Laundry Soap

This might be a snore fest for some people, but I love this sort of thing!  Here’s my recipe for homemade laundry soap.  It is cheap and works great!

Combine the following and store in an airtight container to prevent caking {I use a clean coffee can}:

1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated

1 cup Borax

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1/4 cup Oxi-Clean (optional)

Directions: Use one heaping Tbsp for a small load; use 2 heaping Tbsp for a large or heavily soiled load.  I’ve found that it works best with warm or hot water, not cold.

Natural fabric softener = vinegar.  Just pour a little {approximately 1/4 cup} into the fabric softener dispenser of your washing machine as you would store-bought softener.  The smell totally dissipates once the laundry is dry.

Here’s a slightly different soap recipe that I found and want to try next time.  Obviously it makes quite a bit more, but either recipe can be increased or decreased as long as the ratio of ingredients is the same.

3 bars pink Zote soap, grated

4 pound box Borax

4 pound box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

4 pound box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1 small bucket Oxi-Clean or other oxygen cleaner

Same directions as stated above.

I’m learning how to knit!

Two of my great friends came over last night to teach me how to knit.  I’m pretty sure that they have both been knitting for a couple of years and I was dying to learn!  It was so much fun!  We definitely gossiped talked way more than we knitted but I still learned the basics.  They were great teachers!   Not surprising of one, because she IS a kindergarten teacher! 🙂

The primary focus of this blog will continue to be cooking and baking, but I do intend to share my other homemaking endeavors periodically.  They will *hopefully* include:  gardening, canning and pickling, cleaning tips/schedules, various product (tools, gadgets, cookware, etc.) reviews, and of course, knitting! 

One topic I’m not sure of including is related to my day job – interior design. Although it may be fun to share design tips and tricks with you, I am leaning towards keeping that segment of my life separate to avoid totally burning out!  😛  But, on the other hand, as a typical newlywed homeowner, we do plan on doing some of our own home renovations down the road and I may want to document them here.  I may also want to share design tidbits that I find particularly useful along the way.  So, we’ll see which way the wind blows me day-to-day.

What would you like to see featured here?