Full Disclosure and Goodbye for Now

Okay folks, here's the scoop.

This post is probably going to be my last on this blog and though it somewhat pains me to admit that fact, I just have too much on my plate as a fiction author to leave stuff like this hanging out there untouched forever.

I'm learning the practice of letting go and it has truly been a blessing to let myself off the hook for trying to do everything. I have enough going on with my full time job to add even more to the pile.

Some things are going to fall off the back end. This blog is one of those things.

I'm a person who likes things natural, Green, environmentally conscious, and that won't change, but I'm also a person who likes to feel good. As my husband always says:

"Just because it's natural doesn't mean it's good for you." 

He's right.

The thing that sucks is when I have to admit he's right and stop trying to be "healthy" because it is messing with our health in the long run. I have finally learned what the word 'balance' really means.

Before I go for good though, I want to give an update on where our household stands on all things homemade, natural, organic and why we are at the place we are right now. Some things are left out there in limbo and you readers deserve a wrap-up on how, why, or why I'm not using those items anymore.

Oh, and FYI, none of the links in this post are affiliate links.

Toothpaste. Yes, I still love making our toothpaste and feel it does a fantastic job of cleaning our teeth. It is quick and fairly simple and now that I have the formula down I know it not only saves us money in the long run but does the job without chemicals. If I decide to give up everything else, the toothpaste will be the one thing I don't stop making.

Body lotion. I made a batch early last summer and I loved it. The stuff was like visiting a tropical island where the air hints at coconut, lemon, lime, warm breezes, and sunshine. It melted into my skin and felt ah-mazing. But then the moisture of the tropics came to the inside of the jar and the stuff started to mold. After only a couple weeks. I thought that was weird because I use primarily shelf-stable ingredients and in the past had a jar last upwards of 5 months with no trouble. Also, I never reach into the jar or place it near water. I tried again. Same result. I don't know what happened because none of my ingredients had issues. Instead of wasting more shea/cocoa butter and essential oils I stopped making my own and started experimenting with commercially available products from handmade sellers. I haven't settled on any one product yet and that's okay. Someday I'll find my go-to.

Laundry detergent. Oh boy, this one is the biggie. I was so thrilled to find a formula that seemed to get our clothes clean. The problem: it started causing major skin irritation in some of our, let's just say, more sensitive areas. At first I didn't know it was the detergent so it took some time to figure out but once I did realize what was going on I had a half a gallon of useless liquid left over. I did a LOT of research after that debacle and ended up buying Biokleen Laundry Liquid last July. It gets an A rating from ewg.org and that's good enough for me. The best news: I spent $27.00 to buy the 150 oz. and I'm only about halfway through the bottle. The stuff is super concentrated and we have an HE washer so it lets us use even less. Clothes are clean, non-irritating, and at an average of 4 loads per week I spend about $0.14 per load. More expensive than making my own but less irritating and still super cheap compared to a name brand jug of chemicals.

Lip balm. I will continue to make this forever. It moisturizes, lasts longer than petroleum based sticks, and is low on the time investment scale.

Other stuff. Makeup is my next hurdle. I've noticed recently that I sometimes get headaches after wearing chemical based crap all day. No thanks. I'm switching over to RMS Beauty, Ilia, Alima Pure, Au Naturale, Beauty by Earth, Afterglow Cosmetics, or other organic based products with an ewg rating under 3. The challenge here will be to buy just what I need because some of those products are CRAY expensive! And as a person who believes environment means personal, local, and global, I won't break my bank just to look pretty for the 3 times a week I leave the house.

Haircare is under total control with Shea Moisture. I love it and though some products rate a bit higher than I'd like, everything I use is under 3.

Soap and deodorant were two fails when I tried to make my own. And other producers just make them better. For the past year I've been using Aspen Kay Naturals dead sea and Neem soap bars. I love it and for the first time my skin isn't dry after a shower. I barely even need lotion. Recently though, my friend turned me on to Hickory Ridge Organics soap and so far I'm loving the Balinese Coffee body soap. She also sells a deodorant I'm planning to try and her moisturizer bars look (and smell) good enough to eat! They are a bit pricey and could melt in transit from FL so if anyone knows of a similar seller here in AZ I'd love to check them out. Leave me a comment!

