07 May 2011

Just call me Susie Homemaker...or just Whitney.

 Thursday I was feeling a lot better than I have been in awhile.
So I decided to get busy with some projects that have been sitting around 
the house longer than I have. *ahem*

I started out by sanding the dresser tower I found sitting out by the
dumpster one day. They didn't want it! And there was nothing
wrong with it, other than the coloring on the drawers. 
(It was obviously a children's dresser. It still had little
girl pajamas and undies in the bottom drawer.)
It also had a piece of weave in it...gross.

After sanding the top and one side, the battery to the 
sander died. So I swapped the batteries and sanded the front and
the other side. I started sanding the third drawer and that battery died.
So, I had to wait several hours for the batteries to charge before I 
could finish. I cleaned out the plastic storage drawers
in the bedroom and unpacked two more boxes of 
picture frames and J's pajama shorts.

After reorganizing the bottom of the closet some,
so I could fit the plastic drawers storage thing in there,
I ran to the Dollar General to buy a cheese grater.
Why, you ask? To make my own homemade laundry
detergent, of course!

I got the idea from my friend, and fellow blogger, Holly.
(I think we're friends. We are friends aren't we Holly?...)
Anywho. She has 5 beautiful kiddos and she made 
her own laundry detergent. I figure if it's good enough for Holly's 
sweet babies, it's gotta be good enough for the Hubby and I.

I had already bought the supplies at Wally World (Holly bought hers at 
Pub-lick's for around $8.) on the Laundry detergent aisle, but when I got
home to make it, I didn't have a cheese grater! I don't know how that
happened. We've been married almost 3 years and we both love
 cheese. I know I've even bought block cheese before. Apparently,
we just ate the block whole...

SO...I keep getting side-tracked... When I got back from the DG,
the batteries were charged, so I finished sanding and then wiped
off the dust so I could paint. I laid out my drop-cloth and 
set out my paint. Conveniently enough, the brush was just a smidgen 
too big for the paint-can mouth, so I had to have a tray.
Instead of running out to buy one, I improvised and used the plastic,
albeit reusable tray from Hormel's Refrigerated Entrees.

Heck yeah, these are awesome.
And Jeremy scoffed at me when I emptied and then washed the tray
to reuse it. I knew it would come in handy for something. lol. It was perfect!
I painted the dresser and then the drawers. Then I put a second coat on.
Surprisingly, the paint we bought at Lowe's dries really quickly!
Valspar's with primer included. It's really awesome
and totally worth the extra bucks. A quart cost us about $14.
Luckily, that's all we needed for the dresser. 
                                                            *Note: The knobs we bought didn't fit...so we have to get new ones.

After I finished painting...and stepping in the paint,
I started grating my block of Fels Naptha soap.
I grated all the way down to this tiny piece:

I may or may not have grated some of my nail...
so one of us quite possibly, may have a piece of nail
scratch us when we put on our clothes...
And a few Special K flakes may or may not have
been raked into the container when I was cleaning up 
spilled soap crumbles. Oh well. I forgot to clean the counter
this morning after making a bowl of cereal.

Anywho, so y'all can make your own homemade laundry detergent,
here are the ingredients and instructions:

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, shaved (97¢/bar)
2 C of Borax($2.98 for 4lb. 12 oz. box)
2 C of Arm and Hammer Soda Wash (not to be confused with baking soda) 
($2.77 for 3lb. 7 oz. box)
(That's $6.72 for all the supplies!)

I really like the way the soap smells. I think there is another
recipe out there that calls for Ivory, but Ivory makes my skin itchy
and dry, so I'm using Fels Naptha instead. If you want to use the Ivory bar
of soap, you may have to use more, since the bar is smaller.

When you wash laundry, you only use 1-3 Tbsp. depending on how
large your load is and how dirty they are. Regular detergents bubble up,
but this does NOT, so don't just keep adding the stuff. Bubbles
don't necessarily mean your clothes will be clean!!

I'm storing mine in a plastic container I bought at The Dollar Tree.
A buck for storage? Sure!!!

I'll letcha know how the detergent works out! And I'll post pics of 
the finished dresser when I have the knobs. :) 

Hope y'all have a great weekend!
Happy Mil-Spouse Appreciation Day!

5 comments:

Just Debbi said...

Good job on the chest of drawers! And good job on saving those plastic trays...NEVER throw anything away. LOL
You know, I save all my plastic coffee containers...they're great for mixing cleaning solutions, storing paint, and a million other uses. Next time you come over I'll give you a couple.

Also, I think I'll make some of the laundry detergent, too. I usually use Tide, but it's getting to be so expensive that it just makes sense to try something that works equally as well and is much cheaper. I'm all about being cheap! LOL
Love you! Mom~

Holly-- The Storm Chaser said...

Yay!! Thanks for the shout out, Whit!! And of course we're friends!! :)

Kasi said...

WOW...You're the only other person that I know of who makes their own laundry detergent...I make mine a little different but still I use the same stuff...Awesome!

Mowenackie said...

Nice job on the dresser - it looks great. I love the idea of salvaging furniture. And I can't wait to hear how the laundry detergent works!

Jaybee said...

HA this was the blog I was looking for because I want to try the detergent thing. And I love the chest-of-drawers. Did you know that some people call the ones made like that lingerie chests? Sounds fancy.

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