I don’t think I’ve mentioned on here before how much I love couponing and I distinctly remember in the past six months being so excited for scoring my laundry detergent for under $2.00 a bottle. I paid $5.19 for it at Target two weeks ago and almost cried.

And yes, those to statements are related.

I’ve been seeing several of my friends lately talk about making homemade laundry detergent and how pleased they’ve been by it and by friends, I mean famous people I follow on Pinterest. Never one to miss a bandwagon or a popular pin item, I finally decided last week to order everything I needed to join the homemade soap wagon.

I read and asked real life friends and followed pins and googled and found out that homemade laundry detergent is made up of three basic ingredients, and depending on who you are talking to at the moment, differing amounts of those three items.

Your three basic ingredients are Fels Naptha soap, Borax, and Washing Soda (not baking soda, washing). Some folks use Ivory soap or even homemade soap (how hippie is that) but most recipes I looked at suggested Fels.

Also, most recipes make a lot of soap. I don’t have room for five gallons of laundry detergent. As it is, my canning pot has been banished to the balcony closet with the Christmas decorations and seldom used cooler.

I wasn’t expecting stellar results, as most bandwagons are a bit of a letdown in the end (see, 75% of the recipes on Pinterest) and I didn’t want to get stuck with a year’s worth of bad soap. So I made my own formula. Also, not wanting to invest any more money in this than absolutely necessary, I made it in a milk jug. (How moonshining of me does that sound?)

Milk Jug Laundry Detergent
1/4 a bar of Fels Naptha soap
1/4 cup of Borax
1/4 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
Empty milk jug or other lidded gallon container

You can grate the soap if you wish, but I just finely chopped mine. Toss the soap and about 3 cups of water into a pot on the stove and heat to boiling. The water amounts I give are really just guidelines, since in the end, you’ll just fill the jug up to the gallon mark.

Boil and stir until the soap dissolves in the water. If your water gets sudsy, stir less vigorously, haha, and maybe turn down the heat a bit. When the soap is pretty well grated, add in the Borax & washing soda. Stir that until dissolved.

Fill your milk jug up about halfway with some pretty warm water (when I was boiling the soap mixture, I had another pot on the stove with water that I boiled) and add in the soap mixture. If you have an actual milk jug, having a funnel at this point helps make it less messy.

Wait for it to cool a bit, then shake to combine. Add in some more water to fill up to about a gallon’s worth. Then set to the side for a few hours, maybe as long as 24 hours.

The liquid is going to get gelatinous somewhat.

You can see the bits of gel floating around in there.

I use a half a cup of detergent per load and so far, I’ve been ridiculously pleased with the results. This is probably the time I should tell you I’ve been using this for just 48 hours, but, bandwagons travel fast. Anyway.

All in all, the soap making process took about ten minutes. From chopping the soap to pouring into the milk jug. All done while Eliza was awake and playing in the kitchen too (important, since most parents know projects like this usually have to wait until nap time.)

I’ve done three test loads of laundry.

I washed our whites with it. And in a house of two toddlers, that’s a true test of a laundry detergent. I am so very pleased with how well it cleaned. It took out some serious stains (the girls wore white shirts strawberry picking last week so it removed strawberry juice and dirt) and probably worked better than our regular detergent. If it didn’t work better, it worked just as well. I now have plans to make my own pre-treater, but that’s another post for another time.

So, does it get your whites clean? In my (albeit brief experience) that’s a resounding yes!

I washed our kitchen towels and washcloths with it. These towels were already pretty dingy when they went in, so I can’t be as sure about the stain removal process in this load. However, Josh is getting new kitchen towels in his Easter basket (suprise honey!) and I feel pretty certain these new towels are going to stay white a lot longer than this last set did.

The reason I washed these though was because I had some towels and washcloths that were pretty icky, mildew smelling even after being washed. I tried my best after this load came out of the dryer to pick out some mildew smell, and nothing.

So, does it remove stinky smells? Big ol’ check mark for that.

The last test is still in progress, so expect an update in about a week. I went out on a limb and washed our cloth diapers with it. They came out of the washer smelling fresh and clean, but I need to put Eliza in them for about a week or so and see if there are any issues when she’s actually using them.

So does it both clean and remove smells? The stain free, smell free diapers say yes.

Now, what started this all in the first place. The cost factor of my regular detergent. My regular 32 load detergent cost me $5.19 (without a coupon) the last time I bought it at Target.

