!

We are really hoping to finish installing all the joists this weekend and then NEXT weekend lay the top down. After that? Drink Margaritas. Or Beer, since I don't know how to make Margaritas and I think there is beer in the fridge.

We are finally getting a new screen door on the back, too. Oh yes, that is blue duck tape you see there; the result of an overly active 120 lb German Shepard jumping on it. The door may or may not have been broken for 5 years now....

Save Big Bucks For Shoes With Homemade Detergent

It seems I have been on a roll with saving some green-and being green. It hit me last night that I am slowly becoming one of those "hippie" people I knew back in college that would make their own deodorant with incense.

I promise I don' smell bad-and I don't make my own deodorant-but I do cloth diaper and tested out this homemade detergent on them. I found the homemade detergent didn't leave a strong scent like Tide will; however, it did get everything clean and leave a light Irish Spring scent, because Irish Spring was the soap I used in the recipe.

If you try it out let me know how it goes and what you think, or if you come up with any variations. The next batch I make I'm going to try adding in some oil essence to see if I can mimic the lavender smell I love from Tide.

So, without further ado, here I am making detergent:

First, shred up a bar of soap. I used the food grater. This part was pretty fun to do.
Then, melt the shredded soap in 4 cups of water-get the water about to boil, then dump the soap in. Stir until it is melted-this didn't take long and made the whole house smell yummy clean. After it is melted, add the soap/water mixture to 3 gallons of hot tap water and stir well. I used a 5 gallon mop bucket I had around the house and a cooking spatula.


Then take one cup of Borax and one cup f Washing Soda (NOT Backing Soda). And those boxes are huge. Remember 6 bucks for the soap and boxes of Borax and Washing Soda-and I only used a cup of each-just THINK of how much detergent I can make with this initial investment....
Add the Borax and Washing Soda to your bucket of warm water that you already added the melted soap to.
Stir well until you see it starting to get a little thicker. It only took a few minutes to stir, then I kinda messed with it throughout the day with a stir here and there to check on the thickness (though you don't have to, I just did). The slime you just made has to "bake" for 24 hours before it becomes a gelatinous goo great for washing poopy diapers and other dirty clothes.

You can used whatever soap you want, I used Irish Spring because I liked the smell. You could also use powder soap, just melt it the same in the water. Depending on the powder though, see what the ratio would be for a bar of soap, as that will determine how much you melt.

I used 1 cup of the mix to wash my diapers and that seemed to be perfect. To make sure you don't have too much soap, just check on your suds during the wash cycle-you don't want to see more than a few scattered bubbles in your washer. If you see a ton of bubbles, then you need to cut back on the amount of soap you put in per load.

Here is the link I got my recipe from: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/03/15/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent-and-save-big-money/

I had a few friends mention just putting this mixture into old laundry bottles or getting a bucket with a lid from Home Depot or Lowes-I think they sell the 5 gallon ones for a few dollars.

Happy Laundry Detergent Making!! And perhaps, with the money use crafty mommy's (or daddy's) save, we can justify a shopping spree for ourselves! I'm pretty sure I need some new shoes or some kind of cute accessory, don't you think?


**Posted at Works For Me Wednesday, for more great tips, check out We Are THAT Family**

I Made Laundry Detergent

I am always a sucker for a deal and any chance I have to save money I jump on it. Especially if that saving involves shopping at Khols, but I digress.

Anyways, a few friends of mine mentioned how they were going to give a try to making laundry detergent.

At first, I laughed, and exclaimed "Why in the WORLD would you do that?"

But then, I actually compared the home made ingredients with the ones in Tide and realized they were the same active ingredients. Only minus the expensive cost. And the crazy chemicals I can't pronounce. And the lovely lavender smell.

So, I started to get excited, and went out to price the homemade ingredients. The initial purchase of Borax, Washing Soda (not baking soda, but by Arm and Hammer as well) and a bar of soap? Just under 6 dollars. And I got huge boxes of the Borax and Washing Soda AND I even splurged on some more expensive, lovely fresh smelling soap instead of the cheap soap I usually buy.

I then raced home to start my slime concoction, and it only took about 10 minutes-most of which was spent melting down the soap bar in a pot on the stove-and OH MY did my house smell yummy clean then!

After getting the homemade detergent mixed (and waiting 24 hours for it to thicken) I then tested it on the dirtiest laundry possible-the cloth diapers.

I am happy to report they came out nice and super clean. The soap smell isn't super strong; however, they do smell nice and fresh and look nice and clean, which is MUCH better than they were when I threw them in while holding my breath.

So success to my homemade laundry detergent! And for 6 dollars, I have enough to make around 10 more batches-and each batch is 3 gallons of detergent. Well, I lie, I will have to buy more soap; I only got 6 bars at the store, so add a few more dollars on there.

But my goodness! What a savings-compared to what we were spending-and flying through-each week for detergent, it is just crazy to realize I can make it so cheaply and it works!

I took pictures, so I will put more details up tomorrow and step by step with the recipe, for anyone interested in trying it out.