The Bandwagon

Alright.  I can admit it.  I jumped on the bandwagon and made my own laundry detergent.

And you know what?  It's not too bad.

I used a basic formula that is featured in several "green your home" type books and I washed two test loads- one general (socks, towels, t shirts) and one dirty (gardening socks, work pants, blue jeans).  I used WAY less than the suggested amount (because I feel like a cup of anything is a lot) and I gotta say I don't hate the results.

There are no strong perfumes from the type of detergent I made.  I did use Ivory soap which smelled very strong when I first chopped it up, but the clothes are virtually smell free.  But they are both good and bad smell free.  This was especially surprising with the dirty load since it smelled like sweat and compost going in.  I guess all of that baking soda worked.

I also decided early on to make a powdered soap, since I read that the "liquid" actually turns into more of a weird jelly substance and can actually mold if you don't use it fast enough.  No thank you.  The powder was easy to pour, mix, and contain.  The entire process took me maybe five minutes since I was extra careful pouring my powder into my recycled container.

Do I love it yet?  No.  I kind of miss that clean laundry smell.  Maybe I will add another bar of soap, or some essential oils... or maybe I just need to give it time and see if I change my mind.

Here is the super simple recipe I used.

4 parts baking soda- not washing soda (I'm planning to use washing soda in the next batch for a comparison)
3 parts Borax
2 parts Ivory soap grated (but if you just cut it with a knife, it tends to grate itself pretty easily.  Also, you can put it into a food processor and achieve the same results as well.)

Mix and use.  I used 1/4 cup for the regular load and 1/2 for the dirty stuff.

It obviously made 9 cups worth of detergent (4+3+2=9) so I will be trying it out for a while.  Hopefully by then I'll have a full report and a final verdict.

Who else is trying new things with laundry?  Anyone else still whipping out the clothes line in this 75* weather?  We are!  Let's gush!

Happy Hanging!

I shared a business update over at Oxford Handmade today!  Things are finally moving along and I am so excited in my new business adventure.

With me being home so much these days I finally have a few hours each day to tackle some of the things on our "It's been nearly two years, surely we should have done that already" list.

Case in point:

I purchased this contraption a while back.  It was only $1.99 at Goodwill and it had the screws taped to it.  (That's what the tape is for on the left there.)  I immediately knew where we would use it and where I would put it and how it would work and what a wonderful purchase I was making.   And then it sat there.  On top of my dresser.  For a while.  Sure it was buried under clothes that I never folded, so I could have forgotten about it, but honestly, I knew it was there.  I knew it and I was just being lazy.  Well, look at me!  Lazy no more!

Bam!  I hung that sucker up in our guest bathroom/laundry room.  There is no way for me to take a decent picture with both the washer/dryer in the back ground and the new hanging thing, so you'll just have to trust me. This is the guest bathroom and behind the camera are the washer and dryer.

So what am I going to use it for?  Well doesn't my mock demonstration explain it perfectly?  When I am unloading the dryer (or the washer if items don't need to be dried- we are in sweater season) I can now hang up the clothes on this retractable metal arm.  No more hanging items on the door frame (where they do not fit) or the door knob (where only 3 items fit and then drag the ground) or around the guest room (where they block my chi when I am sewing).  Nope.  Now hanging clothes can hang nicely on this arm until I have completely unloaded the dryer.  This also prevents (as many) animal hairs from collecting on the items because I do not lay them on the bed while I fold them or put them away.  They are already hung and can go directly into the closet.

Is this a whole lot of words about the retractable arm in our new guest bathroom?  Yes?  That just proves how in love with it I am.  Happy Hanging y'all!!