Homemade Laundry Detergent! $ Saver!

Being the stereotypical "poor college student" I have been looking for ways to cut down on routine costs. That's when I happened to stumble across a pin on Pinterest about making your own laundry soap. I got this recipe from 'Why Not Sew's' blog. The recipe seemed pretty simple and straight forward.

First you're going to need a few things:
(This recipe will make 2 gallons of detergent, so halve it if you want less.)

• 1 Bar of soap (pick a scent you like)
• 1 cup Borax (found in the detergent aisle)
• 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (I found mine at the local Dillon's store in the laundry aisle.)
• large pot
• Grater
• Funnel (really helps with pouring)
• Spoon
• 2 empty gallon containers (I used 2 milk containers.)

After you have your items gathered:

• Grate your bar of soap into the pot.
• Fill one of your gallon containers with water and pour into the pot.

• Turn on heat and cook until the soap is dissolved. (It really helps if you grate your soap into really tiny flakes)
• Add the Borax and Washing Soda and stir.
• Bring to a boil. The mixture should start to coagulate.
• Turn off the heat and add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir well and let cool.
• Pour your mixture into their containers.

I use about 1/2 cup per load. The mixture doesn't make many suds if any at all but your clothes are most definitely going to be clean!
You should have plenty of borax and washing soda to make many more gallons! After the initial cost of buying the ingredients you won't have to worry about spending $8 on 32 loads when you can spend the same amount for TONS more!

*I made 2 gallons over 6 months ago and have finally just ran out of my original batch!

Love Thrifting!

 Thrifting has never really been my thing. Every time I go I seem to always be the youngest person in there. However I decided to not let that stop me when I heard that one of our local thrift stores was having a $2 bag sale. That meant anything I could shove into an old walmart sack was mine for $2. Something I just couldn't pass up. So I grabbed my change jar and headed downtown.

One of my first pins on Pinterest  happened to be a skirt made from a men's button down shirt. Today seemed to be a great day to stock up. I grabbed a really great slouchy sweater for winter, along with a few skinny belts and 3 men's shirts. I also happened to stumble upon a really great clutch purse. 

It's a little plain for my taste but I am excited to maybe add something extra on to make it mine! Not bad for about $2.17 worth. 

I'm planning on making the skirt tomorrow. Hopefully I can get another post up with a link to the tutorial I plan on using. 

Thrifting may not be so bad after all!

Sweet Dreams are Made of This.

 I have been looking for new ways to decorate my house that doesn't involve anything permanent. (I live in a rental). After perusing pinterest for a while I found this!


I then decided that this is what I would do today. Instead of you know...cleaning.

First you're going to need a few things.

• Printer/Stencil
• Exacto knife
• mod podge
• Old magazines
• Glue stick/tape (optional)

I had a few BH&G and a few artsy music magazines laying around. I first printed out the words that I wanted to use and laid each letter out on top of the page I decided to use.  I glued down the outer corners of the PAGE (NOT the letters) so that the paper would not slide around.  

Next I cut out each letter with my exacto knife.

After you're going to want to plan out the order and spacing. Then take some mod-podge (Here's a homemade recipe) and stick them up on the wall.


I haven't had them long so I'm not sure of the staying power but it will not ruin the wall itself. My mod-podge is basically Elmer's school glue and water.

I think I might paste some neat designs in the living room as well!