Saturday, December 13, 2014

One Year's Supply of Homemade Laundry Detergent

Today, I finally got around to doing something I have been wanting to do for well over a year. I made my own laundry detergent that should last us a whole year. I found this video on YouTube that gave me the ingredients and how-to. I followed pretty much what they have but with a couple changes. I also bought everything from Walmart. 


The ingredients:

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax
1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
5 (5.5 oz) Bars of Fels Naptha Soap

Optional Ingredients: 
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean 
1 (19.5 oz) Downy Unstoppables 
1 (13.5 oz) Downy Unstoppables

Other supplies you'll need:
2 (1 gallon) glass jars plus another smaller container for extra soap that didn't fit in the glass jars (I used a storage container from my kitchen)
1 stainless steel coffee scoop (measures 2 Tbsp.)
2 (13 gallon) trash bags
kitchen blender 
large bowl
large spoon

The first step was breaking up the bars of Fels Naptha. I used my flexible cutting board (pours easily into blender) and chopped it into large chunks. Then I blended one bar at a time in my blender until it looked like bread crumbs. (I got the idea of using a blender from another video.) The first three bars worked perfectly this way. But the last two bars were not as dry, I guess, and just gummed up in my blender. So I transferred them into a microwaveable bowl and heated them for 1 minute. (A suggestion made in the above video.) I then used the end of my large spoon to break it up more. When it was cool enough I poured it into the large bowl that I had put the other bars of soap that had been crumbled. I further broke up the chunks of soap with my hands and it crumbled quite well with the added grain of the other bars of soap. 

I originally planned to mix everything in a large bucket I picked up from Dollar Tree but it was too small so I went to plan B which was the two trash bags. I saw a lady do this in her video making laundry detergent but I can't find that video now. I got help from my husband to get everything into the bags and then tied each bag and he tumbled it around in his arms for a minute. 

The OxyClean came with a scoop that I used to scoop all of the soap out of the bags and into the glass jars. To get the rest of the soap that wouldn't fit into the glass jars, I cut a corner of the trash bag and poured the little bit into the storage container. 

Here are some pictures of the items I used and the final product.


 Borax $3.97    Washing Soda $$3.97    Baking Soda $2.24

 OxyClean $7.52

Downy Unstoppables $8.94 for large bottle  $6.97 for small bottle
(I used the Fresh scent of Unstoppables)

Fels Naptha $0.97 each

Glass jars $5.47 each
Coffee Scoop $1.67
4 Spoon set $0.88 (used the largest spoon)

My total for everything:
$55.46

Divide that by 12 months and it's $4.62 of laundry detergent per month. You only need to use 2 tbsp. of detergent per large load. I will not have to purchase the jars, coffee scoop, or spoons again which will bring my total down to $41.06 OR $3.42 per month. Compared to what I was spending on Sun liquid laundry detergent of $5.97 per container. It may not seem like enough of a difference to go through the hassle but it's spending either $41.06 per year or $71.64 per year. Umm....yeah I would like to keep my $30 and spend it somewhere else. 

For those wondering...this is both infant/baby safe and safe for sensitive skin. (My two concerns for our daughter and myself.)

I will start using this at the beginning of 2015 so I can see exactly how long it takes to use it. 

My next plan is to make my own fabric softenerdish detergent and dishwasher detergent


Thursday, December 4, 2014

Library sales are THE BEST!!!

I absolutely LOVE the library sales in our area. There are 20 branches to the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library system and each have their own individual sales throughout the year. This summer while driving around town with my husband, we were driving past one of the libraries and they happened to be having a sale. I had him stop so that I could go in and find some great deals. Children's books were 25 cents and adults were 50 cents. I walked out with several bags of books and only paid $7! (I also helped a kid boy a set of headphones for the computer when he was short $1.) 

THEN, there is the Friends of the Library store and cafe at the Main Library that sells withdrawn and donated books throughout the year for bargain basement prices. Also, there is another Friends of the Library store across town that sells withdrawn and donated books during special event sales for three days every couple of months. This location is much bigger than the store at the Main Library and is jam packed full with so many books, magazines, DVDs, VHS, cassette tapes, etc.



I absolutely love these sales!!

