Homemade Detergents

Today I went over to a friend's house and we both made homemade cleaning supplies for the first time.

I have to say it turned out pretty well considering the fact that neither one of us had tried it before. I did my research first and spent lots of time looking for the right ingredients.

I had a little trouble finding soap. I would have preferred Castile soap to make it more pure, but ended up getting Zote, which I have read works too. Next time I will try to get Castile.

I made small quantities to try and will make more if I am still satisfied once I use it all. I am sure the recipe can be doubled or tripled to make larger amounts.

Here is what I bought: (All available at WalMart on the detergent isle.)

Borax (Approx. 3 Dollars)

Washing Soda (Approx. 3 Dollars)

Zote Soap (Approx. 1 Dollar)

Laundry Detergent Directions:

2:1:1 This is what I found on another blog-easy to remember.

2 Cups Grated Soap

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup Washing Soda

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

I store mine in a Mason Jar.

Use 1 to 2 TBS per load.

This detergent works very well, removes stains, AND smells fresh!

Dish Liquid Directions:

4 Cups Water

1/4 Cup Grated Soap

Melt in a pot on stove at medium heat.

Add 1 TBS of White Vinegar.

Let cool.

I also used a Mason jar for this and just pour a little at a time.

I read the detergent does not bubble. That is true. But it does still clean pretty well.

My friend made dish washing tablets. (We are not sure how it turned out yet. And liquid laundry detergent. May post recipes for those later too if they turn out well.)

This online app posts my pictures out of order, but I can talk type my blogs while I do laundry our dry dishes....so it is worth it.)

Pace Eggs

This year, for Easter, we decided to try a traditional egg dye, using onion skins.

We chose to use mostly red skins to symbolize the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. We talked about it and I reiterated why it is so important.

Here is what you need:

A Dozen Eggs (Brown eggs are best, but white eggs turn out pretty too.)

Onion Skins (You can use any color.)

Tin Foil (Some people use string.)

Boiling Water

Butter (optional)

We just grabbed a bunch of onion skins from the bottom of the crate at the fruit stand. They let us have them for free. (So did Ingles and WalMart.)

To start, just randomly cover the eggs with onion skins. Then cover with tinfoil. (This was hard for me because it didn't seem to tightly wrap the eggs. I just didn't know how it would work, but it does.)

Gently place in the eggs in the water. (The water will turn brown and it kind of stinks, but it is worth it!)

We boiled them for 15 minutes, let them cool, then took them out and unwrapped them. (The dye stained the plate we used, so you have to be careful what you put them on.)

You can dry them and rub butter on them to get a shiny finish. We did half and half. I like them both ways.

The eggs turned out Beautiful! And DD said she enjoyed dying eggs that way as opposed to using commercial dye. That made me happy to hear because I felt like the history and meaning behind it was a lesson in itself.

Now that we know what we are doing, we will try different foods next year . I know we can use beet root water and the skins to other foods. I have even heard flowers.

Organic Dining

We have recently switched to buying all-organic groceries. (We bought mostly natural/organic before, but also bought some was not.) We finally decided to go all in. We can't really afford to shop at Earth Fare on a $250.00 monthly budget, not considering how much we eat, although we would LOVE to, so we have had to learn to pull from our resources, which has caused us to have to sacrifice some foods that we really like but can't find with an "organic label."

DH and his friends hunt, so we get deer and turkey meat from that. We now own chickens (free range) and we get eggs from them. We want to invest in a cow for beef and milk, but for now we buy natural meats and organic milk from Ingles. All our produce from the local fruit stand. And everything else from WalMart. If you look hard enough you can find all natural condiments, canned foods, and even things like cheese and beef broth at WalMart.

I really enjoy cooking from scratch, and something about knowing our food is pure and healthy, that is even better.

Meal time and grocery shopping runs a lot smoother now, thanks to the meal planning app I downloaded. With one meatless meal and two crockpot dinners a week, it is a little hard to think up meals we haven't recently had, so this helps make things less stressful.

I usually begin preparing dinner during DD's quiet time. I use that time to get everything out, chopped up, mixed, etc And afterward I can go outside for some quiet/nature time and read my Bible (app-lol), pray, or think. Oh my, I Love pretty weather. It is good for my mental health. Getting off track here....After quiet time, DD helps cook, clean, and set the table. I Love family dinners! I honestly think that is essential in keeping our family close because DH is at work all day. It gives us time to focus on each other and talk. Off track again...

