• 3 Pints Water 
• 1/3 bar Ivory Soap, grated 
• 1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, NOT baking soda though!!) 
• 1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax 
• 2 Gallon bucket to mix it in 
• 1 Quart hot water 
• Additional Hot Water 

Mix Ivory soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket completely with additional hot water (about 1 gallon = 3 pints), and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. If mixture becomes to thick, add HOT water and mix well until desired consistency.  Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. Cost per load .03 load.

I used to sort the laundry.  I sorted laundry into as many different categories as I could think of.   Then I quit, cold turkey.  Just put laundry into the machine willy-nilly, devil may care, towels with church pants and jeans with undies!  It was a sight.  And it was easy.  But, as with all things that we do frequently, and boy do we do laundry frequently, I have changed my ways yet again.  

I do laundry by rooms.  

• Monday is my turn and that includes my hubs and Sally Mae.
• Tuesday is cowboy bedroom #1. (the three youngers)
• Wednesday is cowboy bedroom #2. (the two olders)
• Thursday is bed sheets.
• Friday is the shower curtain.
• At least one load of towels (of any sort) is washed every day.

So, lately, what I have found myself doing is actually a kind of sort as I add to the washer on the first load of the day.  And that works just fine.  I don’t sort the whole housefull of laundry all at once like I used to.  I don’t create 18 different categories.  I don’t stress over whether something should go with the lights or brights or maybe denims or reds.  (I used to be kinda nutty.)  I just make as many categories as I have loads.  Usually like this:

• whites and lights
• denims
• red, orange, pink (all in one load)  (yes, I used to differentiate, I was a nut!)
• darks
• towels

That’s usually enough.  And when the weather is co-operative I can have the whole days worth of laundry out on the line by 10 a.m.  Even though drying the clothes on the line is a bit more work, it actually concentrates the work at the beginning of the day and late afternoon.  Leaving me free to cook, clean, teach school, exercise, bake bread, etc. during the big middle of the day.  Much easier than having to drop everything every 40 minutes or so to tend the dryer.

And maybe laundry, too.

That’s all I have done today.  Cookin’ and laundry.  And, boy am I a fluffy-baby!  I am wiped out which ain’t good bein’ as it’s only 11:30 A.M.

I ain’t got nuthin’ on Ma Ingalls.  Pioneer stock I ain’t.

• Cowboy coffee cake, baked and et.
• 6 loads of laundry through the washer and onto the line.
• Chile Rellenos into the solar cooker (yay sunshine!).
• Carrot-Squash-Chocolate Cake into the solar cooker.
• Creamy Veggie Soup on the stove.
• Granola bars in the oven.
• 2 loaves of bread in the machines.
• Dishes washed and put away.

And the truly embarrassing part is that I had help from children and modern appliances.  But I am exhausted none the less.

Maybe drinkin’ coffee and napping are my true super-powers.

And check this out.  The pic of Tex taking a pic?  He is taking a photo of a shoe print.  Yup, 8 ft up on my den wall.  Who?  How?  Why?  When?  What in the world?

I’ll let ya know later or tomorrow how the solar cookers perform today.  The sky is clear as a bell and it’s very sunny today and supposed to be the same tomorrow.  I’m thinking Lentil Stew de Sol tomorrow.

My personal opinion:

Learn to make laundry detergent.  

My reasons:

1. You don’t know what you are doing to your skin putting all those chemicals that P&G and whoever is putting in your store bought stuff.  
2. Also, we don’t know if purchasing our detergent at the grocery is even going to be an option in the future, I kinda doubt it, but that’s a whole other animal.

My explanations:

1. Reading today on Passionate Homemaking, she was actually talking about sunscreen, but the same principal applies.  Her comment - if you rub garlic on your feet it only takes a few minutes before you will taste the garlic.  (I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean you would lick your foot either.)  We just need to be careful what we put on our skin, and remember that our skin is a gateway to our innards* and it’s an open gate.  (*see?  Cowboy talk.  teehee!)
2. I think reason #2 is self explanatory.  Best be prepared.

~end of sermon~

I’ve been using Ivory soap in my laundry detergent and have been happy with it.  Until Kim mentioned that her laundry soap was a consistent gel throughout.  The only difference was that she made hers with the Fels Naphtha soap.

