Going Green "Laundry"

Homemade Bleach

- 1 1/2 c 3% hydrogen peroxide - 1/2 c lemon juice - 1 gal distilled water (minus 2 cups)

- gallon jug the distilled water was in - 14 drops lemon essential oil

Directions

1. Take 2 cups from the jug of distilled water and add the ingredients listed above and shake well before using each time. Makes 1 gallon.
2. You can disinfect your bathrooms, clean your toilets, and whiten your clothes naturally with homemade bleach.


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Homemade Laundry powder and liquid

LIQUID LAUNDRY DETERGENT - 3 pt water - 1/3 bar fels naptha soap, grated - 1/2 c washing soda (arm and hammer, not baking soda though) - 1/2 c 20 mule team borax - 2 gal bucket to mix it in

- 1 qt hot water POWDERED LAUNDRY DETERGENT - 1 c fels naptha soap - 1/2 c washing soda - 1/2 c 20 mule team borax

Directions

1. Mix grated Fels Napth soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Sitr in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until it slightly thickens, and remove from heat. Add 1 quart hot water to the 2 gallon bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket with additional hot water to make 2 gallons and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours until mixture thickens. I try and stir it once and awhile. If you don't by the next day it is like jello and you just have to stir until it mixes. (might have to use your hands even). Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load
2. For the powdered detergent just mix and store in airtight container. Use 2 tablespoons for light loads and 3 tablespoons for heavy loads. to make a large batch- grate 6 bars fels Napth soap and then add 3 cups Washing Soda and 3 cups Borax.


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Another laundry detergent

 

- 1 c borax - 1 c arm & hammer super washing soda - 1/2 c shredded ivory soap

- 1/2 c shredded pink zote soap - 30 c water

Directions

1. Shred your Ivory soap, and Shred your Pink Zote soap...keep them separate. Do NOT mash the soap into a measuring cup. Keep the shreds fluffy, so they will melt more easily. 1/2 cup will be about half of what you grated...or will be equivalent to a nice mound in the cup of your hand.
2. Put 4 cups water into a pot on stove. Add Borax, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is NOT baking soda - you will find this in the laundry aisle at your grocery store, Walmart, or a hardware store), shredded Ivory soap, shredded pink Zote. Stir continually over medium heat until all soap is completely dissolved.
3. In a 2-gallon plastic container, add 8 cups of hot tap water, then add the soap mixture from the pot and stir together. Add 18 more cups of hot water. Stir.
4. Cover with plastic lid (I use a 2-gallon bucket from Home Depot. The extra large Tupperware bowl can also work.) Let sit 24 hours, and keep the lid on it the entire time.
5. After 24 hours, the liquid will be a runny gel. Some hardened soap-like pieces may float to the top - discard them. Stir the liquid gel. Your soap is ready. Use 1/2 cup - or a regular liquid detergent lid.
6. This soap will not be sudsy - but, your pipes will love you, and your laundry will be clean and fresh.

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A 1960 workbasket recipe for laundry soap

- 6 lb clean, strained grease - 1 can(s) lye - 5 c soft water

- 2 Tbsp borax - 2 Tbsp sugar - 1/2 c ammonia

Directions

1. Melt the fat in a large iron or enamel pan (do not use aluminum). When it is melted there should be 6 3/4 pints. Set it aside to cool at 80 degrees F. Combine one (13 ounce) can of lye with 5 cups of water in an enamel pan and stir slowly with a long, wooden paddle until the lye is dissolved. Along paddle is necessary to keep the splashes from burning the hands. Cool to 70 degrees F. Add the lye water gradually to the fat, stirring slowly with the paddle for at least 10 minutes. Continue stirring until mixture is creamy, then add the borax, sugar and ammonia. Mix well and pour into shallow pans or molds.
2. Good molds are hard to find. As a substitute, use heavy cardboard boxes. Cool the mixture slowly (without moving the mold) for 24 hours. When the soap is firm, remove from the molds and cut into bars with a string. Stack the bars in rows and allow plenty of space between the cakes for air to circulate. The soap should be dried at least two weeks befoe using. It will harden and dry out. If properly made and dried, the soap will be white and will float.

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Homemade color catchers

- Arm & Hammer Washing Soda - hot water

- white torn up sheets or fabric

 

Directions

1. color catcher is a piece of white something with soda ash solution dried onto it. You can make your own with soda ash, usually sold in swimming pool supply areas of hardware stores. (Grandma called it washing soda.) Just put a tablespoon of the dry soda into a cup of hot water until it dissolves. Put in a yard of white junk fabric, or ratty toweling, and let it become saturated. Let it dry. Cut off a piece and wash it with your bleedable fabric. The soda ash grabs and holds the dye. You can make a lifetime supply of color catchers with a buck or two of soda ash. For those of you who tie dye, this is exactly the technique for pre-treating fabric before applying dye. Soda plus cotton grabs loose dye molecules.

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Homemade stain remover

#1 TREATMENT - 1/2 cup vinegar - 1/2 cup ammonia - 1/2 cup biz stain fighter - 1/2 cup water

#2 TREATMENT - 1/2 cup white vinegar - 1/4 cup baking soda - 3 cups water

Directions

1. FOR EITHER TREATMENT:
2. Stir together and fill a spray bottle.
3. Spray on soiled spots just before washing.
4. Note: Before you use either stain treatment, always test on a hidden spot first.
5. Peggi's Note: I made the #1 treatment & it worked great, but had to modify directions to get it to spray out of the bottle. Here is what I did. If you use the powdered Biz, mix all ingredients in non-corrrosive pan & heat on stovetop until all is dissolved & even the foam goes away. If you don't do this, it won't spray out of bottle. Let cool before putting into spray bottle. I tested it out on something white, so I don't know about colored clothes yet.

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"Rain water soft" fabric softener

 

 

- 1 cup white vinegar - 2 cups hair conditioner, any cheap scent,

- 6 cups of water

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. This can be added to laundry like any other fabric softener.
3. If you prefer dryer sheets, pour one part softener and three parts water into a container.
4. Add a clean sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.
5. NOTE: I mixed it up & tried it on sheets & clothes & it works great, thus prompting me to name it SOFT AS RAIN fabric softener. I only mixed up 1/2 of a batch to start with. I knew I would only be using it with a sponge, so, instead of mixing 1 part softener with 3 parts water every time, I just did the whole (half batch) this way & it made almost 5 quarts of it. Then I can just dip my sponge in it every time & half squeeze it out & just throw in dryer. I bought the cheapest conditioner also. My sheets were so soft & cuddly.