PLASTIC BAG BAG.

I made this bag, from plastic bags.

My neighbor was making these once when we went to visit. I was intrigued. When my cabinet became overrun with plastic bags I decided recycling them was just not good enough.

Made the plarn. Followed a pattern. Voila. Now my cabinet has less plastic bags and someone is going to recieve a fancy hand made with love gift from me. Well OK, not fancy but certainly made with love.

They could use it as a grocery bag (the irony!), or a garden tote which one could rinse off freshly picked produce right in the bag, or a beach bag, or whatever else. It's probably as pretty as a plastic grocery can be.

MAMA SAID.

Things are becoming very repetitious and schedule oriented around here lately which is a welcomed good thing. In that, I've found myself saying these little one liners. I mentioned it to a friend and she threw some out too. It's like life rap or something. A rhyme that helps you understand/communicate a truth or such. Works great with littles! I noticed how much I do this after seeing a kid show where the songs and what limited dialog there is consists of little sing song rhymes much like the ones I say. Anyway, I'm sure if you're a mom or a teacher you have said these or something like them. Here are a few of said sayings.


If you don't obey, you don't play.


If you can't share it, you can't have it.


If you hit, you sit.


Sit down or get down.


And my friend's: when you're wired, you're tired.


I love these! This is just a small collection. Now that I'm documenting this I'm sure to find more and add them to my list. I am going to come up with a name for them, if there isn't one already - in which case, I'll learn it. Have a great day! Summer is approaching....

PENNY LAUNDRY SOAP.

This blog is steadily becoming all about DIY! If you don't mind, I don't! Truth is, I'm just posting what I do. Guess I do a lot of DIY. I knew that. I've been this way a LOOOONG time.

So when I heard you could make your own laundry soap, for cheap, easily, I couldn't resist. I have tweaked the recipe out a bit over time. Between four kids, a full time mom (usually with some spit up, food, or poop on my shirt), and a hardworking carpenter we get our clothes DIRTY. So I've had to make this recipe more concentrated over time. You'll find gentler effective recipes out there but this one is ours and it works for us. We make this about every four months. So only three times a year! And when I did the math recently, it came out to costing less than $.07 per load. That's right folks! Saving a heap over here! We fill up a four gallon bucket we got from Lowes for under $5 and it lasts us four months. That's doing laundry 3-5 times a week. Not to mention the times we leave the laundry in the washer too long and it spoils so we have to wash again. (Annoying!) It doesn't take long to make and it's kinda neat saying you make your own laundry soap. So we'd like to share our recipe with you. Feel free to tweak as you please. You can find the ingredients at your local Harris Teeter as I did.

P.S. I did the math on this on the high end of everything. So if you buy the ingredients for cheaper and use less per load you will save even more.

This is the Fels Naptha being shredded up. I used a cheaper version once because I couldn't get this. It was not as effective nor as pleasantly fragranced. Won't do that again! May try Ivory next time if in a pinch. And I also make homemade bath soap, and will probably try that too. But since I have a load of this, I use it.

1/2 large bar Fels Naptha or 2 bars Ivory

1 cup Washing Soda

1 cup Borax

Grate soap and put in sauce pan with 12 cups water. Heat until soap melts. Add powders and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 8 cups hot water into bucket. Add soap mix and stir. Add 2 1/2 gallons and 4 cups water and stir well. Let stand 24 hours. Stir. Use 1/2-1 cups per load.

BONUS! Homemade Fabric Softener:

6c water

3c white vinegar

2c hair conditioner

Mix well, don't shake. Use 1/2c per load as usual.

With all the money you save on these two items, you can change lives around the world by donating your savings here.

Cheers!