We're not just about cutesy crafts around here--we love making practical things, too. Making your own laundry soap is economical and earth-friendly (recycle your old laundry soap containers or milk jugs). And it's pretty darn easy!

We tried a couple different recipes and came up with our own version of liquid laundry soap. It works out to be about $2.50 (or less) for 5 gallons of detergent. Pretty sweet, eh?

Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe

What you'll need:

*Box of Borax Natural Laundry Boost (this can be found in the laundry soap aisle)
*Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (baking soda will NOT work as a substitute)
*1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap, a stain removing laundry soap (ANY bar of soap like Ivory, Dove, et. will work, but we like the extra stain-fighting in this one)
*Scented oil of your choice (optional)
*Five gallon bucket
*Empty laundry detergent bottles or milk jugs

Instructions for 5-gallons of liquid detergent:

1. Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater. Careful, the Fels-Naptha soap really looks like cheddar cheese--kids will want to eat it!


2. Put the grated soap in a sauce pan with 6 cups water. Heat soap and water until the soap melts.


3. Add 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup Borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat.


4. Pour 1 gallon hot water into your 5-gallon bucket. Add your soap mixture and stir well. Add about 3 1/2 more gallons of hot water to the bucket and stir again. Add your scented oil now if you choose to. We used about 2 tsp. honeysuckle essential oil. Just add enough until it smells good to you.


5. Pour the liquid mixture into your empty bottles (you might want to try a funnel). Or, leave it in the 5-gallon bucket--it will just be a little more difficult to use. Let the mixture sit for about 24 hours. It will thicken almost to a gel.


6. Shake your bottle well before each use. Use 1/2 cup of detergent for large loads.

The Arm & Hammer Washing Soda was about $3 to $4, and the Borax about the same price. The Fels-Naptha bar ran us about $1.25. You will get about four 5-gallon buckets of laundry detergent from one box of each. With tax, we figure that works out to be about $2.50 for 5 gallons. Sweet! That could cover about 160 loads of wash! You can't get a better deal than that.

So you've just saved a ton on laundry detergent. How about an easy way to save on dryer sheets? Good Mama has an easy tutorial to make felted wool dryer balls that will take care of static cling in the dryer. Check out the ones we made. They were easy and fun--a great project for older kids to help out with! Now go tackle that mountain of laundry that's been waiting while you were making one of our "cutesy" crafts!

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But with laundry and homework and workouts and grocery shopping and getting ready for a trip to Chicago later this week, I haven't had a chance to edit/upload/blog pictures of some of my recent projects, including my teacher appreciation gifts. Sorry about that. Does anyone else feel like the days are getting shorter the older we get? Who can I talk to about that?

It was nice to have a little girl time to chat and help Kalli & Lori with a crafty gift for Mother's Day. Kalli had an ingenious idea. She had Lori create custom labels for these yummy hand soaps she found for only a buck at Bed, Bath & Beyond, including the name of the scent and a Happy Mother's Day message.

Lori used some of the same art she used for these beautiful Mother's Day printable cards to create the labels. Lori and Kalli are both pros on the digital scene. They often use graphics found at Graphics Fairy (one of my favorite free vintage graphic sites--see my image transfer tea towels using her graphics here), or purchased from designers like Rhonna Farrer.

Here's where the brilliant part comes in. How do you keep a custom label on a soap bottle from bleeding when it gets wet (and it will get wet)? Packing tape! First remove the label from the soap bottle. (If it leaves a sticky residue, use a little CitriSolv and a paper towel to remove it.) Place the printed and cut label (printed on plain type paper) print-side down on the sticky side of a piece of clear packing tape, then place it on the front of the soap bottle. Now it's protected from water damage and looks totally professional. And crazy easy--why didn't I think of that? Kalli--such a smarty pants.
Top it all off with a little tulle and ribbon and you have a quick, easy, and inexpensive gift for hostesses, teachers, moms, thank yous, etc. that will really be appreciated. Just my kind of gift.

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