What's exciting all those Spammers..........

It's my Homemade Laundry Detergent post from 2008.  You can read about it here.

Between me and you, I have no idea what excites them the most?  Do you?

All about laundry.....

In the May/June issue of Hobby Farm's Home they have a infographic on line drying best practices.  If you click on this link, you can see if more easily and you can download and print it as it is a pdf file.

 

I finally got my first load of laundry line dried last Friday (Good Friday).  Hoping it will warm up and I can hang more laundry out.  Do you line dry you laundry?

The majority of my clothes pegs/pins are wooden like this:

I don't have any like this:

But do have some plastic ones similar to these:

I made my peg bag out of some material I had and a child's coat hanger.  I found a pattern here that uses a tea towel, that is similar.  Though the more hard wearing the material the longer it will last.

I still make my own fabric softener using this recipe (actually generally the third one, and I add drops of lemon essential oil as well).  I don't make my own laundry detergent as I try and buy it super cheap when on sale and with coupons, but have used home made laundry detergent in the past with great success, and there is a recipe here.

I tend to "do" around five to six loads of laundry a week.  Two loads of whites and three to four loads of darks.  There are two of us in the house, and sometimes it can be more sometimes less.  I rarely use the electric dryer.  It's either hung to dry on the clothes horse/airer, or hung outside to dry.  Dh complains about how crispy the towels get.  I just tell him it's a bonus as they exfoliate his skin at the same time and people pay thousands to have that done and he gets it done for free!!

This week's column and other "stuff"

This week's column is here This week it's school time memories, I hope you have a couple of minutes to have a quick read, and as always if you have time leave a comment, or better still, forward it onto your friends to read.  I appreciate that you take the time to read my column, and say a big thank you to each and every one of you for doing that.

If you have a couple more minutes to spare and want to figure out where your ideal vacation destination would be click on this link and take the quiz.  As per my answers, I am a Beach Bum.........sitting on the beach is not my idea of a holiday, although the suggestion to go to Costa Rica would be a place I would go, as I have heard it is lovely.

Made another Dump Cake, this time with peaches and raspberries, really good, though sweet....

Tuesday was one of those days when I was busy all day but didn't seem to achieve anything. 

I am going to have some good news to share with you in the next few days so stay tuned!!!

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today?

Today's Money Saving Tip:

Combine your cable, internet and telephone service. Companies now offer combined services that not only cost less, but offer the convenience of a single bill.

Do you believe in your "gut feeling?" And a recipe for Cheesecake...

Ds went to look at a house on Saturday, he is looking to purchase a house this year.  He has got a real estate agent looking for a house for him, and if any house comes up that he thinks ds would like he lets him know.  So this house has come up and its a foreclosure and from the photos it looks great.  Ds went to look at it and for a number of reasons, including his "gut feeling" he doesn't think he'll go for it.

As I said to ds I think if your "gut feeling," is telling you no then that's good enough.  I personally swear by my gut feelings, as if it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't.  Also with buying a house, you have to have that "right" feeling other wise it won't work.  Ds didn't like the layout of this house, and as he said he would only live in it while he was renovating it and then sell it again.  As he is an accountant, now through the end of April is his busiest time of year, so he also doesn't have time to renovate a house in a couple of months ready to put it back up for sale again.

Without making out that ds is the most perfect child in the world........okay he is....LOL  He does possess his father's skill for diy, and his mother's instincts for knowing when something is right or not and her vision for seeing through dirt and horrible decor to see what a house could look like.  Dd is also perfect.......had to write that otherwise I would be in big trouble!!!

I also rely on my gut feeling when meeting new people.  I was forever telling my boss at work I wouldn't trust so and so with a ten foot barge pole.  Nine times out of ten I was right.  So something has to be said about that gut feeling of yours.

I made a Sour Cream Cheesecake on Sunday using this recipe  the good thing about this recipe it makes a lighter cheesecake as instead of using 3 packets (1 1/2 pounds) of creamcheese it used only a pound and a tub of sour cream.  I had a can of strawberry pie filling that I used for the topping.  It was as good as it looks and that will be our dessert for the rest of the week.  If you haven't got sour cream, substitute creme fraiche.  This is a really easy recipe, make it first thing in the morning and you can have it for dessert at night.

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today.

Today's Money Saving Tip:

Skip dessert at a restaurant, and eat it at home.  It generally costs around $5 each for dessert in a restaurant.  I worked out that the cheesecake cost me less than $10 to make and we have enough dessert for the two of us for a whole week, which is fourteen portions, at less than $1 per portion.  Something to think about......

Buddy Friday - Spring has sprung so lets talk laundry......

and lets take advantage of the nice weather, and why not take advantage of what nature gives us and hang out the laundry to dry, rather than use the dryer and have the extra charge on your electricity bill!!! I managed to get my first load of laundry out to dry on March 6th, this year, and since then have been hanging out my laundry.


I just love the smell of sheets when they have been dried on the line. No amount of fabric softener can replace that fresh smell. Of course I will be taking my rotary dryer/whirly gig with me when we move. However I also know we have room for actual washing lines, so may get dh to hang one up for me.

Now I have talked about making your own laundry detergent in this post, and fabric softener in this post. To save you searching through my old posts, here are the recipes for the laundry detergent and the fabric softener. I use them and they do work. I used them on my front loading machine without any problems.

Here is the recipe for the liquid detergent:

Ingredients :
1½ litres water
1 bar Sunlight or generic laundry soap or any similar pure laundry soap, grated on a cheese grater
½ cup washing soda – NOT baking or bicarb soda
½ cup borax

Method:
Into a medium sized saucepan add 1½ litres of water and the soap. Over a medium heat, stir this until it is completely dissolved. Make sure the soap dissolves properly or the mixture will separate when cold.Add the washing soda and borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. It sort of resembles a very thin lemon pudding mix now.

Pour this mixture into your 9-10 litre bucket then fill the bucket with hot water from the tap. Stir to combine all the ingredients.The laundry liquid will thicken up more as it cools. When cool, store in a plastic container.

Use 1/4 cup of mixture per load or monitor to see what works well for you.

Here is the recipe for the dry mix:

CONCENTRATED LAUNDRY POWDER

4 cups grated laundry soap
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a plastic container with a lid. Use 2 tablespoons per wash. This powder will not make suds and this is perfectly okay.

Fabric Softener Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup baking soda
6 cups distilled white vinegar
8 cups water
10-15 drops orange essential oils (optional) or lemon essential oils (optional) or essential oils, of choice (optional)

Directions:

1.You will need a one gallon container.
2.First add the baking soda to the plastic container.
3.Next add 1 cup of water to start with.
4.Slowly add the vinegar to the bottle as the vinegar and baking soda will start to fizz.
5.Then add the rest of the water swirling around & cover venting the top a few times.
6.Last add the essential oil.
7.Add 1 cup in your final rinse cycle for each load but give the bottle a good shake to stir up the essential oil if using.

***IT SAYS USE 1 CUP BUT IF USING A DOWNY BALL YOU ONLY USE 1/4 CUP***

I hope you try to make your own laundry detergent, as you will save money and it does work.

For more Buddy's Friday post, please pop over to Margaret's Rambling's.