Food is another area where we have tried to streamline. Within the next year Matt should have his garden up and going but in the meantime I buy organic wherever possible, try to shop at the Farmer's Market when I can, and we are now getting weekly delivery of SunBasket. Organic and locally sourced when possible, their meals (and even the recycled packaging) are fantastic. It runs us about $75 per week for the 3 meals but that has actually saved us money because we eat every bite of food we make (no tossing leftovers anymore) and I don't over-buy at the store only to toss things gone bad later. 

So there you have it. Bottom line, I'm done trying to be a chemist who handcrafts everything. Between life, work, and hobbies I'm a busy gal with less and less time on my hands every day. I will happily transition back to commerce to free up more of that limited time as well as help support some smaller businesses who are much better at doing all of this than I am.

Like I said, this is likely my last post over here so I want to thank all of you who have stuck with me through the last ten years as this blog transitioned to many different iterations from where it began. Your loyalty has meant so much.

I'm streamlined now so if you want to find me and my opinions online, visit my personal blog
Randomness and Lunacy
or my author page on Amazon.

Again, thanks for being here and I wish all of you a long, healthy life xoxo

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1) A new window opens when you click to comment.
2) Comments on posts older than 3 days will be moderated. Spam will be deleted. I am the sole decision maker on what constitutes spam. Anonymous comments are no longer accepted.
3) Nothing in this blog is meant to treat, cure, diagnose or otherwise fix anyone's ailments. I am not a doctor or other medical professional. Each post is simply an opinion of how something performs for me personally. Reading this blog or trying to make these products for yourself isn't advice for how to take care of yourself and shouldn't be construed as such. Always seek the advice of a medical professional.

New Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe

After what I’m now calling “The Great Shave Butter Mishap of 2016”, I got back to making some of the stuff that I love to make and have mastered. (Because I needed a win after all that razor burn.)

First, I was out of lip balm so I melted to fill up about 4 tubes of a lemon-lime scented stick. Made with Shea butter, coconut oil and beeswax. Plus the E.O. of course.

Next, I tried my hand at another body butter. I wanted one of those really whippy type ones that basically melt on your skin when applied.

The good news on that one, I think I got a perfect recipe for winter in Phoenix. The bad news is that our summers require me to use cocoa butter. That isn’t bad because it will help the mix to hold the shape better. I just know it will kill a bit of the key lime smell and replace it with chocolate.

I guess I’ll smell like key lime white chocolate all summer. There could be worse things.

Finally, we were out of laundry detergent. I’d developed one a while back that seemed to work pretty good. I like using liquid because our water in Phoenix is some of the hardest in the country. Melting soap products in cold water is almost impossible. Liquid works so much better for our clothes if I need to use cold.

The last time I made it, I stored it in a 1 gal jug left over from white vinegar, washed a few times. The bottle is translucent so I could see what was going on in there. The detergent looked like grey water except the top layer. That was thick and like the gel I expected.

Only problem – once that layer was gone the soap wasn’t all that soapy anymore. No matter how much I shook it or stirred, that laundry martini just didn’t blend right. It surprised me I hadn’t noticed it before when pouring into the measuring cup.

Instead of using liquid castile soap this time I decided to try the “even more effort” method and grated bar soap. I read a lot of reviews, forums, bloggers and decided to try my hand at grating and melting Fels-Naptha instead of the Dr. Bronner’s I tried last time.

This was for two reasons:

1. Fels-Naptha was available where I was shopping.

2. Dr. Bronner’s bar soap was not.

The Green community is divided on some of the ingredients in Fels-Naptha. I can understand that because a few things aren’t necessarily super, like talc, tallow (for Vegans), titanium dioxide. So the ones I wasn’t sure about I researched on ewg.org.

After reading all kinds of sciency speak, I feel okay about using it in my detergent. Here’s why.

1. I’m not Vegan so the tallow issue isn’t one for me.

2. Talc is something I’m on the fence about. I wouldn’t want to use it on sensitive skin as an absorbent, on my underarms for example, but as something that will wash fully out of fabrics? I have no problem with that.

3. For all of the ingredients I worried about I researched them on ewg.org and none of them went above a 3. Yes, on their scale, a 3 falls in moderate range but it’s at the lowest of that mid-range category. I’m okay with that too.

