Ultimate Homestead Weekend!

Whew! What a weekend we had! I blindsided the husband a bit with a work weekend, he was expecting a relaxing one and I had other things in mind. I hit some resistance, so I took it easy on him (he has been working a ton) and did most of the work myself.

What brought this on? Well, nothing better to do for one. But I also bought the best book ever on Amazon and it arrived friday while I was at work. Do It Gorgeously- It was packed with awesome ideas and I had some things I wanted to get done anyway, so I set my mind on getting some projects knocked off.

The first thing I did was revamp the homemade laundry detergent. My sister seems to like the liquid stuff we made, but I found it to be weak and not as effective as I need it to be. So I made the powdered kind. Heres the receipe I used-

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

1 grated bar of all natural soap (my girlfriends use Dr Bronners- I used the cheap stuff)

Let me tell you- it works awesome! My husbands work pants look fantastic!! I even hit the local flea market and bought the cutest green antique tin pail to store it in.

I cleaned every corner in the house. Even defrosted the chest freezer and cleaned it out. Made meal plans, sewed some projects, made the all the beds in the house and even reorganized some rooms and closets.

Husband did make it outside to stack wood and mow the lawn. I heard the lawnmower shut down 2 times followed by silence. Both times I went to investigate (I wanted to make sure he didnt lose a foot or anything) and BOTH times found him hunched over a plant. "Look! We have strawberries growing here!". "Look! We have raspberries over here!". He was excited! And so was I! Looks like this homesteading thing is contagious! Glad to see he is liking it too.

Anyway, I feel like we got alot accomplished! One step closer to a greener, happier (and pretty!) home!

home made laundry detergent

So last night, after much persuading by my sister, we made a large batch of home made laundry detergent. We found a receipe online and had all the suppys handy. Off to walmart we went in search of something to store it in and we lucked out. We found a 5 gallon water jug (like the kind you put on a home water dispenser) and it had a handle and a lid. It cost us $7 but was well worth it.

We decided to alter the recipe a little, but steeping a nylon full of lavendar in the boiling soap mixture. This does make it smell nice, but don't use a colored nylon...duh.....our batch is kinda black! Definetly wont be using it on my whites! Whoops!

Anyway, heres the receipe we used-

3 gallons water

1/2 bar ivory soap shaved and boiled in 3 cups hot water

1/2 cup borax

1/2 cup washing soda

Overnight it gelled up and it now looks like store bought laundry detergent gel! It smells good, but not sure how much of that will carry over to the washer clothes. I plan on trying it out tonight. I have a frontload HE washer, so I plan on using very little until I figure out how well it works.

We will see!!!