Homemade Laundry Detergent

3 Ingredients:

Soap: A whole bar of Ivory soap.

Washing Soda: Found on the laundry aisle - Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. THIS IS NOT BAKING SODA!

Borax: Found on the laundry aisle - 20 Mule Team.

Recipe:
1 bar Ivory soap
½ cup washing soda
½ cup Borax powder
2 gallon sized bucket

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.
Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.
Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.
Remove from heat.
Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.
Now add your soap mixture and stir.
Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.
Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.
You use ½ cup per load.

I also found another one that I haven't tried yet:

Same ingredients.
Grate the soap.
Add the Borax and washing soda.
Shake well.
You use 1-2 Tbsp per load.

Sorry and New Post

First let me say sorry that I haven’t posted in nearly a month. The month of October always seems to be a busy month for us, especially now that we have a baby with an October birthday.

I know that I have posted about this before, but it’s been awhile so I figured I would post about it again hopefully with a different spin.

People think that my home is always perfectly clean and organized, but that is not always the case. I would love for it to be and at times it has been, but in the past 2 years with upgrading to a bigger home, being pregnant, officially starting homeschooling, and adding another child to the mix, it has been pretty much impossible to keep this house perfect.

I have figured out the key areas in my home and life that have to be organized and decently clean in order to help me function as a human being, wife, mom, homemaker, and homeschooler.

#1 – The Kitchen

I don’t know about you but the kitchen seems to be the place that needs to be cleaned the most in my home. With 4 people, 3 of which are home most of the day, eating 3 meals and 2-3 snacks each day in there, it is a 24/7 cleaning job. How do I keep it up? I have daily benchmarks that I aim to meet.

Morning:
In the morning I come down and make sure that everything is clean. If the dishwasher was run the night before and dishes are in the left side of the sink dry and ready to put away, I put all of the dishes away. Any dirty dishes get done. I make sure all counters, table, chairs, and high chair are clean. I make sure the floor is pretty clean. On a good morning all I am doing is putting away clean dishes. On a bad morning I am scrubbing and washing dishes left from dinner. J

After Each Meal/Snack:
I really try to wash dishes, load the dishwasher, and wipe surfaces after each meal/snack. If I do this, it doesn’t pile up and each time we come to the kitchen for another meal/snack, we have a clean work area.

After Dinner:
I really try to wash all cooking dishes as I cook (that is a major help). After dinner, my goal is to wash all dishes and pots and load the dishwasher or put in the left side of the sink (where clean dishes dry). I wipe all surfaces really well. I sweep the floor. If it is dirty, I try to Swiffer mop the floor (especially under the table). It is helping having Lee do baths after dinner giving me more time to do this.

#2 – The Living Room

We play, watch TV, rest, and snack in our living room. My goal was that it wouldn’t be a play room but it is. It just has to be with the myriad of tasks that have to be done in the kitchen throughout the day. Again, I have daily benchmarks that I aim to meet.

Morning:
In the morning I come down and make sure the living room is straightened. I put away blankets that may have been used the night before. I straighten up any snack refuse. I put away remotes. I make sure the toys are not out of control. Ideally, there aren’t toys everywhere because they have been cleaned up the night before. This takes just a few minutes.

Afternoon & Before Daddy Comes Home:
We try to do a quick clean up of toys.

Before Kids Go to Bed:
We aim to clean up the toys.

#3 – The Homeschool Room

Since we homeschool 3-4 days a week, this room has to stay straightened up for my sanity. We have a shelf for all supplies with little plastic containers for each thing (crayons, markers, pencils, etc). We have another shelf for all of our materials. As we do school we straighten up and when we are done we do a big straightening. It is nice to come in each day to an organized, straightened room.

Other Tasks that Make Life Smoother:

Making Beds

I make the master bed and Luke makes his bed. I love the way a room looks when you walk in and the bed is made. It seriously takes like 1 minute but it makes a huge difference in a room. I also think it tends to make you make less mess in that room throughout the day.

Straightening Up Toys

I love the way it looks when toys are organized and straightened up. I aim to train my kids by about 2 years old to clean up their own toys.

Laundry

I aim to do at least 1 load of laundry each day or 2 loads every other day. I don’t like for it to pile up. I try to toss a load in first thing in the morning and have it done by lunchtime.

I have found that these things help my life run smoother and make my home appear cleaner when people come over.

What are the things you have to have clean and/or organized to run smoothly in your life/home?

Changing Sheets

I cannot tell you how many times I would go to change the sheets and launder them and forget about them in the laundry machines or get them done and forget to put them back on the bed. Then at bedtime, when we were already exhausted, we would have to put new sheets on the bed. It was quite frustrating.

So now I have two sets of sheets (or more for babies) for each bed. When I take one set off to wash, I put the clean set on the bed and make the bed before I even start laundering the dirty set. When that set is done (no rush really), I just fold it and put it away for the next time I change sheets.

I have found this to be really helpful and to make our home more peaceful.

Folding Laundry

As you know I love to save time in anything that I am doing. When it comes to folding laundry, I have found a few tricks to getting it done even faster.

