Homemade Dishwashing Powder

I'm on a role here, with the homemade items, tonight I decided to try the homemade dishwashing detergent.  I made it earlier and ran our first load of dishes through and they came out just the same as always, maybe even a little cleaner than normal.  I had a casserole dish in there and it came out perfect, that hardly ever happens!

I took a few different recipes I found and made a combo of them. 

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup lemi shine

Then for a rinse agent I used White vinegar. 

To make the detergent it's as easy as it gets, measure the items, pour together and blend well! 

You will need 1 tbsp per load. 

It's hard to figure an exact cost for this but if you purchase a box of borax and washing soda you could make about 6 loads of the detergent and then you would need 2 bottles of lemi shine for a total of about $13. 

30 loads  at 1 tbsp each x 6 batches=180 loads

$13.00 / 180 loads= $.07 per load

I saw where someone had used Palmolive Eco gel and figured it cost them about $0.14 per load, that's twice as much as homemade.  It may just be cents but I know we run our dishwasher every day so cents adds up around here! 

Now I just need to make a cute little container like this to keep my detergent in!

If anyone else has any other good recipes to share let us know!  So far this one seems to work but I wouldn't mind trying others as well, especially is someone has a less expensive combo! 

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have been wanting to try my own detergent for a little while now and finally did it a few weeks ago.  I purchased the items for the detergent and spent less than $12.00. 

For mostly all the detergent recipes you need the same ingredients

Borax, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, and Fels Naptha soap.  Now all the recipes differ in the amounts you use, I have lots of dirty clothes with my boys so I decided to use one that is more concentrated and uses more of each item compared to the amount of water. 

The recipe I used called for

2 cups Borax

2 cups Washing Soda

1 bar Fels Naptha soap

And it was just this simple, first grate the soap

Then put the soap into a pan with 1 qt boiling water.  Stir until soap is completely melted. 

Next pour the soap into a large container where you will pour in the borax and washing soda until blended well.  Add 2 gallons of water, stir until well mixed.  It will then need to sit for a day or two to gel up.  Mine does still separate but I have put it into gallon jugs which makes it easy to shake up for a few seconds before I pour it in my my washing machine. 

With the recipe I used I could make  3 batches of detergent without buying any more supplies.  That means you could make about 6 gallons of detergent and if you use 1/4 to 1/2 cup of detergent per load, it would last you between 192 and 384 loads.  We have a high efficiency so we only need to use about 1/4 cup but if you have a regular top loader you would want to use 1/2 cup per load.  We used to use Gain ( I have always loved the scent) and it was almost $11.00 for a container that said it would do 64 loads so for less than $12.00  I will have enough detergent to do almost 384 loads and that makes me happy.  I hate spending money on things like detergents! 

Also before you ask about the cleaning power, I have been using it for about 2 weeks now and haven't noticed any difference.  There is a different in smell, the detergent itself smells nice and clean but doesn't really put off a smell onto the clothing, if it does it's very mild.  And also it's safe for babies so no more two different types of detergent for this family we can now all use the same! 

I did try a powder recipe as well, but found the liquid works better with my machine, the powder wasn't quite getting all out of the dispenser.  But if you prefer powder here is an easy recipe I would recommend which was very quick and easy as well. 

If you are looking to save some money off of your grocery bill, here is one way to help! 

Menu Plan Sundays

This is what's on our menu this week

Sunday- Poppyseed chicken over egg noodles, green beans, salad and garlic bread ( If you haven't ever had poppyseed chicken, try it soon, one of my family's favorite.  I am making it with pasta today since we are having family over and most people serve it with pasta)

Monday- Beef Stuff shells, and california blend.  This will be a new recipe for us this week so can't vouche for it yet

Tuesday- Chicken ala king with biscuits

Wednesday- Tacos and salsa rice (the hubs is having some boys over for his small group, this was a request from them)

Thursday-  BBQ chicken sandwhiches for lunch, leftovers for dinner

Friday- Country pork with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and corn

Saturday-  Eat out

There it is, our weekly menu!  Let us know what you are having this week!  I love new recipes!

