Homemade laundry detergent

I've been meaning to try this out for ages. Bob was reluctant when originally I told him about it - said he liked the smell of our normal detergent. But I've been using this homemade stuff for several weeks now and he hasn't even noticed! Shhh!! ;)

Super simple recipe*: 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax, 1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap (grated)

Sauvignon blanc and canine helper optional...

 

Mix. Use 1 tbsp per load of laundry.

 

As I said, I've been using this for a few weeks and it is working great. Clothes smell fresh, instead of scented. It removes dirt/stains just as well as our previous detergent and is much much cheaper.

* I got this recipe from another blog but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. I'll add the link later when I inevitably find it stalking home/diy blogs... from the Yellow Brick House blog!

Facelift for the front porch

Our front porch featured some DIY lattices, courtesy of the previous owners (one on by the door, and one at the end of the porch that the roses could grow up) However they were pretty rotted and needed to come down.

 

Dudley supervising...

I literally broke these apart with my bare hands

After!

I think the porch looks much cleaner and (obviously) open now. We will be putting in a new lattice for the roses at some point, but up next is scraping and repainting the wrought-iron railing...