Homemade Laundry Liquid

Laundry Liquid

1 cup of Homemade Soap grated or 1 cup Lux Flakes

1/2 cup Borax

1/2 cup Washing Soda (fine not like rock salt)

Water

Saucepan

Wooden spoon 

10 litre bucket 

1. Add ingredients to 1 1/2 litres of water in a saucepan.

2. Put it on a gentle heat and stir until ingredients dissolved then remove from heat.

3. Pour melted ingredients into a bucket. Fill bucket with 8 litres of cold water. Stir and leave for 24 hours. 

4. Bucket will be full of gel with some floating bits. Use a electric mixing stick to dissolve floating bits if you like.

5. Pour into labeled containers to store or well washed milk containers. Leave some space in the container as you need to gently shake before you use. Store out of reach of children.  

10 litres of Cold Power laundry liquid from Woolworths is $70 ($6.99 per litre)
10 litres of homemade laundry liquid is $1.75!!

I love that my clothes are clean, don't smell chemically and don't make my skin itch!

To use: 

Add 1/4 of a cup to machine. If really dirty load add a little more. It works great in cold wash.

I use vinegar in the rinse cycle as a softener and to remove any odours. 

Homemade Plum Jam

Plum Jam

Large heavy based pot

4 small jam jars

1 large jar

Spatula spoon or wooden spoon

2 plates

1.2 kg of plums cut in half. Seeds still in.

1.2 kg of castor sugar

Juice of 1 small lemon

400 ml water 

1. Cook the plums with water until tender about 15 to 20 minutes. Once the sugar is added the skin will not soften any further. Put two plates in the fridge to cool down if you don't have a cooking thermometer.

2. Take pot off the heat, add sugar and stir until dissolved. This keeps the fruit from breaking up any more. 

3. Add juice of 1 small lemon. Bring to boil quickly and boil vigorously about 10-15 minutes (without stirring) OR until setting point is reached 105 degrees celsius. Remove from heat and take off any scum (foamy bubbles from boiling at a high temperature.)

If you don't have a thermometer:

Put a teaspoon of hot jam onto one of the cold  plates. After a minute push it with your finger. When small ripples appear it is at setting point. If it doesn't set boil jam for five more minutes and repeat. 

4. Set aside to cool for 20 mins and sterilise your jars. I wash jars in hot soapy water and use our electric baby bottle steriliser. Most people wash jars with hot soapy water and place in a 120 degree Celsius (fan forced) pre heated oven for 20 minutes.

5. Take jars out of oven and immediately spoon jam into jars 1/8th of an inch from the top. Add lids and rings (1/4 turn undone) and turn upside down to ensure the lid pops in. When completely cool test the seal on the lid is good checking the lid has popped in and tighten the ring completely. 

Label jars with name and month and year made. Store plum jam in a cool, dry place. Use within one year. 

Homemade Soap

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

I made my first batch of soap using Rhonda's recipe from her fantastic blog at down---to---earth.blogspot.com.au

I have sensitive skin, and I'm not a fan of how store brought soap feels on your skin after you wash your hands, so I took the plunge and made my own. Soap making seemed very daunting to start with so I have tried to make everything really clear and detailed. Once you make it the first time it's no trouble at all!

Ingredients:

450 mls Demineralised Water

172 grams Caustic Soda

1000grams Olive Oil

250 grams Copha cut into cubes

(Be super super careful with Caustic Soda! If will burn through skin, bench etc. I advise using glasses, gloves and long sleeved shirt to start with. Also stay away from bowl when you add water to it so your not breathing in the fumes and don't do with children or pets around)

Equipment:

Newspaper - put down on bench first 

Scales - measure everything in grams except water

Large glass bowl - measure Caustic soda in this (zero bowl on scales first)

Large stainless steel saucepan - measure oil/copha (zero saucepan on scales first) and put in here

Pyrex bowl - measure water in here (zero bowl on scales first)

Wooden spoon

Cooking thermometer 

Wooden spatula 

Soap moulds - grease using vehetable oil or spray oil (I found these plastic ones for $2 or use silicon loaf pan/silicon muffin pan)

1. Set up newspaper and measure out all ingrediants into their bowls/saucepan

2. Put saucepan on low heat with thermometer clipped on the side. It needs to get to 50 degrees celsius.

3. Carefully pour measured water into the large glass bowl with caustic soda in it. Stir slowly using a wooden spoon. It will be white and fumes will come off as it bubbles and heats up. Stir carefully until it's clear. 

4. As caustic soda/water cools down the oil is heating up. When they are both 50 degrees celsius pour the oil into the soda/water. Use the hand mixer on the low speed on the bottom of the bowl to mix for around 5 mins until it reaches trace. Trace is when it is thick enough that ripples formed on the surface stay put.

5. Now you can add any 100% pure essential oils in that you would like and stir well. I like to use lavender. Then pour into your greased moulds and leave out of reach of little ones for around 15 hours. If you do a single mould full of soap, put a folded tea towel on top to ensure it cools down slowly.

Clean up: Rinse everything the caustic soda came into contact with lots of cold water then wash as normal. To clean the soap bowl I make sure I scrape out as much as possible into the moulds with the spatula then wipe out with paper towel and just leave it. When I make soap or washing powder I use this large glass bowl. 

6. Tip your soap block out and cut up into any shape and place on a plastic coated wire rack as you need to leave it for 6 weeks to cure. This makes it harder so that it lasts a longer and ensures all the caustic soda is out of the soap. You need to turn your soap every day to ensure it dries evenly. If you use moulds and you find it hard to tip the soaps out, place them in the freezer for 5 mins and try again. Cure for 6 weeks as above.

Hints:
- buy equipment secondhand at an op-shop (stainless steel pot, wooden spoon, spatula, glass mixing bowl, container for soap mould) 
- I store all these things in a big plastic tub with a lid and use the equipment for making laundry liquid, soap, hand wash etc

Homemade Baby Wipes

This is easy, quick to do and most will have these things lying around the house. 

Need: 

Container

1 TBS Coconut oil 

1.5 cups Water

1/2 Tsp Organic baby wash/bath oil 

Paper towel cut in half

You need a container with a good seal like this 1.75 litre decore container. The paper towel I use is Viva's double thickness rolls. If you use a normal roll you may find you need less water. 

1. Add water, coconut oil (warm to melt if it's solid) and baby bath liquid to container and stir to combine. You could put two drops of essential oil in if you like. Sometimes I use lavender. 

2. Put your paper towel cut side down into the container with the liquid. 

3. Put the lid on and turn upside down and leave on the bench for 5 mins. 

4. Pull out the cardboard centre and they are ready to use! 

Cost of Coles brand fragrance free thick wipes $3 for 80. 

Cost of 120 homemade wipes = $1.20!

It all adds up and you know exactly what's on bubs skin.