A Gift That Keeps on Giving...

This may not be the ideal gift for many of your family and friends but for those on your list that may be frugal or living on a tight budget, they may really appreciate this as a gift. I know I may have blown the surprise for some of my family and friends that follow my blog. Sorry you all but I hope getting the bucket of suds will make up for spoiling the surprise.

This idea came from the blog of a gal that really knows how to be frugal and loves saving money. Check out her blog, Thy Hand Hath Provided  Jane is always posting up tried and true recipes and ideas. I am a devout follower of her blog.  She posted her recipe for making your own laundry detergent several weeks ago. After reading her blog and others folks comments, I was convinced to give it a try. I was thrilled when realizing, I could do a load of laundry for a couple of pennies plus the cost of water and electricity.

After making the concentrate laundry detergent and giving it a try, I found that purchasing those rubber dryer balls would cut out the need for static and fabric softener sheets. I was so excited about the savings and it was about time to start thinking about Christmas gifts so, I decided to make up buckets with all the needed supplies for my family and friends. I am convinced that if they give it a try, they too will be hooked. I only wished I had a chance to get by an As Seen On TV and pick up several sets of the clothes dryer balls but I have not had a chance to do so.

I picked up the 5 gallon buckets at Home Depot for 2.50 per bucket and the lids which are a must were about 98 cents extra. Then I picked up the needed ingredients (Borax, Fels Naptha Laundry Bar and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda) at Walmart. The laundry bar was 97 cents, the Borax was about $2.67 and so was the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. I stopped in at the Dollar Tree for the measuring cups and graters. The cost for putting together the bucket with ingredients was about $13.00. I did purchase two of the laundry bars for each bucket. 

The recipe calls for small amount of the Borax and the Arm and Hammer and you grate up the whole bar of Fels Naptha. You can grab the recipe from Jane's blog Thy Hand Hath Provided (click here)

I grabbed a small clip art image off of the web, made recipe cards and laminated them to toss into the buckets along with the ingredients. I just hope my family and friends that I made the buckets up for love the idea just as much as I did. It is very simple to make and saves tons of money for months.

Below are a few photos from when I made my first batch. 

I first grated my laundry bar.

Then I added 4 cups of warm water to my pot and set the heat on my stove to medium.

Once the soap melted into the water, it was this butter yellow color and smelled so wonderful.

In the bucket first, I added about 8 cups of warm water, 1 cup of the Arm & Hammer and 1/2 a cup of Borax and stirred. Then I poured in the soap mixture from the stove and stirred well. 

At that point, I carried the bucket to my laundry room and finished filling it with warm water. I left a few inches from the top to allow room for stirring the mixture.

This is what it looked like as soon as it was all mixed together. I was skeptical at this point because it was very thin. I followed Jane's directions and covered it and waited over night.

The next day, I checked it about mid day. It had gelled up so much that about a third of the bucket was a thick gel. I started stirring and broke up the gel. I stirred it for about a good 3 to 5 minutes. 

This is what it looked like when finished stirring it. It makes 5 gallon of concentrate. At this point, I filled an old laundry detergent bottle half way with the laundry soap mixture and the other half with water. 

I then washed about 5 loads of laundry using the homemade mixture. I was convinced after my first load that I loved this detergent. The clothes were so clean and smelled so fresh but didn't have a heavy perfume smell. I even put a small amount of the concentrate in a spay bottle with a bit of water and used it as a spot remover on some of our T-shirts. I let it set for about 30 minutes and washed. It works great as a pretreat.

I am grateful to Jane at Thy Hand Hath Provided for sharing this recipe. I just hope all of my family and friends enjoy saving money all year long with their Christmas buckets.

Many Blessings and Merry Christmas!!!

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

Our Christmas tree will be going up this weekend. Our outdoor lights will not be going up this year. Our decks and porches are being rebuilt and I don’t know if they will be done in time to make decorating worth it this year.

Most all of our Christmas shopping is done, yeah! I will not be out shopping on Black Friday, double yeah!!! I wish all of you that are going to be out there great success in finding what you are looking for. I also hope that folks remember to just be kind to one another. I think that would make shopping on Black Friday much more fun too. Remember, kindness spreads.

In the past few days, I have been glancing back at a few of our holiday photos from last year and thinking about how it would be possible to take different portrait photos of the family this year. It is pretty hard when I have no intention of changing anything about the tree this year. As you can see from some of the crazy photos, our family is a little nuts. I guess it doesn’t really matter what the set up is, just taking the photos with these clowns is memorable for me. Last year everyone was such a clown that it was almost hard to take the photos because I was laughing so hard. By far, these are in no way the funniest photos taken. These are just a few that I thought were cute and I would share. You can see more of the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnmamaw/sets/72157622992635261/ You will get a better idea of what I am up against when I break out the camera.








I love this photo. I took so many photos the kids were seeing spots. I think this was my clue to stop.


The photo below is my favorite photo from last year. It is just so Luke, always keeping an eye on what his sister is doing.





I am still thinking I should change up some of the decorations on the tree but I have a style that is a simple, country look and haven’t thought about changing it in years. The other day Joe and I were in the store and he found Christmas lights that he and Joey would love to put on the tree. They were shot gun shell lights. I giggled and almost considered it but it just doesn’t seem right. I think they should put up a Christmas tree in their man cave/barn and decorate it. There is no telling what it would turn out like. Wow, I just totally got of track there.

In looking at the photos though, I would love to come up with another angle setup or something different and special for the 2010 photos. If you have any suggestions, I am open to hearing them. If we don’t change it up, it will still be lots of fun to take the photos. We always have fun doing them.

We are looking forward to spending time with the family for Thanksgiving. It will be nice to have a long weekend. This will be one of the first weekends in a while that Joe has not been working late on Fridays and on call for Saturdays in such a long time. I hope he will be able to kick back, relax and get some rest. He is battling a cold and hasn’t been resting well. Hopefully this weekend will give him some well needed rest.

I am looking forward to hanging out with the grandkids. Doodlebug is planning a family baseball game. It is suppose to rain this afternoon and tomorrow but hopefully it will be nice weather by Thursday to get a game going. I discussed this with Granny last night and she is willing to play too, if we can get a runner for her. I told her that wouldn’t be any problem we would put Doodles on her team. I think Doodlebug runs faster than anyone in the family so, I want to be on her team too.

Well, that’s all I have for this blog entry. I hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving day with all your loved ones.

Blessings and hugs to you all!