So I did some research and liked the basis of this recipe on Mrs. Happy Homemaker. I use washing soda and Castile soap normally and, yes, I also support the use of Borax. Someday I’ll do my big write up on why I say yes to Borax in limited quantity but let’s get back to the recipe.

I divided her recipe (measuring on the scale and dividing by 5 then converting to ounces for easier matching with how the soap was measured). I usually only make a gallon at a time. It’s easier to store it in our very small laundry space that way.

So far, I’m loving it! The consistency was a little thicker than my old stuff. It seemed to dilute perfectly in a load of laundry and everything came out smelling like clothes, not nasty Phoenix-in-the-summer pits.

Approved!

This gallon should last me for 32 loads of laundry because I tend to do mid-sized loads and use about a half cup per load. I’m not doing the math on cost per load (because I know I’m saving money there) but I’ll give the overview of the total cost.

I used to buy the big spigot style blue stuff at a big box store. It would last through about 64 loads and cost about $20 with tax.

(I do an average of 4 loads of laundry a week including sheets, towels, blankets, guest linens, cleaning cloths/pads, and clothes. Blue stuff would last, on average, 4 months. Annual cost $60.)

In contrast, with my homemade stuff, I do have to invest some time to make it (only about 15 total minutes, far less than driving to the store) and the shopping part is far less frequent. And I don’t dispose of a container every time I purchase. I just mix and store in a lidded glass jar.

I bought the box of washing soda about a year ago when I first started making my own detergent. That was about $5. The Borax 6 months ago for $5. Which should last a year, the box is only half empty now. The Fels-Naptha will make 5 gallons worth of detergent, and with each gallon lasting about 2 months, the bar will make it about 10 months. This bar was just under $1. So with the extra 2 month share the soap registers at $1.20.

Total for a year’s worth of my detergent?

$11.20.

A year.

Sure, it takes time to grate and melt soap. (About 2 minutes to grate, 10 to melt)

Sure, it takes time to mix then wait for the stuff to set. (About 3 minutes, then, 24 hours)

Sure, it seems easier to just buy the stuff with the spigot. But another $48.80 in my pocket doesn’t sound too bad. And frankly, if I can avoid having to go shopping I’m a happy girl.

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My New Liquid Laundry Detergent

CONVERSION: 5 Gal --> 1 Gal recipe reduction

I converted cups into ounces for measuring using the Tare feature on my scale.

1 cup Borax = 8 oz.

1 cup washing soda = 8 oz.

1 bar Fels-Naptha labeled at 5 oz.

For 1 gallon I divide each by 5.

Here’s my recipe and instructions:

1.6 oz Borax

1.6 oz. Washing Soda

1 oz. Fels-Naptha (grated)

Lavender essential oil (EO, optional)

Metal pan (for melting soap)

Glass jar/jug (with a lid)

Pot holders

Label

Marker

1. Grate the soap and melt in about 1 cup of water, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, heat set at just past medium on the stovetop. (About 9-10 minutes)

2. Put the washing soda and Borax in the glass jar/jug, fill about halfway with very warm water, stir or cap and shake until the powders are dissolved. The water shouldn’t be clear. The glass will get hot, pot holders with silicone will help keep a grip on the glass as you shake, shake, shake.

3. Add your EO to the melted soap and stir in before adding to the water. I used about 25 or 30 drops of lavender but the Fels-Naptha has a smell too, an interesting combination.

4. Pour the soap and oil mixture into the jar/jug and stir lightly to combine. (Mine started to congeal a bit at this stage) Fill the jug the rest of the way with warm water, stir one last time and cap.

5. Let it sit, covered, for a full day to set and cool completely.

Very important: If you make this in an old plastic bottle or other flexible vessel don’t cap tight, leave a little air gap for heat to escape as it cools. If its closed all the way the sides can pull in as the steam gets trapped and it could explode open. That’s why I use glass, no expand or contract issues!

6. I have an immersion hand blender, which I used to get everything blended up smooth. We’ll see if that lasts in the heat of my garage. Things could separate, I’ll keep you posted.

7. Label it so everyone in the house knows this is soap. This should be fine for all top loading machines, that’s what we have and haven’t had any problems. Not sure how it would do in an HE since I don’t have one.

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And that’s it. Easy breezy George and Weezy!

What do you like to use to clean your clothes? Does your water make a difference? Your appliances?

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