365 Day Photo Challenge for December 4th till December 24th

Hi everyone... Here are my photos for the 365 day photo challenge...because I'm about 3 weeks behind so far...I'll just be posting the photos without any commentaries or dates...just 21 photos taken during that three week time period. You'll be able to tell fairly quickly what most of my time was spent doing..outside of work of course.  If you have comments or questions...you are always welcome to ask or leave a comment here :) :) The last photo....I was really hungry!!! Sorry...crazy life...and then blogger wouldn't  upload any of  my photos in the order I wanted them today !!!
Ready, set...go!!!

The last few weeks have been super busy.  So I don't really have much to say today. Sorry y'all....just need some time to relax :) :) That's the news from Oregon today. Love and hugs, Heather :)

Pink ZOTE Soap Makes Fabulous Homemade Laundry Powder

Hi everyone,
Okay, so one of the things that I've gotten sidetracked from is talking about how a single girl like myself budgets and makes things work or do without. Or to phrase it better how I have champagne taste and still manage to live on a soda pop can budget. Oh, no I don't drink..but you know  what I mean about having an eye for luxury, but still living on a budget :) :) :) 

This is a sweet little place that I spotted while out driving yesterday (Wednesday) with my father. It is actually an equestrian center. Isn't so beautiful and red with the typical Oregon skies? I would so love to have a place of my own just like this someday.

Do you remember me mentioning pink ZOTE soap? It's a soap that's made in Mexico. Apparently most  of my friends can buy it near them, except for me. So when I discovered the Lehman's in Kidron, Ohio sells it..well, I was very happy!!!  They are a fabulous business that caters to Amish and non-Amish. It's got all kinds of things for every need. I'd recommend browsing around their online website and even ordering a catalog or two. it's well worth the price :) :)

So I decided to purchase some of this soap. A really sweet blogger lady, Maryjane over at The Beehive Cottage has this fabulous recipe for pink homemade laundry powder.  In fact, I think it was because of her that I went in search of this wonderful product in the first place. So I'll give you the recipe here as well as the cost of materials. 

First you need ingredients, plus a few extras. You will need one full 4-pound box EACH of BORAX, Baking Soda and Washing Soda.  Borax and Baking Soda are very easy to find in just about EVERY store.  It's funny to think that one of my cleaning supply ingredients is actually found in the baking aisle, but hey, who am I to complain? Baking soda has many fabulous uses. Washing soda  is a bit harder for me to find. However, I can readily find it at my local Fred Meyer store in the laundry supplies section, right next to the BORAX. Here's a nicer bullet-point list of what you'll need to start:

- 1, 4-lb box of Borax
- 1, 4-lb box of Baking Soda
   (I use Arm & Hammer brand)
- 1, 4-lb box of Super Washing Soda
   (again, I use Arm & Hammer brand)
- 1 1/3 bars of pink ZOTE soap, 14.1oz/bar
   (or 3 full bars of Fels Naptha)
- 1 air-tight container large  enough to hold all this laundry powder.  I used a Rubbermaid container that holds 9.5 gallons...large!!!

I had read that these bars of soap are big. However, no one told me how HUGE each individual bar really is. Each bar is the size of a small brick. That is my hand holding a single bar of this pretty soap :)  :) :)

You will only need 1 1/3 bars of pink ZOTE soap for this recipe. Yes, it really is enough and  when you see for yourself how large  these bars really are, then you will understand why you only need that much. Each bar of pink ZOTE soap is 14.1 ounces.  You will need a knife to slice the soap into sections. I used a standard butter knife. The soap was extremely easy to slice since it has a minimum fatty acid content of 66%. You don't have to use pink ZOTE soap, any other soap of your choice would be fine...just make sure it's about 18 oz, give or take an ounce. You could also use three bars of Fels Naptha or another bar soap of your choice.

You will need something to grate the soap. I started out with a traditional grater. However, this soap is so soft, I switched to my rotating cheese grater from Pampered Chef. Note, I only use this grater for soap now and nothing else. You could probably use it for grating soap and cheese as long as you washed it really well in between. However, I prefer to designate my grater for soap ONLY!!! I did cut the pink ZOTE soap into sections to make it easier to use in this grater.

When you are all done grating the soap, this is what it looks like. It looks like finely grated cheese. I use a grate that is fine for parmesan cheese or something slightly softer. I don't think it really matters as long as it's finely grated. It'll also break up a little bit more when you mix it in with the other ingredients.

Then you mix in a full 4-lb box EACH of Borax, super washing soda and baking soda. Mix it all together well. I use a fork, but a spoon would work just as well.  Isn't this just about the "prettiest" homemade laundry powder you ever saw?  This makes nearly  16 pounds of soap all together. Actually more like 13-14 lbs. It only takes 2 Tablespoons per load of laundry. That's all you need.

I did read that if you have an HE front-loader washer, dissolve 1-2 Tablespoons in warm water to form a liquid. Then you can add it to the machine and it'll work fine. I've never tried that since I still use a tradition top-loading washer.  However, if you tend to wash your clothes with cold water, you could still do the same thing of dissolving the soap in just enough warm water until it becomes a liquid. Then add it to your cold water wash.

That's basically it. Now what did all of this cost me?  Not a lot at all...  Since I had to order the pink ZOTE soap from Lehman's , there was the matter of standard delivery shipping. Shipping was $7.95 from Lehman's. Remember, I did order something else..so I did some math and figured that the shipping for the soap alone would have worked out to about $2.07 cents for three bars of pink ZOTE soap. Okay, here's a breakdown list of what I used and what it cost me:

--- 1, 4 lb box of BORAX $4.49
--- 1, 4 lb box of Super Washing Soda $ 3.19
      (I used Arm & Hammer brand)
--- 1, 4 lb box of Baking Soda $2.99
      (again...I used Arm & Hammer brand)
--- 1 1/3 bars of pink ZOTE soap ca $1.76
      NOTE: 3 bars of pink ZOTE soap from Lehman's catalog cost $3.95. That's a GREAT deal. So 1 1/3 bars of this soap is about $1.76

This recipe is supposed to last for 150 loads of washing. That is a LOT of dirty laundry. So if I do NOT factor in the shipping I paid for soap, that would be:

$12.43 for EVERYTHING together
$0.08 cents/load

If I DO factor in the cost of shipping that would be:
$14.50 for EVERYTHING together (including shipping)
$0.10 cents/load

So I'll definitely be keeping track of this as the weeks go by...and when I've finally used up that last lovely tablespoon of pink laundry soap, there'll be a final tally to see what it really cost me.  Thanks for hanging in there with me. I  love talking about unit cost, especially when things are tight financially. This really helps me a lot.  I'm all about figuring out ways to get the job done for less and making my dollar stretch as far as it can!!! Oh, in case, I don't "see" some of you until the new year, I want to wish you all a very Happy CHRISTmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year !!! That's the news from Oregon today. Love and hugs, Heather :)