Monday, May 2, 2011

Money Saver


Good morning to you! I hope you are enjoying your week. I am currently out of the country, sailing around Mexico in style, and enjoying wonderfully warm weather, sandy beaches, and plenty of food, and maybe even a spa treatment or two. Jealous? Do you want to go on a cruist too? Well, here's an idea to help you save for it! Homemade laundry soap. Okay before you say, "Uh, Erin... I am a clean-freak, and HAVE to use Tide {or whatever soap you love} or else my clothes will not get clean, smell nice, or put my OCD to rest." Well, never fear! I was that person too. Then, I had an epiphany one day; I needed to save money ANY way I could. I am lucky enough that I don't HAVE to work, but of course the extra money would be helpful. 

I used to coupon- epic fail. I would spend hours and hours and hours on the internet trying to find out what sales were going on, if I had coupons to match the sales, and yada yada yada... I would end up with an enormous anxiety attack. I kid you not; I would have anxiety attacks at the register. I could literally feel my blood pressure rise, my cheeks get hot and flushed, and leave the store with gigantic sweat rings under my pits, and start bawling in the car, because I didn't save as much as the Krazy Coupon Lady or something. Or just because I forgot to get something and I just didn't have the mental stamina to go all the way to the back of the store.

I do hair-sometimes. I am a licensed cosmetologist, I can do pretty much anything with hair, nails, waxing etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE doing that stuff. I miss working in the salon, in fact. But being a mommy is priority numero uno right now. And I don't do hair all that often. So those few times when I actually do have a client, I think it's great. My son, however, doesn't. He throws tantrums like nobody's business. Throws toys at whoever I am working on and their kids. And there is even the occasional streaking down the hall.

Well, I tried to save/earn some extra money, but those options just haven't worked out as well as I had hoped they would have. So I came up with a few ideas that wouldn't wreak me as a person, wouldn't leave clients with a severe aversion to coming to my home. I would make my own surface cleaner, laundry soap, and cook meals as often as possible and freeze the left overs, among other things. So the tip I wanted to share with you today is laundry soap. 

The great thing about this soap is, it smells fresh, it's cheap, and most importantly, it WORKS! I've been using it for some time now, and have not noticed any difference in my clothes' clean-ness. It received the OCD Approval award for actually getting my clothes clean. I actually use LESS soap than I was using with Tide, it's a really concentrated soap, and low suds formula so you can use it in a high efficiency washer. So, why not give it a shot?



Recipe for Homemade Laundry Soap
1 bar Ivory soap
1/2 c Washing Soda- NOT Baking Soda
1/2 c Borax

Grate the bar of Ivory, and mix all ingredients together. Place in an air-tight container.
I put the amount you use lower in the post... keep reading!
That's it. Easy huh?

You can see that there is a spoon here. I use that spoon to measure
my soap. Two spoonfuls for a large load, one spoonful for a small
load
. I made this dryer "tablecloth" because my dryer would get so
dirty. Like almost black. The lint catcher thing is inside the dryer,
and I was putting all of that messy lint in a box above the dryer to
take out to the trash, so I wouldn't have to go to the trash all the time.
I know I am lazy. But I can admit it.
Close-up of the soap. It's got great texture. I tripled the recipe too.
Isn't that cute? It was $7 at TJ Maxx.


 Well, I hope that you can use this, I definitely enjoy not having to spend $19 on a box that I will have to re-buy in 4-5 weeks. I'd much rather spend the $3.50 it costs for this soap {on average-if you triple it like me} every 9-10 weeks.
Squeezes!



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