Cup of Joy- Feeling Accomplished

Well, I sit here in my kitchen, enjoying a nice hot cup of Twining's Breakfast Blend tea and a little "me" time while the kiddies nap.  I like this flavor because it's really not just good for the mornings (boxed that way because it is black tea and has caffeine) but good for an early afternoon pick-me-up.  I'm indulging in a maple cookie and lemon sugar cookie as well.  My china choice is Spode English bone China, "Ribbons and Roses."  This was a favorite design my mother picked out, I remember she wanted to upgrade her fine china to this design.

In the background I have the 1983 BBC production of "Jane Eyre" starring Timothy Dalton playing.  Sometimes in the day I'll put on a movie when the girls are napping while I get things done.

I've been doing a lot of research on trying to save money. In that quest, I've been reading a lot about making your own laundry soap.  From what I read, it really seemed pretty simple.  So I finally did it.  I made my own laundry soap.  And let me just say I can't believe I've been buying laundry soap for so long.  It really is easy and it works just as good and you get the satisfaction of knowing that you did it yourself.  I've been trying to be less dependent on commercialism, and slowly I've been trying to incorporate more homemade money pinching things into our lives.  Making my own soap is just the tip in this quest to be more self reliant…and after doing it, it's just motivated me more to incorporate the next thing…

I started out by buying all necessary ingredients, and they didn't even add up to what a Sam's supply of Tide costs--I can even make several batches with what I bought.

I finally got to use my thrift store purchase: this huge pot I got for under $5 (Walmart has these pots for $20) 

First, grate your soap (1 bar of whatever you like) and boil it in some water (4 c), let it boil till the soap dissolves.

After the soap dissolves-and this is my own trick-I add some Downy (I did 2 capfuls, but next time I'm going to add 4) this gives you the added bonus of soft and fresh smelling clothes.

Next, add your borax (1/2 c) and washing soda (1 c) and more water (from the warm tap-3 gals.), let it sit for 24 hours

My whole laundry room smelled so clean, after the 24 hours this is what you have, a gelatinous, watery concoction.

Give it a quick stir and start using...

I didn't want to leave it in my pot so I transferred the soap, using a cut milk jug and cut water bottle, into some laundry soap containers I saved...

Here it is!! This batch yields 52 cups, 1 cup per load.  Every time I open my cabinet and use it, I feel accomplished and happy because of how much money I'm saving…

Just for thought's sake, the next time I make this, I may add two bars of soap to concentrate it more so I can cut the yield in half…we'll see what happens.