I hadn’t used the Fels because I didn’t find it on the shelf in the stores I shop at, and I figured Ivory would be a good alternative.  Also, I read that the Fels had a strong scent that was “less than pleasant” and that is a huge paraphrase on my part.  And I really try to stay away from perfumed things.  So I was happy to just use the Ivory until Kim started talkin’.  Plus, she up and gave me a bar of it (either that or I owe her a dollar, maybe she’d take a gerbil in lieu of cash, hmm…).

Long story short, I made the laundry detergent today.  I thought the scent of the soap was nice.  Not overpowering.  It kinda got into the deep reccesses of my brain and put me in mind of some long lost memory.  Good thing it takes a few minutes to make the laundry detergent, because it took a few minutes for the whole memory to come to the surface.  I finally realized that I had smelled this soap about 25 years ago in the laundry closet of my Granny, and I sure do miss her today.   Funny how scents will do that.

Anyroad, y’all want the recipe for the laundry detergent?  It’s easy to make.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ok, I told you I was gonna do it.  Yesterday I made the homemade laundry detergent.

I followed this recipe using the Ivory bar soap instead of the Fels or the Zote because I didn’t find either of them in Target, WalMart or HEB.

I may have cooked/melted/dissolved the soap, washing soda and Borax in water in my sauce pan for longer than was strictly necessary.  I dunno how long, maybe 3 minutes after I realized everything was dissolved.  Stirring the whole time.

This was a super easy project.  Super easy.  The hard part was leaving it alone and  letting it set up for 24 hours after I set the lid on the bucket.

I made it yesterday and today when I checked on it I thought the whole bucketful was as set as jello-jigglers,  until… I started stirring it up.

Sure enough, ALL the 326 blogs I read about making laundry detergent were right.  It has a watery-gel consistency.  Gel layer on top, watery stuff underneath.  So, I just mixed it all together with a big spoon.

I defy you to make this recipe and resist the temptation to do the same thing.  It just wants doing.  You can’t leave it separate.  Ya just can’t!  I mean, what if you left it separate and used all of the gelled part first, after all, it is on the top.  Then, after you used up all of the gel part, would you have any confidence in the cleaning power of the watery part that is left behind?  Or maybe it goes the other way.  Maybe all the cleaning strength is in the watery part and if you just use the gel part, maybe it leaves irretrievable greasy streaks on your clothes. (not likely, but, who knows?)  The point of this little rabbit trail is this:  You will stir.  Because… #1  It is a satisfying, tactile experience.  And #2 We have never done such a thing as making homemade laundry detergent and it is so ridiculously easy that we feel compelled, nay, obligated to make more of an effort than is laid out in the directions. (did I spell nay correctly?)

Anywhooooo… I finally got to take my gloppity, new goo for a test drive this afternoon.  I washed my hubby’s work jeans, and some other clothes.  He gets fairly dirty at work.  Not greasy, usually, but lots of grime.  I don’t really know why.  He’s indoors.  But the warehouse is so dusty.  And I think the fact that they drive a fork-lift around in there adds something.  But the jeans are always pretty dirty.  So, I thought it would be a good test load.

I am happy to announce that they came out nice and clean.  Certainly cleaner than they did when I used the expensive stuff.

And that brings up another point.  I’ve been using Charlie’s laundry detergent.  That stuff don’t come cheap, and it hasn’t gotten our laundry as clean as I would like.  I’ve taken to adding OxyClean for a little boost.  I don’t mind using the OxyClean, but it adds some cost to the whole operation.

For the record, those jeans today?  No OxyClean.

Also, I would rather use homemade soap for this in place of the Ivory bar, but, Ivory is what I have right now.  Making soap?  Yes, that is an upcoming project.

So, here’s the wrap up, this homemade laundry detergent is:

• Inexpensive
• Effective
• Wholesome
• Easy to make

Works for me, and I bet it would work for you, too!

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.  ~Author Unknown

I am so sick and tired of my scalp itching.  I’m takin’ the homemade shampoo leap.

I’m hoping to get some healing when I discontinue using industrial solvents on my head.

