I first saw a recipe for homemade laundry detergent ages ago and thought it was a great idea, but could never find the soap, so I gave up and continued using the store brought stuff. It's stayed in the back of my mind because according to publications like Debt-Proof Living and such, it is a huge money saver compared to store brought. Then one day at one of those mom and pop grocery stores I saw not only Fels Naptha, but also Zote soap. And it was really cheap, so I brought a bar of Fels Naptha. And it sat in my bathroom closet for about 6 months. I never wanted to grate the soap and boil it, and who has a 5 gallon bucket sitting around and where would I put it in my already crowded apartment where my rugrats wouldn't get in it? Then one day I needed to wash clothes and didn't have laundry detergent or money to buy any, so I grated the soap and mixed up the powered detergent. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. First of all, it took me about 5 minutes to grate the soap and mix it all up, where it would have taken me 15 minutes to go to the store, so all that belly aching for nothing. Second and most important: I have a cat that likes to piss me off by peeing under the chair I have by my front door. Incidently it's the chair I toss my coat on when I come in also. My kids don't think twice when they knock my coat to the floor. They also don't pick it up and without fail, the next morning I want to puke when I swing my coat to put it on. Regular laundry detergent does not rid your clothes of the smell of cat pee. This homemade detergent got rid of the smell. I'm sold.

Powdered Laundry Detergent

2 cups Fels Naptha, finely grated
1 cup washing powder (I also found this at the family-owned store)
1 cup Borax (this is readily available at most stores in the laundry aisle)
2 tbsp baking soda (I added this because it's usually what I use to rid clothes of cat smell)

Mix well and store in a plastic container with lid.
Use 2tbsp per full load of laundry.

This soap doesn't dissolve well in cold water, so I put an inch or so of hot water in the washer, added the soap, swished it around, then adjusted the temperature to whatever I wanted. It did not suds up, but as long as it got my clothes clean, who cares. A couple of people on-line complained that it didn't get odor out of their clothes, but I'm thinking they were sprayed by a skunk or something because cat smell is the hardest scent I've ever come across. Maybe the baking soda I added made the difference. I do know that my clothes had no scent at all which is taking some getting used to. Maybe I'll get some essential oil and try that. I also had to use fabric softener, which I normally don't use. My clothes came out soft enough, but there was some static cling, but over all I'm very satisfied and will continue to use this instead of store brought.

Google "homemade laundry detergent" for a liquid version, testemonials, price comparisions, etc.

I always said that I'm going to try Angel Food Ministries, but something stops me every month. But I think it could save me some money each month, so why not. This might be the inspiration I need to give it a go. And with the menu and food already planned out, what could be simpler?

I found this blog. She is going to use her crockpot every day for a year. And post pictures too. I love the ideal of my crock pot, but most of the recipes I find are too much work. Who has time to chop, dice and all that jazz in the morning? I've people say do the prep the night before and assemble it in the morning. You mean, cook twice? Three times if you count pulling everything together once it's finished. Yeah, that's too much work, I'm all about simplifying things, but this site has easy recipes that I can actually see myself doing. She gives simple (sometimes funny) directions like: --mix with finger. or a spoon. whatever.And she uses real ingredients like canned tomatoes and cranberry sauce, of which I have 2 cans left over from Thanksgiving. I'm making the oatmeal (sans apple) this weekend for breakfast.

I'm starting now to make gifts for the year and need fresh, new ideas. These need to be simple and fairly cheap to make. Gift ideas for all occasions, ages and sexes are welcome. Since I want to have gifts on hand all year long they need to keep well so no food. Wait, I like to eat, so if you have some good recipes, send those on too.

I'm going to continue my frugal, simple, organized life in '08.
What are your best tips and/or links?

