Homemade Laundry Soap...Cheap and Easy just the way I like it!!!

We do laundry what seems like all day every day and now we are on an even tighter budget with me staying home. So I decided to do a little research and found out it is totally the thing to make your own laundry soap, and dirt cheap....I had to do some scouting for the products so for those of you in Bend I have done the hard work for you...leaving you no reason NOT to do it!

1/3 bar Fels-Naptha Walmart .97cents
1/2c. Washing Soda Walmart $2.12
1/2c. Borax Fredmeyer's 4.39(this was the tough one to find)

I followed these exact instructions and it was kind of fun:
http://thefrugalgirls.com/2010/08/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-detergent.html

I will warn you that once it sits for the 24hrs it does have an odd gel consistency, I stirred it up and funneled it into my container's and it doesn't seem to be an issue.

It is green(less chemicals, you can use an organic soap if you wish - google that) and affordable, 2 gallons(which is the recipe) cost a little less then a dollar according to my math :O

We used it and no laundry was harmed ;) who can't afford to NOT do this?! Me, me, me... and YOU!

Enjoy!

EXTRA CHEAP TIP: Soak wash cloth's in fabric softener wring out and use as a dryer sheet....one cloth should last 10-20 loads(wash when used up and re-peat!)and a $3 dollar bottle of softener should last almost a year!

Chevron...Yep I jumped on the hot decor trend! DIY curtains...sort of.

 
Hopefully my kids wont be saying our house looks sooooo 2011 in a few year's ;D right like I won't change the curtains before that!

So I purchased the taupe curtain panel's at Target for 8.99ea. Pretty good deal, except they were almost 2 feet too short! So yea I had high water curtains for over a year trying to decide what to do with them :O

Then I found this fabric on the good ol' WWW I knew I HAD to have it! It was a super deal(on sale apparently) and I found a code for first time purchase's cutting the shipping in HALF.

***I cut my panels apart a 12 inches down, seem ripped the side seems on the curtain about 2 inches down or up on the cut sides so I had all raw edges exposed, measured across the whole width of the raw edge cut and added in my fabric(right side together and repeat for lower half of cut panel), pressed and sewed the hemmed sides and tada!***

My total for "custom" curtains(I have 4 panels...2 window's)....about 60 bucks!
P.S. I have enough scraps from the width for a couple of throw pillow's..woot, woot!

I'm new forgive my lack of blogging...Short, Sweet DIY to make up for it!

*****DIY Printed Pillow with Art Links*****

Who needs front porch pillow's?! Me....really, we don't ever sit on the front porch because we live on a corner (traffic) and can't see the kids playing so I usually sit on the step at the end or the walk way :) maybe I will make a "step" pillow next. But with the sun shining and plants being planted I felt our dingy little chairs needed some froofing...so here it goes!
The cost to me NADA...I have a lot of crap...oops I mean craft stuff :O
The cost to you cheap, cheap, cheap assuming you have a functioning printer or a friend with one...and a sewing machine.
Supplies:
Drop cloth or plain fabric of your choice (I have a ton of drop cloth I attempted to sew a chair cover, it got SCRAPPED!)
Iron on transfer paper
Stuffing (I reused some from old pillow's) I hold onto pillows for the very purpose of re-purposing
sewing machine and supplies
Stay with me it's EASY I promise:
1: Cut 2 squares per pillow 15x15
2: Sew right sides together leaving a 4 inch gap along the bottom center
3: Trim corner's and turn right side out and press
4: Print keep calm freebie and summer freebie onto your iron transfer paper.
5: Trim iron transfer, center on front of pillow make sure hole is on the bottom
6: Iron on per manufacture's direction(my keep calm had an iron incident :O)
7: Stuff and sew hole shut(I HATE hand sewing so I ran it under my machine...not as easy as it sounds stuffed full!)
8: Enjoy...sorry no pic's this was purely an after thought!

More great DIY ideas and CHEAP coming soon....This momma's on a BUDGET!