I'm no June Cleaver

           But, oh my, I think I've turned into a Domestic Diva. Ugh.. With all this cooking and baking and cleaning lately. I must have a fever.
           As some of you know, there's always laundry that needs doing and I have it at least every other day.  So as I put in a load of wash I just happened to notice it's time to make a new batch of laundry soap and that I'm out of my liquid fabric softener too. So I pull out my little green book with natural recipes I've collected and always adding new ones to, and proceed to make my fabric softener first.

You will need:

1 cup baking soda

6 cups white vinegar

8 cups distilled water

   10 - 15 drops essential oil (optional)

          I would recommend making this in your kitchen sink, outside or somewhere in case of overspill.
         First  add the baking soda into a very deep pot. Then set aside your 6 cups of white vinegar. Pour 8 cups of distilled water into a pot and warm on the stove. Once warm, slowly pour the water into the baking soda, stirring until dissolved. 

Now very slowly, pour the vinegar into the pot , again stirring slow as this will bubble up pretty fast. Once mixed you can add whatever essential oils at this time. Today I used lavender as it's what I had on hand.

Once this has cooled enough to put into my old glass clorox bottle, I use a measuring cup and pour slowly into the bottle and cap it off.

This usually lasts me a good 6 months to a year.


While the fabric softener water was cooling, I put together my ingredients for my homemade laundry soap.

 This is what I use:   3 bars Zote soap
                               4 lb box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
                               4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
                               4 lb box Borax
                               4 lb box Fabric Softener (for hard water areas)
                               30 drops Essential oil (optional)

I mix this all together in a large pot and stir until well blended. This is a good muscle workout. 

I then pour it all into my laundry container, place my tablespoon inside and I'm stocked for a good year on laundry powder.

I mostly use 1 tablespoon per load, but occassionally on my real dirty jeans, I use two.

      Now I just want the rain to go away so I can get dirty and play in my garden.
          I'm no longer wanting to be the domestic diva and I'm no June Cleaver. I wonder if she made her own laundry soap.