Green Cleaning - Laundry Soap

Laundry Day!

Dread it or love it this day has to happen to keep us in clean clothes! Now, although I am not as GREEN as I could be during the whole washing, drying, folding, putting away process as I could be, I am one step closer!

Ideally I would be using a high efficiency washer and dryer along with hanging my clothes on a line in the breeze, but I don’t! Not yet anyway. For now my green laundry day starts and ends with making my own laundry soap.

This low cost and highly effective concoction has been a staple in my house for the past year… and I have only had to ‘cook’ it once! I tweaked my original recipe to where it works well for me. Oh and bonus, when I get that high efficiency washer and dryer it is safe to work in that too!

So now let’s get down to the nitty griddy and make us some laundry soap!

There are three ingredients that you need to pick up. First being Fels Naptha soap, Second Washing soda, Third Borax. All three of these items can be found in the laundry section of most any store that has laundry soap!

Once you have those three items you can make your soap with just a few more items most people have on hand.

Supplies list

Two quart saucepan
one cup measuring cup
cheese grater
Whisk
One gallon pitcher with pourable lid
5five, one quart jars with lids
water

 

Getting Started

First… Grate the Fells Naptha Soap into the two quart sauce pan. Add six cups of water and turn on medium heat. Melt the soap, but do NOT let it boil! Remove from heat.

 

Second… Measure one cup washing soda and one cup Borax. Add both to the melted soap. Whisk until fully dissolved. Pour equal parts …about one and a half cups… into each of the six containers… quart jars and pitcher… add water to the jars so they are full with four cups of liquid. To the pitcher add enough water to bring the liquid half way to the top. Gently shake your jars and store. Whisk your pitcher and let sit overnight.

 

 

Third… After letting your pitcher sit overnight gently whisk to break up your soap then fill the pitcher with cool water. Make sure you mix well.

Fourth… Add one half cup to your washer. I suggest adding it before putting any laundry in. To make sure you rinse away all the soap I suggest putting one half cup vinegar in a fabric softener ball for the rinse cycle. The vinegar is optional, I just like to know everything is super clean!

So, for just pennies per load you can have nice Eco friendly laundry soap! Just a warning to you if you are used to a store bought super fragrant laundry soap then be prepared to be disappointed! Turns out the smell of clean does not actually have a smell! But if you must you can add about twenty drops of either Sweet orange or lavender essential oil to each of your six containers. Although there still won’t be an overabundance of aroma you will be able to smell a little something!

 

I also grate a couple extra bars of soap and measure out my Borax and Washing Soda. I put the ingredients into separate bags than into a large bag. This way when I need to make another batch of soap I just have to melt it all together! I usually don't have to make soap but every six months or so!

 

My challenge to you is to try this. If you do, let me know how your attempts go. Also if you like it or hate it. If you already make your own soap let me know how your recipe differs from mine. Can’t wait to hear from everyone!

Up-Cycle - Mirror

In one of my not so recent resale shopping trips I acquired and ornately framed mirror. Ever since I moved into my new house… seven months ago… it has been leaning against the wall under my bedroom window.

 

When I moved I redid my daughters’ bedroom. Since then there has been a wall in there tormenting me with its emptiness.

 

I finally decided that the mirror should have a place on that nice open wall. Unfortunately the gold frame just does not flow well with the gray, black, and purple scheme that is the girls’ bedroom. Time for a little up-cycling!

 

I decided to paint the frame black and the back of the mirror glass purple. There are spots on the mirror that has rubbed off so the purple will show through. I am using left over paint from the girls’ bedroom remodel.

To start, I am going to take everything apart. Then wash down the things that I am going to paint. Sitting for months has made everything quite dusty!

After the parts have dried it’s time to paint. I chose to use a small roller to paint the back of the mirror to achieve a nice smooth finish.

 

The frame itself has nicks and dings in it. I rather like it that way so the only touch up it is going to get from me is a fresh paint job.

After everything has dried I get to put it all back together. When I took it apart there were a couple of boards holding the mirror in the frame. I am trying to cut some of the weight and get rid of the boards. Instead I am going to glue the mirror to the frame. To prevent the purple paint from rubbing off I am going to use some double stick tape to adhere some recycled shipping paper to the back. For a little extra safety precaution I am going to use a couple of wires across the back to ensure that the mirror stays in place.

 

 

Now all that is left will be attaching the hanging hardware. I chose to use a wire to hang it along with two screws in the wall. I am hoping that I can find a couple of studs to attach  the mirror to, It is heavy and I would hate for it to somehow fall on my sleeping child below.

 

Ta Da! I love how it turned out. It makes a great addition to the girls room. Bonus… the entire project cost me less than Ten Dollars! Whoop Whoop!

 

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!

I am so pleased that you found me and I hope that you find some useful information here. I will be taking a look at going green topics such as what to use around the house, health and beauty products, how to make your garden and farm work for you, and my favorite recycling & up-cycling.

Let’s start with the basics... My name is Crystal and last year I decided to start living a green lifestyle. It has been quite the transformation... and it's still going. Switching over from a custom American lifestyle dependent on chemicals and boxed foods to an eco-friendly self-sufficient green lifestyle doesn't happen overnight. There is a lot of planning and research involved. I would like to share with you some tips on what I have found and helpful hints to make your green lifestyle a little easier.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments please
e-mail me at

simple.crystal.goes.green@gmail.com

Now let’s GO GREEN together!