Homemade Laundry Soap

I love to dabble in all kinds of earth friendly, money saving, homey bits.  One that I use quite frequently is homemade laundry soap.  There are seemingly hundreds of recipes out there on the world wide web and I have tried a couple different variations.  I have made both liquid and dry powder versions.  Due to the space we have don't have, I have found that the powdered version works best for us.    This is one of my favorite powdered recipes and I have found that it works quite well for us:

2 cups Soap-finely grated (Depending on bar size, one or two bars of soap)    Fels Naptha is generally the recommended bar in recipes, but you could also try other bar soaps(steer clear of bars like Dove and other lotion/oil laden soaps).  I love to use Bella Bars, they have a nice light scent and do a great job of cleaning whatever grease and ick my hubby gathers on his clothes by the day's end. 

1 cup Washing Soda     I have read multiple reviews suggesting that Washing Soda and Baking Soda are both interchangable and are not interchangable.  I have used Baking Soda in place of the Washing Soda with good results.

1 cup Borax  Please remember that Borax is caustic and should be handled with care.  Despite warnings I don't use gloves and have had no ill effects, but those with sensitive skin should be aware.

Mix well and store in an airtight plastic or glass container - I of course use either an empty candle jar or an old mason glass topped jar with a Tablespoon tied to the side.  Function and cute.   Use approximately TWO Tablespoons per full load of laundry.   You may find that due to your water hardness, soiled clothing, size of laundry loads, you may need to adjust the amount needed per load to get the results you desire.  

It's a good feeling knowing exactly what is going into my family's clothing especially with two young boys and a baby on the way. :)  Enjoy!

Potty Training, Soap, and Trains

One small boy with NO interest in leaving diaperhood behind, who hates soap, and LOVES Thomas The Train. How on earth would I ever get him interested in potty training and going to the bathroom IN the bathroom EVERY time? Thanks to my friend Judy W., I am in the process of reading, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Hill is quite the amazing writer with a lot of great information and encouraging biographies.

Well, dear Mr. Hill began writing about our minds accepting anything we tell it over and over so I decided to take his advice and apply it not only to my fledgling business but also to my son's slow attempts to potty train. We began telling him over and over that he COULD put all his pee pees in the potty all the time. Thankfully Mama didn't give up after a day of mishaps and now three days into determined potty training we are getting somewhere!

Now soap....getting my son to wash his hands thoroughly is quite impossible. We have the most wonderful foaming hand wash at our sinks, but alas, he would pump it onto his hands and then directly into the faucet flow and rinse them off and considered himself "washed" and ready for his "go potty in the potty, have dry pants, and wash my hands!" reward (imagine that in the sing song voice of a toddler :) ). For some reason I decided to have him check out my Bella Bar (not your typical bar of soap) on day two of training and wahla! we have a winner. This boy will suds himself to the elbows if I let him, he even cleans the sink while he's at it, "Come back here you silly slippery soap! I'll get you slippery soap!"

It's definitely been an interesting few days of a potty training journey, but it's very encouraging as he is getting prouder and prouder of himself.....I don't have a thing to do with how proud he feels. :P So, hanging on a hook in our wee bathroom is a new Gordan Train Engine for the day he gets it 100% right all day. He was SO close today and I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow IS the day!

So, who would have thought a wee train, some extreme encouragement, and great soap would be the key to potty training success! :-D