Dry Laundry Detergent

I had previously posted a laundry soap recipe that did not work out at all. It was all the same ingredients but it was in liquid form and I believe that with the water in the detergent and pl;u the water being added to the washer itself- my problem was I needed a higher concentrated detergent. I am posting the dry version here.

Same measurements as well as ingredients (minus the water).

Grate the bar of soap into your mixing bowl.

 Add 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of washing soda.

Mix well with a spoon.

Add to air tight container. I used a recycled spaghetti jar that was a perfect fit. This solution should only need a tbs per load.

Gnat Trap

I found this idea for an easy natural gnat trap the other day and decided to try it out. It's pretty enough to leave on the kitchen window sill and since I love to leave the kitchen door open for the animals to come and go through the backyard- something had to be done about the gnats that were also taking advantage of the freedom. It's just an empty spaghetti sauce jar with holes poked in the lid and vinegar inside. The idea is that they are attracted to the smell of the vinegar and get trapped inside the jar. Too early to tell if it's working.

EDIT: It works... but certainly not as well as I'd hoped. All in all I think I should have saved the vinegar to clean my coffee pot.

I made my own laundry soap!

This is everything I used to make 2 gallons of laundry detergent. The empty milk jug is so I could measure the water, a pot for cooking the ingredients, a small cheese grader, one bar of soap (any soap is fine), one cup of borax, and one cup of washer soda. The borax and the washer soda can both be found at the grocery store in the cleaning isle.

First I graded the entire bar of soap into the pan. Added bonus is it's a pretty good workout for your arms. I used a very fine grader since it all has to dissolve in the water. After the soap is graded I just add one cup of borax and one cup of washing soda and then one gallon of water. I use hot water which is enough to dissolve everything pretty much on it's own, but just to make sure it's good and mixed I boil this on the stove.

I turn it off once it has a good boil and while it is heating I stir it up every now and then to make sure the ingredients aren't sticking to the bottom of the pan (they will). 

Once that is done I let it cool some and then pour the pot into a cleaned out container that originally held cat litter. I add another gallon of water and leave it out to cool. 24 hours later it has a slimey soap gel on the top that I just stir up again. I use a cup of it per large load of laundry. It works just as well as the stuff I had been buying and I have 3 times as more for much much less! I don't plan to buy store brand detergent again. 

EDIT: I have done several loads of laundry so far and it's hard to tell if it's doing anything at all. My clothes don't smell bad, but they don't smell like anything really. The detergent certainly does not get stains out that's for sure. And since my biggest issue is dog hair- which no detergent is going to get rid of- it's hard to tell if any improvement is from detergent or having the clothes spinning around in plain water. I really wanted this to work, but are the thrilled homemakers online happy because they found a cheap resource or are they just seeing what they want to see?

Dream Catcher

I haven't made a dream catcher since I was about 12. My mom bought me a kit after I went to an American Indian festival for Girl Scouts. I had a lot of nightmares and anything Native American was awesome... it was the perfect project for me. I remember her asking me if the dream catcher was working and even though neither of us are superstitious I had to admit that I hadn't had any recent nightmares.

The other night I got a wild hair to make one for the first time since then. It was about 3 in the morning and I just walked into the backyard where I had thrown a flexible root the previous week, got out a box of embroidery thread I had found at a thrift store 5 years ago, and got started. I never used the thread before this but for some reason never managed to get rid of it either. Usually I donate or toss anything I don't use within a few months.

 I am weaving beads from a broken bracelet and several shells my mom picked out for me on the beach last time she came to visit me. The shells all had perfectly made holes in the top, perfect for making a necklace, and she just kept finding them every step we took and handing them to me. The ankh is a piece of jewelry I wore every day as a teenager. This dream catcher is sort of an ode to me and my mom since she got me my first one. The colors were chosen to match my sofa though. It's the size of a hula hoop!  

I will probably take more pictures when it's completely finished. I still have to close the hole, cut all the loose threads, and add a bunch of hanging parts. I am not sure what those will be, but I am going to visit my mom in California soon so I hope to find something with her.