UPDATE: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Or How to Make $108 Per Hour

Just made the 2nd batch...again it took much longer to assemble my antique food processor than to mix it all together.  I am staying with the same "recipe" for right now.  The clothes appear to be clean and smell fine, so I'm not going to change anything up.

The 2nd best news:  I still have enough washing soda and borax for at least two more makings, effectively reducing the cost per batch to really cheap.  I originally bought the washing soda, borax and two bars of soap from Walmart.

The washing soda was about $3.50, borax $5.00 plus each bar of soap was $.94. I will have four makings out of this for a total cost of about $3 per batch.  That is 12 weeks of laundry or $4 per month vs my normal expenditure of $13 per on detergent alone. 

So even though I'm only saving $9 per month, that equals $108 per year.  At five minutes for batch, that is one hour per year of my time.  I only wished that I made $108 per hour back in my working days. 

Making Powdered Homemade Laundry Detergent

Here are a few things I learned as I made the detergent:

1.      It takes hardly any time at all.

       2.      Start with a small batch.
       3.      My food processor is going to be amazingly clean

How this all got started…I ran out of liquid clothes washing detergent for my ginormous front load machines.  And I do a tremendous amount of laundry with 3 girls and a husband who believes in extreme dirtiness.

I figured it couldn’t be too hard to make my own and it has to be cheaper.  I spend about $15 a month on detergent alone, plus $3 on spray and wash and about $6 on the big bucket of oxyclean.  That is a whopping $24 a month on laundry.  I consulted with the Web’s and Facebook’s most knowledgeable on homemade laundry detergent.  I also perused pinterest.

I concluded that the liquid would be too much work for a very tired mama.  Two consultants recommended the powdered detergent.  I figured to make a small batch for a test run.

I had previously purchased the ingredients…one box of washing soda, one box of borax and one bar of Fels Naptha.  It took me longer to get out the food processor and put it together than to shred the bar of soap.  I selected an old ready to be trashed Rubbermaid container to store this batch in, mainly due to being lightweight.  These days, ease of use far outweighs price.  But it is awesome to have both!!

 

First Step…shred that bar of soap.  Again, I used my old food processor because my wrist couldn’t handle using my old box grater.

 

Add one cup of borax (per Aunt Gigi don’t inhale at this point), then add one cup of washing soda.

 

Look at those lovely layers.

Last give that container a shake. 

 

So far, I’m on my 3^rd load of laundry.  I have been using two tablespoons and putting it directly into the machine along with the clothes.  They smell great and look clean!!  I’ll update as we use this and let you know how it handles the diesel grease and grime from Scott.

Breaking News: The Kitchen is Mopped

Oh yeah, I mopped. I mopped. I mopped. Rap that people!!

Dancing in kitchen (in my head) Woot Woot!!  I am proud of me. Just in time for afternoon coffee break!

It's All a Bad Dream

House Cleaning Update

I have never been that great of a housekeeper, even before I was diagnosed with RAD.  Add some stiff joints, a non-bending right wrist, bummed left knee and general overall sorenes and keeping a slightly clean house becomes a nightmare.

When I first contracted RAD, I honestly thought I’d get a little chemo, take some magic pill and poof! Back to new.  Well, it hasn’t quite worked like that.  Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease is a nightmare.  You know, that one you have over and over again.  Every. Single. Night.

Plus I have done exactly what my doctor told me not to do.  “Over do” it this week.  He said take it slow and build up your daily activities level.  Umm huh. He obviously doesn’t know how long I’ve neglected my house. 

My right wrist is killing me this morning and as soon as this post is up, I plan to wrap it in a heating pad for about 15-20 minutes.  I know when the pain gets to the “gnaw it off” stage I’ve gone a tick too far.  I was a bit overly optimistic on how much I could get done.  Sad face. Sigh.

Rheumie problem: I have sooo much left to do.  I am absolutely determined to mop the kitchen today.  Hoping that after heat therapy, I can get back on my list.  And I had planned to do some sweeping in the dining room and family room.  I literally could sweep this house daily.  An entire house of hardwood floors are not for us #rheumies. (Great twitter hash…have learned a lot this way.)

While doing all this cleaning I've realized that I need to work on  “re-learning” how to do some tasks with my left hand dominate, like mopping, sweeping and general wiping up around the kitchen.  I would also like to learn to use a knife with my left hand.  That could be interesting.  Hmmm…Might want to notify the ER on that one.

Also on the list, doing a little research on adaptive aids for plain old daily living.  I’ve figured out the teeth brushing with the left hand, but there are other activities like getting dressed, buttons, etc. that occasionally can be a problem.  And believe me, you want me dressed.  Every day.

So while I ponder adapting to being a leftie, it’s off to wrap this wrist and a rest break.  I’m even going to read a book recently given to me by a great lady, Mrs. Grace.  Maybe I'll take a 30 minute break.  Sounds great to me!

