June 15, 2011

DIY Liquid Laundry Soap

This is a post I've been wanting to write for a while, but I can't find where I got the recipe! So, I give up. I know I Googled "homemade laundry detergent," and I found this particular recipe on the Duggars' website, but it isn't working now (*Hence the "giving up").

Here's the recipe:

You need:
4 cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar, or Dial or Ivory. We used Ivory.
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (it has to be washing soda)
1/2 cup Borax
More hot tap water
1 5 gallon bucket
Laundry soap dispenser (we used our old All container) with lid

Grate the bar of soap and add to saucepan with the 4 cups water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap mixture, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

The next day, stir the liquid, and pour into a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser until half full. Fill the rest of the way with water.

Shake before each use.

Yields approx. 10 gallons.

Use 5/8 cup per load for top load machine, and 1/4 cup per load for front load machines.

You can add essential oils once the soap has cooled if you want (10-15 drops per 2 gal), but we like the way the Ivory soap smells.

I LOVE this detergent! I've read you can use distilled white vinegar as a fabric softener, but we're still using Gain. I did try the vinegar, but I need to do it again before I have a real opinion on it.

Next to come: my favorite homemade cleaners!

June 2, 2011

Crockpot Yogurt!

Yes, you read that right- yogurt made in the crockpot! It works, and it's good! Here's where I got it from.

I did it a little differently because I have a baby and he rules my life requires a lot of attention, so when it says "cook for 2 1/2 hours," mine cooked for 3ish. And when it said "3 hours," mine was closer to 4....but it turned out really well and closely resembles yogurt!!

I plan on adding honey and also using it for parfaits. I'm excited!!

I like this recipe because the only thing I had to buy that I wouldn't have already was a half gallon of whole milk, which cost $2ish. On the link above, she says you can add a packet of unflavored gelatin to low-fat milk instead of using whole milk. I'll try that next time. So a ton of yogurt cost me $2ish. Not bad.