Homemade Laundry Soap (It's AWESOME!!!!)

Here is the recipe that I use for my homemade laundry detergent. It works great, is dirt cheap, and is gentle on clothes and sensitive skin. It is also (almost) 100% phosphate free so it doesn't harm your septic tank or the environment.

Here's what you'll need to get started:

• a large pot
• measuring cup
• cheese grater
• funnel
• a bucket or some other large container
• Borax
• Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
• Zote (or some other brand of bar laundry detergent)
• a cheap brand of liquid laundry detergent (this is optional, I'll explain more later)

To get started, cut your Zote into thirds.

Use your cheese grater to grate the bar soap. I like to grate mine all at once and save ther other 2/3 in zip lock bags for the next time I make a batch of detergent.

Put the grated soap and 6 cups of water in your pot on low/medium heat (you don't want the stuff to boil or you will have on heck of a sudsy mess on your hands)


When the soap is all disolved (hint: the finer you grate your soap the quicker it will desolve), add 1/2 cup Borax and 1/2 cup Super Washing Soda. Keep on low/medium heat and stir occasionally for about 30 minutes. Just before I take it off the stove, I add 1/2 cap full of my store bought liquid detergent. This step is optinal and will add a small amount of phosphates to your detergent. The reason I do it is because it seems to keep my detergent from turning into such a solid, clumpy mess.

Now, add 4 cups of hot water to your bucket (you can see that I use a medium size plastic storage tote instead). Then, pour in your mixture from your pot and stir.

Now, add 22 more cups of water and stir some more. Then, let sit at least overnight.

By the next day, it should be semi-solid (like Jello). Use a mixer or emersion blender to make it liquidy again.

I saved some of my old Tide containers (shhhhh, don't tell the Tide people) to re-use with my homemade detergent. You'll want to use 1/2 cup for each load of laundry and it just so happens that the lids on these babies are exactly 1/2 cup.

I use a soup ladle and funnel to get the detergent in there.

Now, for an added bonus: I use this stuff to pre-treat stains too. I picked up a set of ketchup and mustard containers at Walmart for 99 cents and I pour some of the detergent in there too. Just squirt some on your stains and throw them in the wash. It works great!

Finding some of these ingredients can be a bit of a challenge, so I'll tell you where I get mine and where I get the best prices on mine.

Borax - Target in Kelso carries the Borax for $2.99. It's on one of the top shelves in the laundry detergent section. Winco in Longview carries it as well, but it's almost $5 there.

Super Washing Soda - Winco in Longview has it, as well as Fred Meyer in Olympia. I'm not sure which one has the best price. Check it out and let me know.

Zote - I get mine at Shop 'n' Cart in Chehalis. It's $1.39 for a large bar (which is what I use for my recipe, you may need to adjust if you use a smaller bar).

I know that the Walmart in Chehalis does not carry any of these products. I'm sure they want you to spend your money on the expensive brands. I have also checked at Costco in Olympia and Grocery Outlet in Chehalis and neither of them carry any of them either.

I have been told that this recipe works out to about a penny a load. I have never done the math to verify that. Honestly, it works so much better than any store bought brand I have ever used that I wouldn't switch back even if it cost a dollar a load.

Enjoy your new detergent and let me know what you think of it.

Purity

Today I will pray for purity for my children. Not just sexual purity (although I do pray for that even at their young ages), but I pray for their innocence as well.

Recently, at work (I work in an emergency room for those of you who don't know), a mother brought her 7 year old daughter in because she was making suicidal threats. How does a seven year old even know what that is!?!?!?! I was horrified.

I know many people disagree with me, but I choose to protect my children from the knowledge of such things. I don't shelter them from the reality of the world, but I am careful about how much I tell them. We don't watch movies or TV shows that expose them to things like suicide, murder, sex, drug use, etc. They will learn about these things all to soon. Once a child has been exposed to something like that, you can never undo it. They can never go back to not knowing about such things.

I choose to protect my children and guard their innocence. Because of that, my children don't know who Batman is, they have never watched Scoobie Doo, and when Luke was handed a Transformer, he said, "What's this mom?"

So, today, I pray that God will help us to guard the innocence of our children.

