Homemade Dishwasher Detergent, Is it worth it?

One of my favorite books is called Your Money or Your Life. It had a profound impact on how I saw my relationship with money. It's a great text, and I highly recommend it, but in a nutshell, it boils down to this basic concept:

You are constantly trading minutes of your life for some item of value. You have limited minutes, so choose wisely.

My regular readers and friends know that I like to do experiments with frugality, it's sort of like a game to me. Someone recently told me it wasn't worth their time to make their own cleaning products, which got me thinking about how I value my time and whether or not the task is worth my time.

I'm starting with Dishwashing Detergent. It's a simple recipe that takes me less time to make than it will take me to write this blog.

The recipe is equal parts Borax and Washing Soda. Easy Peasy. I usually mix it up two cups of each at a time, since that's what  fits best in the container I use.

I'm using Amazon for pricing, even though Walmart is actually cheaper just to make comparison easy.
Borax: $9.89 for 76oz or $.13/oz
Washing Soda: $8.99 for 55oz or $.14/oz
Or I can get both of these items in a package deal here.
Combined: $16.09 for 131oz or $.12/oz

Cascade Powder, which is comparable to the product I end up with, costs $15.02 for 75oz or $.20/oz

4 cups = 32oz, so if I save $.08 per oz, then I trade my time making it for $2.56

I keep these two products on my regular grocery list so I don't spend extra time shopping for them, and I use them for other things around the house. I make dishwasher detergent whenever I notice the container is low. The process consists of grabbing two boxes from my cleaning supplies, pouring two cups of each into the container, closing the lid and shaking it up.
I open the lid back up and replace the 1Tbsp. sized scoop, then I'm done.

The whole ordeal takes less than five minutes, so if I calculate its value based on a per hour rate, my dishwashing detergent nets me a value of over $51 per hour.

That might not be enough to make it worthwhile for some people, but that's big bucks to me, so is it worth it to make my own? I'd say it sure is.

Notes from Stephen King and Dean Koontz

I've always loved reading and writing. I taught myself how to type just so I could write stories faster... it takes me about an hour to add 1,000 words to whatever I'm working on. I think that's pretty fast.

And, my writing is pretty good, some of it is salable even, but I'm always trying to get better.

Stephen King is one of my favorite writers of all time, even though I haven't read a lot of his fiction in the past decade. The stories I remember had such an impact on me as a young writer because of the way he made the characters and the places come to life.

Over the years, King has always been the author most able to suck me in to a story. His book On Writing is one of my most cherished books.

The more I studied the craft, through assignments and journalism and coursework, the more it became about formula and marketing. So, while I still read the textbooks, I try to remember that the fun of writing is really in the story, even if it doesn't sell.

This last week, I've read Feast of Fear, Conversations with Stephen King and Writing Popular Fiction by Dean Koontz.

I hardly ever read a book without taking notes. When King says "...when you write or you do anything that's creative, there comes a moment when you see stuff that somebody got paid for and you say, 'I do better work than that. I don't care if I'm getting paid for it or not. I know I do.' So, that's like the big first step in becoming a creative person who's paid for what he does." I'm like, yeah, that's where I'm at.

King says Don't say to the reader - "It was so horrible that I don't want to tell you about it." Because then, they'll think you don't know what you're talking about.

He also says, "If you're not willing to go for the throat, you ought not to be in this business."

Oooooh...

I just finished a novel I thought was pretty dark, but when I read this quote, I was like 'Ah, he's talking to me' because I want to be brave, but when I think about the story I just finished, I totally held back. I'm terrified to tell it like I really see it in my mind... I am a pastor's wife after all... won't people think I'm sick?

He says you have to grab the reader by the throat and not let go... so, when I heard back from one of my test readers and she said...

" I read it all in one sitting!"

I said YAY!

When I read these comments:

"I was surprised by it."


"I was greatly saddened and I wanted to reach out to the 

girl in the story and hug her..."


"I was angered..."


"I wanted to yell..."


"I was sickened..."


"It was such a sad story, but I felt I could not put it down, 

which I did not."


I was yelling, "YES, YES, YES!!!"

At the same time, I'm thinking, but this is just the first draft and I could add so much more to the story and I could explore this element and that, and constantly questioning myself. But, then, I read Koontz who says,

Write the first draft right the first time.

"When you've finished a piece, send it out straightaway and get to work on something new. You're a professional. You have all the confidence in the world."

WHAT?!?

I'm thinking about everything I've learned and thinking that's crazy talk, it's called first draft because it comes before all the others, but, then, I'm all about getting it right the first time.

I read it again, and couldn't help but say, "Yeah. That."

So, today I find myself torn between tearing apart that "first draft" so I can really go for the throat and studying the 2014 Writer's Guide so I can get this "first draft" on it's way and start working on something else. Oh, the agony of choices.

Should Parents Be Embarrassing Their Children on The Internet? How Far is Too Far?

Can I use my children to promote my writing career? Is that crossing a line?

What if they are so funny, I just can't help myself?

My 15 year old is taking driver's training. First, she had to complete three weeks of classroom training, none of which actually teach anything about the actual act of driving a vehicle.

Then, she is supposed to go to six driving sessions, including riding along with another driver and behind the wheel time too.

The first scheduled behind the wheel session happened to fall on the same day as our first big snow storm. Even the instructor said he would have rescheduled if he had known how bad it was going to be.

So, that morning during Bible study, I asked for prayers for her.
I also may have jokingly said that she had never been behind the wheel of a car before and didn't even know the difference between the gas and the brake.

Well, those ladies couldn't let that go... they just had to tease her about that.

So, now I'm posting a blog about her reaction because I just can't help myself.
After being teased by the ladies at church, she came home and yelled at me, exclaiming the following:

"I DO SO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GAS AND THE ACCELERATOR!"

It only took her about two seconds to realize what she had just said, but it took me another five minutes to stop laughing. Now, I'm sharing it with the world... have I gone too far?

I know one girl who thinks I have.