And so Valentine Decorations are creeping out...

• I decided to put away the winter stuff and put together a little table setting for Valentine's Day.
• 
  I bought the two large red candles at walmart for $1.35 each. I think I am going to glue them to glass candle sticks as well (eventually). The glass pedistal holder I put together using a floating candle cup and a glass candle stick holder. (see directions in pervious post). I then added a votive holder to the middle and surrounded the candle holder with conversation hearts...works for now..Im not sure Im 100% pleased with it, but it'll do for now!!

Home Made Laundry Soap

With all the hoopla I've been seeing online about "Homemade Laundry Soap", I finally decided it was time for me to jump in and give it a whirl. I procrastinated on making it for some time because I thought that it would take forver and be a mess to make on top of buying the first time supplies would be expensive..I was wrong about all of the above..it was fast, simple and cheap to make!!

So let's begin...

To make this you need the following....

1 quart Water (boiling)

2 cups Bar soap (grated) This can be any soap but ivory or fels Naptha is what is recommended. Also recommended is glycerin soap. (which is what I used) But really the soap is your choice.

2 cups Borax

2 cups Washing Soda

1 quart Water (boiling)

2 additional Gallons of warm water

Ok so you got all those items at your local walmart in the grocery isle (over by the oxyclean..dryer sheets etc.) Rough estimate on cost is $5-$6 total.

 Add finely grated bar soap to the 2quarts boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.

Please Note- I used glycerin soap for 2 reason, one I had it on hand already from making it for Christmas gifts, it's a soft soap so you just have to chop it up and it melts quickly, Two because it is said to be a natural fabric softner, thus eliminating fabric softner. Altho Im not sure yet them I'm prepared to give up my liquid fabric softner because the truth is I don't buy it to make my clothes "fluffy" I buy it because it makes my clothes smell good :)
Pour the soapy water into a large, clean pail once it's ALL melted and add the Borax and Washing Soda and 2 gallons of water Stir well

 

I raided the recycle bin and used empty fabric softner and laundry jugs to store this in. Now when I need to use it I just shake it up and add 1/3 cup of the soap to the laundry. Which I measured and it equals a capful on my jug.

I wondered tho, how would this effect my washer since it's a HE Front Loader..so to google I went and here is some information I found.....


There is a good reason for using detergent that is specially formulated for these newer front-load washers. HE detergents are concentrated laundry detergents that are low-sudsing especially for use with low water high-efficiency washers.

If regular detergents were to be used in front-loading and high-efficiency washers, the presence of too many suds could 'confuse' washing cycles, cause delays and make proper rinsing of clothes difficult.

So it seems that this soap is doing ok in my front loader. It does not suds up like your regular soap will. But that's ok, because we all know suds are a visual and aren't really what cleans our clothes RIGHT??!!

Apon using this soap I found that it cleaned the clothes, yes even Dan's pig barn smelling jeans..there was not a scent of any kind what so ever in the jeans...they were very soft..I did however use a dryer sheet because I didn't want him walking around picking up people's socks and mittens due to static cling seeings as it's winter and dry here in Michigan.

So all in all, I've used this soap in 5 loads and all have came out clean and so far I am pleased with it. This recipe made two big jugs and then some (I ran out of jugs lol) I'd say it's worth giving a try and if you don't like it you can always use it to clean your toilets or anything else you'd need a cleaner for.

• Now..hmm...wonder if I can figure out a way to make liquid fabric softner tee hee...