Sick ones and laundry soap

The girls have been nursing these in the last few days..........

......and their bodies have spent many hours here, for Influenza B has wiped their little bodies OUT! I have watched numerous video's over the last few months on children in Ethiopia {gut wrenching} & am SO very thankful for our health care here in America, {don't get me wrong....I've had many a complaint about the way medical practices are run} thankful for medicine to heal my babies.

Due to the germs flowing through this house and vomit spewing over blankets a LOT of laundry has taken place in the Hughes home over the last few days. WHICH left me laundry detergentless.....with sick kids......with a husband at work.......with no way to leave the house for more.

*Lets back up a couple weeks: purchased everything needed to make my own laundry and dishwasher detergent. Made the dishwasher detergent that next day cause we ran out of our normal detergent that next day! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I found the recipe through Kelley, a fellow Chattanoogan blogger! I will TOTALLY agree with her & will reinforce the use of white vinegar in the rinse aid dispenser! Makes a HUGE difference in getting all those granules off! It's equal portions of both the Borax and Super Washing Soda so I just filled up a Mason Jar full and have it ready at all times! SO CHEAP AND WORKS WELL!! I still had enough laundry detergent to get me through a couple weeks so I put that on hold. UNTIL the 1st vomit episode which sent me straight to the kitchen to get this SUPER EASY concoction whipped up! I found my recipe here from the much loved Amanda Soule~

She recommends using Dr Bonner's Soaps and since we've used it in the past & love it I followed suit

Next 3 ingredients are: Borax, regular baking soda {not pictured}, and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda {after driving to several stores a friend recommended Ace Hardware & sure enough there it was....call 1st cause not all stores carry this....you're welcome for learning from my stupidity!}

Grate the soap {she says 1 1/2 bars of soap equals the 2 cups needed but I found both bars equalled 2 cups....so I could use a little help from anyone out there who has already done this: is it 2 cups grated or 2 cups post food processor?}

Dump in the processor {it looked like mozzarella cheese}

& VIOLA you're ready for some clothes washing!

{found this container at the thrift store for $1}

For now I just started with a single recipe to test it out, making sure I liked the way it cleaned but I foresee this jar getting filled to the brim with the next round!

My review thus far is......it works! It cleaned the popsicle vomit {sorry for icky visual!} off the WHITE blanket so I'd say it's a keeper! Haven't yet had to try on on tough dirt stains so maybe I'll need to have a follow up review! I will also reinforce what Amanda says in giving the jar a shake here and there to get everything evenly distributed......the soaps wants to nestle down together!