Not your ordinary post

Lately I have become a huge fan of pintrest.  It's the only down time thing right now that I can squeeze into an evening.  :-)  It has become a huge source of information and one that has gotten my attention with recipes to money saving ideas.  Although not all my info. has come from the site it has sparked my interest enough to search online for resources.  First I would like to say I tried the Duggar Family's laundry detergent recipe and I have found it to be just as good as any commercial brand.  It doesn't however have the fancy scents that most commercial brands now have... you have to make it with essential oils to make it scented.  I have found adding essential oils to the smaller batches and to a rag for the dryer to work best. 

Here is a link to the recipe the products are very easy to find.  Or at least in our area I had no trouble finding all our supplies at Publix.  It took about 30-45 minutes and you can view youtube demos if you aren't too sure about making it.  It really is simple and once your finished it will be a long time before you have to make it again. 

http://www.duggarfamily.com/content/duggar_recipes/30455/homemade_liquid_laundry_soap_front_or_top_load_machine_best_value

The second thing that I found works great and is a huge money saver.  It's dishwasher soap.  Basically, all you do is buy Dollar General Dishwashing powder and mix equal parts of baking soda into a container.  I used one small box of baking soda (2 1/2 cups) with 2 1/2 cups of the DG dishwasher powder into a small pour spout pitcher.  Shake it up and use 1 tbsp in your powder compartment per load.  Then put a small squirt of Dawn dish soap on top.  In your jet dry compartment put 1-2 tbsps white vinegar.  You must use the white vinegar if you want spot free dishes.  I have had great success with this recipe and the only time I had a little residue on a dish was a pie pan that I baked chicken in..  the dish washed off easily with a little soap and water.  So no biggy.  But the rest of my dishes have been spotless and shiney.  A large thing of white vinegar is only a few dollars.  Your intial investment for the laundry is about $13 and the dishwasher is about $8.  Both of which will last you a really long time. 

I am in the process of trying out the fabric softner recipe to see if I like it or not.  I will let you all know. 

The boys are doing well.  I can't tell you how much they are growing and changing.  It's so fast that I actually used time out on Grayson today.  The first time ever.  He has such a temper and really needs to learn how to manage his out bursts.  So I thought it was time and you know it is working well.  Tomorrow or Monday I am going to actually write out a list of what's expected and what they will be rewarded for as well as what counts towards being punished.  We are making a REAL time out spot instead of using their high chairs.  This will be interesting because now they will be able to escape. lol  I use to use the old recliner for Braden and he did pretty good but it got ruined and I had to go back to the highchair.  So now it will be in the front entry.  I may be chasing them all week next week but hopefully it will get better as they get use to the new rules.