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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Week 2: Tame it Tuesday, a summer series on taming the mess

Welcome to week 2 of Tame it Tuesday; a 10 week summer series on taming the mess. To catch up with week one go here. This week I am tackling my laundry area which is located in my kitchen. This one was a have too because I needed to make more laundry soap. I will post my recipe at the end of this post for you! For starters I needed to clean my washer machine. It is pretty grimy! Yuck! 
To start it soaking I sprayed water on the tough areas and then scrubbed with a brush and some Bar Keepers Friend. I decided I needed more than a spray bottle so I filled the washer machine half way with warm water and got to scrubbing. 
When the hard scrubbing was done, I rinsed the machine then filled it completely with hot water and poured about 3 cups of vinegar into the machine. I turned it on to let is swoosh the vinegar water through the machine for about 10 minutes of the wash cycle. Then turned it off and let it soak for a few hours. I ran errands, so I just let it soak during the time I was out. 
Once it was finished soaking I used by scrub brush all over the inside of the machine again.Then turned it to the rinse cycle to finish washing out the machine. For a washer machine I got 17 years ago- it doesn't shine like it used too, but is smells clean and looks much better!
Now for the rest of our laundry area. As you can see it still has some unfinished drywall. But Dear Hubby added the shelves for me so I can still use this area until he finishes up the walls. I love the extra shelving that he added. I can use it to hang the clothes that come out of the dryer, so I don't have to iron a whole lot! 
All I really needed to do here was to dust and put everything back into it's place. Then dust off the top of the appliances. Even though it was quick and easy it still felt good to have something looking nice. 
Now on to the real reason I tamed the laundry area--laundry soap! I don't have any other reason as to why I make my own soap other than it is very inexpensive to make and it gives me one less thing to have to coupon/sale shop. It's a bargain, it will always be a bargain and it works great.
Homemade Laundry Soap:
1 box Borax, 1 box Super Washing Soda, 1 bar Zote (or 3 bars Fels Naptha) 1 small container of "oxy" and 1/3 bottle of Purex Crystals (optional for a yummy scent).
1 bar of Zote is only 97 cents at Walmart and equals about 3 bars of the Fels Naptha, so if it is in stock I will buy it. On a side note- I think Zote has an old fashioned soap smell, my darling funny daughter says it smells like a "warthog taking a bath", not sure how she knows how a warthog should smell.. but I digress. I have a small grater from the dollar store I keep in my laundry area. It takes about 15 minutes to grate the bar. 


Then I add all of the Borax, Super Washing Soda, 16 oz of "oxy" and 1/3 of the bottle of Purex crystals. I mix all together and store in containers (they ain't pretty, but they are budget friendly). To use I start the water and only add 2 Tbs of my soap, then add my clothes.
I wanted to share another way I save money with our laundry. I cut our dryer sheets in half. 
I discovered this when I started washing our daughter's clothes. Works just as well at getting rid of the static. Here is my laundry area all organized and clean.
Now on to my next project...

...just keep'in it real!




4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful post!! I tried making laundry detergent once...I need to do this on a regular basis. You have inspired me! I am very much for anything we can do to save money and live more simply and frugally. So happy to visit with you today. :)

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  2. Yes trying to stay frugal has it's challenges. That is how the laundry got so piled up. I needed to make more but was just so busy. But I refused to buy any (even the one on sale for $1.99) because I already had the stuff to make mine. Thank you for taking the time to stop by!

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  3. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
    I really need someone to help me tame my mess and you are inspiring me to work. Sometimes it's just easier to straighten and do regular cleaning and ignore the spots that I really should clean every 6 months.
    I guess I shouldn't be ratting myself out for being messy. Just a few days ago I sprinkled baking soda on my bedroom carpet and bare mattress and let it sit a few hours and vacummed it up. I really do get to things... but sometimes I'd rather bake cookies instead.
    I'm pinning this.
    How much do you pay for Borax?

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  4. You are most welcome! I agree with you my house usually gets done but I too would rather read, craft or something than organize for deep clean. I believe I pay around $3.27 or so at Walmart. Sometimes I will find it on sale at Kmart for 2/$5 then I will buy it there. Thank you for stopping by!

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