Homeade Laundry Soap

With all the uncertainty in the world right now, I am saving money wherever and whenever I can. I am using cloth diapers, cleaning my windows and mirrors with vinegar, and making my own laundry soap. I love doing all those things and it makes me feel better about my own carbon footprint. The laundry soap is easy to make and it gets my clothes really clean and soft without having to use liquid fabric softener. I do miss the yummy smell of the Kirkland brand, but I still use dryer sheets to get that really clean smell.

So for those who want to save some pennies, or in this case dollars, try making your own laundry soap! I used to pay about $13 for 96 oz of laundry soap at Costco. This recipe makes 3 gallons or 220 oz for less than $5 and you can find all the ingredients at Winco!!! So, without further ado, here is the recipe I use.

Liquid Laundry Soap

1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated
1 1/2 c. Washing Soda
1 1/2 c. Borax
3 gallons water
3 gallon milk jugs, rinsed well

Boil 1/2 gallon hot water and then add grated Fels Naptha soap. Heat to a boil and stir until totally dissolved. Add the other soaps and continue heating until dissolved. (Taking the time to make sure that the soaps are well dissolved saves time once you start adding the cold water.) Add another 1/2 gallon warm water and stir over low heat. Once the mixture is emulsified, remove it from the heat and add another gallon cold water. If your pot it not big enough, transfer the soapy mixture to a 5 gallon bucket before adding the additional water. Again, once the mixture is able to stay emulsified, add the last gallon of cold water bringing amount of water to total to 3 gallons. Keep stirring until the mixture stops separating and transfer it to milk jugs or other smaller containers.

When you are ready to use it, give it a good hard shake and use 1/4 c. of soap per normal load. This is safe for front loaders as it is low sudsing.

Enjoy my frugal friends!!

So Sleepy

Trevor had a really hard time going down for a nap today, so when he finally did go down I went in to check on him and this is how I found him...


...asleep with his hands on his eyes like he had been crying and his pants nearly down around his knees. Poor, funny baby Trevor.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Look who I found "helping" mommy unload the dishwasher the other day.

It reminds of of another little boy I know who used to like to climb on the dishwasher...

Trevor's Birthday Party

Here are some pictures from Trevor's first birthday party. He really didn't feel well, but he was a trooper and humored us by at least tasting the cake and not crying in the pictures. First birthday parties are more the parents and family anyway.

That's One Sick Baby

Poor Trevor has been so sick. He had a fever on Saturday night of 102.5 °F. Sunday was his birthday party and you could tell that he just didn't feel all that well. We gave him a chocolate cake for the first time ever and he picked at it like it was made of lima beans. Something was definitely wrong with Trevor.

Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon when we spent two hours at the doctors office trying to figure out what was going on. Trevor had been sleeping 17-20 hours a day, he was not interested in food or water, only breast milk, and he would scream when anyone other than me even looked at him. The only physcial symptom he was having was a high fever. Finally, after several tests and a shot of antibiotic, they sent us home with an appointment to come back in the morning. Trevor woke up with a rash all over his body this morning and Dr. Christopher was then able to make a diagnosis of Roseola which includes a high fever, lethargy, and a rash that breaks out all over the body once the fever subsides.

Trevor seems to be feeling at lot better tonight. He is eating more and finally starting to smile again. It has been nice to have him wanting to nurse and snuggle all the time, but I wish it hadn't been because he was sick. It sounds like he'll be back to normal really soon, which is great because he has lots of cool new toys to play with from Christmas and his birthday.

Happy Birthday Baby Trevor!

What a wonderful year it has been. I am so proud to be a mom to such a sweet boy. Enjoy this video that I made to celebrate his first year of life.

Stuck on the Roof

Today I went on the roof to do this:Because my husband has been playing too much of this:

and I was getting:

Thinking our new neighbors would think we were a:
So I climbed onto the:
via my bedroom window to do it myself!!

I didn't get very far before I noticed hot air pouring out of the open window, so I reached over and closed the window which locked it leaving only 2 inches open.

I could not reach the slider that would release the window, so I tried using the:
I had, but couldn't get it to budge.

By this time I could hear Trevor had woken up from his nap and was:
So I did what any mother would do and very carefully:
The End.