Laundry Soap - What Works for Me

Many moons ago, when I was first getting started on being even more frugal in an effort to save Daniel's hard-earned moo-lah, I switched from "cheap but good" store-bought laundry soap to making my own. It is very, very inexpensive to make and 1/2 a recipe lasted us quite a long time.


I think I used homemade for about a year and a half. Many people that I know IRL (In Real Life) and through the blogging world use the same recipe for homemade laundry soap and it works great for them. I figured it would do the same for me :) I was tickled pink to be able to save money in this area of our lives, especially since it kinda is a necessity :P

Towards the end of summer last year (2009) I started seriously paying attention to our clean laundry. I was beginning to notice things that I didn't really like. Two things that stood out to me the most: First was that Daniel's clothing that he wears for work (jeans, company shirt, etc.) was not smelling so nice after a good washing, even with line-drying on a nice, sunny day. Especially the clothes from the days that he would get so hot and sweaty, the clothes would still smell sweaty and stinky when I'd get them in off the wash-line. The second thing I was really noticing was that the towels and washcloths were getting the same way. Smelling very stagnant and stale, and the lighter colored washcloths were becoming very dingy and gray in color. For some of the washcloths, it was very obvious exactly where my body-wash had been, either because there was a large gray area, or the color from the body-wash (which was pink Oil of Olay at that time) was staying in the cloth. I didn't care for any of it.

I decided to "experiment" with a jug of Tide laundry detergent.

Photo from Tide's website.

The next time Tide was on sale and I had coupons, I bought some. It was a 64 load bottle. I wanted to try two things: First and foremost, I wanted to see if it made an obvious difference in the cleanliness of the clothes. Second, I often hear people say that the number of loads that is listed on the bottle is a bunch of hooey because they never get that many loads, so I wanted to see exactly how many loads I got out of this bottle.

The results from the first would be that almost immediately I noticed a big difference. Within 2 washings (2 weeks), the towels and washcloths lost almost all of their dinginess. The one white washcloth that had the pink area from the body wash was white again (and it had been pink for some time!). Daniel's clothes were smelling clean and not just like rinsed sweat. Yes, I'm sure that the fragrance of the detergent had some effect on that, but when I line dry the clothes I don't really notice the detergent smell so much as the laundry just smells like clean fresh air :)

The second experiment proved the bottle to be correct. The fine print stated that the 64 loads was based on the 1st line (smallest amount) in the bottle cap. I eye-balled it and determined that line 2 was equal to 1 1/2 "loads" and line 3 was equal to 2 "loads" worth of detergent. Based on this, I kept a marker with the bottle and each time I did laundry, I marked on the bottle how many "loads" worth of detergent I used. In the end? I had gotten just a few more than 64 "loads" of laundry out of that bottle!!

So, for now, what works for me is Tide. So far I have been able to get it fairly cheaply (as far as Tide goes) and I'm hoping for another good sale to come around before I run out again :) I have not been brave enough to try the "less expensive than Tide" brands again. I may, or I may not. Right now I'm very happy with Tide!!

This post is linked to this week's Works for Me Wednesday.

New Year, New Datebook

In Part 3 of the My Journey to Homemaking series I did last year, I sang the praises of this datebook. I loved it.I think last year was either the 3rd or 4th year I'd used a PlanAhead planner. I knew how it worked. I had everything figured out, I knew how I liked to fill it out and maximize it to fit my needs. I loved how each day had it's own space, and my daily lists fit each day almost perfectly. But there were a few things I didn't like, but I didn't realize it until almost the end of last year. When I needed to get a new planner for 2010, I "shopped around" a bit, keeping in mind what I liked about my old planner, and what I wanted in a new one.

Out with the old, in with the new!

I came up with this Mead Daily/Monthly Planner:I bought it at WalMart, I don't remember how much it cost, but it was more than the PlanAhead planner. I decided that having a good tool was worth the money.

It has monthly tabs! Not something that was on my "want" list, but I've been enjoying them!
Each month has month-at-a-glance pages. Love it! I can write or pencil in activities, and don't have to go flipping through the whole book to see what's scheduled on a certain day. I also have enjoyed using this to plan my menus - I can pencil them in here and easily rearrange or change it before I write it out for the week. It also makes it easy to see what meals we've had recently so I don't do repeats too often.With the 1 day per page format, yes, it is a little bigger and a little bulkier, but it just stays on the counter so size isn't a real issue. I wanted more space for each day, but I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for. This format works perfectly!
In the old datebook, appointments and my to-do lists got all jumbled up together. I tried using different colors of pens, highlighters, etc, but that was just too much to keep track of. I specifically wanted something that with each day I had space for appointments, and space for my to-do list and notes. (And no, my social and Dr. visit lifestyle is not so massive that I have THAT many appointments! But I figured with a little person joining our family, we'll have more than the one annual poke'n'prod Dr. appointment to keep track of.)

With this format, the left side of the "day" has times printed in, where I can write in appointments. The right side is blank where I fill in my to-do list and notes. My to-do list starts at the top and works down, and little extra things I need or want to do (phone calls, projects, reminders) I start and the bottom and work my way up. That way I know what is "to-do list" and what is optional or really needs my attention. I also use the right side to remind me to pay bills. When a bill comes, I determine when I'm going to pay it, then I write it at the top of the "to-do list" side in red ink.

Across the very bottom of the page is a blank block. This is where I write the menu for the day and any notes that need to go along with it.

So far I am really liking this planner! If you're looking for something that will work for you, I hope this gives you some ideas. If you already have a system you really like, please share, either with a comment or a link in my comments. I love seeing what works for other people, and gleaning ideas :) Or if you just want to leave a comment saying that you stubbed your big toe or the kids are driving you crazy, that's fine, too!

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday