The Best Laundry Soap Ever!

My very good friend Micheal gave me this recipe she found on http://www.tipnut.com/. The best part is that it is so inexpensive! So here is the recipe:

1 Bar of Fels Naptha

1 Cup of Borax

1 Cup of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda


Grate the Fels Naptha and then run it through a food processor to get it to as close to a powder consistency as you can. **Caution! It does look like grated cheese, so don't let your little ones eat it!

Add all of the ingredients together and run it through your food processor one more time. Then pour it all into an airtight container.

Here's the best part...

It only takes 2 Tablespoons per

Large load of laundry!

I'm Living in CHAOS, Help FlyLady!

My house is in CHAOS, which in FlyLady (http://www.flylady.com/) is “Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome”. Well, that used to work for us. After all, we have pretty much told everyone we know to call first before you ‘pop in’. We used to leave the house a mess during the work week, and then scramble to make it livable during the weekend. It’s not working anymore, due to our awesome new neighbors.

I really like our new neighbors. They are really nice, they have helped us with our landscaping needs, they are our age, we’ve chatted a lot, but the biggest thing, by far, is that they also have a 3 year old girl, Jaylyn. Well, I REALLY underestimated how much that would change the dynamic around our house. Jaylyn is at our house a lot now and the kids are no longer happy with just playing in the yard. So, we have started to change our ways.

I have to admit that I really struggle with the work/home/kids/husband balance. It always seems like one of the categories is far outweighing the other. When my house is clean I feel like I’ve either neglected the kids or my own rest. When I work too much, it all gets neglected. When I focus just on the kids or, even, just myself, the house and work get neglected. Ugh!

A long time ago, before all the drama, I tried a system that the FlyLady had espoused for awhile. And, for awhile it worked. So, I am going back to her and doing my baby steps. I want to be able to have Jaylyn over, or even her parents, at any time and not cringe when they have to step around those baskets full of clean clothes.

Jon and I have talked a bit about this too. He’s been really working hard to make sure the outside is up to par with our new neighbors. After all, the guy is a landscaper.

We want the kids to always be able to bring anyone home and hang out without having to rush around and clean before they come over each time. We want to be that family that all the kids want to hang out at our house (so we can keep an eye on them).

It will certainly take some changes on our part, but I think we can do it. Wish me luck!