I took the easy way out and bought all my supplies at Amazon. I don’t know if they have the cheapest prices or not but I’m going to try to go by Kroger next week to price compare. Here’s what I spent at Amazon:

Fels Naptha Soap – $4.45
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (55oz box) – $8.95
20 Mule Team Borax (76oz box) – $11.05

Total spent at Amazon (no shipping or tax) $24.45 (the cost of about 4.5 bottles of my regular laundry detergent)

Price per batch –

You use a fourth of a bar, so $4.45 / 4
Fels Naptha Soap – $1.11

A 1/4c of washing soda weighs 2.6 oz. So there are about 21 portions in the 55 oz box. $8.95 / 21
Washing soda – $0.43

A 1/4c of borax weighed 1.7 oz. In a 76 ox box, that’s about 44 portions. $11.05 / 44
Borax – $0.25

Meaning a batch of detergent cost $1.79 to make.

Not too shabby.

But wait, it gets better! (And I won’t even charge you $9.99 for shipping and handling!)

A gallon is 16 cups. And if you use half a cup in each load, that means you’re going to get about 32 loads of detergent from every batch.

Meaning it costs you oh, about $0.06 a load of laundry. Oh yes, you read that right.

My regular detergent costs me $0.16 a load, assuming I get a full 32 loads out of it, which I never do because I always fill it to the second line, not the first.

I know you probably don’t think $0.10 a load is worth saving, but really, that $0.10 translates into about $100 because it saves me a trip to Target. And everyone knows it’s impossible to go to Target and get only one thing and spend less than $100

So if you follow this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you! Remember, your water is probably different than mine, which may or may not effect your how it works for you. So don’t be afraid to play around with the proportions a little as well. That’s what is nice about this recipe (I think) is that it doesn’t make a whole lot, so if you get a batch that doesn’t work for you, you’re not stuck with tons of it. Add some essential oils if you like (about ten drops to a gallon I think?). I have some ideas lurking for stain removers as well!

I’ll be sure to post an update in a week or two to let you know if I still love it as much as I do now!

We were going to do an Old MacDonald theme, but that wasn’t coming together the way I wanted it to, so we went with “Down On The Farm.” We used lots of burlap, mason jars, sunflowers and pumpkins.

I ordered 20 yards of burlap from Shindigz since it was the cheapest I could find. I also ordered our plates and utensils from them as well (clear) in order to get free shipping. They also had orange paper lanterns on sale for $1.99 each, so I picked up a dozen of those for a steal.

The burlap could not have been easier to use. We just rolled it out over the tables and cut it. Done!

I had plans to unravel a bit of the edges to make a nice border but ran out of time. It worked out though, since I was planning to do single tablecloths, but the tables pushed end to end worked even better.

Twenty yard of burlap was enough to cover six standard size folding tables and have a bit leftover.

I made cupcake stands out of cardboard cake circles, burlap, ribbon and mason jars. But I’ll do a separate post on those since they were so cute and I want to make more just for the house.

A little bag of pumpkins served as food labels. I just cut slits in the pumpkins to hold the index cards.

I used my canning pot as a drink bucket. I knew that thing would come in handy some day (for something other than canning!)

Mason jars also held the utensils

I used the old scotch tape trick to help arrange the flowers in, well, more mason jars.

Rather than transport a whole bunch of glass jars from Texas to Mississippi, I used Amazon to order them and had them shipped for free to my parents’ house. As much as possible, I had things shipped to their house so that we would have plenty of space in the car and also, so I wouldn’t forget anything back home!

It worked like a charm since I didn’t forget anything and everything was there on time!

I think the pictures capture how much fun was had more than words ever could

But hopefully I’ll get back on track soon!

In the meantime, I’ve done a little bit of a blog redesign. A new theme, some new colors, and a new tab on baby wearing. Hopefully this design is a little cleaner and the pictures show up better.

That’s all boring though compared to our biggest update.

Turns out this ultrasound was right!

We’re so very blessed to be expecting another wonderfully healthy baby GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can’t wait to add this new addition to our family in September!

Time to put on your happy face!

So get ready, this is a really heavy picture post!

One of the most fun parts of Arkansas was getting to go swimming with Marion. The first time, we went to Blanchard Springs.

Marion had a lot of fun with Abby

Look – piggies in the water!

The springs were great because the shallows were rocky and nice to sit on and let the littles play

While the big kids could actually swim out in the deeper waters

Marion thought the dragonflies on my shoulder were funny

She thought splashing was even funnier

We had so much fun swimming together

Yay for the springs!