Primal Scream….Cleaning and Organizing

It just doesn’t feel like I’m making any progress…I have been steadily working on the kitchen, mainly because it is my favorite place.  Y’all ever met a fat girl that wasn’t happy in the kitchen??  Alrighty then.  Plus my kids really like to eat.  Sometimes I swear I’m feeding three teenage boys.  Their older brother liked to eat but these “growing” girls almost put him to shame!

So far I have cleaned out my bottom cabinets.  I have a whole bin of mismatched bowls and lids.  I am trying to reduce these.  If they have stains or look a bit used, in the garbage they go!  I rearranged the bottom three cabinets but would like to add some pull drawers or wire pull out baskets to help with organizing as well as my “cripple-itis”.  I looked at some from Lowes…they would make me a great birthday present later this month.  Hint Hint, honey!!

The orphaned lonely bowls and lids.

I still have one corner of my cabinets that I just can’t seem to get “cleaned off”.  This is where my crock pot also resides.  I’m hoping to make some more kitchen progress this week.  My goals are:

1.       Get that corner cleaned out…finally!!

2.       Start on upper cabinets.  This will take longer, there are more of them.

3.      Get a new red dish drain.  My old one will be re-purposed to the camper.  I like red and   just want a pretty new one.

4.       Clean out the refrigerator, a fate worse than I’m not really sure

5.       Tackle the pantry. Not going to happen this week.  But it makes the list!!

The Rest of the House

This is where things get a little bit tricky.  See, I’ve asked my darling daughters to assist with chores for the past two weeks.  Apparently, they only hear VERY LOUD YELLING.  And do not understand the relationship between working, not working and hunger.  So I am making them a chore list.  It MUST be completed by Saturday noon.  If not, two things will happen.

Consequence numero uno: Not football game for them Saturday night.

Consequence numero dos: a reduction of my dollars contributed to their college savings. Say what?  Oh, I’m a mean, mean momma.  Puhlease.  They can either help in this house or I will reduce what I sacrifice for college savings and pay someone to help me keep the house clean.

The principal is work now or work later when your friends are playing.  Pick one.  I don’t care.  Just sweep, mop and clean your own toilet. Load and unload the dishwasher.  Simple stuff.  That’s a mighty fine deal.  Once I wish someone had made me.

Personally, I feel that I’ll be calling someone very shortly to help with some cleaning.  But at least I’m willing to give the little angels a chance!

 

In all of this cleaning, I found my wedding silverware.  We have never used it.  Since most of my forks have vanished, I decided it was about time to use the good stuff.  What have I been saving it for? IF RAD has a positive point, I’ve learned to not put off some things, like using the good forks, knives and spoons.  Becky

 

 

House Cleaning Nightmare

News Flash:  I am not June Cleaver.  Never have professed to be.  For some reason my household never runs as smoothly as June’s.  And I can’t tell you when is the last time that the front (living areas) and back (bedrooms) were all suitably clean at the SAME TIME.

I have concluded that our house is too big.  Even with three drama queen girls.  When we first moved in I was astounded at the massive amounts of storage.  Huge closets in every bedroom…storage down the entire hall way.  I thought we would never fill it up.  Now today there is so much junk and stuff everywhere.  It is driving me nuts.

 I told Scott that I wanted to rent a U-Haul, load up everything we own, clean and scrub and move back in.  If you haven’t been fortunate enough to move recently, then you do not understand the de-cluttering that takes place when moving.  You pack up all the “important” stuff first.  By the time you’re done the dumpster is full and the throw away pile is humongous!  We moved often when living in the northern suburbs of the ATL…definitely helped keep the stuff from piling up.

Right now we have two ongoing projects.  The girls have been sorting through clothes for give away and goodwill.  I am working on the kitchen cabinets and pantry.  My goal is to have the kitchen and the closet project completed by the end of August. 

Future Projects

1.       The hall way storage…it needs cleaning, reducing and reorganizing.

2.       The game room closet…again, cleaning, reducing and ready for bathroom renovation.

3.       Attic…I don’t even know what all Scott has stuff up there…so reduce, reduce, reduce.

4.      Hardwood Floors…they definitely need a light buffing and another coat of polyurethane. You know, shiny stuff!  This is where that U Haul comes in…we will definitely have to move out some furniture!

5.   Organizing a home office space suitable for homework and for our business.

Daily Grind

Then there is just the plain old daily stuff.  Sweeping, mopping, emptying the dishwasher…Guess I will have to do a calendar for that too!

I have been assigning extra chores.  A co-worker, Jim Bob, recently suggested a chore motivation tactic he utilizes with his children.  Xtra chores are attached to wants.  He puts the chore and reward in an envelope.  When the chore is completed, the reward is earned.  I think these should be above the normal clean your room, unload the dishwasher and wash your own clothes.

I am working very hard to get the clutter back under control.  It’s like eating an elephant…one bite at a time.  Pass the tabasco.  It has taken the last two years for it to get this bad…I’m sure it will take several months to get it back the way I would like.  My goal is to have it presentable by Thanksgiving.  And ready to decorate and enjoy the holidays once again.