Homemade laundry liquid

I got this off of one of the frugal living sites and it works brilliantly for me so I thought that I would share it here.

1/2 a bar of grated soap
1/2 cup soda crystals (you find them in the laundry aisle of the supermarket)
1/2 cup borax
2.5 litres of water.

Grate the soap and put in a pan with the water. Heat until the soap has dissolved and add the borax and the soda. Stir until all dissolved. Remove from the heat and add 10 cups of water.

When it is cool add a few drops of your favourite essential oil. I use Eucalyptus oil.

I use half a cup of this in my wash and fill my fabric softener section in the machine with white vinegar.

You can also double the amounts of soda and borax if you have really dirty washes to deal with.

Eat your heart out Stayfree!

I have been a dedicated diva cup user for over a year now and have also been using some cloth pads made by The wonderful Ms A. I have managed to convince my eldest girl to try a cloth pad so here is my very first attempt at making one.

It has two layers of bamboo terry and two layers of regular terry sewn into red flannelette. I figured that red flannelette would be less confronting for a teen.

Stuff:

My quick look around the house for the origins of my 'stuff' have been a bit enlightening. All of our electronics come from China, most of our furniture comes from China or Malaysia (good old cheap Malaysian rubberwood). I have a few things which I inherited from my mother which came from Singapore and Portugal.

I don't think that I could find anything "Made in Australia" Even our clothing is produced overseas.

The one thing in our favour is that we really do use all of our stuff until it literally falls apart. We do not upgrade for the sake of fashion or trends. Some of our bookshelves are from when The Husband and I got married 18 years ago (white veneer plywood jobs!).

In the garden:

Well the Cronies dig for victory is a happening thing! I am so excited by this project. I have committed to sourcing and pricing sleepers for the edge of by raised beds.

I also turned my compost heap today and was pleased to see that the maggots aren't maggots but the grubs of the black soldier fly. A friend told me that they are beneficial to the compost process.

Hmmm, I also discovered another four redbacks living in my lemon scented geranium. As the geranium was hugely overgrown I gave it a nice haircut and stomped like mad on the squatters.

Cooking

I will be picking some zucchini for zucchini balls tonight and making some flatbread to have with them. It is also time to do a big bean soak tonight as I have used up my stash of beans this week. Time to make some more hummous as well; I can live off of hummous and flat bread!