That post about laundry detergent

If you are on Pinterest, you may have noticed me pinning laundry soap recipes like mad crazy a few months ago. I've now got a tried and true recipe that I'm going to share with you, and it's not anything you'll find anywhere else.

We've got grease in my house. Trevor comes in from working on the Jeep every night covered in grease, and I'm not much better either. I do tend to get almost as dirty. The basic run-of-the-mill DIY laundry soap recipe was not going to cut it. I know this to be a fact. I cut up the "potato pants" that Trevor had been wearing for three months straight to work on the car without EVER washing them. I cut them straight up the middle. Wait, explain the potato pants name you say? They stunk so bad I banned them to the garage and he had to change into them in the garage every night. They stunk like rotten potatoes.

So anyway, I cut them straight up the middle and washed one side in the Duggar Family recipe detergent and then the other in Tide. Sorry to say Tide won by a landslide. I also did many other experiments, since that's how I roll; The most important one being armpit stains and that experiment went to the homemade soap. 

I truly think the homemade soap is great at cleaning most things, especially arm-pit stains. It rocks at armpit stains! I didn't want to give up on this, so I racked my brain trying to think of a good grease fighting agent I could add that wouldn't be very sudsy and would leave no residue. Then it hit me. And it was an ah-ha! moment.

So I have come up with my own recipe. It's a lot of the same basic laundry soap recipe, but with an added twist. It's not going to save you as much money as the original, but when you've got grease like we do, I'd rather take care of my clothes than end up throwing them away because they end up so stained.

Totally Awesome Grease Fighting Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ingredients: 1 bar Fels-Naptha (can also use Zote), Borax, Super Washing Soda, OxiClean, family sized container of liquid Tide

Grate 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap bar. Add to 4 cups boiling water. Continue to stir until soap dissolves over Med-low heat. 

Pour into a 5 gallon bucket and add: 1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, 1 cup Borax, and 2 scoops or so of Oxi-Clean. Now watch the chemical reaction and ooh and ahh over it while you stir it all together. Once the reaction is over, fill the bucket the rest of the way with warm water and let it sit over night.

The next day grab one more 5 gallon bucket and pour half of the soap mixture from the other bucket into the empty bucket. You should have equal portions in each bucket. 

Pour one family sized container of Tide equally between the two buckets until the container is empty. Stir both buckets until everything is well mixed.

Using a funnel, you can now fill your laundry soap containers with your soap mixture.

This recipe should give you four to five family-sized containers of laundry soap. Good luck and let me know how it works for you!

Here's the price run-down: Fels naptha $3.97, Borax $13.89, Super Washing Soda $9.49, Oxi-clean (optional) $13.67, Tide (get this on sale for under $20). Yes the start up for this seems like a lot, but consider that you are only using 1 cup of everything. It lasts and lasts for making TONS of detergent. The only thing you actually use everything of is the Fels Naptha and the Tide. If someone wants to figure out the ACTUAL cost and break it down, be my guest. Please do. 

Post #2 for the day; Be impressed

Alright, so I got the peppy post out of the way, now I need to vent.

I want to know for REAL if I come across as a snobby jerk. I can take it. Please tell me what is wrong with me. Why only a handful of people will talk to me at church and the rest just ignore me. Really. It's been over two years now in this ward and while I know people here, I just don't think my smile must look that inviting. I've come to the conclusion that I am the problem. I KNOW it's true. So help me fix myself. I can change. If I knew what was wrong, I'd try my darndest to change it.

Time to get this blog UPDATED!! What up people?!?

Here's what we've been up to this summer so far:

Lots of flu and colds. What's up with that? I thought the summer was for playing and having fun, not being sick.

Going out of town a few times. That was fun. My niece's wedding was a blast, but super hot! Our van has no air conditioning!

Working myself from dawn until dusk on projects. I love summer because I can get all my projects done that have been sitting around all winter.

I'm tan! Let's say nothing more about that.

Running. Not far. But Running. Laugh all you want, but I'm proud to say I can do a mile in 8min. 30sec. My goal is 7 minutes. If I can make it there, I may shoot for 6. If I run farther than a mile which I sometimes do, I end up walking most of it because the pain in my shoulder is so intense. 1 mile seems to be the magic number.

Hmmm, you say you want an update on my children? Logan is now baking. I love seeing the things he wants to create. He's come far from the days of dumping all the spices in the house into the pot of macaroni. 

Sami is riding a big girl bike with training wheels. She is still so quiet and we are working on getting her to talk. Yes she won't even talk to us. She'll whisper things into my ear but won't say them out loud. And she can now read. Not as easy with the second child as the first. Especially a stubborn child like Samantha.

Phoebe is the funniest girl you'll ever meet. She wants to laugh and play all day long. She doesn't work well and has the hardest time concentrating on things. She's super hyper. I don't know where she came from. We are working on teaching her how to fold the towels and pick up her room. She can't even focus long enough to get herself dressed. A basic task that should take minutes, but with Phoebe it takes hours. Child for sale?

Till next time America!

I MADE IT!!!

OK. I am seriously trying to contain myself because I just found out I'VE BEEN PINNED!!!!!!!!