How to Make your own Laundry Detergent

A few weeks back my husband asked me to pick up the products to make our own laundry detergent. I, in my normal element, was opposed to the idea. Why would I want to create more work to do work? He was so on board that he said that he would make it himself if I would just pick up the ingredients. Credit to where credit is due. . . .his sister started making her own laundry detergent and wrote about it on her awesome and creative blog. I picked up a fels-naptha bar, washing soda and borax to make the powder. He used a cheese grater (one from Pampered Chef) to grate the fels-naptha bar and it took about 10 minutes. The reason to make your own laundry detergent:

1) it is way cheaper than normal laundry detergent (about 5.7 cents/load) compared to I think around 10 - 30 cents
2) takes up less space than the regular
3) better for the environment
4) is a creative outlet for those looking for something odd to do in their spare time!

My issues that have been resolved about making my own laundry detergent.

1) it might break out our skin
2) it would be too harsh on our clothes or would not clean them at all
3) it would be a pain in the behind to make
4) it would smell bad

None of these things have happened. We have been using this for about three weeks which equates to about 3 jillion loads of clothes around here. It really works for us! Check out more grand ideas on the following subjects and sites

1) Easy Dishwashing
2) Movies Galore
3) Kid's Visual Schedule

and then go back to visit rocksinmydryer for more good, fun blogging business! By the way, if you look closely at the pic of my hubs. He is grating the ingredients into a "Bisquick" labeled jar. It now says "NOT Bisquick" so the kids will not decide to have a bite. Just remember, safety first! :)

Three Things I Learned from Direct Sales

For about three years I sold jewelry for a direct sales company. I absolutely loved it and the product. I have been out of it for about two years and yesterday I was in a reflective mode and realized that I learned a plethora of lessons from my experience with direct sales.

The first thing that was on my mind is the saying that was repeated every month at our training. "Those who train, remain and those who don't, wont!" That is a nugget of truth that you can find in all aspects of your life. Obviously, in training for a race you will not do well if you just get out there and run without having trained. Spiritually, if you do not discipline yourself each day to read the Word, pray and spend time with other positive believers you will not remain grounded in the Truth. So, say to yourself "Those who train, remain and those who don't, won't" and believe it is because it is so true.

Secondly, I was reminiscing about what ticked me off the most about direct sales. You relied on other people's word that they were going to have a show. I would plan and schedule the time out of my own life when I would get a call the day before the show that no one was coming and they did not want to go to the trouble of having a show if there was only one or two people coming. Obviously, I understood the fact that sometimes people would get sick and they would need to reschedule. . .just the excuses would make me crazy. So, my motto is. . . (came from a trustworthy source :)) "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." Can I get an amen!!!

Finally, and really I could go on and on from the lessons I learned from being in the business, was that women need each other. We need each other to say "you look great!" I had a mirror with me at my shows that on the back said "Tell me how great I look in this jewelry." When one of the girls were modeling a piece of jewelry the girls on the couch would ooh and aah over the gal with the new jewels. It was always funny to have them ooh and aah over the jewelry, but it was fun to see how sincerely encouraging they were to each other. They did not ooh and aah just to get their friends to buy a trendy new accessory (well sometimes they did if they were hosting the show and getting some perks), but to really move them outside of their comfort zone in something bigger and flashier and see how great they felt about themself.

It was truly a fun and rewarding experience.