How to make your own laundry detergent

I started making laundry detergent right after we moved to Denver and I'd used up all our pre-bought stuff. I like the powdery stuff - it's easier to measure. Plus it's easy to make, and it's cheap.

This is SO EASY and SO FAST. It can easily be doubled or tripled or whatever you want.

WHAT YOU NEED:

- 1 bar of soap (You can use special laundry soap if you want, but I've just been eating through my enormous people-soap stockpile. Ivory is my favorite because it has the greatest percentage of soap in it. When the stockpile is empty and I'm making my own soap, I'll be using that.)
- 1 cup of Borax (I've never been to a grocery store that didn't carry it in the detergent area.)
- 1 cup of Washing Soda (I get mine from Ace Hardware - you can either buy it online and ship-to-store, or you can call and ask them to order it for you if they don't stock it. There's an Ace right near the church and I haven't found any local hardware stores yet, but when I do, I will ask if the local joint carries it. Buy local, and all. But for now, Ace is easiest.)
- Jar or other container for the detergent (I use a pickle jar. It needs to be able to hold at least 2.5 cups of stuff.)
- Food processor or maybe a blender, or a cheese grate and a bowl
- An implement capable of measuring out by the tablespoon, approximately (I use a plastic measuring spoon that the dish disposal chewed up. Having something dedicated to the laundry area will make your life easiest.)
- Funnel, optional
- Dust mask, optional, if you have sensitive lungs like I do. This stuff can kick up some powder.

And that's it!


HOW YOU DO IT:

Cut the bar of soap into hunks and put it in the food processor until it's reduced to a fine powder. (Alternatively, grate the soap as finely as you can.)

Dump the borax and the washing soda into the food processor with the soap.* Or, dump everything into a bowl and mix it up by hand. You want it nice and combined and awesome.

Pour into your jar. (I fancied mine up with my label maker, so that next time Brian takes it upon himself to do some laundry, he'll know to use the powder, and not all my Woolite, to wash his yard work clothes. This might or might not have happened at some point...)

Stick your measuring scoop in the jar, and stick the jar wherever it is you like to stick your laundry detergent.

DONE! (beside cleanup, of course. And when you're done cleaning up, toss the sponge or rag straight into the wash pile. You don't want to take any chances.*) All in all, it takes me maybe 10 minutes from start to finish.


I use a tablespoon for regular loads of laundry. I'll use 2 tbsp for huge or especially dirty loads. And that's it! One jar of this stuff lasts me about 2 months or so, and I typically do 3-ish loads per week. If I had a bigger jar, I'd double the batch and be all the more awesome because of it.


*Some people are concerned about having these ingredients in their food processor. I personally am not too concerned, but I do wash everything twice, once in the sink and again in the dishwasher. I've never had anything come out of the food processor tasting like soap or borax, and (to my knowledge) I haven't become ill as a result, either. I do make sure the dogs can't get into the kitchen when I'm working, because they are very 'licky' and Borax can, in high doses, be very toxic.

Finishing the entryway, or, Adventures with power tools

So, a couple of weeks ago I blogged here on making progress in my entryway. I've got more good stuff to show you now.

For quite a while now, I've wanted some kind of 'hook central' to put by the door. In the old house, we had this old mail sorter that wasn't very pretty but it worked just fine. In the apartment, though, the mail sorter landed in my office-y area (which is really more of a built-in desk between the kitchen and living room).

My temporary eyesore solution was to stick a bunch of those 3M hooks by the door, and then hang a random extra mirror for some kind of 'form' to go with all the function. That's where our dog leashes lived, but nothing of any substance or weight could go there.

WELL. The row of hooks was really bugging me. It was ugly. And I visited it several, if not a dozen or two, times a day. After finishing the trunk area, the hooks became my tip-top priority. Obviously.

I had this old board for a project from like 2 years ago that was clearly never going to happen. Good start. I decided I wanted to attach some cool wrought iron hooks to it - not realizing that cool wrought iron hooks, at least the kind I had in mind, were prohibitively expensive. Especially online, and especially out here where people are really into that kind of stuff. So I started trolling ebay.