Protect me from knowing what I don’t need to know.  Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don’t know.  Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about.  Amen.  ~Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

Lord, lord, lord.  Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer.  ~Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

And that is kinda how I feel when I am learning about all the creepy ingredients in our skin care products and our hair care products and our laundry detergents.

Yes, I am also gonna be making some laundry detergent tomorrow or next week.  (I am always so ambitious with my schedule.  I’m like a pediatrician, I double book.  So, I’m thinking I won’t get to it tomorrow, but certainly early next week.)

I’m just sick and tired of all the itching.  So, I am starting with the external stuff.  I think the only things I haven’t mentioned, that I actually use, are moisturizer and toothpaste.  I keep it really simple, no make up, no “product” on my hair.  Just the basics.  So it shouldn’t be a huge thing to cross over, to the natural side.

I understand that the shampoo switch has a detox period where my hair is gonna be a little gross.  Not looking forward to that.  But, I think I might wear a bandana when I go out.  So, if you run into me in Walgreen’s any time in the coming weeks, don’t look too closely at my hair.

It would be great if changing to natural personal care products would do the whole job, but I have my suspicions about my diet.  Particularly sugar.  I really don’t wanna think about that one right now.  (Breathe in, breathe out.)

So, if you have any experience with any of these things, please leave a word of encouragement in the comments.

• Homemade shampoo
  
• Homemade laundry detergent
• Homemade moisturizer
• Homemade toothpaste
• Sugar (GASP!)

While I am a little apprehensive about the no poo and the sugar (which, for the record, I have not committed to quitting or even cutting down right yet)(Nope, not even researching yet.) I know this is gonna impact our budget for the better.

Isn’t it funny that we pay for the convenience of having products in our lives that are just so bad for us?  Hazardous to put on our bodies.  Hazardous to our environment to produce and dispose of.  And hard on our wallets.

Well, I’ll let you know how it all goes.

I’m trying to maintain my calm, cool demeanor.  I know we all have gotten behind on the laundry job this week.

Many of you have gone out of town for a few days.  That’ll mess up your routine, huh?

Me?  No, I didn’t go out of town, but I took an impromptu laundry break.  I didn’t even do towels for a few days.  Don’t look in my garage.  Just don’t!  It’s ugly.  And stinky.  And the weather is a little nippy to be hangin’ stuff out on the line.

So, I am trying to talk nice to my old dryer and get it to dry more than 4 loads in a day.  I’m tryin’!

A while back, Jeanie left a comment that I never responded to about laundry.  I’m sorry Jeannie.  I knew it would take a whole post to address all of your questions and today is the day.  I’m drowning in laundry, so it’s really on my mind.

Your first question had to do with wearing things a few times before washing them.

For my own clothes, I will wear a skirt or a jumper 2 times if it still looks good at the end of day one.  And that is the key for most clothes.  Since I stay home a great deal it’s not imperative that I am dressed “to the nines” on a daily basis.  I am happy with the Mom equivalent of play clothes on most days.

For the Pirates, I insist that they get at least 2 wears out of a pair of jeans or shorts before tossing them into the laundry pile.

The Princess is allowed to wear her camisole (under-shirt) twice and her knickers (capri pants or bloomers worn under her dress) twice.

All t-shirts, undies and socks get changed daily weather or not there is a shower taken.

Jammies are worn for 3 or 4 nights before getting tossed into the pile, but, we don’t eat in our jammies, so they stay fairly clean.

Heavy coats get an annual wash unless they get food on them.  Sweaters, vests, hoodies and other light jackets that see a lot of wear will get a more frequent washing.

I try to wash the sheets every week, but I am content if they get a monthly wash.

Not every one is comfortable doing things that way, and some things will be different depending on your climate.

Your second question had to do with where the dirties are kept until it’s their turn in the washer.

I leave the dirties in the bedrooms, each bedroom has a woefully inadequate laundry basket, and is used as a foundation for the eventual laundry mountain in each room before I get to that room’s turn for the washer.  (Like I said, I am drowning right now.)

