The Joys of Frugality: Homemade Detergent

I was talking to a friend about the 'Joys of Frugality' the other day.  It made me think of this recipe for homemade detergent that I still use.  Same bucket.  I've been using this since 2009...over a decade! 

This was really easy but like anything else...make sure you get the right ingredients. I accidentally bought Arm & Hammer baking soda...instead of washing soda. My gracious friend lent me some of her washing soda...which is different and contains Sodium Benz....which helps it set up like detergent. So, mine is a bit clotted looking...with clots of floating baking soda booster! Also, I used a huge red funnel to put some back in my Tide container for easy pouring...and now it's sort of a pearly blue! Neato! HA HA HA!  Oh, the joys of frugality!
Ingredients....three gallons hot tap water, 1 five gallon bucket (Walmart has cute ones), Borax for cleaning boost, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, 1 bar of your favorite soap...I recommend Ivory like soaps...nothing with lotions.
Put three cups of water on your stove top...and as it comes to a simmer...shred your soap into the water and stir.  Eventually, you will shave it all up!  Really, you will!
Pour three gallons of hot tap water into bucket, add hot soapy mixture (fully dissolved soap ya'll), and stir for a bit. Add 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda and stir til dissolved.
Put on lid and let it set over night...it should be a nice syrupy mixture...if you got washing soda that is! Hehehe!

I LOVE this recipe and I save sooooo much monies! FYI---if you try this recipe and it does become too gelled, don't worry. It has something to do with the washing soda quality control and water type (hard/soft). Everything I've read and heard says it doesn't effect the washing power of the detergent. Just scoop it on out and use a glob!  Sometimes, you can just use your wooden spoon (or hands) to squish through it and break it up enough to be thickly pourable.

I do encourage vinegar for your rinse cycle...but I'd encourage that regardless of what detergent you use...cuz it ensures the soap washes clean of the clothes. NO, you can't tell...I do not smell like a pickle! *sniff, sniff...

Kombucha Queen

                   

I learned to brew kombucha last Spring.  A few of my Indonesian friends took me under their wing to teach me.  Well, after they teased me for buying supermarket kombucha at exorbitant prices.  I was surprised how easy it is and how many people find it horribly gross growing on my countertop but have also been buying it at those crazy high prices for years.  

It's a great source of probiotics.  I've had to find natural ways of ingesting probiotics or risk being put on an awful trifecta of antibiotics since the birth of my first child involved a horrible fifth degree tear that caused me to have a Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO).

There are a lot of myths out there about kombucha.  One big one I often have to discuss: Yes, it is technically true that brewing kombucha creates some alcohol content.  The myth: you therefore shouldn't drink it and drive or if under-aged.  This is false and kinda ridiculous.  Home brews usually contain 0.5% and so even if you were trying to get drunk, you'd have a really hard time of it.  I'm not even sure it's possible seeing as you'd have to consume a few gallons very quickly.  You'd throw up way before that.  For comparison, one beer contains 4-6%.  Store bought kombucha might contain slightly more alcohol than home brew because it stays in the jar but in 2010 the FDA regulated it to make sure it could be safely sold.  You are supposed to drink no more than 8-16 oz daily.  More than that might give you the runs.  It reminds me of apple cider in that way.  In fact, many people drink kombucha to help them stay 'regular.'

To gain the health benefits I need I usually drink 8oz a day.  Sometimes I add fruit juice.  I'm planning to add fresh ginger and turmeric this time around.  Ginger helps with digestion and turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory.  

I brew about every 2-3 weeks.  I simply make an organic sweet tea concentrate, fill the jar 2-3 full with filtered water and then transfer my SCOBY over with about a cup of the already made kombucha.  SCOBY is an acronym...Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast.  It builds on layers with each passing month.  You can throw them out, put them in a big jar and call it a SCOBY hotel, or share a few layers and teach someone else to make kombucha.  I'm now a SCOBY QUEEN because I have shared with four people so far...and they have shared with people too.  So fun!  I'm very grateful for my friends who took the time to teach me to make this healthy, money-saving tea.

Books: Goals and Organization 2020

I have organized my books into categories:  To Re-read, Already Own/Started, To-Read from Library and Audiobooks.  I have a crazy amount of books that I already own.  I've decided to try to be a better steward of my resources and try to get any additional books from the library.