Eventually, after enough trolling, I found some good stuff. I got two gargantuan iron hooks from an honest-to-goodness blacksmith, and I got a set of antique porcelain knobs. With that, my new project was born. What follows is a step-by-step, photos included, of my adventure. I have two words to describe the joy that was this project: power tools.

How Ashley Made Her Cool (in her eyes) Entryway Thinger

Step 1: Assemble all the parts. For me, this meant the board, the knobs, the hooks, the screws, and the picture hanger things.

Step 2: Measure the length of the board (24in.) and make marks where each of the 5 things will hang. I put them at 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 inches. Nice and even.

Step 3: Get one of your husband's 5 toolboxes, the one most likely to have the screwdriver set. Tinker around until you find the right screwdriver thingie to fit the screw. Screw in the hooks where they go. Note how the hooks aren't exactly identical and aren't exactly straight either. Consider just how fun and awesome handmade stuff is.

Step 4: Realize you have no idea how to get the knobs into the wood, on account of they aren't pointy like screws. Consult your woodworking brother Marcus on iChat, because he's really good at that stuff. (PS He is a wood craftsman. If you have a project in mind or if you saw something on Etsy you want but can't afford, you should totally get up with my brother. He can do just about anything. I'll send you his info if you ask...we are in the process of building him a website.)

Step 5: Grapple with the knowledge that to complete this project, you have to play with the power drill. Get really excited about this. Try to figure out where the power drill lives, and remember that it lives in the deepest, darkest recesses of the garage. Get really bummed about this, because right now the garage isn't a happy place to be. Perform precarious acrobatic stunts that would really upset your husband, had he known you were doing them. Try not to scratch the car up in the process.

Step 6: Pick the drill bit that looks closes in size to the bolt on the knob. Lay out a garbage bag on the kitchen floor (what, go outside? Outside is like 20 feet away. No way you're going that far. Besides, you're not entirely sure power tools are allowed at your apartment complex and you'd rather not put them on display, just in case.) Try to stick the drill bit into the drill and realize you have NO idea what how this whole 'drill bit' thing works anyway.

Step 7: Google 'how to use a power drill.' Follow the steps. Congratulate yourself, because it really isn't that hard and you can TOTALLY do this. Consider the likelihood of convincing your husband that maybe you need your own power drill, in a nice shade of pink or maybe Carolina blue. Decide that this orange one is probably good enough. Apologize to your nervous papillon for what you are about to do.

Step 8: Don your most fashion-forward set of ear plugs. Consider safety goggles, remember you don't have any, and opt for nothing in the way of protective eyewear. You'll just drill really slowly. Plug in the drill, assume the drilling position of choice, making sure that nothing sharp or moving is neither near nor angled toward any body part. Drill your 3 holes.

Step 9: Do the dance of joy.

Step 10: Try to put the bolts of the knob through the holes you just drilled. Decide that you need to drill bigger holes.

Step 11: Drill the bigger holes, and attach the knobs to the board.

Step 12: Do the dance of joy again because LOOK ALL YOUR STUFF IS ATTACHED AND YOU USED A POWER TOOL TO MAKE IT HAPPEN AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BLEED ONCE.

Step 13: Decide that the bolts are too long and sticking out too far in the back, and maybe you should saw the ends off since it's unlikely you might find a bolt cutter anywhere in any of your husband's 5 tool boxes. Perform acrobatics similar to those of Step 5, only more carefully because you have a freaking saw in your hand.

Step 14: Attempt to saw the end of the first bolt off. Decide that maybe it's ok that the bolts are so long. Mumble something about added stability against the wall or something else that sounds equally convincing.

Step 15: Attach the picture hanger thingies to the back. Since I figured this would get kinda heavy what with the wrought iron and the porcelain, I attached 2. Plan for this to take WAY longer than you expected. In fact, this is the longest step of them all.

Step 16: REMOVE THE ROW OF 3M HOOKS FROM YOUR ENTRYWAY and banish them to the bathroom, where you'll deal with them later.

