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I’ve blogged about this before, but every fall my allergies get pretty bad. I can’t stand the fragrance in laundry detergent or cleaning products. I began cleaning the bathrooms with hydrogen peroxide, which was great except that I had to be SO careful not to bleach my clothes or towels. I’ve experimented with making my own cleaning products, but biggest success has been with making my own laundry deterent.

Here’s the recipe.

1 Bar Fels Naptha ($1.19 at my local Kroger’s)
1 Cup Borax ($4.99 for a 55 oz. box on Amazon)
1 Cup Washing Soda ($4.34 for a 76 oz. box on Amazon)

All of these are found at my local Kroger’s in the laundry aisle. Grate the bar of Fels Naptha. Mix the grated Fels Naptha with the borax and washing soda. Use 1/4 cup per load of regular laundry.

According to an online ounces to cups converter, this recipe makes enough for approximately 10 loads of laundry, and you’d still have 5.875 cups of washing soda and 8.5 cups of borax leftover.

If you made 6 batches it would cost approimately $16.47 giving you enough for 60 loads of laundry. That comes out to 27.45 cents a load, and I’m pretty sure Amazon’s prices are higher than Kroger’s, so it may actually be less. And, in making six batches you’d still have .875 cups of washing soda and 3.5 cups of borax leftover!

I sure hope my calculations are correct. I probably shoul have asked David to write this post for me! He’d have a great spreadsheet or chart or something. And he probably knows the formula to convert ounces to cups by heart.

Anyway, I’ve saved a lot of money by making my own laundry detergent, and as people with chronic illnesses, we are always looking for ways to save money. It works for me! Hope it works for you, too!

Love,
A Young Wife

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Autumn is my least favorite season. I’m sorry. I know a lot of you love the fall, but I’m a summer girl. All the delicious produce, the wakeboarding and barbecues…Sigh. I love summer. In middle school I hosted a funeral for summer. I’m not kidding. The Sunday before school started, I invited a bunch of friends, family and neighbors over for a funeral. We buried a shoe box full of ticket stubs and pictures. A summer time capsule. My little brothers did a cap gun salute. And then we all ate a bunch of fabulous summer food. It was a blast. And yeah, I throw parties for everything.

Unfortunately, for me Autumn means severe allergies. Now, with David’s Psoriatic Arthritis, I really dread Autumn because the weather starts changing, and changes in barometric pressure really hurt his joints. However, I am decorating for the season this year. I didn’t last year, probably because we’d only been in the house a few months and I was more focused on unpacking.

Here are some pictures.

What do you think about the dining room table? I’m not sure I like the line of decorations. Maybe I’d rather have a cluster of pumpkins in the middle like on the kitchen table. Ideas?

The best thing about Autumn is it means Christmas is coming. Christmas is my favorite holiday. It’s incredible to think that God sent his Son to live among us and die for us. Celebrating our Savior’s birth puts people in a generous mood. And there are several baked items that my mother only makes at Christmas.

Oh, and here’s the picture of my poor baby Brother #1 right after he had his wisdom teeth pulled.

This is what he normally looks like.

I chose this picture because Brother #1′s puppy is just so darn cute. This picture was taken almost a year ago. Little Grizzly is now 90 pounds. Brother #1 is doing fine now, Praise the Lord!

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