Homemade Laundry Detergent Liquid

If y'all follow my blog, you know that the homemade dishwasher powder did not turn out to my liking. Although I still have not tried to make a liquid version (more of fear of frustration than anything).

I did decide to make liquid laundry detergent (with lavender).

This recipe made 2 one-gallon jugs of liquid detergent with some soap shavings and tons of borax and soda left over.

You will need :
A Big pot
2 empty jugs (a gallon each) I just saved my old detergent jugs and used them.
about 1 cup of fels-naptha soap grated (about 1/3 of a bar).
1/2 cup borax and
1/2 cup washing soda
optional essential oil of your choice - i put crushed lavender in a tea ball and cooked it with the soap.

As you can see from the photo, I used my electric food processor with the grater attachment and it worked out fine. I stored the extra shavings in some mason jars and put them in the laundry cabinet for future use.

How to make:
Put the shredded soap into the big pan with about 6 cups of water and heat it up, stir and melt the soap bits (over medium heat should be fine). This is where i added my lavender tea ball. The following ad is a tea ball/ infuser. I put my dried lavender in there and hung it in the water. It gave a slight lavender scent to the soap although the fels-naptha has it's own soapy fragrance.



Add washing soda and borax and stir till dissolved. Careful not to breathe in the powder as it is not good for the lungs. Remove from heat. Add a drop or so of the essential oil of your choice to fragrance if you like.
Divide the mixture evenly between your jugs. Add warm water to fill jugs. Place caps on well and shake it up!
I use about 1/2 a cup per full load and shake it up before each load just in case.

I am totally satisfied with the turn-out of this project! Easy to make. Cheap!!!!!!! Green. and...CLEAN! Clothes and washing machine look and smell great!  I have been using it for about 2 weeks which is about 8-10 loads of laundry.

You can do your own math! For me... all these ingredients cost less than 1 gallon of brand name liquid detergent and I still have enough left over for over 4 more gallons! I know exactly what is in my soap. I can fragrance it how I want! I am re-using plastic containers and saving from purchasing more plastics in the future. It is more than a win for me. Try it.

Eggshells and Calcium for Chickens

If you have chickens & if you eat eggs then why buy calcium supplements for your flock?


You can reduce the carbon footprint by reducing your personal waste, manufacturing waste, and reduce the amount of money you spend on buying calcium supplements by feeding your hen's eggshells back to them.

This is what I do.

I bake my eggshells in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes (or oven if it is already in use) till they are dry (usually at about 350 degrees). This is done to kill any pathogens and dry them out to help prevent pathogens from forming on them in storage. I don't rinse my shells before baking. I personally see it as a waste of time and water since the baking process dries out what little is left of the egg whites.
Be careful not to bake too long or hot. If they start to brown and burn, the smell is horrible.

I store as many baked shells as I can in an egg carton until I have a full case.

  Then, I crunch them and put them in the food processor.



Grind them up into teeny tiny pieces.
This helps break them down into a powdery grit.
This, along with the baking will keep your hens from associating this part of their feed with  their own eggs.



I mix them in with the feed. They wont eat it if they don't want to. Some days there are more eggshell bits left in their feeder than other days.
Others folks give them separate as free choice.

This page (as with all my other postings) are not meant for medical or veterinary advise! These are just to share my experiences. Hope it helps.

UPDATE:

I am limited on counter space so...
When some parm cheese and truvia containers became empty I was struck with a re-use idea.
 I toaster bake the shells immediately. Let cool. Lightly crush with hand and put in the parm container. when that one is full, I process and store in the truvua container. Neater and less space used.