My favorite website right now is Etsy.com Everything on here is homemade. Every seller makes the goods they sell. I love this idea! I love homemade and handmade goods. There is so much love put into these items and so much to be said for the homemaker, too. I LOVE YOU, homemakers, and I strive to follow in your footsteps as I slide back into my full-time job in a few weeks.
Here are my favorites:
Baby Carrying I met a gal in my hometown who makes slings. Her business is called Keep Your Baby Close. The link is to her Etsy shop. I bought a ring sling from her, she gave me a pouch sling, with which I figured out how to sew my own pouch sling! I know these are repeats, but here is Nathan in his two slings. I have yet to photograph the new sling I made. I also am going to make another one, so once I'm completely done, I'll post pics of our new slings!
Cloth Diapers While I actually haven't gotten to give these a try quite yet, I am very much looking forward to when my cloth diapers arrive. The kind I purchased (on Etsy) are called KCK One. That stands for Kayla's Cloth Kits One size fits all. They are amazing and fit babies 8lbs. to 40 lbs. I bought from two sellers on Etsy. Purple Ducks and BabyBelle. Below is a diagram of these diapers. Also, on Kayla's Cloth Kits website there is a You tube Video show how the diapers work.
I did buy some plain colors, too, but I just HAD to have this camo and skulls one! The cloth diaper also is a great swim trunk, so no need to buy little swimmers. sorry kimberly-clark!
Homemade Laundry Detergent I did buy some from a seller on Etsy, Crunchy Clean, but then I started doing my own research. After all, The Duggars make their own laundry detergent and say it saves so much money, so why shouldn't I give it a try. Well I did and I am SO glad!!! It is SO easy, people, SO easy!!! Not only is it easy, but it's gentle on all clothes, for all skin types, but it will clean up #2 diapers really good as well.
The mathematics come out to about 30cents per load when I use one cap per load of the 64oz bottle of Tide VS 2 to 3cents per load when I use 2tbsp of my homemade powdered detergent.
Here are some websites that I found helpful when doing my research.
10 Recipes This is the one where I formulated my version of the recipe.... keep reading for my recipe!
The Family Homestead
The Simple Dollar
My recipe:
1 bar Ivory soap, grated
1 cup Borax (20 mule team)
1 cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer)
1/2 cup Baking Soda (Arm & Hammer)
1/2 cup Oxy Clean
USE 2 TBSP PER LOAD, 3 TBSP FOR A REALLY DINGY LOAD.
I added the Oxy Clean cuz I had read it in one of the website while doing my research. It has good soil removing properties which will help fight off #2's and coolant from Tom's work clothes. (of course his work clothes are washed seperately from our clothes and Nathan's) The websites I linked above referred to a bar soap called Fels Naptha. I couldn't find that in my stores here, but one of the websites also said Ivory or Pure and Natural soap work great too.
The Container. I found a 1-gallon glass jar (earth friendly as it is not plastic!) and kept repeating the measurements of ingredients until the container was full to my content.
The Test. I washed our loads of laundry....clothes and towels....in my new homemade powdered laundry detergent and they came out fresh and clean!!! I'm so proud and so happy this is going to save us a TON of money!!
The Stainfighter. My cousin and I have been sharing a lot of this lately. She is on her trial of cloth diapering her son, and now she is going to make her own laundry detergent. She shared her recipe for a Stainfighter with me and said it works great to get really big #2's out of cloth diapers. Soak in the solution for 3-4 hours, then launder as usual. She did this and couldn't even tell the diaper has ever been soiled, nor did any of the colors run!
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1 cup hot water
Do you have a homemade recipe or any tips/tricks of the trade? I would LOVE to hear them!!!
*hugs*
Roxanne :)
2 comments:
I was blocked from commenting earlier and now I see you added another post. I love Etsy too and have seen wonderful handmade ideas. There is no end to the amount of creativity found on Etsy. Thank you for the laundry detergent recipe. I have a high-efficiency washing machine that requires detergent with HE on the label. Not sure I can use the homemade variety of detergent. I'll have to research.
I LOVE the photos of Nathan. Were these taken professionally by your photographer cousin? Nathan is getting so big! Lovely photos, Roxanne :)
Yes, you can use that detergent in the HE washers! You only need 1 TBSP per load!! How cool is that :)
Also, if you wanted to scent your detergent, add an essential oil of your choice (about 15-20 drops per gallon of powdered mixture). This is not recommended for sensitive skin, so since I want to wash Nathan's clothes with this (once my bottle of Dreft is out) I opted not to scent my batch.
Post a Comment