Friday, March 18, 2011

Money and Earth saving laundry soap

Money and Earth saving laundry soap

Credit be to Angie from www.Karmafarmonline.com for this Earth saving, penny pinching laundry soap!

Did you know that the enzymes and fabric brighteners in your mainstream soap STAY in your clothes and washer? YEP! The military won't even allow detergents with fabric brighteners because it can be picked up via infrared cameras!
http://www.armyreal.com/articles/item/2574

We have been using a "clean rinsing" detergent since the birth of my youngest son and I have used them in the past for cloth diapering as well, as the oils, enzymes and other "ickies" in your mainstream stuff tend to break baby out. (and remember, the dryer sheets are made with petroleum as well, they are a HUGE no no for cloth diaper care!)
This has been by far the easiest most "user friendly" recipe I've found, so I thought I'd share it with my faithful viewers! (yeah, YOU!)

Items needed:
5 gallon bucket
Sharpie
water
borax
washing SODA (yellow arm n hammer box)
bar soap
grater
bowl
stirrin stick
pot (ummm, the kind ya cook in man)

Ingredients:

1 bar soap
ivory is 99%pure, chances are the 1% is the fragrance but not sure.
Dr. Bronners is also a personal favorite
(think lavender, or peppermint ;-)
1/2c. borax
1/2c. washing soda ( a must for us Fl folk!)
3g water

Method:
1.Grate bar in a bowl
tip: lightly oil grater to aid in clean up
2.Fill a 5 g bucket with 3 g water
mark the bucket at the 3 g line so you wont have to measure it out again.
(know some one who has horses? use their feed bucket! Think reuse!)
3.Take out a pot dipper of the water to warm on the stove.
4.add grated soap and stir to dissolve. no need to cook.
5.combine the borax and washing powder and stir into the bucket until dissolved.
6.combine melted bar soap to bucket and stir well.
7.let stand 24 hrs. mixture will congeal. sometimes there is a bit in the bottom still "loose" but thats cool!


top loader :1/2c per load
He front:1/4c per load

Cost per top load is .1 cent >;)
Earth Friendly, Skin Friendly.
Angie made a really good point during her demo on this product:
It's completely customizable!
Some of us may not like scents at all
Some of us might
This little piggy had roast beef....
oh, sorry, got distracted.....

YOU control what and how much for the needs of your family.

Hints and tips:
- Before using your first load of a clean rinsing detergent, strip the washer and
your clothes of the residue from non-clean rinsing formulas.
To strip just use the hottest water allowable for the load and ivory.
-CLEARLY MARK ALL CONTAINERS! it's highly recommended
(and quiet genius I thought) to put the recipe ON the bucket!

Review:
what can I say? whiter whites, cleaner clean, better for the Earth, better for our health and it's sinfully CHEAP! yeah, way thumbs up on this one momma!!
A new staple in this nest!
Posted by Alice aka Momma Greenbird at 5:44 AM 0 comments
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Labels:alice,green,mommagreenbird eco friendly, green detergent, laundry, laundry soap
Wednesday, March 16, 2011

3 comments:

  1. I need to make this! I have to get the hypo allergenic detergent because regular stuff gives me rashes, and even some of the 'safe' stuff has irritated my skin, not to mention you can only find small bottles and they are expensive! Thanks for the recipe, I can't wait to try it out!!

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  2. Oooo, I cant wait to hear how you love it!
    I'm going to be making my next batch with some Dr. Bronners, maybe lavendar...mmmmmm lavendar!
    I am also going to experiment with a powder form, in other words just grinding up the soap in the powders and not adding the water, seems like it would take up less space...
    The question is, would it dissolve....

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  3. yes. you could also use castile bar soap or any handmade bar soaps as long as there are no oil additives like she butter for soft skin etc. And as always, keep a diligent eye out for build up no matter what bar you choose. Happy Washing!

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