liquid laundry soap

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I use rain water for laundry....

So... How does that work? A wash bin? A laundry machine? Interesting...

So you don't use a dryer, how do you wash?

I use my washing machine...filled with rain water from the rain barrels. A washing machine still uses alot less power then a dryer.

 

[KaboomAngel]

Do you carry buckets or is it plumbed in? I knew that rainwater was safe for clothes but didn't know if it was safe for washing machines...

Thanks and sorry to hijack!

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Rainwater is fine for washing clothes! We filter it, and keep out the large debris. When we had to resort to alternative water sources, to save the well water for drinking...we bought a small pump to transfer the water from the barrels. I also have a 100' hose I use for greywater/rainwater. It has been working out really good. Our system has been in use since August, of last year.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Here is the little pump we bought for the rain barrels.

 

[Beekissed]

So..in the summer months you can actually wash with hot/warm water if your hoses and barrels are black and in the sun? How cool! Is that a bilge pump?

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

So..in the summer months you can actually wash with hot/warm water if your hoses and barrels are black and in the sun? How cool! Is that a bilge pump?

Well, being this is our first year experimenting. I have decided to keep collecting the rain water, all winter, and using it to wash clothes with when we have nice days here. It doesn't stay cold and brutal like up north or out west. I also wash less often......or, as necessary when DH runs low on work clothes.

In the summer is when we have to use the rain water almost exclusively. Not getting enough rain here to keep the water well at peak...and when the drinking water stops flowing out of the faucet, is a bad feeling indeed.

I have been working on a whole system for conserving the well water. Not sure how winter will go yet, as it is only January. Last Jan and Feb, we had ice and snow and brutal low temps. Between 0 and 10f..a couple of times it went below 0. But, last winter we didn't know we would have to conserve well water like we do now.

If I have a load that requires hot water......like my washclothes, and underwear items....socks......I use the hot water for that. Some things, just need sanitized. But, I don't do those loads but maybe once a month as it is. Collected. Washcloths...I have maybe 100 white ones. I use them, then air dry them, then put them in the basket. Never collect them damp or wet.

The pump is a Pacific Hydrostar; portable utility pump. Model 65836 harborfreight.com

 

[Beekissed]

I have systematically eliminated most whites from my life....I still have a few blankets and bed linens that are white. For some reason the homemade detergents with my well water resulted in dingy whites, no matter what other additive I tried such as bleach, Oxyclean, etc. My solution was to just rid myself of the need for bright whites...or any whites for that matter.

It makes it nice to not have to get rid of bras or underwear simply because they are dingy....I just buy everything colored. I haven't done even the white laundry in hot water for the past 5 years.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I have systematically eliminated most whites from my life....I still have a few blankets and bed linens that are white. For some reason the homemade detergents with my well water resulted in dingy whites, no matter what other additive I tried such as bleach, Oxyclean, etc. My solution was to just rid myself of the need for bright whites...or any whites for that matter.

It makes it nice to not have to get rid of bras or underwear simply because they are dingy....I just buy everything colored. I haven't done even the white laundry in hot water for the past 5 years.

That very thought occurred to me last summer....as I was hang drying my 100 wash cloths. some had stains of red southern clay on them. I briefly, for a moment, thought to toss them in the rag bag. But then......a lightbulb flashed in my head. I should have no shame for the red clay stains. We are, afterall, in the country. The red clay stains merely mean we are working hard, trying to improve our place. They merely represent good honest hard work and sweat. ......So...I let them be. The red clay stains, fade after a while....after all.

 

[me&thegals]

Ooooh, moxies--can you tell me more about that pump? I've been trying to figure out a way to take my vegetable washing water and storing it in black barrels in our soon-to-be lean-to greenhouse. I just couldn't figure out how to get it back out. I didn't really want to have them up too high in order for gravity to work. I wonder if that pump could be my answer! Thanks in advance

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Ooooh, moxies--can you tell me more about that pump? I've been trying to figure out a way to take my vegetable washing water and storing it in black barrels in our soon-to-be lean-to greenhouse. I just couldn't figure out how to get it back out. I didn't really want to have them up too high in order for gravity to work. I wonder if that pump could be my answer! Thanks in advance

I love my little pump!! Of course, using the pump is in no way convenient. But, I think those days of convenience are over. Your vegetable washing water woul be great for watering your plants and gardens.
My little pump, if you look at the picture..is on a plastic milk crate, that is bungeed onto a luggage wheelie. I keep the short 15' intake hose on it all the time. It has a foot valve with adapter, to keep the pump primed. I disconnect the 100' hose on the other side, as it is just too long to wrap it around that little pump. On wash days, I get my pump, set it up by whatever rainbarrels I am using. It takes 1 32 gal barrel for a load of laundry, topload washer of course.
Put the intake with foot valve in the bottom of the barrel. Fetch the 100' hose, and lay it out, from the pump to the washer. It reaches all of my barrels. Hook it up. It does leak and spray, hence the milk crate.
Run the orange extension cord. Now, you don't want to run the pup dry, so I lay it all out, make sure everything fits.....then, plug it in to my outlet by the washer.

Oh, for a different applications, I put the sprayer on the end, and use the cord connection at the pump. I also hose out the chicken tractor and water gardens with the greywater and rain water.

And yes, I was using buckets last summer, before we found the pump online.