I put them into the calendar on my phone so I don't miss any. At the last sale in early November, I snagged a complete 2009 World Book Encyclopedia set for....$22!!!! Yes, you read that correctly, twenty-two dollars. Most of the books had never been opened because when I opened them to check them out, I got that awesome cracking sound that you only hear from brand new book binding. It is one of my favorite sounds. (To put this in perspective, a brand new 2014 set retails at $1,100.)


Yesterday, I went to a "sidewalk sale" at the Main Library store and picked up 38 books and a reusable tote for $8. That's $0.21 (twenty-one cents) per book, not including the tote. Book topics include art, science, world and American history, government, classic literature, ballet, handicrafts, biography, Shakespeare, foreign language, potty training, and couponing! (A couple random topics, I know!)


December 2014 Sidewalk Sale Haul


Why do I go so crazy for these sales?


We plan to homeschool and I don't plan to use very many textbooks (science and math texts though). However, I did find a Physical science textbook by my preferred science curriculum publisher Apologia for $2 at Savers a while back. It is the 1st edition and I did a quick search online and people are selling it for $12-$16 so I scored there too. The text also has a test and solutions manual that I snagged for $6, a student journal for labs for $3, and flash cards for $1.50. All of this brand new for the 2nd edition would have been $118! 





LIVING BOOKS is the plan. 

What are living books? 

www.simplycharlottemason.com gives the best description I could find...
Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.”
We will use all of these books meshing Charlotte Mason's method and classical education. In both education methods, children read A LOT of books. I have been a HUGE book lover since I learned to read at 3.5 years old. The whole world was opened up to me because of my love for books and reading. I want the same thing for my child(ren).  

While I want to have a great home library to teach my children, I also want to be wise with how much money we spend. As a family, we try to use only cash when we go shopping so we are always collecting a lot of change. I save the change in a can and when I go to the sales, I take my can of change and pay this way. I have forgotten my can of change a couple of times or just didn't have it because I didn't know about one of the branch sales, but I try to only use this change. It makes me think twice about each book I purchase because I can only spend however much change I have. 

As of today, I have amassed a collection of around 300 books from library sales and a few Goodwill and Savers purchases. I haven't completely paid attention to how much I have spent but I believe it to be around $150. Maybe. I have a good average of about 30-40 cents per book. 

If you've read this far you might be thinking that I'm bragging. Honestly, it's not like that. I am so excited that my desire to homeschool will not bust the bank. So many homeschooling families spend thousands of dollars a year to educate their children. With what I have already collected, I probably could stop here and supplement certain areas with library books. I am so thankful we live in an area that has a huge library system that sells the books that they no longer have use for. 

If you were thinking about homeschooling but are worried about the cost, don't. You can do the same thing I'm doing and save your family thousands of dollars. Or if you just want to have lots of books handy to encourage your kids to read, yeah, you can get books from the library that are free. But beware of late fees. You might save yourself a lot of money going to the library sales and be able to keep the books forever. Once your kids are grown and no longer need or want the books, have a yard sale and maybe make more than what you bought them for. That's what I plan to do!!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Don't be a Lukewarm Christian!

In Matthew 16:13 Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" This question is so relevant today it is screaming out from the Heavens. From one end of the spectrum, people believe there is no God and at the other end people believe God is who He says He is. 

Those who believe in a godless world are talked about in Psalm 14:1 which says, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" I pray every day that the scales will fall off their eyes and they will see God's glorious light. 

The people I worry the most about are those who believe in the existence of God but deny the sovereignty, power, and presence of Jesus and pick and choose what parts of Scripture they want to follow

I understand it to be an all or nothing thing. Either you believe ALL of who God says He is, ALL of what He commands us to do and be, ALL of what He has done, is doing, and will do or you don't believe any of it. 

You're either ALL in or ALL out. 

Don't ride the fence because there is nothing worse tasting to God than a lukewarm believer. He will vomit you out and and when you say Lord, Lord, did I not do great things in Your name? He will say He never knew you. 

If you fall into this area of the spectrum, read Romans 10:8-13...

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

But don't stop there, follow the two greatest commandments Matthew 22:36-39...

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’"

  • Read your Bible to learn the attributes of God. 
  • Know who He is, what He has, is, and will do
  • Pray that God helps you to "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." 
  • And "if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." 
Revere God and live a life that brings Him glory.