Francesca Battistelli

Francesca Battistelli is one of my new favorite singers. I love her song Free to be Me. It's simple, beautiful, and so, so true. If you haven't listened to her music, you can check it out at www.francescamusic.com

The lyrics to Free to be Me are:

At twenty years of age
I'm still looking for a dream
A war's already waged for my destiny
But You've already won the battle
And You've got great plans for me
Though I can’t always see

(Chorus)
‘Cause I got a couple dents in my fender
Got a couple rips in my jeans
Try to fit the pieces together
But perfection is my enemy
On my own I'm so clumsy
But on Your shoulders I can see
I'm free to be me

When I was just a girl
I thought I had it figured out
My life would turn out right,
and I'd make it here somehow
But things don't always come that easy
And sometimes I would doubt

(Chorus)

And you’re free to be you
Sometimes I believe that I can do anything
Yet other times I think I've got nothing good to bring
But You look at my heart and You tell me
That I've got all You seek
And it’s easy to believe

Even though
(Chorus)

A Lesson in Integrity

Today, I will pray for my children to have integrity. When we have our bedtime prayers tonight, this is the story that I will share with them. The author is unknow.


Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!"

There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.

By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grown, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

Newspaper Seedling Pots

I am counting the days until spring, and hoping that my excitement for our garden doesn't fade by the time it gets here. In the mean time, I am keeping myself busy making seedling pots out of newspaper. They are free, easy to make, and biodegradable. You will need: Newspaper, tape, scissors, and something square to use as a mold. And here's how to make them:









Step 1.




Cut several layers of newspaper in half like the picture.

Step 2.

Cut in half again, and again.

Step 3.

Find something square (1.5-2 inches x 1.5-2 inches). I taped together 2 of the kid's blocks. Wrap one strip of newspaper around the blocks with some hanging over the edge. Don't wrap too tight or you will have trouble sliding it off of the block.

Step 4.

Fold the end like a present and secure with a small piece of tape. I used little strips of painter's tape.

Step 5.

Slide off the block and crease the corners.

It took me about 5 minutes to make 6 of them. When you are ready to use them, just fill with dirt, plant your seeds, and keep them watered. You will need to keep them in some sort of seedling tray so they stay together and don't fall apart with watering. When you are ready to plant in the ground or to transplant, just undo the tape and plant them. There's no need to remove the newspaper because it is totally biodegradable.

How to Pray for Your Kids

My awesome friend Amy shared this with me. I love it so I thought I would pass it along. I made a couple of changes to it.

There are 31 "things" to pray for you kids. One for each day of the month. I was already praying with the boys each night at bedtime. Now I have added this to our prayer routine. Some nights, it’s late when we get to bed and I simply ask God to give my children (and my husband and myself) the “thing” for that day. Some nights we have a little more time, and I try to explain that night’s “thing” to the kids along with praying about it. And then, there are those rare nights when I’ve got it all together and we read a story about that night’s “thing”, read some Bible verses, talk about what it means, and pray about it.

1st - Salvation (If your children are already saved, ask God to help them share the salvation message with their friends)

2nd - Forgiveness

3rd - Love

4th - Integrity

5th - Self-Control

6th - Love for God's Word

7th - Obedience

8th - Health

9th - Respect

10th - Self-Esteem

11th - Faithfulness

12th - Courage

13th - Purity

14th - Kindness

15th - Generosity

16th - Peace Loving

17th - Joy

18th - Perseverance

19th - Humility

20th - Compassion

21st - Responsibility

22nd - Contentment

23rd - Faith

24th - A Servant's Heart

25th - Hope

26th - Patience

27th - Passion for the Lord

28th - Wisdom

29th - Prayerfulness

30th - Gratitude

31st - Boldness

How to Make Garden Markers

We are getting ready to start seeds in the greenhouse for what I hope is a bountiful garden this summer. I needed a cheap way to be able to mark all those little seedlings. A wise old woman shared this idea with me.

Step one.
Find a set of old window blinds. I bought some at a second hand store for $1.99. Mine were plastic but I think metal would work well too.

Step two.
Cut the strings and take the blinds apart.

Step three.
Cut each blind into 6 inch strips. I just eyeballed it, so mine were anywhere from 4 to 6 inches. Feel free to be as exact or relaxed as you want. It really doesn’t matter.

Step four.
Wash all those strips in the washing machine with some old towels or anything else that you don’t mind getting snags in. This step is optional. The blinds that I purchased were pretty dusty. I don’t mind my own dust, but was pretty grossed out by other people’s dust. Also, you need them to be clean when you write on them later.

Step five.
Cut all the strip lengthwise. Thus creating twice as many markers.

Step six.
Cut one end to make a point.

Step seven.
Use a Sharpie pen to write the name of whatever it is you are going to plant on the marker.

Ta-Da! Enjoy your garden markers! They cost me 0.00361 cents each!