Sunday, September 18, 2011

Sunday Gardening News! Sept., 18 2011 "Let's Make Laundry Detergent!"

Ok I know this isn't a gardening post but, I got so excited about this little project I couldn't wait to tell you all about it.

A few posts back, I'd put up a video about making you own laundry soap. Here it is again to see if you missed it last time. It's from the Urban Farming Guys.

Simple isn't it?
Years ago when I was making my own soap, I used to make this and use it but had forgotten about it over the years. The addition of borax and washing soda really makes this soap work a lot better too. Old times used to call it soap jelly.
Anyway, when I made mine, I couldn't find bars of Octogon or the soap she uses in the video so I got 2 regular sized bars of Lava hand soap and used that.
A really good hard soap is best for this as you are getting more bang for your buck!
the Lava was so hard I couldn't grate it and also didn't want the pumice in it ruining my grater so I just put the whole bars in a pot of water on the stove and when they softened I cut them up with a knife. If you use Lava, don't worry about the little bit of pumice in the soap either, it precipitates out as the soap cools and ends up in the bottom of your buckets.
Once the soap was dissolved in the hot water, I poured it into my 5 gal. bucket and added borax and washing soda and filled up the bucket with rainwater, covered it and allowed it to sit over night, the next day here's what I had.
It's ooey-gooey! After this, I half filled another 5 gal bucket with hot water, added half of the soap jelly and then filled the first 5 gal. bucket up with hot water. mixed them up real good and have them stored in 4 2 1/2 gal. buckets with tight fitting lids on them. Ready to rock some dirty laundry!
For folks that really like their liquid detergent, I was wondering if you could mix some with this? You know, maybe one container of your favorite laundry soap with this recipe and you could still have the fragrance you like and all that.
Just an idea and a way to make your detergent go a heck of a lot farther. If you're on a tight budget, (and who isn't) this is a great idea to make your laundry dollar last longer.
If you try this, let us know what you think. So far it seems to be working just fine here.

Also, I didn't get to post a link to it yesterday but the Ozarker has a new article up at Conflicted Doomer.
"Hunkering Down on Our Own Terms"
This is a really great article this week. Sometimes the Ozarker just out does herself and this is one of those times!
Reading the economic wrap-up over at the Global Glass Onion has become a weekly cup of guiltless pleasure. http://globalglassonion.blogspot.com/  It’s not that I’m an economics geek or a whiz at matters financial. (Witness the monthly battle to balance my own little budget if you want proof of that.)  To mangle that trite old show biz phrase, it makes me laugh; it makes me cry; it’s a hell of a show.  And, what makes it such a guiltless pleasure is the growing certainty I come away with each week that, in all that hodge-podge collection of economic opining, not one of those economic wizards doing the opining, nor any of those opined about, have any more of a clue as to what’s going on in the economy or how to fix it than you or I do.
What a relief.  Think about it for a minute.  As the Titans at the top wring their hands and dinker with this or that while the global economy dances its widening gyre on the head of that pin, you and I are free to step back, hunker down and get our preps on.
She right about the GGO too. You gotta check our RJ's blog. Posted every Friday afternoon.

So, grab a cup of tea and head on over to Conflicted Doomer and the Global Glass Onion this afternoon.
After you get your laundry soap started that is.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting stuff my choice is ecoballs been using them for years.
    Only limitation is 60 Celsius.
    http://www.ecozone.com/p_Ecoballs1000.html

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  2. hay pam I saw this only I used Ivory soap 2 bars and put a cup of Mr Clean with orange fabreeze in it i think it keeps your water and soap mixed well and smells nice passed it on to all my buddies at work kathy t

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