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.