First of all, I'm a "from scratch" kind of gal. Well, except for cake mixes. Unless its a specialty cake (carrot, cheese, applesauce, coffee, angel food, bundt, pound, pretty much anything except for what we call "birthday cake"), I've found that the Dough Boy and Mrs. Crocker has it mastered. Even then, I ALWAYS add ingredients to the mix to make it an Amandanized version. (Note: while they do know their cakes, they DO NOT know frosting! I never, repeat NEVER, use prepared frosting!) Anyway, back to the "from scratch"... My kitchen is pretty well MIY. From the three square meals a day to the treats in the cupboards and special desserts to the sourdough bread starter bubbling on my kitchen counter. From Dutch letters to cinnamon rolls, its homemade. I'm not as "from scratch" as a couple of ladies I know, but I do pride myself in cooking for my family. And by cooking I mean using fresh ingredients... not eating from a box or the freezer. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, just not my style.)
My newest MIY experiment was re-trying to make homemade laundry soap. I've made a version before that resulted in a powdered form of detergent. I was not impressed. Except for smelling up the house nice and fresh while it was being made, I found that it really didn't give quality results. So I got away from it for a while and went back to buying the whatever was on sale (hopefully with a coupon!) and a step up from the cheap generic deal from Wal Mart. Then, while looking up homemade natural shampoos and conditioners, I stumbled across this recipe for LIQUID detergent. It was almost as if I heard angelic singing as I scrolled through the recipe, realized I already had ALL the ingredients left over from making the powder form, researched it enough to find that almost all of the ladies (I know, sexist, right?!... but face it, tis true!) approved and even recommended it! SO....
A few days later, I prepared what I needed. I thoroughly cleaned up a five gallon bucket, found an old pot, shaved what needed shaved, boiled what needed boiled, stirred what needed stirred, (kinda) measured what needed to be measured and let it sit over night to work its magic. Just like that I had five gallons of homemade laundry soap!
Why, right?!
Well, a couple of reasons. The homemade version is pure soap. Its not watered down and therefore I'm paying for pure soap instead of a watered down concoction. Its also alot cheaper! According to the website, its about one cent per large load. Mine probably cost a hair more because I added a bit more soap and I also add a tad of OxyClean to my loads to help with them tough ol' farming stains. Still, its cheaper for better quality than buy those jugs for ten bucks a pop... or more! AND its chemical free. This chemical free subject will have to be for a whole 'nother blog post, but its not too hard to figure out: chemicals directly applied to my family, bad; chemicals not directly applied to my family, good.
Like I said earlier, I've alwasy been an interested MIYer and hopefully can continue to fully see my dream of only going to town for a gallon of milk (I'm NOT buying a moo-cow... well, I would by one, but I'm not milking one and Josh says that would have to be the deal: I can buy it but he's not milking it!) come to reality. I've got lots of ideas and just need to use them. But, always being one to give credit where credit is due, I have to give credit for my re-inspiration to my sister-in-law, Jill, who has renewed my interest in MIY. I was really into it for a long, then I had kids and opted for convenience. But she (and her family, my brother and beautiful nieces) have given me lots of ideas and it once again sounds... well, fun! I'm looking forward to once again becoming self sufficient, not reliant on supermarket shelves!
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| Here's a picture of Caleb helping me funnel some of the detergent from the five gallon bucket to a couple of reused detergent jugs. |
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