Here’s my normal schedule:

• Monday - Mine and Hubby’s and The Princess’ clothes & a load of towels
• Tuesday - the 3 younger Pirates clothes & a load of towels
• Wednesday - the 2 older Pirates clothes & a load of towels
• Thursday - bed linens & a load of towels
• Friday - the shower curtain & a load of towels
• Saturday - a load of jeans & a load of towels
• Sunday -  just rest!

That’s the plan for the time being.  It usually works great.  I’m trying to not let the current situation get to my blood pressure.

Your last question was about sorting. I have never owned a sorting hamper with separate bins.  I love the concept but I have never seen a sturdy one  that didn’t cost a fortune.

While we are on the topic of sorting I have to mention that I no longer sort clothing.  We don’t wear fancy clothes.  It’s almost exclusively 100% cotton.  Lots of jeans and t-shirts.  LOTS of towels.  I do separate the towels from the clothing.  I did ‘em together for a while and didn’t like the “towel fuzz on the Sunday pants” effect.  But, the clothing goes in together.  Whites, reds, darks, whatever.  New stuff gets handled differently since it’s the fresh dye that is gonna bleed.  But the rest of it just gets jammed in together.  I’ve been doing it this way for several months and have had no tragic laundry mishaps.  And, in the process, have saved myself tons if time and heart-ache by forgoing the whole sorting fiasco.  I always hated the sorting, and am happy to do without it.

I will admit that we are not a white wearing family.  My hubby does not wear white shirts to work, or even to church.  White polo shirts are frowned upon by Mother Hen because even if I got ‘em sparkling white in the laundry, somebody is gonna get ketchup on it sooner or later, and you know it’s gonna be sooner.  So, that just leaves the undies and socks, and I care not one iota if those get through the wash with a sparkle or if they look like they belong to a Pirate.  At least they have BEEN through the wash.

I hope that helps, Jeannie.   Where there are lots of children, there is gonna be lots of laundry.  The main thing is to just keep those machines running.

Now it’s your turn.  Share your helpful hints and practical tips for raising a large family.  Write your Help for Growing Families post and link here with my Mister Linky.  For more details click here.

Feel free to link more than one post if you have plenty of relevant posts.

And don’t forget to leave a comment!

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Thanks for joining me for this weeks edition of Help for Growing Families.  As a seasoned mom of my 5 Pirates and my little Princess, I have learned a few tricks along the way.  But, I haven’t forgotten the frustration of not knowing any older ladies who were willing to share their hard earned wisdom and practical tips.

If you have written a post with wonderful hints or helpful practical tips for younger (or not) moms please link up here in my Mr. Linky (below).

I love reading all of your great tips on how to handle a large family.  I am always happy to learn a more efficient way to do ….um, anything concerning family life.

Here’s my 2 cents worth.

My Laundry Methods

I do laundry every day M - Sat.

• Monday- mine, hubby’s and The Princess’s clothing, plus one load of towels.
• Tuesday- 3 younger Pirates’ clothing, plus one load of towels.
• Wednesday- 2 older Pirates’ clothing, plus one load of towels.
• Thursday- bed linens, plus one… wanna guess?  Yup, a load of towels.
• Friday- Shower curtain, plus, um, some towels.
• Saturday- One or two loads of jeans, plus, all together now, a partridge in a load of towels!

Now, when I say a load of towels, I am including all kitchen and bathroom wash cloths and towels.

We live in Texas where the sun shines 437 days a year, seems like.  So, it’s a lot faster for me to hang my laundry on the line than to let it waste money in the electric dinosaur in my garage.

I don’t assign any part of the job to anyone, because they are all expected to help with every aspect of the job.  I am the supervisor, they are the flunkys.  I have them collect it and carry it to the washer for me.

When the washer is done, I snag the nearest Pirate to come carry the wet, and therefore heavy, clothes out to the back yard for me.  I hang it up because I’m picky about how that part is done, and I really should get some form of exercise in my day.

Once it’s dry I fold it and bring it in.  I sort it on my bed.  Nice neat stacks of folded clothing, sorted by owner and clothing type.  That makes it easy for them to put away their own items in the right drawers.

If you need help telling whose clothes are whose, go read my post titled Real Pirates Don’t Wear Polka Dots.

