Friday, March 20, 2009

Buddy Friday - Spring has sprung so lets talk laundry......

and lets take advantage of the nice weather, and why not take advantage of what nature gives us and hang out the laundry to dry, rather than use the dryer and have the extra charge on your electricity bill!!! I managed to get my first load of laundry out to dry on March 6th, this year, and since then have been hanging out my laundry.


I just love the smell of sheets when they have been dried on the line. No amount of fabric softener can replace that fresh smell. Of course I will be taking my rotary dryer/whirly gig with me when we move. However I also know we have room for actual washing lines, so may get dh to hang one up for me.

Now I have talked about making your own laundry detergent in this post, and fabric softener in this post. To save you searching through my old posts, here are the recipes for the laundry detergent and the fabric softener. I use them and they do work. I used them on my front loading machine without any problems.

Here is the recipe for the liquid detergent:

Ingredients :
1½ litres water
1 bar Sunlight or generic laundry soap or any similar pure laundry soap, grated on a cheese grater
½ cup washing soda – NOT baking or bicarb soda
½ cup borax

Method:
Into a medium sized saucepan add 1½ litres of water and the soap. Over a medium heat, stir this until it is completely dissolved. Make sure the soap dissolves properly or the mixture will separate when cold.Add the washing soda and borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. It sort of resembles a very thin lemon pudding mix now.

Pour this mixture into your 9-10 litre bucket then fill the bucket with hot water from the tap. Stir to combine all the ingredients.The laundry liquid will thicken up more as it cools. When cool, store in a plastic container.

Use 1/4 cup of mixture per load or monitor to see what works well for you.

Here is the recipe for the dry mix:

CONCENTRATED LAUNDRY POWDER

4 cups grated laundry soap
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a plastic container with a lid. Use 2 tablespoons per wash. This powder will not make suds and this is perfectly okay.

Fabric Softener Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup baking soda
6 cups distilled white vinegar
8 cups water
10-15 drops orange essential oils (optional) or lemon essential oils (optional) or essential oils, of choice (optional)

Directions:

1.You will need a one gallon container.
2.First add the baking soda to the plastic container.
3.Next add 1 cup of water to start with.
4.Slowly add the vinegar to the bottle as the vinegar and baking soda will start to fizz.
5.Then add the rest of the water swirling around & cover venting the top a few times.
6.Last add the essential oil.
7.Add 1 cup in your final rinse cycle for each load but give the bottle a good shake to stir up the essential oil if using.

***IT SAYS USE 1 CUP BUT IF USING A DOWNY BALL YOU ONLY USE 1/4 CUP***

I hope you try to make your own laundry detergent, as you will save money and it does work.

For more Buddy's Friday post, please pop over to Margaret's Rambling's.

13 comments:

MyBulletinBoard said...

Gill, night owls are at work! LOL

How long have you been using the homemade detergent in your HE? Do you have very hard water? . . . . .I made my own for the old top loader, but I haven't had the nerve to use in in the HE.

Anonymous said...

I, too, have been hanging my laundry on the line for several weeks now, and I agree, there is nothing that smells better. Not only that, when I look at the laundry on the line, for a brief moment I feel happy, free, and connected to the earth and that always makes me smile.

Cathy said...

Hello Gill
Have to say I too feel warm and fuzzy when I see washing on the line - then I come down to earth when I remember it has to come in and be ironed lol
Take care
Cathy

Margaret's Ramblings said...

Have bought the ingredients, now just have to get the courage to use my homemade soap powder.

That sounds so silly - I mean why the courage? Makes me laugh, I imagine my washing with big holes in it which is rediculous as what I have been using is full of chemicals. LOL

Margaret

Evelyn said...

I would love to start hanging laundrey but still have a hugh snowbank under my clothesline. may try it today and see if it high enough up and over. I also love to hang out my clothes.

Laurieluc said...

Gill, do you have an automatic dishwasher detergent recipe? I go through those little packets like crazy and they are expensive!

Laurie

laurieluc1313@gmail.com

Scrappy quilter said...

Gill, we still can't hang our clothes outside. Can't wait until we can. I love the smell of freshly hung laundry too.

Decadent Housewife said...

First load went out on the line yesterday. And then it snowed. Thanks for the det. recipes. Bought all the ingredients this week.

Winifred said...

I hang my washing out on any fine blowy day even in winter. Then again we don't get such low temperatures here so it's OK.
You can't beat that smell, no fabric conditioner can match it. You can't beat saving on the electric bill either with the prices now and reducing the carbon footprint.

Not sure we can get these ingredients here but then again I've never looked for washing soda, laundry soap or borax.

mommanator said...

I mst try this! but when is the question

Catherine said...

snap!! we both used that good old British phrase in our titles this week!!

Cyn said...

Hi Gill,
Wowzer, detergent recipe... how cool is that?! This I will definitely try.
Your post about laundry took me on a pleasant trip down memory lane back to the day when I used to hang out all the laundry... gosh it smells good when it comes inside.
A huge long time ago--when I was still Susy Homemaker--I used to bake all our bread and make all our cheese. Sure saved big bucks then, but nowadays it seems to cost more. I also made my own flour and yeast, so that cut down on cost too.
I love your blog; it is one of my alltime favorites!
Big hugs to you... /;-)

Mary Q Contrarie said...

Thanks for the reciepes. I no longer have a dryer. I use my clothes drying rack year round. So I can save money all the time not to mention it is great for the environment.

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