Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have seen a few times on blogs and on the Duggar's show, 19 Kids & Counting (Yes, I love them. Don't judge!) homemade laundry detergent. I was never really that interested because I like the smell of Tide and didn't know what the homemade stuff smelled like. Flash forward a few months: we were just in Seattle this past weekend where a friend of mine was telling me she makes her own. I smelled it and WOW! It smells great! And I know, it's obviously about cleaning power not necessarily smell but come on who wants clean fresh laundered clothes that don't smell like you want them to? I made the recipe yesterday and did two loads, one of towels and one heavy clothes. They both came out great! I even had a sweatshirt with some baby food stain on it (from the little guy I nanny) and it was completely gone! Here is the recipe:

1 bar Fels-Naptha finely grated
1 cup Borax
1 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda, WASHING soda)
*Use 2-3 tablespoons per load

Not only does it smell and clean great but it costs much less than Tide. Fels-Naptha bar: $0.97; Arm & Hammer washing soda: $3.19 ($0.47 per batch); Borax: $3.38 ($0.34 per batch). For $1.78 I made enough laundry detergent to last me about 65 loads. I bought a box of Tide with Bleach (54 loads) at Wal-Mart for around $13. Heck yes I'll take that $11 savings! :)

WARNING: This is not a sudsy detergent! It still cleans great. The suds have nothing to do with cleaning power. They are caused by an additive in detergents.

Happy laundering :)

Thankful For...

• Feeling encouraged from our church family!
• God providing in unexpected ways!
• An awesome Bible study with our youth.
• Peace as we go through the process of buying a house! :)

"The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper."

Psalm 19:8

Homemade Chewy Bars

I found a recipe for making oatmeal bars for your baby but I tweaked it a bit and made some delicious chewy bars!

-1 ripe banana
-1 cup oats
-1/2 T peanut butter
-1 T ground flax

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mash banana thoroughly in bowl. In a food processor grind up oats. Combine ground oats, peanut butter, and flax in with the banana to make a dough. Divide the mixture into small parts, I used an ice cream scoop, and form into a bar shape. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 4 minutes. If you prefer a crunchier bar bake longer. Makes 6 bars.