I also have the olders help with the youngers, so my involvement in the putting away is a lot less than it used to be.  Someone has to inspect though.  Because you don’t always get what you expect, but you usually do get what you inspect.

I realize I don’t have any earth-shaking, whiz bang methods.  But ya never know.  Someone may need info on this very method.  And I want to impart to you, that if you are doing laundry all the time and you are wondering if that is normal, um, yeah, there’s lots of people in my house, and they insist on wearing clothes.  Every day!  And using a towel!  And a wash cloth!  So, yeah, there’s lots of laundry.  You’re gonna need a plan.

Now it’s your turn to give us your helpful advice for this week.

Enter your name and then, in parentheses, a 3-4 word description of your post in the first box.  In the second box enter your link to your post, don’t put the link to your home-page, just the link to the post, you know, the permalink.  Feel free to use the cool banner I made, and be sure to mention Help for Growing Families in your post and link back here.

Help for Growing Families Participants

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Laundry isn’t supposed to clunk or jingle as you transfer it from the basket to the washer, is it?

You’d think I’d be all done with “firsts” in my laundry basket, but I believe this is a first in all my many and varied laundry experiences.  But when you think about it, it makes more sense than some of the stuff I have found in there.  Like bed pillows or the AA battery (in the very next load).

Trixie-the-Wonder-Dog is certain that spurs and leash are the same thing.  Crazy critter.  Did you grab that way cool Trixie-for-President button yet.  It would look great in your side-bar, and it’s a novel conversation starter, not to mention a really neat way for your readers to find my blog.

Oh, don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

Oh please, day 1 of anything is easy.

I got up early to get started on the laundry.  The solar dryer takes a tad more discipline than the ’round-the-clock electric job sitting in my garage.  And yes, I had gotten rather lazy about using the solar one.  But I’ve signed on for 30 days of exclusive use.

Washing the dishes by hand is so much faster than putting them in the dishwasher.  I mean the whole job by hand vs. the whole job using the machine.  And, as I have said before, conversation is more abundant when we are doin’ ‘em by hand.  I don’t understand why this is so, but it is.

Some neighbors across the street are having a garage sale today.  I’ve already said no to one Pirate about that, and I had him thank me for saving him money.

I also wanted to mention that my Very Dear Hubby thinks this is a wonderful way of life.  This is how he lives anyway.  If that man ever spends money beyond the basics, I sit up and take notice.  30 days?  Piece of cake.

He has asked me to sign on for life.  OK, another way to serve my husband, another opportunity to honor my husband.  I had never really given it any thought that I was dishonoring him by having my own spending habits.  I should always at the very least, consider what he would have me do, and I should usually almost always wait and ask his advice.

So, I wonder if Mary at Owlhaven had any inklings of increased family harmony when she invited all of us to participate in this wonderful 30 day plan.  Thanks Mary!

Now, has every one entered the giveaway this month?

I thought about this, just this morning.  Not the running of the bulls, per se, but why do I do things the way I do?  I was, at the time, doing laundry, of course.  I mean you can’t swing a d**d cat around my day without hitting some laundry activity.

Now, if you have been reading here for very long, you will know that I have recently revamped the way we do our laundry, and we are so much happier with the new way.  This is what gave me pause this morning.  I mean, how many other “sacred traditions” do I have concerning the way I do what I do around here.  I had no clue that the laundry system needed an overhaul.  These changes were spurred by machine malfunctions and reading what other folks are doin’.

So, the up-shot is . . . now every system, every method, every TRADITION is suspect.  I should take a long hard look at things.  Not all at once, mind you.  That would also qualify for the label “incredibly stupid.”

But, the first thing I am looking at is our upside down day.  Traditionally we do our “have to’s” in the morning.  But, as I think about that, I am starting to realize that the coolest part of the day is in the morning, duh.  This should be play time, not sit in the house holding a pencil in one hand and a book in the other hand time.  Oh, we still need to read our Bibles in the morning and feed the animals and the children and hang out some laundry.  But the rest of the academics can wait for the heat of the day - a phrase which (I hope) will begin to hold no meaning for us as we will be in our A/C’d home, curled up with some good books every afternoon.

