Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Laundry Piles and Mind blowing Detergent!

So in a house of 4, laundry only seems to stop for all of 5 minutes. I have specifically taken note of this and tried my best not to let it get to me! I had to come up with plausible and possible ways to keep track of it. I have said in the past, I am kinda OCD. Well, not kinda.

Finally, last week I was at my wits end. I needed a plan. I was tired of forgetting that there was laundry in the wash, especially when it came to having to do dipes. Everything was carted down to the basement and I started the great laundry wash. When I first saw how much of it there was...I did 14 loads of laundry, I knew we had way too many clothes, sheets, towels and blankets. I wish I could say that the cupboards were overflowing, but in all actuality, they weren't and we don't have much storage space in this house. I was exhausted.

Having children means you have a lot of sheets. So I knew there was no getting around to getting rid of any of those, but how could I make sheets disappear? I already change our sheets every week because the thought of sleeping on dead flaky skin freaks me out! And this task was getting daunting. So, I brought out the old crib method! Layering them! So for the kids...repellant pad down, sheets on top, and again and again. So, not really a laundry saver, but a time saver for us. All in all, I only have to make the bed 1x a month! Plus if any accidents happen in the middle of the night, we are only up for a few minutes instead of awhile!

A couple of months ago, I ran out of laundry detergent. Previously, I had it in my mind that I was going to make my own laundry detergent to see how much money we could save. A neighbor of ours in NC has been making her own for years. At first, I thought it was a little odd, especially when she had to order supplies to do it at the grocery store. So, I still wasn't that enthusiastic about it and loaded the kids in the car and ran to the store. Well, let me tell you. It was the first time in years that I actually had to pay full price for laundry detergent and I about fell over. So no more. I got home, got out the supplies and well 15 minutes later I had a gallon bucket full of laundry detergent! It really wasn't hard to make, since I had bought...ready to make supplies. Soap already grated, washing soda and borax that just needed to be heated, poured and measured, dawn, and water. Simple really.

So how is it fairing against store bought laundry detergent? I am finding that it gets our clothes much cleaner and the house smells wonderful! For those of you interested in the recipe, which does it in small batches and there is no need for a 5 gallon bucket, check it out! Plus you can add Dawn, though this recipe doesn't call for it, but hey any grease fighter in a house of boys and southern cooking isn't bad in my mind!

http://whynotsew.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-detergent.html


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