Step 17: Hang up your new entryway thinger. Take lots of pictures. Maybe even do the dance of joy a third time. Exercise, after all!!

Step 18: Bask in the glory of it all, until you panic and remember you still haven't made those biscuits and you have to leave for the potluck in like an hour. Stick everything back in the right slot in the right toolbox, toss the trash bag with the sawdust all over it, and get to baking. Because you are a woman and your rightful place is in the kitchen making biscuits, not playing with power tools. Scoff at this notion.

time management

I recently took a time management course through the Especially for Nonprofits program at VCU. It was awesome. The professor was (and is) Elaine Kiziah and she is FANTASTIC. Mucho recommendo.

Time management is one of those wonky things that demands a somewhat significant investment up front from people who don't have the time to spare in the first place. The thing is, you just have to carve it out to make it happen, and it might take more than a day. Funny how that works. But in the same way you have to spend money to make money, you have to find time to make time.

One of the books we talked about was Getting Things Done, by David Allen. I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but I did page through a copy and I've familiarized myself with his processes a bit via blogs and podcasts. His method is all about maximizing every minute you have, to build toward your bigger goals. (Other folks like to look at the big goals and use a more top-down method for productivity.)

One of his hacks is the thing I like to call 43 Folders (mostly because I used to listen to a podcast called 43 Folders, and I never knew what it meant until I took this course). It's a tickler file - a system for having a folder for every day of the year. It's meant to be a home for physical items that you need to deal with on a given day in the future.

When I moved into my office, I'd 'inherited' this weird container thing for hanging files - it's almost like half a mesh file box, minus the lid part.  Or something.  So I pulled that out and filled it with my 43 folders - one with each number, 1-31, and one with each month of the year.  This is set up so that each day of the year has its own folder.  1-31 apply to the rest of this month and the beginning of next month, and the files are slipped behind the folder for next month, as the days go by.

SO, today, October 6, I will go into my office and see my tickler.  The folder with #6 on it will be in the front, with 7 and so on behind it.  Behind 31 is the November folder, and behind November is folders 1-5.  behind 5 is December, January and so on up through October.  I'll pull out folder 6, which is for today, take out the contents, and slip it behind the 5.  It becomes the November 6 folder.

It's really easy to use.  For example, if I have a meeting next Thursday but I got the agenda in my email today, I can go ahead and print the stuff out and stick it in the 16 folder. That way it's out of my inbox, I can check that off my to-do list, and it's in a safe spot until I need it.  And if I get an invitation for a dinner next March 23rd, I mark my calendar and then stick the directions in the March folder. When I've made my way to March, I'll pull out the folder, distribute all the items to their date folders, and stick March in the back for next year.

I really hemmed and hawed about making this tickler, for some reason. I kept thinking I could come up with a system that would work better for me. Maybe I could, if I really wanted to sit down and plan, or research all over, but this one works just fine and I had the stuff to make it happen. Besides, I had already missed 2 days of work taking this class and I needed to put some of this time management/productivity business to work, fast!

It's pretty janky-looking, because all the folders are recycled so they're soft and ratty and have writing all ove rthem, and actually that drives me crazy a little bit. (I also realized in this time management class that I am a visual learner, and I'd had no idea how greatly visual clutter distracted me until now.) But, I work for a nonprofit. And Lord knows I don't have the spare cash to get it myself, right now. Maybe when the Staples Reward check comes in.

The system is pretty cool, really. There's a folder for each month, and then for eacy number, 1-31. Combining these in the right order gets you through every day of the year. Pretty sweet, no?  You can learn more about ticklers here or here and you can see some photos on flickr.  It's a great tool, and I'm thinking of a way to adapt the system for home use too.
 
Anybody out there looking to get rid of some clean manilla folders?

more the glories of vodka

Now, when you're on as strict a budget as I am, there is one reason and one reason only for the use or consumption of vodka, and that is: triple on the rocks.  Works wonders for ay number of life's little (or big) problems, as far as I'm concerned.  

And just so you know, the last time I remember consuming vodka was months ago.  There always seems to be more important to buy, like soap and electricity and rice.  I swear I'm not a junkie.