Already, I've established a caveat to this rule.  If I'm teaching a book based study I need to own it, in paperback.  I've tried to lead from the kindle (read cheaper) and I can't do it.  I can't see the page notations and page numbers in the same way.  I also can't get it from the library because I need it for such a long period of time.

So, for this year I have purchased:
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
Now, I have a copy from college that my husband has confiscated as his own, so having to purchase this new copy isn't really my fault.  We are going through this with our Faith Group and we generally try to share a copy but since the original is looking rather well-loved and is marked with all his personal notes we agreed I could get a new copy.  Initially, we got a study guide copy and it was horrible...gray, recycled paper and very hard to read.  I haven't read this book since college and now that I'm two chapter in I'm remembering why this is a highly recommended classic.
The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
I'm finishing out leading the attributes of God with my college girls group.

On deck from my already own/started list:
(this is not even a close representation of the real number of books in this category:-)
Comfort From The Cross by Elyse Fitzpatrick
This is a month's worth of short devotional readings.  Very gospel focused and encouraging!  I only have about two days left to finish this book.
Helper By Design by Elyse Fitzpatrick
I read about half of this and then decided to start back at the beginning because I was asked to consider leading a study on it and I want to read it more methodically than I was originally.  This has been super convicting but she has a great sense of humor so that helps lessen the blow a lot.
Pray With Your Eyes Open by Richard Packer
I would like to grow in my prayer life and this book came highly recommended from a pastor friend.
Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by Piper & Taylor
I was asked to read this in prep for teaching the attribute of Sovereignty for Tozer group above.

A lesser priority is my to read from library list:
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop
Recommended by a godly lady at church that I really respect and am encouraged by weekly.  She said it helped her grow in her prayer life.
Spiritual Disciplines by Don Whitney
A dear friend who buried a son and adopted a daughter this year highly recommended this book.  I have seen her suffer well and am excited to read this book that helped her in this incredible year.

Audiobooks are used when I'm cleaning so they are usually fiction:
I don't have a list per se...but I include any of my Agatha Christie collection that I haven't read off my bookshelf.  They are easy to find in audio book form and I don't have to concentrate too closely.

Re-reads are rare but often desired:
Ephesians: Our Immeasurable Blessings in Christ by MacArthur
I am using my notes from this study to aide me as the college sponsors go through Ephesians this semester.  I figure, why recreate the wheel.
Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges
This isn't a long read and is highly convicting.  Might make it a morning devotional type read.

My plan is to make this blog start working for me.  I've grown to love listing and accountability logs so I'm going to start doing that with books and crafting.  Hopefully, giving a monthly report.

Pray. Wait. Trust. 2020

Every year I choose a word.  This word is something I study, pray over and use to help me strive to be more like Christ during the New Year.  Last year, my mentor, recommended a trifecta of words that I just loved...Grateful, Faithful, Steward...and they worked individually and together.  Being more Grateful for all I'd been given helped me be more Faithful with my time and talents and that led to me a be a better Steward of my gifts and abilities.  2019 was a good year.  

This year I've chosen Pray. Wait. Trust.  I've hesitated to choose this and thought of finding something else.  Trust makes me think of Patience...ya know, those things that people say, "be careful what you ask for, because the process is hard."  Then I laughed and thought about what a silly ninny I was being...like, "if I don't say it maybe God won't do it."  And if I cover my eyes He can't see me either.  *eye roll*  If I need to work on patience, He will make sure I do whether I ask for it or not.

One of my dearest quilting friends let me know her husband passed away yesterday.  A new year 'surprise' out of the blue.  I'm still stunned and my heart hurts.  Her response makes my heart swell..."Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom."  Ps. 90:12 AND "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Is. 43:19  I dare say, this new thing God was bringing is stretching her understanding but she is faithfully moving forward.  

Although, I haven't fully put together how I will be studying on Pray. Wait. Trust.  I do know that our small group will be reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer and, Lord willing, I'll submit my counseling exam questions this Spring and pass and move on to supervised counseling (the last phase in getting certified).  I figured focus on prayer, waiting well and trusting God would be helpful.  Over all, I want to be like my friend who is choosing to trust God with everything...and keep her eyes on Him no matter what focus she may have thought she wanted.  God is good all the time.  All the time God is good.