Homemade Stuff... Nicole in DIY-land pt 2.

The beginnings of my DIY-land adventures began with making my son's food when he was a baby and it kind of fell off for awhile, but on Christmas Eve, I had a very interesting conversation with my sisters and brothers that sparked my recent adventures.  It was about detergent.

While sitting around Momma's table joking, singing, eating on Christmas Eve, my brother mentions that his wife (who hadn't yet arrived) got him into using homemade laundry soap.  So, my sister gets there and she tells us her mom has been making laundry soap for years and her mom parcels it out to everyone because she makes 5 gallons at a time.  By then, my interest was seriously piqued.  "Makes laundry soap?  Hmmm?"  We inquired about the difficulty.  My sister said it wasn't too difficult.

So, I promptly started googling for details the next day.  My other sister and I were talking about seriously getting into making the soap once we saw it wasn't that difficult.

Fast forward to the end of January, and I'm still researching laundry soap.  I'd made it up in my mind that I was gonna do it, it was just a matter of when.  I was collecting websites with good info, figuring out where to buy the products, etc.

Then out of total necessity one day, I ended up making homemade baby wipes.  I tell ya, when you and the hubs are just a bit too tired to go buy the wipes you've been buying because the cheap ones gave the kid a rash, you do what needs to be done.  

I found this really easy recipe on Homemade Mamas blog, copied the recipe to a tee, and voila!  My first homemade product--aside from food.  The baby wipes were super easy.  Super efficient.  Very economical.   PLUS, I already had everything in the house--water, thick paper towels, baby wash, and baby oil.   However, after making the wipes, I found out tons of info about making my own baby wash and not using mineral oil because it can be harmful for babies.  So, next time I make the wipes, I'll revise the ingredients and do a post about that.

So back to my laundry detergent adventure.  Now, of course, whenever I first mentioned to people that I was making homemade laundry detergent, they balked and questioned why would I make it when I can buy it, then I mentioned cost, and they quickly understood that part of it, but still thought I was a bit strange.  I'm thankful my sisters are in this DIY-land with me and at least, they understand. :-)  Thanks SM-squared.

Now that I've made the detergent.  Check out my post here about it.  I doubt I'll ever turn back.  If I can make most of the products that we buy regularly for a fraction of the cost and certainly a fraction of the harmful chemicals, why not.

I'm really excited to be on this DIY adventure and super thankful I have my two sisters (actually SILs) along on the journey with me.

We're always so excited to share what we've been making with one another (perhaps they'll even do guest posts in the future, if I'm lucky and beg), and I'm happy to share here with you. :-)