I'm still going with my simple and frugal lifestyle, but I love teachers. My first major in college was teaching and after being in the classroom, I have mad respect for teachers (and bus drivers), so I always try to get them something for Christmas, even if it's a simple note saying "Thank you" You would be surprised how little teachers hear those words. So this year for Christmas, I'm going with the mug theme.
Throughout the year, every time I go to the thrift store I scan the coffee mugs and have managed to pick up mugs with "World's Greatest Teacher" or something along those lines all but one was 25 cents. The bus driver is a Buckeye fan, so I found an OSU mug for her.
We are going to fill the OSU mug with candy. A few conversations with her and I found out she loves Tootsie Rolls.
My daughter's teacher is getting a mug with bookmarks we are going to make (printed off the internet and covered with packing tape), a couple of tea bags and a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble.
My son't teacher is getting a mug with sheets of stickers, pens and a giftcard to Office Max.
The teacher's aide is getting a mug with candy and a giftcard to Wal-Mart.

You can defintely leave out the giftcards and keep the cost under $10 for all of them. This time of year even if you don't find teacher mug, the thrift store shelves are overflowing with Christmas mugs. Put the mugs in a nice gift bag or wrap in tissue paper or wrap if you're good at that kind of thing. Easy peasy way to say thanks to the people who are helping you shape your kids.

Paper plates.
I am still looking for ways to simplify my life on a budget. I know that washing plates is more economical than buying paper or plastic, but this is one of those times when I have to weigh the cost with the headache. I don't have a dishwasher, and a really small kitchen and it's just too time consuming to have to wash dishes 3 times a day. And let's be real, I'm doing good washing dishes once a day, let alone 3 times. So I've decided to go disposable for dinner and to use as few dishes as possible for breakfast and lunch. We can eat sandwiches off of paper towels instead of plates, reuse juice cups at lunch instead of getting a new one. It's a simple idea, definitely wonder why I never thought of it before, but I look forward to fewer migranes as a result.

Books have taking over my life and home. I've been trying to think of a way to get rid of the ones that I know I'll never read again. I just posted a bunch at Paperback Swap less than a week ago and already 2 books are out the door. That may not sound like a big deal, but these books have been sitting around for 2 years, so I'm happy. It's a start, right?

I'm still working on ways to live a much simpler life and I'm including money in this. I have made and used homemade baby wipes in the past. There's no reason why I don't use them now. The hardest part of making them is cutting the roll of paper towels in half because I really do need sharper knives.
In the past I've just reused empty baby wipe containers, but you can use RubberMaid containers, or any type of plastice container you have around the house.
I don't know why, but for some reason Bounty are the best towels to use. Other brands are either too weak or sort of shrink when you use them. It's still cheaper than regular wipes and you can use the pretty smelling lavender baby bath that I love so much.

Homemade Baby Wipes
1/2 roll of Bounty paper towels
2 tbsp baby oil
2 tbsp baby bath
2 cups of water
Cut roll of paper towels in half, remove center cardboard; place in plastic container. In a separate bowl, gently mix liquid ingredients and pour on top of paper towels. After about an hour or so, if you use an air-tight container, you can turn it up-side down to wet all of the paper towels, or gently turn the paper towels.

I am going to tackle my kids bedrooms. The boys room is overflowing with toys. So much so you can barely walk. My daughter's room has clothes and papers everywhere, except in her closet and desk. I figure while they are gone would be a perfect time to get this done. They will be surprised when they come home.

I am also going to eliminate a lot of their clothes. I heard it said that we only wear 10 outfits repeatedly, and the rest just sits in our closets, unworn. I don't know if I'm ready to go that far, but I definitely see the need to rid our stuffed closets and drawers of lots of clothes that I know aren't being worn. I, for instance, rarely wear t-shirts, so I don't need 10 of them. Tonight 6 of them will go.

CATEGORY ACRES

FOOD 5.4

MOBILITY 0.5

SHELTER 3.2

GOODS/SERVICES 3.5

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 13



IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY

Those are 2 very scary words for a pack rat, but I'm going to give it a try. Because of the way things are going in my life right now, this is the perfect time to give it a try. I will report how things are going as they go. Wish me luck.