Girl, I am on a roll. Seriously, I am on a new quest for the healthiest lifestyle I can tolerate. You know I can't give up everything. But I sure am trying to get a grip on this new line of thought I am thinking.
This last week, I have become quite the Susie homemaker and I have made some stuff on my own.
Straight up, DIY style!
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- Safe and Healthy Sunscreen
- Non- Toxic DIY Thieves Laundry Detergent
- Essential Oil-based Dog Deodorizing Spritz
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Why I am here and who I am:
Hey mama, I am Trish— AKA Labor Nurse Mama. I am a labor and delivery nurse with over 15 years of high-risk OB experience. I am also a mama to 7 kids and have given birth to 6. This means I am quite familiar with the postpartum period and how to navigate it. I am the online birth class educator for Calm Labor Confident Birth and The VBAC Lab birth classes and the mama expert inside our Calm Mama Society, a pregnancy & postpartum membership community! I am passionate about your birth and motherhood journey! You can find me over on IG teaching over 230k mamas daily. I am passionate about your birth and motherhood journey!
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Last year, Our families (Anna & Mine, moved from South Florida to Nashville) Suddenly I was out of the hustle and bustle of the busy South Florida life and living in the country.
Ok, maybe it was a gated neighborhood outside of Nashville. But for this story and for this girl, it was the country.
Anyway, back to my interesting story. Anna and I suddenly found ourselves with a heck of a lot of time. We hadn't really started promoting the Esty shop and we hadn't launched the blog. So what else could we do but search Pinterest for decorating and DIY ideas?
During one of our late-night chocolate-eating, wine-drinking, Pinterest searching quests I found a DIY laundry soap!
My first Go!
So for my first go at making my DIY Laundry Detergent, I made a powdered recipe. All-natural was not my focus, rather my focus was on finances and saving money since I didn't have a job yet. Side hustles yes, job – no!
Financially speaking, DIY laundry soap is the way to go! If you are wanting to save money, making your own laundry soap is so stinking cheap and it lasts fo-eva!
More importantly, it smelled like heaven and it worked! So all was good in our house.
WOW! I just realized it has been over a year since I have used store-bought laundry soap. HOLY SMOKES!!! Anyone who knows how Boujee I am knows this is a huge deal!
The Cost Of DIY Laundry Detergent
Girl, If you don't care squat about the health benefits of making your DIY laundry soap then sit right down when I tell you how much cash it's gonna save you.
Girl this stuff cost me less than 25 (depending on coupons sometimes less than 20) to make and lasts almost 4 months!! Um…hello!
My original Laundry Detergent Recipe:
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- 1- (4 lb.) box Arm & Hammer baking soda
- 1- (3 lb. 7 oz.) box Arm & Hammer super washing powders
- 1- (4 lb. 12 oz.) box Borax
- 1- (3 lb.) tub OxiClean
- 2- (14.1 oz.) Zote soap (pink or white bars) or 5 bars (5 1/2 oz. each ) Fels-Naptha soap bars *
- 1- (24 oz.) container of Downy Unstoppables Scent Booster)
- basic grater (I actually bought the Zote flakes cause I was over grating after the first go-round!)
I really loved this soap and especially the way it fits perfectly into my shopping budget. Well, how perfectly it added money to my impulse spending sprees.
But then I heard the sunscreen story.
My New All-Natural DIY Thieves Laundry Soap
I found a DIY Thieves Laundry soap post and read it. HOLY SMOKES. She mentioned an article about the damage of cleaning products on women and it was ASTOUNDING! You should read it for yourself.
The experts attribute the decline in lung function to the damage that cleaning agents cause to the mucous membranes lining the airways, resulting over time in persistent changes.
My First Reaction to My New DIY Laundry Detergent
Girl, This stuff smells like heaven and works like a charm. I won't lie, I was pretty nervous to use it, as it looks just like water. I was thinking to myself….um, this is water and not gonna clean nothing.
But, as it turns out, I was wrong. It works perfectly.
The Supplies!
If you are as obsessed with that jar as I am you can head to this link to get your own. OMG! I love it!! It holds my 2 gallons of laundry soap just fine and it looks Modern Farmhouse Boujee which is my thang!
You can half the recipe to make one gallon or make it my way for two gallons.
DIY Thieves Laundry Soap
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- 1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 1/2 cup Thieves® laundry soap (Which I just signed up to buy at a big discount and so can you if you read about it here)
- 1/4 cup Thieves® Household Cleaner (Again get a 24% discount here!)
- Hot Distilled Water
- 16 drops of essential oil! (I used 8 drops of Lavender and 8 drops of Lemon) You can buy those here at a retail price or at a discount)
- Dispenser (You already saw mine and I'm positive you're jealous!)
Directions:
1 | In a pot, add the washing soda (Now, I didn't read the directions carefully. You should do this in a pot, not a glass dispenser!)
2 | Add hot water to cover the soda and then mix it well.
3 | Then add the baking soda and stir until dissolved. Girl, this wasn't easy. That stuff clumped and lumped. Finally, I left it lumpy and called it a day. Onto the next step!
4 | Next, I placed my dispenser onto a gorgeous rolling cart, I got on clearance at Target. This sucker was heavy. So move yours before you add all the rest of the water. Which by the way, you do now. I left about 3 – 4 inches from the top. (Remember, don't add the water to the dispenser until cooled!)
5 | Next I added the 1/2 cup Thieves® laundry soap and the 1/4 cup Thieves® Household Cleaner.
Just for your info, Thieves® Household Cleaner is so concentrated that it makes 25+ bottles of household cleaner which will not fill your lungs with YUCK STUFF!!
6 | Stir and finally, if you want to add your choice of essential oils, you can! I added eight drops of each of mine. I chose Lavender and Lemon because that's what most recipes I saw called for, but next time I might change it up!
How much does it cost in the end?
I have just started using this, so I can't say how many loads for sure. However, according to the few DIY'ers that had this recipe for DIY Thieves laundry soap, it is very economical. (I bought my ingredients at a substantial discount)
With the Essential oils added: around $4.50 a gallon (Mine 3.75 gallon due to buying a few ingredients at Bargain Hunt)
Without the Essential oils added: around $3 a gallon
Price per load: less than $0.08 per 1/4 cup per load. (I use 1/4 cup unless it's a huge load, then I double it!)
Comment below and tell me what DIY healthy projects you have brewing? I would also love to hear how you use your essential oils. I am new to them and so interested.
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