Laundry Soap

I have been wanting to make my own laundry soap for awhile now but I had a stockpile of Rockin Green (which I love, but is pricey!) that I had purchased through a co-op buy for quite a good deal. I realized today that the stockpile had come to an end. Time to either buy more soap or make some. No more procrastinating!
I was very particular about finding a powder recipe as I can't stand liquid soap, and I settled on this one from TipNut. Very simple, very easy and very cost effective.

1 Cup Washing Soda
1 Cup Borax
2 Bars of Ivory Soap, grated

Of course I used my Vitamix :) It grated the soap up quite well, then I mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl and in small batches put it back into the Vitamix to blend it up thoroughly. The whole process took me less then 15 minutes. I'd say that's less time then reading all the labels in the grocery store trying to find a soap that doesn't have a ton of chemicals in it!
It says to use 2 Tbsp. per load. I will probably use 1 because I have my Norwex Magnet Ball that allows me to use about half the amount of any soap!

Now, the cost breakdown, be prepared for a lot of numbers. I like to be thorough!

(If I had planned ahead I'm sure I could have gotten some of these things on sale, but the fact that I found everything I needed in a small town grocery store is good enough for me today!)

Including GST
Washing Soda, 3kg: $7.32, 1 Cup = 240g = $0.586/cup
Borax, 2kg: $7.34, 1 Cup = 170g = $0.624/cup
Ivory Soap, 3 bars: $2.30, 1 Bar = $0.767/bar x 2 bars = $1.533


Total Soap Made = 3 Cups, 558g = $2.743

Regular Use, 2 Tbsp = 22g = $0.108/load

Magnet Ball Use, 1 Tbsp = 11g = $0.054/load (I feel this price could drastically be cut down if I planned ahead and bought everything on sale)

I haven't tried this on a load of wash yet since all my laundry is caught up (hence realizing I was running out of soap today!). But never fear, testing will commence soon! Laundry is unfortunately accumulating as we speak :)

I will post a usage review soon, and if it works then my next task is to find a dishwasher soap recipe that works as well!

VITAMIX!!

"Vitamix!" is what I found myself shrieking as the doorbell rang yesterday. This coming from someone who doesn't usually become overly emotional about anything caused my husband and children to laugh at me all day. I don't care. My Vitamix is here!

If you remember (or care) I bought a juicer last summer. I loved it, but it took a lot of effort to clean, a lot of fruit and veggies to get a good glass of juice and some veggies just don't taste nice when juiced lol. I decided I wanted a Vitamix. They are not cheap so I started selling kitchen items I don't use anymore. First to go was my wheat grinder attachment for the kitchen aid. I had ground wheat in it once and because gluten is glue you can never get rid of the dust in a machine like that especially one that doesn't go in the dishwasher. So I sold it! Next to go was my bread maker. Although it did have a gluten free setting, again it's one of those no dishwasher hard to clean items that I wasn't willing to risk. And I make bread at least 2 loaves at a time to keep up with my family, so out it went. Next was the juicer. Once I sold the juicer I gleefully clicked 'buy' on the Vitamix website and waited somewhat patiently. I opted for a reconditioned one for a couple of reasons. They are cheaper (Number 1 reason!), they still have a 7 year warranty, and although it didn't come with the optional cups (dry grinding cup etc.), they can be added later. (The packages that included those cups were alot more!) I wanted to make sure I would use it before I went overboard. The biggest downside is they only come in white, not really a problem for me!

I am replacing a blender I bought at a liquidation store for $10 almost 10 years ago, and I am in love! 

I had to go write a test yesterday and was gone most of the afternoon and I had to finish a paper in the morning so I didn't really get to experiment until last night except for making a smoothie for breakfast. It is an AMAZING machine! I started at just before 8pm and I made a smoothie for hubby's lunch for today, guacamole, soup, and sorbet! All by just after 930pm!

My 1 Day Review

What I like so far

1. Easy to clean 

  - Just fill part way with water and add a few drops of soap. Blend for a few seconds until clean!

2. Actually blends

  - No more chewing parts of the smoothie!

3. Makes hot soup

  - Not lukewarm, an actual nice hot eating temperature! In only 4 minutes!

4. Blends ice

  - Properly! No chewy pieces in the sorbet I made.

5. Makes healthy taste good

  - The sorbet I made had only 1 Tbsp. of sugar in it and I made enough for 3 adults to have a nice amount.

6. Provides quick meal options

  - Soup in literally less then 15 minutes including prep (baking potatoes in the microwave). This is especially important since we lost all quick meal options when we went gluten free!

What I don't like so far (And I'm reaching here to find anything lol!)

1. High speed is really loud

  - But that's kind of to be expected considering how powerful it is at that speed!

2. It's tall

  - It doesn't fit under my cupboards with the jar and the lid on, but I don't really care. It will fit if I leave the lid off. 

All in all I'm thoroughly impressed! Hubby was slightly skeptical about it when I first started talking about it, but as always humored me in my new found kitchen fascination. Last night he was impressed. He said it definitely exceeded his expectations. He was most impressed by the soup. The fact that steam was coming off the soup when it was done blending was the deal sealer!

If you are on the fence about whether this blender is worth it, in my opinion it is definitely worth it!. I have to do more experimenting, but I forsee it replacing my food processor, and possibly even my stand mixer! I have peanuts and pumpkin seeds sitting on the counter ready to make peanut butter and pumpkin seed butter later today...eee...sooooo excited! And after that, rice milk (made waaaay easier then what I was doing before), seeing how it mixes my gluten free bread, different smoothies and soups, and lots more!

On that note, no more typing. My Vitamix is calling my name. I`m off to blend! I think we are going to eat soup a lot this week :)