My First Printable

Cleaning is a big deal in our house!  I absolutely love a clean house and really never feel relaxed in the midst of a mess or unclean house.  Ever since having kids I have always struggled with keeping my house the way I did before them.  I used to always clean the whole house on my day off before kids but now I have never a few hours to just get the whole house clean and not get interrupted.  I tried assigning different household tasks to each day so that way it wasn't all on one day, but that didn't really work for me. 

I have been searching online for months for printable cleaning checklist and couldn't really find one that really met my needs.  Since I couldn't find one that fit me, I decided to take a stab at making my own!  Now it's not the cutest form I've ever seen and honestly it's not even cute but it's functional and that's what it's really about!  I'm hoping someday to learn some graphic design, maybe in the near future so I can learn to create cute things! 

  The printable I made won't be for everyone but if you would like to try it go for it!  I prefer to just fit the different tasks in when I have time or when it works for my schedule that week since every week is different.  I also have things that don't need done each week but less frequently like once a month so I also made a column for them.  I haven't done it yet, but I think I'm going to frame my checklist with glass over it and then I can use it as a dry erase board.  That way I can mark off my weekly items and then date the bi weekly and monthly items so I remembered when I did them last.  Below is a link to my printable!  Happy Cleaning!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ix-OuTAYfw_MueEciyhub6apBnuJZpf5NWANcfcH5oE/edit

Menu Planning Sundays

I have been menu planning for over a year now and I love it!

I love feeling organized when it comes to meals.

I think it saves us money on groceries and because we have a plan for dinner and don't need to go out as much

I can plan ahead to try new recipes

I think planning ahead, helps save time later! 

I will be posting our family's menu each Sunday.

 Will our menu be for everyone?  No, most likely not.  My husband doesn't like pasta so we don't do much if any pasta.  If I find a good pasta recipe I would like to try I'll include it though just for fun for those of you lucky enough to get to serve pasta ( it does make me quite jealous, I truly love it )

However, like I do with other blogs you can just use the recipes you think would work for your family and fill in your own ideas for the other days.

Also we could all use other's ideas and new recipes, if anyone wants to comment each week with their menu plan or recipes they plan on using, please do! 

Welcome!

Welcome to my new Blog! 

Here is the how and why this blog began


Changing Dreams

If you would have asked me in high school/ or college what I wanted to do I would tell you the following

-Graduate HS and then College with a degree in fashion

-Move to the city and begin my Career using my degree. Career, Career, Career is all I used to think and dream about

-Wear fancy clothes and high heels every day to work

-Be Successful

-Get Married

-Have kids after 30

Well here is my life today......

-Graduated High School, Graduated College with a degree in Fashion

-Moved away from the city of Chicago and our small downtown city apartment to a small town named Effingham, IL and live in a beautiful home in the country surrounded by a few houses and mostly fields.

-Work with my husband at his optometry practice as a part-time office manager, who wears mom dress pants, plain uniform tops, and black flats and doesn't use my degree

-Is Married and has been for over 5 years to my amazing husband, who is a strong leader, hard worker and wonderful father!

-Has two adorable little boys and am only 27 years old

Am I successful??? ..... You Bet......

What happened to my dreams??? They Changed!

On our blog, there is a quote,
" Sometimes on the way to the dream, you get lost and find a better one"

I think that is my life in a nutshell! I have learned so much in the last few years about life and myself and wouldn't trade my life now for any dreams I used to have! All the blessings I have in my life now, I couldn't possibly have dreamed up!

My goals and dreams now....

- Be the best mom/wife I can be

-Get Dinner on the table each night

-Have a neat, clean and organized home

(Some days those last two really do seem like a dream, living with 3 boys; 1 grown, 1 toddler and 1 baby, it feels nearly impossible. )

-Someday have my own small town store, (haven't completely decided what I want that to look like yet but I do still have the deep desire to be creative and have a business I can call my own)

- And to enjoy each day because the older I get the faster they seem to go by!

The reason for this blog.....

To share my attempts at menu planning for our family, our ideas for keeping our house neat and organized, how we are saving money,  and having fun along the way with some crafts and diy projects!