my new laundry room

Call me crazy if you want but...

I've made my own laundry detergent and line drying our clothes for the past month...and I LOVE IT!  

I found the washing powder recipe on Pinterest.  All the ingredients costed me $26 (The Purex crystals are for scent, so it's optional if saving that $9 is necessary for you.  I love the smell though.)  The savings will come when you see how long this batch will last.  I'm guessing for us that that one will batch will last around 6 months.  (We do about 6 full loads/week.)  All the ingredients were found at Walmart in the laundry isle, except the baking soda.  

• 1- 4 lb box of Borax ($3)
• 1- 3 lb box Arm & Hammer washing soda ($3)
• 1- 3 lb tub of Oxy Clean ($8)
• 2- bars Fels Naptha Soap finely grated ($2)
• 2- 14oz boxes Baking Soda ($1)
• 1- 55oz bottle Purex Crystals blue~for scent ($9)

Use 1/4 cup per load.

After grating the soap, mix all ingredients together outside and your done!  I had a sweet little helper who LOVED mixing with me.

I understand that I might be a little strange but I love seing our clothes hanging.  I usually load the washer before I go to bed at night, turn it on as soon as I wake up the next morning.  By the time I finish running & showering it's done washing.  I set the timer on my phone for 5 minutes as I throw the clothes in the dryer on high heat.  This releases the wrinkles and prevents them from being stiff after I get them off the line.  After the 5 minutes in the dryer, I go hang them.  It's very quiet and peaceful in the mornings.  Gives me time to clear my head.  I really enjoy it when I'm out there hanging.  As I hang, I'm also sorting, so when I take them down everything is in order.  

It cracks me up how many times we've been asked if our dryer is broke. 

Only negatives so far is mosquitoes (bug-spray!) and watching the forecast.  So far I haven't been caught in the rain yet, although these dark clouds have me worried at times.  However, it isn't the end of the world if it does rain.  Clothes aren't ruined, just aren't dried.  No biggie.

I have about 150 wooden clothes pins.  I let the girls paint some of them one afternoon to make them pretty.  

 I made this cute little apron to hold my clothes pins as I hang.

I usually have 2 adorable little angels helping me or playing while I'm doing laundry.  I purposefully put one line low for little helpers. Hardly even feels like a chore anymore.  

I love my new outdoor laundry room.  

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