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Thank you for visiting my blog; it is an exciting venture for me and I hope this will become a forum for moms and homemakers of all types to share stories, frustrations, and triumphs. There will be recipes, pictures of my latest and greatest soap creations, and anything I think will be interesting to Enthusiastic Homemakers.....

Friday, February 11, 2011

If there's a cure for laundry; I ain't found it!


Happy Friday! I know on this blog I've bemoaned the constancy and volume of the laundry in my busy house, so I decided to make it an actual topic,  rather than just a complaint, and share some tips I've learned over the years and mountains of laundry. Just to give you an idea of the vast scope of the laundry that is done in this house, I've posted the picture below, which is clean laundry waiting to be folded. This is not the biggest mountain I've ever had, this is my normal laundry pile that is produced ever other day!

Just to keep up, I wash and dry at least two loads on the "off" day, as well as about five loads on the days I plan to fold. And don't get me started on the sheets! My problem with laundry started when I was quite young. We had a large family growing up, and I often folded laundry with my sister. Actually, my sister folded, and I sat and cried because I hated laundry so much. So, the joke's on me, because I got married and had five little boys, and there is nearly as much laundry now as when I was a little girl, crying because I had to fold part of it!



And unfortunately, I have looked far and wide for a cure, and have found none! The only way around laundry is through it! In order to reduce the cost of doing laundry, at the very least, I found a way to make my own laundry detergent that costs only .03 per load, instead of the 15 or more cents per load using the Costco size natural laundry detergent. It's easy to do, with ingredients that are readily available, and it works; it really does! So here is the "recipe" I use:

For 1.5 gallons (the size of the empty laundry detergent jug I have)

4 oz Fels Naptha Soap, grated
1 Cup Borax (my fave)
1 Cup Washing Soda (like Baking soda, but in the laundry aisle under that name)
Water (preferably distilled, but I use tap water all the time)
A few drops of the essential oil of your choice (lavender, lemongrass, lemon, are all nice)

Melt the grated soap in a saucepan with 2 cups water. Warm up more water and add about 3/4 of a gallon to the laundry jug with a funnel. After the soap is melted, add the borax, washing soda, and essential oil, until they are all combined and dissolved. Add mixture to the jug, then fill with more warm water to the top. Shake often as the mixture cools, and before each use. Use 1/2 cup per load; warm water cleans the best with this; as most detergent.

So I may not have found a cure; at least not easily obtainable (think delivery laundry service....) but at least you can save a little money, as well as use something that is not petroleum based and is free of surfactants. I will post later about my folding system; and I will keep dreaming about that cure!

Check out my new feature; tips from a 1951 cookbook on thriftiness and homemaking, I will be posting a new tip every day!

4 comments:

  1. You are too funny!! I recall the beautiful times we shared in that closet sized room. Door shut, six feet of clothes. It seemed like hours, for both of us, I am sure:P. I am not fond of laundry myself...not even a little. At one time there was this constant overwhelming, endless pile. I would fold it and the next day there it was again. Of course anyone with several children understands this problem. As my children are older,I simply have them bring their clothes into the laundry room, I wash them and return the clothes,ready to be folded. I still fold my youngest sons laundry and towels ect. The mountain is gone! SOooo, I don't know of a cure, but it gets easier...eventually:).

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  2. Oh, I dream of those days! Maybe soon....Andrew IS almost eleven; but I think the laundry room would need to be clear for him to attempt his own...and that never happens. A bigger house would also help...

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  3. The photo, at the top of your blog... That's Country Roses pattern, isn't it? I think Mom bought a tea set in the same pattern, will have to check it out. Lovely!

    Thanks for the "follow", following you too!

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  4. Yes! That tea set is one of my prized possessions; a gift from my mother when I was 15; I always loved classic patterns like Old Country Roses; that pattern was first sold in 1962 by Royal Albert. At one time, I was determined to own the whole set! Life...and baby boys got in the way, but I still love it! I'm so honored that you visited my blog; I bow to your blogging greatness!

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