Laundry Soap for a Lifetime

[Sarah in SC]

Orchidflower - you reminded me of a British TV series I watched a while back called "The 1900 House". The producers found a typical house from 1900 and retrofitted it to look the way it would have back then - appliances, stove, everything. Then a family lived in it for a a few months and the whole experience was filmed. It took them (or the women, I should say) 2 whole days every week just to do the laundry.

I agree - thank heavens those days are gone!

A wonderful book similarly themed is Logan Ward's See you in a 100 years. They bought an old farmhouse and lived with only those items available in 1900 or so. Including a horse and buggy. It is a very enlightening and entertaining book.

 

[Major Tom]

Very interesting Sarah - I'm going to have to look out for that book.

 

[Gardener]

I make my own laundry soap. We have extremely hard water and it works just as well as the store-bought. It doesn't work out to that much savings, I just find it enjoyable. A little like being a chemist or cooking. I started w/ the same basic recipe as everyone else. I use Naptha (which is yellow) soap plus Zote (which is pink.) Looks kind of pretty against the white washing soda and borax. Then I add a container of generic Oxy Clean from the dollar store. Mix it all up, don't inhale. I use vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser. (Whenever I eat an orange I add the peel to the gallon of vinegar, smells good.)
I also use my orangey vinegar as glass cleaner and bathroom cleaner.
My other big laundry tip - dark colors. I don't use bleach (I think it is carcinogenic) so my sheets are tan, my towels are blue, most of my socks and my teenager's are black (we live in jeans and most of our shoes are black, so it looks fine), my underthings are (almost) all either red or black. Especially parents w/ kids - black socks rule!
Gardener

 

[easysurfer]

After the wash I did yesterday, I was going through my clothes and noticed part of this decal on a t-shirt that I hadn't seen before. Looks like the t-shirt washed in the past with regular detergent had gray areas that had covered the decal. So, I guess the homemade stuff is working out fine for me

 

[MikeD]

Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough...

Smooth...

Reminds me of that James Brown song "Smokin' and Drinkin'" The words went something like "Smokin' and drinkin' will slow your thinkin'." James Brown is one of my top ten artists.

Mike D.

 

[Sarah in SC]

My other big laundry tip - dark colors. I don't use bleach (I think it is carcinogenic) so my sheets are tan, my towels are blue, most of my socks and my teenager's are black (we live in jeans and most of our shoes are black, so it looks fine), my underthings are (almost) all either red or black. Especially parents w/ kids - black socks rule!
Gardener

I'm going to die, then, as we use bleach on everything!

 

[Brat]

DH and I were in China in 1980. We were med. size town, walking along the street. A local chap wanted to try out his English so we chatted for a while. A middle aged woman, washing her laundry in a bucket, gave him a piece of her mind. I asked the chap what she said. He told us that she scolded him for being lazy. I looked at her, then him, and told him that my wish for her was a washing machine.. that I truly felt sorry with her situation. He turned and translated, her scowl turned to a smile. Our relationship changed from rich foreigner to that of women/mothers in an instant.