If, and when, that glorious day comes, when I will live in such fiscal comfort as to be able to consider expending the juice on things other than personal consumption (as if!!) I will refer to this handy list, which I am about to present to you.  Because as it turns out, vodka is more wonderous than I could ever have imagined.

See here:

Ease a Toothache (no, seriously) - if you're stuck without a dentist in quick reach, swish a shot of vodka around the area that's hurting, it will help disinfect AND numb the gums.  And then you can get yourself to the dentist asap.  (Or have someone drive you, because I mean, really.)

In keeping with the minor medical theme, make a tincture - get a jar, stuff it full of fresh lavender, and top it off with vodka.  Leave it in the sun for three days, strain it, and then use at will to rub into aches and pains.  The scent of lavender can bring all kinds of relief.  Be your own medicine man!  or woman!

Get rid of mildew - when you use up that spray bottle of your mildew-blaster of choice, give vodka a try.  Spray it on, let it sit, and then scrub it off with a(n old!) tooth brush.  I actually really wish I had some in the freezer right now to give this a try, because my old tub is starting to lose the war, if you know what I mean.

Shine your tresses - we've all heard about stuff from the fridge to get all kindsa shine - none of which I've been brave enough to try.  But 1.5 or 2 ounces of vodka per 12 ounces of shampoo will kick up your hair's game.

Beat the deet - if using store-bought bug spray gives you the ickies, try getting a spray bottle of vodka instead.  Spray it all over as a defense, or go on the offense if one won't leave you alone.

Preserve flowers - you know how you can add 7-up to fresh flowers' water?  Vodka and some sugar will do the same thing.  Don't forget to change it out every day, too - this really does make a difference.

Speaking of shiny - spruce up your glass, porcelain, and chrome with a combination of vodka on a cloth and some elbow grease.

Do you know of any other uses for vodka, beyond the bar?  If so, share them and put my ignorance to shame!

sewing fix

After about a year in my new city, I've finally started making friends. Fortunately, this coincides with a recent bout of 'inspiration' to try all kinds of things that I've thought about for a while, but for whatever reason I haven't done.

One of these things is sewing. I received a great machine as a gift when I graduated from college, three years ago. And I never could figure it out!! I tried and tried, I asked for help, and eventually I gave up. I had a vague notion of the error of my ways, but no idea how to fix it. I could only blame myself, and not my poor machine, which had so unforunately landed in such incapable hands.

I'd settled on a nearby quilt shop that offered what sounded like a great class.  It was just a matter of the time and the finances aligning.  And after I'd mentioned this to a new friend in the area, she told me to ditch the class plans and come hang out with her for a couple hours instead.  And I did!  And it was fantastic!

She knew what she was doing, and she was a great teacher.  So great, in fact, that I'm going crazy not having the sewing room with all the great stuff she has.  This is a creative outlet that's been frustratedly dormant for about three years now, seriously!  

So because there's no cash to drop, I'll have to figure out a few things from my 'stash' to work up.  And last night's foray into 'cleaning the guest room' worked to my advantage.  Guess what turned up!!  

A bag of pants, and a bag of neckties.  Namely, a bag of pants that need to be hemmed (and I could use the wardrobe influx) and a bag of neckties that I purchased shortly after receiving the sewing machine, under the impression that I would make a skirt out of said neckties.

I plan to spend this long weekend poking around with hemming techniques and digging around for patterns.

Any pointers?

the many uses of baby powder

In my never-ending quests to 1. improve my life and 2. spend less money doing so, I've done a modicum of research on various topics pertaining to simplifying.  If, for example, I can get the majority of my cleaning done with harmless baking soda, vinegar, and/or lemon juice, then I will gladly pass by a closet full of random harmful chemicals that will ultimately end up in the ground/water/ozone layer.

Most recently, I have been wanting to invade my bathroom cabinet and put the baby powder to use.  Because let's face it, I have way too much.  Which brings me to.....

A bunch of new ways to use baby powder.  I don't know about you, but I'm stoked.

