DIY Laundry Detergent Victory!

[~gd]

I use blueing to get my white horse's dirty tail white. I just put it in a bucket with some water and hold the bucket up so his tail will sit submerged in the water for a few minutes. Up to ten is ideal.

I have to ask. do you rinse the tail or just let it dry?

 

[miss_thenorth]

BBh, where do you get the bluing? The clorox does not work to brighten my whites,and I have looked for bluing, but can't find it. I have used blue shampoo for my blonde hair before, and we use blue horse shampoo for my dd's white horse, but I cant find the laundry stuff. maybe I should just soak my whites in horse shampoo??

 

[Wytchy]

Hi Everyone, I'm a newbie here but couldn't resist jumping in on this thread.
For starters, I have found Fels Naptha and Washing Powder at Ace Hardware, of all places, so check there if you have a franchise location where you live.

I have experimented off and on with making my own detergent because I love the frugality of it, but I can never seem to find a recipe that works well. It just doesn't seem to get the clothes clean, and I'm not even talking about hard to treat stains. Things like dirt spots, which should wash out easily, are still in the clothes. Aside from the powders and soap, I also add a scoop of Oxyclean to my load and that helps a little but not enough.
When you use your homemade powder, how many scoops (and what size scoop) do you put in the machine?

 

[miss_thenorth]

Hery Welcome!!!! Our water is considered failry soft, and i use a bit better than a tablespoon per load.

 

[Wytchy]

Thank you! I guess I forgot to add I'm in AZ and our water is hard as a rock. Very mineralized The scoops I normally put in are about a 1/2 cup.

 

[sheaviance1]

I thought you guys would appreciate this.
http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-laundry.aspx

 

[savingdogs]

Very interesting, thanks!

 

[big brown horse]

I use blueing to get my white horse's dirty tail white. I just put it in a bucket with some water and hold the bucket up so his tail will sit submerged in the water for a few minutes. Up to ten is ideal.

I have to ask. do you rinse the tail or just let it dry?

Mmmkay, (I haven't given my horse a bath in 3 years b/c I moved up here where it is sorta cold all year long for a bath...) I remember soaking my horse first, then soaking his tail for as long an my arms could hold a pail of water up to his tail. Then I bathed him, and rinsed him, including his tail...so yes, I did rinse his tail, after it soaked in blueing and after I gave him a complete bath...which I extended as long as I could b/c in TX it is so darn hot, the only way you could enjoy yourself outside with your horse in the summer (that lasts 10 months) is to be wet. Shoot, I'm getting hot just thinking about those days, and it is only 49 outside.

I got blueing at the grocery store. In the wash section.

 

[Marianne]

Hi Everyone, I'm a newbie here but couldn't resist jumping in on this thread.
For starters, I have found Fels Naptha and Washing Powder at Ace Hardware, of all places, so check there if you have a franchise location where you live.

I have experimented off and on with making my own detergent because I love the frugality of it, but I can never seem to find a recipe that works well. It just doesn't seem to get the clothes clean, and I'm not even talking about hard to treat stains. Things like dirt spots, which should wash out easily, are still in the clothes. Aside from the powders and soap, I also add a scoop of Oxyclean to my load and that helps a little but not enough.
When you use your homemade powder, how many scoops (and what size scoop) do you put in the machine?

Welcome Wytchy! Make sure you go to the 'where are you' thread and introduce yourself. I'm sure there are a lot of people that aren't looking at this thread now.
I have really hard water too, and since I usually wash in cold water, I decided on a liquid recipe. I use Zote instead of Fels, and make two gallons at a time. Our clothes get pretty dirty depending on the project of the day. Here's all the things that I've tried:

I'll use a full cup or more of homemade stuff. 1/2 cup just doesn't cut it when you're using liquid.
Sometimes I'll add a scoop (maybe 1/3 cup or more?) of Borax to the washtub and wash in warm water - this definitely helps.
Depending on the 'filth' of the load, I will use the soak feature on my washer (3 hours) and that helps, too.
On work jeans, I'll use the heavy duty cycle on the washer and the soak if I have time.

And every so often I'll wash a load of whites in hot water with auto dish detergent (I dissolve it first in a cup of hot water, then add to the tub) and the coloreds/jeans get washed in Simple Green. (Their label states 1/4 cup, but I don't think that was enough.)

~gd posted about using auto dish detergent in HE washers. Mine isn't an HE, but I thought I'd give it a try. I bought a box of cheap stuff, and you could really see the filler floating on the top when I dissolved it in the cup of hot water. I used probably half a cup of the detergent, and it still didn't clean nearly as well as when I just poured in some of the Cascade into the agitating clothes.

I also use vinegar instead of fabric softener. A quick google search led me to this:
Get cleaner laundry! Add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. The acid in white distilled vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics, yet strong enough to dissolve the alkalies in soaps and detergents. Besides removing soap, white distilled vinegar prevents yellowing, acts as a fabric softener and static cling reducer, and attacks mold and mildew.

I figured that the vinegar would help in removing the hard water deposits. Although I do miss the perfumed scent of commercial stuff, I was amazed at how well the vinegar works as a sub for fabric softener.

 

[Marianne]

I thought you guys would appreciate this.
http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-laundry.aspx

Yes, that is interesting. I have seen the washing bats before, but had no idea what they were til now.