Kris & Larry at Scrapwarrior

Our Organized Linen Closet

Trying to organize the 7 of us has, at times, been an EPIC FAIL! There are certain things however that I really keep organized, because it makes our life just a bit easier! And trust me when I say that this is easy to maintain as well. Even my kids, when helping with laundry, can find the correct baskets to put items away with this system.

My linen closet is one of the most important things that I do organize. I always have the fear that someone in the middle of the night will get sick and I will need to change the sheets, but can’t find any fitted sheets or any pillow cases. I can just imagine myself trying to comfort a crying child while DIGGING through the closet, just making myself even more flustered. I still cannot imagine the horror that I would go through and would probably wake up the entire household in the process.

I started out by picking up a few of the $3 laundry baskets from the dollar store. They fit directly on my shelves in my linen closet. I also picked up 2 gallon zippy storage bags at the store. A twin set of sheets fit perfectly in these – I know BRILLIANT! I fold down all matching sheet sets – the fitted, the flat and the matching pillowcase along with a dryer sheet and fit it into the zippy bag. I then throw these into one of the laundry baskets in the closet. This basket is now the matching sheet basket!!! What an easy grab if I need to change sheets in the middle of the night (or any time for that matter!).

The kids pull their sheets off of their bed on their laundry day (another post on this next week) and grab a new sheet bag from the closet. The empty bag goes back in the basket so once I wash and dry their old set, it gets folded right back into the bag and bask into the basket in the closet. The rotation begins! And everything stays neat and tidy in my closet for the next person, the very next day to grab their new set of sheets.

I found some twin comforter sets at Target for $10 (marked down from $69.99) so I bought 4 and have left those in the bags. (For those who didn’t already know, my husband and I are on a waiting list for both foster kids and foster adoption along with emergency intake of kiddlings for singles and siblings 12 years and under, boy or girl) I wanted to have something new for new family members. The bags that those comforters come in are useful for my organizing. And will come out of the bags once we get kids. Those sets will go back into the bags if the kids don’t stay with us permanent.

I also have a laundry basket in the closet for just table clothes, baby blankets, afghans for the living room snuggle time, extra pillow cases, etc.

We change our table clothes at least once a day in the dining room sometimes twice or more. My kids are messy eaters! But, the table clothes do cover up my old table that needs refinishing. I don’t bag up table clothes like I do sheets, but I do fold them and keep them in their own basket. A HA! The Table Cloth basket! We even have smaller baskets in my pantry for our cloth napkins (don’t use paper in this house).

After the organization got going, I got rid of any sheets that I did have all 3 pieces except for the extra pillow cases. Goodwill was more than happy to take them, although, I wish now that I kept many of them to make skirts and dolls for my girls.

3rd batch DONE! WOWWIE! I can not believe that we are in April and I am still on my initial $30 investment on soap. Here is the recipe ALL OVER AGAIN! ENJOY and hopefully you can see the savings that we have. This batch, we added an extra gallon of water to the mixture and it is still feeling and smelling just as clean!

*********

December 28, 2010 – Our first batch is just about used up – 11 weeks later for a family of 7 – not too bad – I will NEVER go back to store bought. I love how my clothes feel and smell and the amount money that we saved!!! WOWWIE! – NOTE: Stir twice a day for the first week after making it and it won’t be lumpy and will look like store bought laundry soap!!  Also – I added 2T of essential oils on the second batch

**********

I have been hearing from a handful of my friends on how they make their own laundry soap and LOVE it.

I am game for saving money and knowing EXACTLY what is in items that we use.

Here are the ingredients and step by step.

Ingredients:

• 5 gallon bucket (reusable for additional batches) I picked mine up at the Chino Valley Ace Hardware
• 1 whole bar of soap (used Ivory- it was really soft and easy to grate)
• 1 cup Washing Soda – I found this at Chino Valley Ace Hardware (not at Walgreens or Safeway)
• 1/2 cup Borax – Found this at both Safeway and at Ace Hardware
• 3 Gallons (48 cups of water) plus 4 additional cups of water
• 1 tablespoon Essential Oil (OPTIONAL) – I get mine off of the Internet – www.WFMed.com however you can get them from your local health food store.

Directions:

1. Boil 4 cups of water
2. Grate bar of soap and add to boiling water
3. Stir until dissolved (took about 4 minutes.)
4. Add 3 Gallons of warm / hot water to your 5 gallon bucket. (3 gallons = 48 Cups)
5. Add the dissloved soap to the bucket and stir
6. Add 1 cup of washing soap and stir for 2+ minutes with a long handled spoon until dissolved
7. Add 1/2  cup borax and stir until dissolved (about 3 minutes)
8. OPTIONAL: add 1T of essential oil and stir. (I used lavender for our first batch)
9. Place lid on tight and let it sit overnight.

Rowan kept insisting that this was white cheese:

Add the grated soap to 4 cups of boiling water:

Shelby was my official “stirir”:

Looks like really soapy water right now, however tomorrow it will be a very lumpy gel: (photos to come)

*********

December 28, 2010 – Our first batch is just about used up – 11 weeks later for a family of 7 – not too bad – I will NEVER go back to store bought. I love how my clothes feel and smell and the amount money that we saved!!! WOWWIE! – NOTE: Stir twice a day for the first week after making it and it won’t be lumpy and will look like store bought laundry soap!!  Also – I added 2T of essential oils on the second batch

**********

I have been hearing from a handful of my friends on how they make their own laundry soap and LOVE it.

I am game for saving money and knowing EXACTLY what is in items that we use.

Here are the ingredients and step by step.

Ingredients:

• 5 gallon bucket (reusable for additional batches) I picked mine up at the Chino Valley Ace Hardware
• 1 whole bar of soap (used Ivory- it was really soft and easy to grate)
• 1 cup Washing Soda – I found this at Chino Valley Ace Hardware (not at Walgreens or Safeway)
• 1/2 cup Borax – Found this at both Safeway and at Ace Hardware
• 3 Gallons (48 cups of water) plus 4 additional cups of water
• 1 tablespoon Essential Oil (OPTIONAL) – I get mine off of the Internet – www.WFMed.com however you can get them from your local health food store.

Directions:

1. Boil 4 cups of water
2. Grate bar of soap and add to boiling water
3. Stir until dissolved (took about 4 minutes.)
4. Add 3 Gallons of warm / hot water to your 5 gallon bucket. (3 gallons = 48 Cups)
5. Add the dissloved soap to the bucket and stir
6. Add 1 cup of washing soap and stir for 2+ minutes with a long handled spoon until dissolved
7. Add 1/2  cup borax and stir until dissolved (about 3 minutes)
8. OPTIONAL: add 1T of essential oil and stir. (I used lavender for our first batch)
9. Place lid on tight and let it sit overnight.

Rowan kept insisting that this was white cheese:

Add the grated soap to 4 cups of boiling water:

Shelby was my official “stirir”:

Looks like really soapy water right now, however tomorrow it will be a very lumpy gel: (photos to come)