Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've seen this all over Pinterest for awhile now and have pinned it about 5 times already. I kept saying I'd do it and never did, along with my boards full of recipes, exercises, outfits... you get my drift :). Like most of my 5,000 pins, they've kind of just sat there making me look either like Super Woman or what most of us are guilty of, pinning spree addicts. I said it, "I have a problem!"

So, then another friend of mine knocked it out one afternoon with 3 kids to handle! If she had the time and patience to handle it with her little ones running around and helping, then surely I could make it work with my one toddler. Not to mention all of the money I'd be saving... no arguments there ladies. So I took her recipe and made it for dry detergent. She has a liquid recipe in case you'd prefer that over the dry detergent. Feel free to pop on over to Abiding Woman to see her recipe and watch her sweet girls helping out.

What you'll need:
4 lb. box of Borax
4 lb. box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
3 lb. box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soap
4 bars of Fels Naptha Soap (grated)
14oz Purex Crystals (half the container)
3lb Sun Oxi Cleaner (half the container)
Large bucket to store detergent in

*Makes about half a 5 gallon bucket worth

*Oxi Clean can be used in replace of the Sun Oxi Cleaner, its just a little more expensive

How to mix it:

First
Shred the 4 Fels Naptha bars using a cheese grater. I would recommend taking short strokes so your soap pieces aren't long and will spread evenly when everything is mixed at the end. I had a little help with this part; my little munchkin was dead set on working with his safari hat on. Who was I to stop this boy on a mission? And look at him! That is just adorable.

Second

Mix all of your ingredients into your 5 gallon bucket or a new trash bag to make sure it's all mixed together evenly then pour into your bucket. Now you're ready to go.

Third

When using the detergent, you will only need 2-3 tablespoons per load. The scooper in the oxiclean box will work perfect. Also, safe for HE washers.

Linked up to

Flamingo Toes, DIY Showoff, My Little Birds, Cedarhill Farmhouse

{Love our Realtor}

I just posted my last post a few minutes ago and mentioned that I didn't have any pictures of the house prior to us moving in... well, I got an email from our realtor just minutes later with a link to the MLS listing with that information. I love her! So thank you to Allison for providing me with that, now I can post them to the blog for everyone and you guys can get the full affect.

Side note, if you need a realtor or just want to talk to someone about potentially buying, contact her. She was amazing to work with and made the horrible house buying process so much easier for us. We loved her.

Check out Platinum Realty and Check out Allison Oaks

New Home

To get everyone a little updated, we bought our first home in April and moved in this summer. We had no idea how trying the "buying a house" process would be! I wouldn't recommend it : ) All is over. We purchased a foreclosure home with the idea we were going to fix things up while we're here and eventually sell to make a profit. This was a great investment home for us so I'm going to try and post the projects we go do throughout the timespan, possibly years : ), we get them done. So keep coming back.

Here is the house... {lots of work to do!}

{Exterior work to do}

• landscaping
• repainting or residing the house
• new windows