Laundry + Laziness

pinned here

So I have to admit, I'm a bit lazy during the work week. The laundry piles up, the floor does not get vacuumed, and I'm doing well if I make it to the grocery store once. I have family coming in town for Easter, but for my day off on Good Friday I want to do something more fun than just playing catch-up on cleaning the apartment. So tonight I forced myself to fold the two loads of laundry that have been sitting in the baskets since the weekend. And, newsflash: it actually wasn't that bad! It only took me one episode of How I Met Your Mother (this is a great way to measure time I might add), and I got to laugh hysterically while doing so. Why do I allow myself to live with a mess for so long even though it doesn't take very long to clean it up?? I always picture it taking way longer than it actually does. I need to remind myself later that folding two loads of laundry only took me 30 minutes! [I think that if I had a laundry room like the one pictured above I would definitely be more inclined to spend time in there. Yes, of course that's my issue.]

I feel so much better getting all of that put away. If I wrap up my cleaning tomorrow night, I'll be able to sleep in on Friday and do some fun things instead of chores!

What sort of household chores do you put off just because you don't like doing them?

And do you have a pretty laundry room like the ones all over Pinterest?

If so, I want to see it!

DIY Laundry Detergent

This weekend I decided to do something a little crazy... I made my own laundry detergent!

Now before you freak out and think I've gone all granola on you, I didn't do it because I think the chemicals in laundry detergent are harmful to the environment. I just simply hate spending $8-$10 on laundry detergent every few months (I quit buying the cheap stuff because they make the colors fade). So when I saw this tutorial for making your own laundry detergent that works better than normal detergent, and how easy Jen made it look, I decided to try it! Jen says that this laundry detergent should cost $28 a year if you're doing 6 loads a week.... I don't know about you but between the two of us we probably only do 2-3 loads every 2 weeks. So based on her math that works out to less than $6 a year for our laundry!! Plus the fact that it has fabric softener in it, so I'm thinking I won't have to buy any more dryer sheets either.

To make your own laundry detergent you will need:

1 (4 lb. 12 oz.) box of 20 Mule Team Borax

1 (3 lb.) container of OxyClean (optional, but definitely will make it more effective)

2 (2 lb.) boxes of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

1-2 (55 oz.) bottles of Purex Crystals fabric softener

1 (3 lb. 7 oz.) box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

2 (14.1 oz.) bars of Zote soap (or Fels Naptha)

Everything should be found in the detergent aisle, except for the baking soda which is in the cooking aisle.

I spent $23 on all the products I could find at Target. Two of the products - Zote soap and Super Washing Soda - I couldn't find at Target. I found them on Amazon for a total of $18.23 and with my prime membership they shipped in 2 days for free. (I considered buying all the ingredients at Amazon in the future, but I discovered that most of them cost more on Amazon than at Target.) The total I spent is about $42, plus $4.50 for a large plastic bin to store it.

It sounds like I spent more than Jen, since she claimed to spend $27 for everything. I'm not really sure how she did that?? The Zote soap and Super Washing Soda must be a lot cheaper to buy in-store. However, I am still confident that the $42 I spent will go a long way, and in the end be much cheaper than buying detergent by the bottle!

Before I mixed everything together, I put everything in the bin just to make sure it would fit!

With all the gaps in between the boxes I figured I had enough room to add in the Purex Crystals, too.

It's a no-brainer to figure out how to mix all the dry ingredients together. However, the Zote soap bars had to be grated. Yes, I said grated. Like with a cheese grater. This part got a little weird. Let me reveal to you the pink cheese.

It looked really cool when I put it all together in the bin! I only put in half of each ingredient first just to make it easier to mix.

I used a slotted spoon for mixing. I think that helped.

Jen said she used the Purex bottles to store a smaller amount for everyday use. I quickly discovered that the hole to pour out of it was too small and the shredded Zote soap was getting stuck in it. So I brainstormed. I considered buying another smaller plastic bin, but decided on just using the OxyClean container, since it would be easy to scoop out of and it was FREE! I also held onto the scoop that came with it.

Since I didn't want it to have the OxyClean label, I painted over it in a color I love! I homemade the detergent, so why not have a homemade container for it??

One other awesome thing about this detergent is that you only need to use 1-2 tablespoons per load! Seriously, this stuff will last me forever. Line 1 in the OxyClean scoop is conveniently about 2 tablespoons.

Here it is on top of my dryer for easy access.

I keep the larger bin up on the shelf, and when I  run out of detergent in my pink bin I'll just pull it down for a refill. The bin ended up being the perfect size!

So far I have done 3 loads and I love the way my clothes smell when they come out of the dryer! I am excited that my Target shopping list will not have laundry detergent on it for a long time.

Have you done anything lately that's a little bit "granola?" Do you make your own household products? Have you made your own laundry detergent before?

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Meet Me Monday
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