Disclaimer: There are a few different kinds of baby powder.  Use TALCUM powder at your discretion, as there are some that can be harmful.  Just google 'baby powder' and decide for yourself which kind you want.  And if you just want to use up what you've got now, try not to breathe it in.  Because, surprise, the talc MAY be linked to cancer.  Just like everything else.  

The list!

- Sprinkle baby powder on your squeaky hardwood floors.  Take a buffing cloth or a broom or brush or what have you, and get it in the cracks really well.  If you have a sweet 50s ranch like I do, you have some squeaky floors.  And if these bother you, here's an awesome solution.

- If you get a liquid or grease stain on your clothing, a wall, a carpet, etc, rub in some baby powder - about enough to cover it.  Rub it in really well, let it set in for a couple minutes, and brush it away.  Keep doing this until it's gone.  I haven't tried this yet, but I've got an old grease stain on a suede skirt and I've also read that this method works on such things.  I'll report back!

- Put a small bowl or dish of baby powder in your closets or drawers to keep the must away.  You'll also smell 'powdery fresh' for the rest of the day.  You can also drop a little bit of powder in your sneakers (or your husband's!!)  I will be doing both of these just as soon as I finish this entry.  

- Sprinkle a light coat of baby powder between your bed sheets every day to absorb perspiration and prevent odor.  Ok, maybe the odor was a little much...ick... but it sure has been awfully hot and sticky the past couple of nights, thank-you-very-much-high-of-102-every-day-this-week.

- Sprinkle baby powder on your carpets, let it sit for a few minutes, and then vacuum it up.  This works just as well as the expensive stuff that my mom liked to use before she got all hardwoods, but it doesn't cost nearly as much.  Rumor has it, this will also help remove cigarette smoke smells.

- Rub some powder (about the size of a quarter maybe) loosely all over your hands to help the rubber gloves slide on faster.  Maybe I'm the only person on Earth who still uses these...but still.  And when you pull them off, rub the rest of the powder into your hands.  It acts just like hand lotion!

- Rub a little bit of powder on a necklace (or glop of necklaces) that's all knotted up.  The powder acts as a lubricant and it's much easier to work the knot loose.  (Another tip, use a couple of needles to work it loose.)

- If you're at the beach, rub baby powder on all the places where wet sand is sticking.  The powder dries your skin and the sand comes right off.

- Freshen up musty old books.  Dust some powder in the pages, let the books stand up (like you'd stand them on a shelf) overnight and then brush (or shake of you're reckless) the powder out.  Same goes for playing cards - toss them into a baggie and add some powder...shakey shakey, and bam!  You've got some (dusty) fresh playing cards!  Clean up the mess with a couple of good shuffles.

- Insect repellant!!  Sprinkle baby powder in the places where the ants and roaches like to enter and roam.  Sprinkle it with a heavy hand all around the outside of your house to keep them away.  Something about the talcum that the buggies don't like.  Another thing you can try is this amazing stuff called diatomaceous earth.  That's the only thing that kept our ants and earwigs at bay.

frugality

I'm working on a list of real ideas we can use to save some money around the house. The car, after all, needs its 90,000 mile service, and it's going to set us back about a thousand dollars. HELLO, economic stimulus package, it was nice to have you in my hands for TWO SECONDS.

We're renting, so there are some things that we can't/won't do. Such as converting the back yard to a sustainable vegetable garden. I'm all about making things myself, though - I can't wait til I'm done with the current bottle of laundry detergent so that I can make my own!

Read on, and then be heard!

- collect warming-the-shower water in a bucket and use that for flushes, for watering the plants, for bathing the dog, for mopping...
- drying clothes on a line
- lowering the water heater to 130 or 140
- fans instead of AC; closing the blinds on the sunny side of the house

Pretend I don't know anything. What would you recommend?

Also, what are some hardy vegetables that grow well in pots? I have a keen interest in growing things but I also have a black thumb to the extent that I even killed lucky bamboo but not by letting it dry up. (Sorry daffodils! Sorry poinsettia! Sorry all those seeds that didn't make it!)