21 days to a more natural home series part 10…laundry soap

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all natural home series

 

With 12 people and a load of cloth diapers every night, we wash a lot of laundry.  I have used this recipe of homemade laundry soap for about 10 years  and I love it.  It smells very simple, cleans great, and is all natural.
 We had many children dealing with eczema and I had to be careful with the detergents I put on their clothing, this solved many of the rash problems.

We make a large 5 gallon bucket of this up and it lasts us about 2 months.  You can scale down the recipe and make smaller ice cream bucket sized.

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  • grate 2 Fels Naptha bar soap and place in large stock pot and fill about 1/2 of the way with water.
  • stir over medium heat until melted, be careful as this will boil over if you are not paying attention.
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  • when completely  melted add 2 cups of borax and 2 cups of washing soda.
  • stir until thoroughly combined.
  • pour this into a large 5 gallon bucket and fill the rest of the way with hot tap water.

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  • whisk it a few times to combine everything and place lid on
  • let sit overnight

In the morning you will have a nice gelled substance.

I use my old caps from laundry bottles and scoop out about 1/2 cup per load in my HE washer.

Leaves no residue on clothing.

When your bucket of soap gets about half way down and the gel is pretty thick you can add about a half-gallon container of water and re whisk it up.

Watch for tomorrows post...fabric softener…why use it?

 

 

“Mom, I am bored….there is nothing to do” part 1

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Have you heard these words come out of your child’s mouth lately? I know with the summer break from school there has been more free time in my children’s day. That has led to more discontent, more arguments, and more “Mom, I’m bored, there’s nothing to do…” syndrome. Really??!??!! With 8 other children home all day and your bored???Makes me want to turn from vacation and head straight into a new school year. What’s a mom to do?

Well I could quickly rewind their life. Taking away all media influences which means no TV no internet no cell phone. I put them in a box and never let them see the outside world again. Yeah that will never work .

or I can take a step back….

I need to exam  my life and see if I am struggling with discontent in any area. Do I struggle with unrest? Do I need to be constantly amused with the latest movies, newest music, or that top-selling christian book? Do I have to be involved in numerous activities that take me outside of my role as mother? Do I feel I deserve a vacation or time away each week with friends?

All these things show discontent in my life. I am not happy in my calling so I need to fulfill it in other ways. What will I be teaching my children?

What kind of appetites will I be creating in my children that they will carry into their adult lives? Do I want them to constantly feel that they need free time and social time with friends/media?

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Of course not I want my children to learn happiness in the home. Quietness and simplicity are very healthy appetites to encourage in our children. I want my children to value and enjoy the pleasure of simplicity, to enjoy the ordinary tasks in life. Instead of always looking for the extraordinary.

Our modern society provides many quick escapes from boredom,. In movies, internet, games, and social media circles these have all replaced simplicity in the home. We need to remove these escapes to allow for a bit of boredom, to foster some creativity in our children.

It’s amazing how numb our culture has become to the simplicity’s of life. Our children need to be taught to be bored, to foster creativity in their lives.

After about a few days of media fasting your children will begin to play together, create together, and will look forward to spending time with one another.

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Look for part 2 tomorrow to see how we as Mothers can help spark that creativity in our children

 

 

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