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During my first pregnancy, I started to read everything I could get my hands on to fool myself into thinking I would be prepared for this new child, and mostly, I think to help the time go by faster.  It's amazing how simultaneously fast and slow pregnancy can be!  Anyway, in reading everything BABY I could find, I kept reading that baby skin is sensitive and that so many of the products we use daily like soaps, lotions, and shampoos could hurt a newborn.  I also read how even what I ate as a nursing mother would affect the baby.  I remember reading this science journal article that said studies found traces of chemicals and even antibiotics that are routinely given to cows, in children's bodies!  Alarmed, I began to look more closely at what we were using in our daily lives.  Everything from laundry detergent to the food we were eating, figuring that if it wasn't good for my baby, it wasn't good for my husband or myself either.

Our first-born, Joaquin, is now five and a half and our daughter, MariaBella is now two.  Our family journey towards a more thoughtful and sustainable way of life is in full swing :-)

Thinking back on things, I think the first changes I made in homemaking, were first, to wash everything in our house that was made of cloth and could possibly go into the washing machine with Dreft, likely the most famous "baby safe" laundry detergent out there.  Secondly, I changed what I put on the dinner table, choosing more organics and locally sourced seasonal foods.

"Playing House" as I like to think of my homemaking, is a journey that I am thoroughly enjoying (most days, especially ones somewhat free of crying or snot).  I am learning so much along the way and am hopeful that what I'm learning and doing as a wife, mother, and homemaker is somehow enriching my family's life and bodies.  I hope this blog serves as a reference tool for the neat things I learn along the way as well as a way to share with others some really cool (to me, at least) stuff!

About my first post on homemade liquid laundry soap: I've been purchasing Dreft, or something like it for almost seven years now.  We've been spending a fortune!  For a while, as my husband keeps asking me how I can reduce our monthly grocery expenditures, I've been struggling with buying products that say they are safe, natural, organic, you get the picture... because they are SO costly!  I would look at these lovely little bottles of pretty laundry soap in the store and think that we deserved to be good to our skin by avoiding harsh chemicals.  I would read their blurbs about toxins going down the drain and affecting our ground water and feel a sense of responsibility towards the environment and keeping toxins out of our drinking water.  Then, I would look at the price tag and feel as though these pretty little bottles were luxury items only for the super wealthy.  So, I would put them back on the shelf and buy my thrifty (or so I thought) super sized bottle of Tide Free and Clear (because the price of Dreft went up too high).  I felt frustrated, but rationalized that more water in my wash cycle and an extra rinse would help reduce chemical residue on our clothes and that my youngest, now a year old, had tough enough skin to handle whatever residue was left.

Guilty feelings from using so much water and for compromising on the best product for my children's skin eventually got me looking for more affordable alternatives to laundry that might also be better for our family's skin and the Earth.  I began to read labels on every laundry detergent I could find, and found a few that had much shorter, more natural ingredient lists and began to use them on occasion when I had a coupon.  One random day I realized that I recognized some of the ingredients I was reading!  I wondered how hard it would be to make my own laundry detergent.  Immediately daunted by the visions of lab coats and goggles, I put it out of my head for awhile, until... An online search for cheaper natural bubble bath lead me to a homemade recipe that was so simple and accessible (more on that later), that I dared search for a laundry soap recipe too! That same night, no kidding, a friend posted on Facebook that she had made her own laundry soap at home and I thought it was a sign from above, that it was time to stop thinking, and start acting!

I hope you enjoy joining me on my journey via this blog, and that you will participate by leaving comments, especially helpful ones and ones mentioning topics you would like to see addressed in this blog.  Fun!

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