Getting organized in '09

Well evidently my wonderful thoughtful daughter thinks I need to get organized. I'm not sure she realizes I've been trying to "get" organized for the last 30 years. However, now that she is doing most of the research and leg work it's getting much easier for me. That's really nice. Recently she introduced me to the Household Notebook she read about on one of the sites she loves. She also created a document that looks like the checkbook register which will be helpful for me in a couple of areas. Maybe I can get her to find the error in my checkbook that I've just carried over for about 9 months. I know it's there somewhere??? :-) She sent me calendars for planning my meals for the month and other forms for tracking stuff. Anyway, it's always fun to learn new ways and with this household notebook it should eliminate quite a few files that I really don't need. Everything I need will be filed monthly and it's almost automatically done as I pay my bills. These young people can really be quite useful!!!! All kidding aside she's really a jewel and I am so grateful to be blessed with a daughter that's so helpful and she let's me know when I need to "update" and get with the program. Now if I could just find that notebook, I know it's around here somewhere. hehehe shhhh don't tell Jenny.

Making Laundry Soap

Here we go again, another experiment. I like trying new things so I thought I'd try making laundry soap. I'm not a big fan of strong scents and most detergents now have very strong scent added to them. First I tried the liquid method where you melt the shredded soap in water then add 1/2 cup borax and 1/2 cup of washing soda, mix well then add hot water. This recipe makes 2 gallons and it works fine. I didn't really have room though in my laundry area for the two gallon bucket so I thought I'd try the powdered. I shredded 1/2 bar of Fels-Naptha soap and a little bit of Dr. Bronners all natural soap mixed that with 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda. You use 1 tablespoon per load, 2 for extra soiled. It works great. You have to get use to not seeing a lot of suds. I'm told that's all just for selling anyway. But if you put your hand in the water you can feel the slickness which is what allows the cleaner to slide through the fibers. Most exciting is it's pennies to make. I haven't calculated yet, I'll get our family mathematician (Jenny) to do that and I'll let you know exactly but it was hardly what you'd pay for commercial brands. Off to do some more laundry!!