Goals updated.

Personal
~ In bed by 9:30 - up by 6am (during the week)  -- Not so much this summer, buy hey, I can sleep in.  I know, I know, I know, that's not the point.  But. Well. It is what it is.  Besides, school is starting soon, so it's back to the habit.
~ Treadmill 4x/week -- I have been doing pretty good with this one. YAY!!
~ Work on photo albums 2x/month -- aggh!  Gotta get on this!
~ Find more ways to perform service for others -- this has been fun, and I am ever working on this.
~ More gratitude in my heart -- still working on this.
~ Cut back to part time work -- I thought I had this lined up, but the powers that be said no.  So now I am looking at other options.  In the mean time, my husband lost his job, so we need to find him a new job so I can look at going part time.

Family/Marriage/Mother
~ Family Time each Sunday afternoon -- We have been doing this about 2x/month. 
~ Miss M plays outside the house 2x/week  -- This has worked out better than I thought it would. And during the summer, she was outside nearly everyday.  Our summer mantra: the dirtier you are, the more fun you've had.
~ Date night w/sweetie 2x/month -- a little better.  It's happening every 4-6 weeks.  
~ Christmas gifts all ready for wrapping by Thanksgiving.  (Usually I do this, but this year I was behind and it was too stressful for me with last minute gift buying.)  -- I have started to get some gifts ready and am about half way done.  I hope to have it finished up by October.

Homemaking
~ Continue to work on being organized by following 52 weeks to an organized home  --aggh!!  Hard, hard, hard.
~ Redo kitchen  -- yep! Pictures will come when it is completely finished.
~ Paint the downstairs   -- we painted the kitchen and downstairs bath.  Not sure if we will get to the dining and living rooms.
~ Try two new habits to be more 'green.'  Habit 1 -- use reusable bags for groceries -- it has been hit and miss.  I need to prepare more so it will happen.  Habit 2 -- use a bleach alternative.  I have found a great recipe that I like. It just uses hydrogen perozide and lemon juice. Click here for the recipe.
~ Host another community garden -- This didn't happen this year.  There were too many other things going on.  We will try again next year. 
~ get ride of (donate/sell/throw out) 50 boxes of stuff -- We had a garage sale in June which helped to get rid of many items.  I have donated/sold/threw out about 25 boxes of items now. Half way done! YAY! 

Financial
~ Pay off medical bill -- little by little, bit by bit.  We are wanting to have it paid off by the end of the year.  This is coming along and we should have it paid off by October.
~ Increase monthly savings amounts for retirement & emergency funds -- Yes! Yes! and Yes!
~ Pay cash for our vacation to Colombia -- due to my husband's job loss, this has been tabled for later. Perhaps next year.

And, achieving goals, my friends, is 

Saving $ with the laundry

I need to be frank with you. Money in our household is tight. VERY tight!---- So I have learned to make my dollars stretch as farrrrrrrrrrr as they can. One of the things I do is make homemade laundry soap and stain remover.  There are many different kinds of soap, and multiple recipes.  Below is the recipe that I make with pictures to show.

the ingredients

Laundry Detergent Recipe:

* 1/3 bar of grated Nels Fels, Fels Naptha, Ivory or Zote soap

* 1/2 cup washing soda --- note: it is washing soda, not baking soda

* 1/2 cup Borax

 
 
Grate the soap and mix with 6 cups water in a big pot.  Bring to a boil and cook until the soap is all melted.

melting the soap

 Add the soda and Borax. Stir until all is melted and mixed well. Turn off stove and have pot sit for a minute. 

the soda, borax and soap mixture

 In a bucket, pour 4 cups HOT water.  Then pour soap-soda-borax mixture in. Mix. Add 1 gallon + 6 cups water.  

the mixture in a bucket with more water being added

mixing up the mixture

I usually pour into used laundry containers.  Let sit over night. The soap will become a semi-solid globby (egg-noodly-soupy) mixture. Use 1/2 Cup with a full load of laundry

Notes: 

a. there are not a lot of suds with this soap. So if you don't see any, that is fine. Soap does clean without suds.

b. If you want to have a scent to you soap, add some essential or fragrance oil.  1/2 to 1 ounce per batch.

c. for High Efficiency (HE) Front-Load Washers: I have done some research on the internet and have found that this soap is safe. HE washers require special soap because they use less water and thus use less sudsy soap, which this recipe is for.
d. all of these can be found at your grocery store in the laundry detergent aisle, especially if the store caters to shoppers who cook more from scratch than prepared meals. If you can't find it, just ask a clerk.

Here is a link for even more recipes, including dry recipes that you don't have to cook:  http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/

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Homemade stain spray is even easier. I love this and have found it gets out even the yuckiest of stains.

1 C. ammonia

1 C. dish soap

1 C. water.

Pour into spray bottle. Shake a few times to mix before spraying on clothes. This is not a good recipe for pretreating clothes.  It works best when clothes are sprayed just before being washed.

Yep! that's it and it's ready to go. I like to add a marble to my spray bottle to help mix up the mixture.

I am not sure the cost savings, as I buy most of these items in the fall during our case lot sales. but I saw on one blog post that the store bought laundry soap costs about $0.30/load while homemade soap costs $0.01/ load.  The cost of the stain remover is about $0.50/spray bottle full vs. about $3.00 a store bought bottle.  Next fall, I will save my receipts and do my own calculations.

And stretching those dollars to fit your budget, is my friends,