DIY Laundry Detergent (No Grating, No Cooking, EASY!)

It's all over Pinterest and DIY blogs-- homemade laundry detergent.

I was very skeptical and thought, Pshhh, I'll just keeping buying detergent.

It all seemed like too much work.  I didn't want to spend my day grating any bars and cooking anything I couldn't eat.

On the flip side, I hate having to run to the store just for laundry detergent.  Uhhh.

I am not a detergent diva.  I always buy the cheapest.  Sun brand detergent has washed my clothes for most of my life.  Even though I wasn't shelling out a ton of money for brand name detergent, I'm always open to saving even more money, and making detergent seemed pretty economical.

I started googling and searching Pinterest for an easy way to make detergent.  I think I've finally hit the jackpot.

I found a recipe on the blog One Good Thing.  You can head over to her page to see how she originally made the detergent.  There's also hundreds of comments left by others to answer questions you may have.  I have been using this mix for a couple months now and don't have any complaints.  I've made the mix more concentrated than the original recipe called for.

Save some empty detergent bottles to put your new mix in.  I used a 100 oz. bottle and a 50 oz. bottle.

To fill a 50 oz. bottle:

3 tablespoons of Borax

3 tablespoons of Washing Soda

2 tablespoons of Dawn

(Double each of these for 100 oz. bottle.)

Put each of these in your bottle and then fill it halfway with hot water.  Use extremely hot water straight from your faucet.  It needs to be hot enough to dissolve everything.

Shake the bottle until everything is mixed together.

Let it cool to room temperature, and then fill the rest of the way with cool water.  It may foam up and bubble over, but that will eventually go away.

Each time you go to use the detergent, give it a little shake to make sure you're getting everything mixed together. 

If it's important to you to have the great smell that comes with fancy detergents, think about adding something like Downy Unstopables to your wash.  The homemade detergent will smell like whatever Dawn you use, but it's not a strong smell.  I'm finding that the laundry beads like Downy are perfect for things like clothes and towels that I like have a strong smell, but I can leave them out for things like rags.  I get the Unstoppables when I have a coupon or their on sale, so in the end, I still save a TON of money by making my own detergent.

I can made this detergent in no time, and all of the ingredients can be found at the grocery store.

I'd love to know if any of you have made it or wind up making it!

Roasted Snow Peas and Corn

Roasting.  What a marvelous thing.  It has helped me eat more veggies and learn to love veggies I otherwise hated.  That's powerful.  So this blog post is a toast to the wonder of oven roasting.  To oven roasting!  (Raise your glass in the air as we toast!).

Since we've been buying a lot of fresh produce lately, I'm trying to find ways to save money.  Produce can be costly and has to be restocked often.  Did you know that fresh food doesn't last as long as canned and boxed food?  (Of course you did.)

I found these peas on sale and threw them in the freezer since I knew it would be a few days before I got to them.

I also got out a bag of frozen corn.  I like fresh corn on the cob better, but I think frozen corn is a good second option.

Toss the peas and corn with olive or canola oil.

Put on a baking sheet in a 450 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven and on the amount of food you're roasting).

Whip up this sauce while veggies are roasting:

-2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar

-1 tbsp of soy sauce (I used soy sauce alternative)

-2 tsp of toasted sesame oil

-2 tsp of maple syrup

-pinch of cayenne pepper

Whisk that all together.

(*See note at end of post)

Take the peas and corn out of the oven and drizzle this sauce over them.

Colin and I had this for lunch, but it would made a great side dish.  It's delicious and savory!

*If you look at the ingredients and think there's no point in buying rice wine vinegar or toasted sesame oil, because you'll never use them again....you might be wrong.  I thought that but went ahead and bought it to try out some recipes, and I've been using both quite a bit.  I have a green bean recipe on my Pinterest board that uses the toasted sesame oil, and those green beans are ahhhmazing.  You can make salad dressings with the oil and vinegar and so much more.  Go ahead and buy them and expand your cooking.  I promise you won't regret it! (At least I hope you won't!).

---Roasted pea inspiration and dipping sauce recipe from Edible Perspective.--

Spring Open House at Blue Kite