Tip #1 - Pull it out ASAP when it is done drying to avoid ironing/wrinkled clothes.

Tip #2 - Sort it into piles of similar items (ie put all the full-sized towels in a pile, all the hand towels in a pile, and all the washclothes in a pile). Then fold each mini pile. Your brain works faster when it does the same thing over and over plus you are folding the items into one pile instead of looking for the spot to put it.

Tip #3 - Have a basket for each room. As you fold clothes, put them in the appropriate basket. That way you can just take that basket to the right room.

Tip #4 - Have other people help you ;)

My New Laundry Routine

A while back I wrote about how helpful having a laundry routine is. I know lots of people just do laundry as it comes up and that works for them, but I am the type that really does better when I know what I need to do. It helps me to not let stuff get overwhelming. That's been a challenge for me during this double pregnancy because I can't keep up and then I get overwhelmed. Luckily, I have Lee to help me out when I get in a bind. I don't like to have to have help, but when it is necessary, I let my weird "do it myself" tendencies down and ask for help.

With the twins on the way, I have been thinking about how things are going to change as far as household chores go. I know that I don't have a clear idea of how it will go (especially the first few months), but being the planner/organizer I am, I have come up with a new laundry routine that will (hopefully) only have me doing two loads a day during the week and playing catchup or doing extra loads (if they present themselves) on the weekends.

Here is the plan:

Monday - Lee's everyday clothes and my everyday clothes

Tuesday - Master sheets/other whites and towels

Wednesday - Babies' clothes and babies' bedding/towels

Thursday - Luke's clothes and Luke's bedding

Friday - Lee's work pants and Lee's work shirts

I'm thinking this leaves Saturday (I don't do much at all on Sundays) to do an extra load or two of whatever might need to be done. I am thinking there might be an extra load of the babies' stuff or our everyday clothes. Those will be easy to knock out on Saturday. Or if I get behind, Lee can help me play catchup on the weekends.

I am really hoping that this works out really effectively as I don't like to have much to do on weekends so we can spend family time or do outside chores.

PS I would love to hear what your laundry routine is (or if you don't have one, how you do it). Please comment. :)

How to Fold and Organize Sheet Sets

I came across this and thought it was awesome so I figured I would share it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Ql1se4Gc0&feature=player_embedded

Pool Bag

If you guys are anything like me, when the temperature hits 90, you live at the pool. I can't stand to be outside and not be in the water. We usually go almost everyday. This year since I am huge, pregnant, and super hot even in air conditioning, we are going a couple times a week. I figured out a great time saver for being ready for the pool anytime you want to go.

A pool bag. Well, it's not really an original idea, having a designated bag for the pool, but more the philosophy I came up with. Here it is:

You get a waterproof bag big enough to hold all of your pool essentials (pool towels, bathings suits, sunglasses, sunscreen, pool toys, pool shoes), and keep it packed by the front door so anytime you want to go to the pool, you have it all ready to go.

The secret to this is right when you come home from the pool you wash all dirty pool clothes and towels, fold everything up, and nicely repack the bag. This keeps your nasty pool clothes from stinking up the house and when you want to go, you aren't searching for bathing suits, towels, and other pool needs.

How to Conquer the Laundry Monster

I can remember Lee asking me way too many times, "Do I have any clean underwear/socks/shirts?" To that he would usually get one of three responses: 1) "No," 2) "Yes, but they are still in the washer," or 3) "Yes, but they've been in the dryer for a couple of days so they are probably a little wrinkled." It was frustrating, but mostly it was embarrassing. Finally, I came up with a system that has [for the most part] made keeping up with the laundry way more manageable.

The first thing to do is assess how many loads of laundry you usually do a week. In my house it is usually around 6 loads. Once you figure that out, you can decide how often you want to do laundry. For some it may be a load (or two) each day (or weekday), for others it may be a couple (or a few) loads every other day (or twice a week), and for others it may be all of it one day a week. It could vary at times depending on how your life goes, but the key is having a general idea of when you are going to do your laundry.

I generally try to do one load a day because I find that it is much more manageable. I can put it in first thing in the morning and switch it to the dryer when I know I can pull it out as soon as it is done (which saves me a lot of ironing). I get it put away and it makes me feel like I have accomplished something. If you are going to do this method, I highly recommend having a general idea of which type of load you are going to do each day.

I break it down like this:
Mondays - casual darks
Tuesdays - towels, hand towels, washclothes, and kitchen towels
Wednesdays - master bedroom sheets (white) and other whites
Thursdays - Luke's sheets and any casual darks that need to be done
Fridays - nice clothes, Lee's khakis, Lee's dress shirts (two separate loads) - IRONING DAY
Saturdays - catch-up
Sundays - catch-up

The great thing about this method is that if I miss a load, I can do two the next day.

Whatever method you choose, the key is to be organized about it. Knowing what days you are going to do it, and what loads you are going to do, will keep the guess work out of the process. It will save you time and frustration.

Biggest Tip: Don't put things in the dryer until you are prepared to fold them and put them away an hour later (especially if they are things that could require more ironing).