More Dirty Laundry

I LOVE when I can save my family money and still do my job of being the MOST awesome Mama!!!! Actually, I think the ways I save us money make me an even MORE awesome Mama.  
I make tortillas to feed Sariah's obsession with salsa
I can jelly for our PB&J freaky boy 
Most of our clothes come from thrift shops (name brands and so many more choices in one convenient place) 
I sew some clothes myself 
I make decor for our home inexpensivley (LOVE those monthly craft nights!!)
We cook from scratch most meals
I make our laundry soap.
See - We rock!
(mostly.  We are told to be prepared. to have a year's supply ready for emergencies...let's just say "It's a work in progress."

This post is about LAUNDRY, a topic that continues to come up in my circle of friends. 

Here's the laundry recipe I use most of the time. I ahve tried 1 other and didn't like it. I found all the supplies at Meijer (WalMart would probably have them as well.) there are also recipes for powdered detergent out there. Here's one that sounds promising.  I'll try it next time and report back. :o)

 
For one batch:
I shred up some Fels Naptha bar soap,
- melt 1/3 cup in 6 cups of water over medium heat.  
- add 1/2 cup Borax, 
- add 1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and mix until melty. 
- put 4 cups HOT water in a big bucket that is not needed for a few days
- add the soapy mix and stir it all together.
- add  MORE water (one gallon plus 6 cups) and stir again.
- Then, let it sit for 24 hours and it ends  up the texture of egg-drop soup.   

You use a 1/2 cup for each load of laundry. That's it.


I had a regular washer when I started making this recipe, I have an High Efficiancy washer now (such a blessing) and I use this recipe still.  The detergent DOES NOT foam. So I am good to go.  LOVE IT!!! 

Oh and I NOW put my finished product in a decorative jar with a lid instead of the ugly bottles like before.  The jar sits on a table next to my washer. Pretty :o) (and not drippy)

*You can leave it in the covered bucket (like a dog food or kitty litter bucket OR a nice one with a lid from Home Depot) OR put it all the bottles saved from OTHER detergents previously used. It's easier and less messy to pour from a small bottle and not have it dripping from my hand as bent over to dip in the bucket. I kept it in the bucket the first batch I made last year.) 

The cost is amazing at less that 2 cents per load!!! (even a little more would be fine with me...it's awesome)

Enjoy!!

Gratitude–Day 19

Today, what I am grateful for the most is my home. It may not be big, it may not be fancy, but it is mine.

* a bed room and bunk bed = a very happy boy

* a large bedroom for the girls to share = must “communication” over the sharing of space, clothes, and things

* a bedroom for Steven and me = a cozy place to hide away from the children and try to knit and find peace

* the washer and dryer are in the bathroom, so as winter comes on, I’ll be able to put my socks and towel in the dryer to be toasty warm as I emerge from the shower = VERY COOL idea

* a space over in the corner, for my crafts & sewing machine = yippee!!!

 

* a 3-butt-kitchen = happy cooks and prep kids. (I know our kitchen in the apartment we rented before Tallen was born was a 1-butt kitchen) a small table fits, it seats 4.

* a new gas stove to cook on, and bake in = a relief after a few months of NOT having a stove at all.  How Creative with food can I be??

* a fridge with a water and ice dispenser = I don’t have to remind the children to refill the water pitcher or the ice trays = less stress for Mama 

* a living room just big enough to seat 8 for a cozy  and intimate conversation

* a dining room big enough to have our table opened to seat 8 = still able to host the D&D party.

* a deck large enough to have picnics and cookouts on = family time is great

* a playground and pool in our neighborhood = fun

* the girls are able to be in the same school with friends = happy girls

Like I said, today, I am grateful for my home. It may not be big, it may not be fancy, but it is mine. And we are able to be a family together within it’s walls.

Thank you Heavenly Father, for the blessing that is our home. I appreciate it.

I Love Clean Laundry…

I love the feel of clean, cool sheets and the smell of clean laundry dried on the clothesline.  Don't you???

I made a double batch of laundry detergent on Friday.  I LOVE when I can save my family money and still do my job of being the MOST awesome Mama!!!! Actually, I think the ways I save us money make me an even MORE awesome Mama.
I make our laundry soap, I make tortillas to feed Sariah's obsession with salsa, I get most of our clothes at thrift shops (name brands and so many more choices in one convenient place), we cook from scratch most meals (... but even I give into the call of "Pizza! Pizza!" at 5 bucks on a busy night of church activities.) 

Here's the laundry recipe I used this time. I found all the supplies at Meijer (WalMart would probably have them as well.) 

Here's how it goes:
For one batch, I shred up some Fels Naptha bar soap, melt 1/3 cup in 6 cups of water over medium heat.  
Add 1/2 cup Borax, 1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and mix until melty. 
I then put 4 cups HOT water in a big bucket that I don't need for a few days, add the soapy mix and stir it all together.
I add MORE water (one gallon plus 6 cups) and stir again.
Then I let it sit for 24 hours and it ends  up the texture of egg-drop soup.   
You use a 1/2 cup for each load of laundry. That's it.


8-16-12 I have an HE washer now and I use this still.  The detergent DOES NOT foam. so good to go.  LOVE IT!!!  Oh and I NOW put my finished product in a decorative  lidded jar on a table next to my washer. Pretty :o) and not drippy.

