Poll on laundry soap

[chrissum]

White vinegar in the rinse dispenser - How much do you use? and only white vinegar? and do you use straight vinegar? I am starting outside line drying and would like to use a natural softener, thanks in advance!

My dispenser holds about a half cup(4 oz), I tend to use about 3 oz per load.

freemotion Thank you! Is that straight or do you dilute it?

 

[freemotion]

Straight up! I have been known, on rare occasions, to add a little splash of Downy in dh's clothes. He likes it. I add it right in with the vinegar. I only add it when he mentions it, though.

 

[swenonwheels]

I think for those of you that are having issues with your clothes turning orange is because you have rust or rusty water. which is sometimes a problem with hard water. But I live in the city and we had everything turning orange - cause - old water pipes in the park line (we live in a senior citizen manufactured housing park), they were rusting and sending yucky water into our lines. We installed a filtering system under our house (we have no basement, just crawl space) before it went into our house, it was a little on the expensive side, but it sure works, we have to replace filters every 3 months also, but I was sick and tired of ruining my clothes! A filter system could be installed where your water comes into your house in your basement, that would not be as costly as ours was (we had to insulate and use heat tape so the system would not freeze). We put in 2 different filters, a sediment filter and then after that a micron filter to remove the city additives. It works great for us.

 

[big brown horse]

swenonwheels, cool name and

 

[Mackay]

I love the homemade soap, generally the same recipe everyone else is using, I especially love the money I keep in my pocket.

My whites did get dingy after a few months so once a month I wash them with a cup of bleach...seems to take care of it.

 

[chrissum]

Straight up! I have been known, on rare occasions, to add a little splash of Downy in dh's clothes. He likes it. I add it right in with the vinegar. I only add it when he mentions it, though.

THanks a million!

 

[angelib1]

I use powdered version;
1 cup fels-naptha
1 cup zote
1cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1/2 cup oxi clean (from $ store)
1/2 cup baking soda

use 2 tbs per load

whites;
add bleach and bluing.
My whites are white!

 

[eggs4sale]

I use powdered version;
1 cup fels-naptha
1 cup zote
1cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1/2 cup oxi clean (from $ store)
1/2 cup baking soda

use 2 tbs per load

whites;
add bleach and bluing.
My whites are white!

This sounds super easy for my generally lazy nature.
Does it leave residue, or do you put it in and let the water bubble up before you add clothes?
If it cleans my DH's clothes, I may pay you a finder's fee, or send you a coupon for Taco Bell. Depends how far payday is at the time.

 

[angelib1]

I throw clothes in while the water is running and put the soap in the soap tray last. There is no residue, and clothes smell great. My DH is a crop duster airplane mechanic, loader, vehicle mechanic, and what ever else need done in a day. all dirty, stinky jobs he comes home covered in hydrolic fluid, grease, and all sorts of gross stuff. So his clothes I soak in a 5 gal bucket w/ soap overnight. They don't come out spotless but they do smell good. So much better than when I was using store bought soap. the store bought left them dirty and stinky no matter how long I soaked or how many times I washed them. I'll never go back to store bought!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Here's what I use:

Washing Powder
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda (box will say Arm & Hammer in big letters, washing soda in small letters)
1 cup colour safe bleach
1 bar laundry soap.

I make enough so that the whole box of borax is used--I think I use 4 bars of soap total. My whites stay white, but I still use spray and wash for stains. (mainly because 4 years ago, I bought a huge jug of it, and haven't used it all. I usually only have to spot treat my whites and lights. My whites are still white after two years of using this recipe.

My first batch was the liquid, I felt it was alot of work for no real benefit, other than having to store big containers of it, and thus having to make it more often. the powdered version works well for me, and I have a front loader. It has never gunked up my machine. I don't use fabric softener, will use vinegar only when using the dryer, which would only be in the winter, if at all. The trick to having static free clothing coming out of the dryer is to not run it so long. There is a point between damp and over drying, where the clothes will come out static free.

I also make it once a year, and the total cost for a years worth of laundry soap is~$12. Fits my frugal nature