If y’all are thinking that this is a no-brainer, just refer to the picture above.  Some things just need to be looked at from a fresh angle to be obvious.

Have y’all read in the “How to Parent” books and the “How to Homeschool” books that chapter about talking to your children?  Or how ’bout that chapter in the Bible where God commands that we talk to our children all the time.

This is easy when they’re little, but when they get to be older and more responsible, when you don’t have to constantly talk to them about not greasing the puppy and not painting the carpeting with chocolate syrup, it’s easy to fall into bad habits. (Yes, these things actually happened in my house, once upon a time.  I won’t name names, but he’s 15 and tall and likes to play basketball.)

Older children who have been trained to be respectful and obedient are pure joy to talk to.  I love having conversations with my Pirates.  They are so smart and creative, and they are always ready to engage in conversation.  I love talking to my children.

So all I had to do was figure out when and how to fit this into my day and theirs.

Enter chores! :D  I’m sorry, but there is just a lot of stuff that needs done, every day, all the time.  So why not make the best of it?

Following a recipe takes concentration, so I have found that cooking is not really the best time to talk about things other than what is being cooked.  But that’s conversation, too.  That counts.

Now, doing the dishes is very mindless.  So we enjoy talking together and singing together while washing our dishes.  And since these Pirates want to eat 3 or 4 times a day, every day, we find ourselves at the sink frequently.

Here is a task that is new to our routine.  We decided to hang out the laundry in an effort to save money on our electric bill.  The dryer really uses lots of electricity.  And my dryer isn’t as young as it used to be and therefore takes seventy-leven cycles to dry a full load.  So conversation with my children was a secondary reason for hanging out the laundry.  But, no less valid.  “Hangin’ out with Mom” now has a whole new meaning at our house. This task takes a little more time than others and at our house we have a lot of it to do, so this will provide lots of opportunity for conversation.

There will seldom be times when it is appropriate for me to do these chores by myself.  And there should be very few times when I expect the Pirates to manage them on their own either, well, maybe the dishes.

I kinda feel like this post is tame and mild mannered, but the concept is huge.  I realize that many of y’all have only small children.  Please remember this post when your children are big.  This is what works for me.

Now, go talk to your children.

I love Amazon.com
I ordered my new solar powered clothes dryer, and it shipped the next day, and it got here the next day after that, and the shipping was free!

The only down-side to my plan to spend more time talking with my children while getting a little more exercise and sun and saving oodles of money on the electric bill by hanging out my laundry is that it has rained every day since we got the thing.  No, wait.  There was the day that my DH and a couple of Pirates poured the concrete to install it.  :D   So that part is done and it will be ready and waiting once the skies dry out - and they will.

Well, we’re not REAL Pirates, and they don’t wear POLKA dots.  But they do wear dots on the inside of their clothing.  This is an old trick that my neighbor told me about after our third Pirate was born.  Most of you probably know it, but if you don’t know it and you have several Pirates or several Princesses, you are gonna hug my neck for telling you.

First get out the Standard Issue Mom Equipment Black Sharpie Permanent Marker.  Keep this in your apron pocket while you process your children’s laundry.  As you fold their clean clothes you’re gonna mark them to identify what belongs to whom.  Make dots on the inside of the clothes so that the marks won’t be seen when the item is being worn, but in a conspicuous location so that it is easily seen when you are folding their clothes.

Here is the system for which child gets which amount of dots.

Oldest Pirate and Princess get one dot.

Second oldest - two dots.

And so on.

I do hope that you don’t have difficulty distinguishing Pirate clothing from Princess clothing.  At our house this is not a problem.  And, of course, we don’t bother to dot hers, duh, she’s the only one.

But, for the Pirates, as the clothing is handed down, I add one dot.  Hence, the largest Pirate has only one dot, and The Squid has a nice pattern of 5 dots in his things.  Easy, huh?

The point of the marking is that it will be easier for you to quickly identify what is whose and thereby get the job done more quickly.  But there is a secret benefit that will become apparent as the children get old enough to help with the laundry.  They can fold and put away the laundry without needing to consult you about the identity of the owner of each and every article of clothing.  More laundry freedom!

By the way, the Pirate who owns the shirts also took the photo!  Didn’t he do a great job!