Frugal or Bored?

So last weekend I spent ALONE! Hubs spent the weekend with his parents and the kids. I needed to regroup - I was a mess, both personally and housely (look - I made up a word). I needed to get a grip. I ran errands, tidied things, cleaned, threw a ton of crap out, ran the washer until it begged for mercy, and made laundry detergent.

Ever since I read that Trent from The Simple Dollar made his own laundry detergent, I've been intrigued. I didn't use his recipe because I prefer powder and have always sworn by Tide with Bleach. Instead, I found a recipe that uses washing powder (1/4 cup), borax (1/4 cup) and shredded soap (1 bar). I have a habit of stealing soap from hotels, so I made my detergent with some pretty nice smelling soaps. I made the mistake of throwing a bar of glycerin soap in the food processer, so I can only use it for the linens. I use cold water for all other loads and I don't anticipate the soap melting in the water.

I anxiously awaited my first load. It worked really great! Once I finish the quadruple batch I made (why start with one batch? I had so many bars of soap to shred), I'll probably make more. By making my own soap in a really short amount of time, I am saving at least $60 a year. It's not a lot of money, but it's part of the larger savings we're hoping to accomplish. Every penny we save is closer to the financial freedom we are working towards. Ok - if I'm honest, it's closer to the obscenely lavish trip to Greece I want when we pay off the mortgage in a couple of years.