These are some of the meals I have recently made.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

Stuffed Pepper Cups

Ingredients:

1 Pound Ground Beef

3 Large Green Peppers

Taco Seasoning Recipe

Refried Beans

Rice

Cheese

Directions:

This is a simple recipe. First prepare your seasoning, brown your beef/mix in seasoning and water, boil your rice, and heat up the beans.

Then cut the top portion of the pepper off and pull the core and seeds out. Boil the pepper for 5 minutes.

Once you get the pepper out of the water, fill it with your ingredients. Rice first, then beans, beef, and top generously with cheese. Put in the oven at 250 degrees, long enough to melt the cheese. Then it is ready to serve.

No sides are required since they are all in the peppers, but we like to do corn anyway.

Chicken and Red Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 Pound of Chicken

5 medium Red Potatoes

McCormick's All Natural Chicken and Red Potatoes Seasoning

Apple Juice or White Wine

Directions:

Prepare by cutting up the chicken and slicing potatoes into chucks.

Put in a container with seasoning and apple juice and shake, or mix in a bowl.
Cook thoroughly on medium in a pan.

Serve.

We has fresh green beans and rice as sides.

*s

Be An Encouraging Family

I have found, especially over the last year that a little bit of encouragement goes a long way. I attended my first Save One Post Abortive Bible Study last Fall. (Initial reason was for training purposes, to lead our group, but found a lot of healing and spiritual growth also.) I learned a lot about how to use the Bible. You heard me, I have never learned to properly use a Bible. I became very familiar with it and wanted to start making The Word more prominent in our Home. After all, I am my daughter's primary caregiver and therefore her primary influence. Here are a few things that I have found that make our house a better Home:

1. I have found it to be an amazing mood lifter when I post encouraging scriptures around the house, especially on our refrigerator. Everybody uses the refrigerator. When I feel like one of us is facing a certain problem, I will pick scripture specifically meant for that issue. My 4 year old has had problems expressing her anger in health ways, so I posted this one for her yesterday, "Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool." Ecclesiastes 7:9 And we read and talked about it. If I do not feel like anyone is in need of encouragement, I will pick one that tugs at my heart. Today's, as pictured below, is about Love. I really feel that my Husband and I have become a lot closer over the years, going on 6 years this year. I know that doesn't sound like a lot. And it isn't. This is just the beginning. But 5-1/2 of those 6 years have been filled with learning to live together, raising a child together, healing with our struggles about Lucy-together, dealing with my OCD-together...I would say we have learned to walk Together pretty well. I still get excited when he tells me he is coming home. And I still look forward to kissing him, cuddling with him, and hearing about his day, and that has really been on my mind lately, that I need to continually remind him-tell him and show him-I Love him, as to not take advantage of him being there, which is why I picked 1 Corinthians 13:4. Because it tells us What Love Is.

 

2. I have also found it helpful to leave out things I find in magazines or online with simple quotes. I found one yesterday in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It says, "AWAY is a place where it's not about the money you spend. It's about the moments you share." This was actually an RV advertisement, but I chose to post it because we Love to camp and spend time together around the fire. Recently, my car motor blew up and we are having to use all our extra money to fix it, which means no vacation like we planned. I was pretty down about it for awhile, but then my Husband reminded me it doesn't matter how far we go, but that we make memories together as a family, so we will make sure to do twice as much camping this year. :)

3. Compliments, sometimes, in the business of life, we forget to take time for our "other half," at least I know I have. I'm not talking about settling down after a busy day to talk or read together. I am talking about maintenance in marriage, upkeep, like getting your oil changed on your car-giving them compliments, making sure they know they are important. I like to make it a point to say at least 5 nice things a day to my Husband. (And zero negative, if I can.) (I am the same with my daughter, but have never struggled with finding nice things to her, because most of us don't get in the habit of being negative towards our children.) Even if it is just an, "I Love You." "You are a hard worker." or "I really like your hair today." I like to make sure I say SOMETHING to lift him up and let him know that I think highly of him, as the leader of our family, and that is why I am with him.

These small changes have made a big difference in out Home over the last 6 months. Everybody is happier all around. And there is so much more positivity in the air. More encouragement. We are able to work through big challenges better. It is better for me, for my marriage, and for my family. I hope that we are able to continue this habit. It has been contagious to the people who are around us a lot, which results in better relationships with others too!

I will try to add more later...But it is time for Family Game Night now. ;)