*You can leave it in the covered bucket (like a dog food or kitty litter bucket OR a nice one from Home Depot) OR put it all the bottles saved from OTHER detergents previously used. I used to do this. It's easier and less messy to pour from a small bottle and not have it dripping from my hand as bent over to dip in the bucket. I kept it in the bucket the first batch I made last year.) 

Here's my supply....(2 batches)













I am now calculating how long it lasts me. (I guess that depends on how many loads we do per week...) I think 6-7 months...we'll see. It may be a year supply (we are supposed to be prepared, right??) But even less is ok at less that 2 cents per load!!!

What she said! HAPPY laundry day!!

- Bronwen

3-22-11 UPDATE:
We used the last of this double batch, last week. When we made this post, I asked my family how long they thought it all would last.
Steven said - 7 months
Sariah didn't vote (teenager thing)
Miranda thought - 15 months
I said I thought the bottles pictured above would last a year.
They lasted almost 10 months. with regular washings going on.  Pretty good.

Farm City Day…

When I was a girl, my sister and I would visit my Mother in Pennsylvania on the dairy farm she and her husband ran. There were like 200 of these:

So Megan and I got to feed the calves their bottles, feed the “teenager cows” feed and water (I loved the water dispensers…VERY cool to a kid) and even GOT to help in the milking parlor in the evenings and clean up the parlor and scrape the manure afterward (to put it politely) into the barn to later make it into the pit out back and into the fertilizer spreader later.  Being on a farm was a vacation for me until I graduated from high school and moved there to live and was expected to do my part…but that’s a different blog entry all together. 

During the summers, there was a thing called “Farm City Day” when the kids from the city would come out and play farmer for the day. There were milk drinking contests, hay rides, goat milking, and other fun farm stuff.

My children would be THOSE city kids! 

How foreign farm animals are to them!!

We started off Spring Break 2010 by going to Kensington Lake Metro Park.  They have a Farm Center there with a barn full of animals downstairs, where all the babies are born and an educational area upstairs and then the more open farm areas outside. 

Sariah made a point to tell me “I’ll go see the baby pigs but I DON’T want to walk around and see the other stuff.” (Where did she think she’d be while the rest of us were wandering?? Needless to say, I put her in charge of photos and she was all about walking around to EVERY SINGLE ANIMAL!)

Checking out the goats

 

 

 

 

Trying to PET  the goats

 

 

 

 

 

      He isn't so sure yet about touching them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

STOP! 

Before you look at the next photo, let me tell you a bit about this girl.

Sariah is my “Ultra Clean” child.  She doesn’t like to be dirty, WOULDN’T finger paint as a small girl…not even with Chocolate pudding and is allergic to soft and fuzzy animals.  Her eyes puff up and tear. And remember she “wasn’t going to LIKE seeing all the animals”

Here SHE is:

(OK – you can look now)

I happen to adore the look on her face!

It says:

“Look at me!! I am TOUCHING A REAL LIVE, UP CLOSE    C-O-W!!!!”

 

 

 

Now Sariah is so COOL with it. 

“I do this all the time. This is so old hat!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miranda and the same cow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They spent about 10 minutes with this cow taking bunches of pictures as she was eating her dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was on to the pigs. 

Ask Sariah what she thought of the pigs…it’s a funny story but I don’t want to embarrass her here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is lambing time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mama… a.k.a. Mrs. Ewe

 

 

 

 

 

1 day old lambs! So Cute!!

 

 

 

 

 

And oh so soft!

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner! Come and get it!

 

 

 

 

 

There were plenty of other lambs with their Mamas and other animals to photograph as well…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Usually there are quite a bunch of piglets, but this year there are only 4.  They are cute and so funny.

The kids had to show off their strength and try out the pulleys. When you lift 20 lbs alone it’s REALLY heavy, when you use pulleys they pulleys do some of the work for you.  The more pulleys, the easier it is on you.

Here is Tallen demonstrating the pulleys

Getting ready…

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

One pulley…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two pulleys…    

(so much easier)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three pulleys.    

so easy he almost fell pulling the rope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Miranda just showing off!

She is so strong!!

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of gals have to WORK for arms like this…I tell her to keep it up. Stay active and healthy.

 

Ready to carry milk into the house from the barn.

 

 

 

 

 

 Oh…, right, we don’t hand milk cows for milk.  But they are ready!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many hands high are you??       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Sariah is 15 hands high

    Miranda is 14 1/2 hands high

 

 

 

 

 

    Tallen is 12 hands high

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great day out with the children.  After the farm we stopped for a little while at the playground. Very fun. Sariah sat in the van and listened to her Mp3 player, Miranda and Tallen played and I was able to sit for a spell and knit.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tallen’s new favorite activity

Climbing!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet

Success!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Today, was a good day. I was able to enjoy the nature around me…

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and to just BE with my kids and not have to worry about the laundry, the dishes or the rest of the chores

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will go back to feeling a little like this chicken

(I feel this way often actually…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

    The children will keep     growing older…

 

 

 

 

 

 

   …and need me less and less…

 

 

 

 

 

 

    …and grow further and further  from me.

 

 

 

 

 

    But this is how God intended it to be.  It is the circle of life! We teach them and then they go out on their own…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am glad they’ll always have each other!!!

But for now they are still up close and personal and oh so beautiful!

 

SARIAH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MIRANDA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TALLEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I give up!! I put it in the program and TRY to upload my beautiful and creative entry and it ends up looking like this…..SORRY, I did the best I could.)