The next day, we went to Norfork Dam. They have an area roped off for swimming, which was nice. It wasn’t as pretty as Blanchard Springs, but it was deeper and not as rocky. Plus, it was a two minute drive from the lodge, so that most definitely made it better than the hour drive to the Springs.

More splashes!

Marzi was in full on teething mode and had skipped her afternoon nap, so she was much more inclined to just kick back and relax.

The little waves in the lake were kind of fun for her (as was watching Laura swim)

Little sleepy girl

Morgan Jane gave us a look five years into our future…

Norfork Lake

Kisses for mama!

Do you like the random old woman in the background?

Don’t worry, we’re certified to perform water tricks

Chillaxin (did I even spell that right? Is there even a right way to spell it?)

We girls, and by girls, I mean Abigail, McKenzie and I boycotted anything longer than the drive to Blanchard Springs in favor of laying around at the lodge. Which didn’t exactly make for anything exciting to blog about, but did result in lots of pictures of our favorite activity of just visiting. Visiting, by the way, is something our family has made into an art form.

Mamaw and Marion

Abigail

(who I know will message me on facebox and squeal, take it offffffffffffffffffffffff, when she’s sees I’ve posted it. But I’m not. I think you look gorgeous in this picture and I love it and so I’m leaving it. Plus, it’s my blog and I can do what I want. So neener.)

Uncle Donald and McKenzie, demonstrating that visiting involves lots of laughter

Marion, demonstrating that visiting involves lots of listening (plus, I just love the way she’s holding Mamaw’s thumb)

Visiting involves lots of snuggles (father/daughter ones are the best)

Papaw/granddaughter ones are pretty special too

And mama/daughter ones as well.

Cousin snuggles. Okay, all snuggles are good.

And we all have a fondness for puppy snuggles

Sweet Angie

And sweet LP

Visiting generally involves good natured rivalry. Like Dad getting whooped by Laura in Go Fish.

And it always involves silliness

Like trying to get all the grand and great-grand kids present together for a picture for Mamaw!

Marion even made some time to visit with Rover

And Rover visited with her

After the official reunion weekend, we (we being Daddy, Mrs Gail, me, Abby, Kenzie, Uncle Don, Aunt Janis, Uncle David and Mamaw) went back to the house in Arkansas and had another wonderful three days of visiting.

And some good white trash fun

Involving guns in the front yard.

Man, I love my family.

Just kidding!

(Kinda. They just aren’t food for Marion.)

Happy Easter!

Most of our updates so far have been limited to pictures but Kati and I will start putting up some full updates over the next couple of days. So much has happened over the past few days that I’m just going to share a few of my random thoughts and pictures that really captured the experience from my point of view.

I am very proud of Kati for going through a solid 12 hrs of labor, 7 of which were without an epidural, especially since they say that Pitocin-induced contractions are much worse than regular contractions. Even though it didn’t end exactly how we wanted, I think she was able to push herself to the limit and be very satisfied with where that limit exists, which is something very few people get to do.  I think I can relate to this because its like running a marathon or triathlon in that regardless of what time you crossed the finish line you still learned something about yourself, what you can accomplish and what’s out of your control, what really matters to you and what doesn’t.  And I think what really matters to both of us now is that little girl and our new family.

Before Pitocin

After Pitocin

Once Dr. Z decided on a c-section, everything happened so fast my memories of it are already a blur (less than 45 min from when he said GO to when Marion came out hollering). While the nurses were getting Kati ready I only had time to make a quick call to her mom to let her know what was happening. Then we were off to the O/R. These two pictures really sum it up. (If you can’t tell, the second picture is of Josh sweat’n bullets before going into the O/R, not preparing to remove asbestos).

I never fully appreciated the phrase “long night”, as in “last night was a long night”, until the past couple of days. I got about 45 min of sleep Thursday night and about 2 hrs Friday night. Last night was a lot easier as I think Kati and I each got about 5 hrs. But I’m not going to jinx myself by saying that we are starting to get the hang of it.

Marion’s shoulders and back are hairier than mine and with her extra long toes, she really is very much like a little monkey.

Sticking with the monkey theme, she’s a lot like a little wild animal, particularly when she looks around with this overwhelmed, curious, half-terrified look in her big eyes. I hate to say this but I think Gracie Lou might actually be a little more domesticated than Marion.  Domesticated or not, we wouldn’t trade her in for the world – although Gracie may be able to teach her a few things about staying on guard for kitties and eating her dinner quickly.

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