- Clean-Up Time

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Always wear clean underwear
in case you get in an accident
~Mom~

Have you noticed how expensive cleaning and laundry products are? There are frugal alternatives. Below are some ideas from different online sources. See if one works for you.

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Photo from Suddenly Frugal Blog

4 Easy Steps for Do-It-Yourself Laundry Detergent

http://suddenlyfrugal.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/4-easy-steps-for-diy-laundry-detergent/

(Excerpts taken from Suddenly Frugal Blog)

I’d read about this practice of DIY laundry detergent on a number of blogs and websites, . . .I’d seen recipes for liquid detergent (some involved boiling your DIY laundry detergent on the stove; no thanks) and recipes for dry detergent.

Since the dry detergent seemed to be the easiest to make, I figured I’d give it a go. So that night I went shopping, I added the three ingredients I would need to make my own laundry detergent to my shopping list:

1. Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
2. 20 Mule Team Borax
3. Bar of Fels-Naptha Soap

Thankfully, I was able to find all three items at my local supermarket in the laundry aisle.

At first I’d looked for the washing soda in the bakery aisle, because I figured baking soda? washing soda? Must be the same thing. But it’s not.

Once I got the stuff home, making the laundry detergent was pretty easy. My plan was to store everything in a reusable Rubbermaid 10-cup container with a lid. So as I went through the steps below, I just dumped the ingredients (shown below) right into this tub.

1. 2 parts washing soda (I did this quite literally and started with two cups of washing soda)
2. 2 parts Borax (again, the literal approach with two cups)
3. 1 part grated or chopped Fels-Naptha soap (I’d read that some people put the soap in a food processor to get it into tiny bits; I just got out my cheese grater and put it to work)
4. Mix all ingredients (I put the top on the container and gave it a couple of shakes. I could have stirred it with a spoon)
5. Do laundry (I dropped a 1/4 cup measuring spoon into the container for doling out the detergent. Most of the recipes I’d read recommended using anything from 3 tablespoons to 4 tablespoons of detergent in the wash. I figured why not just measure out the 1/4 cup–which equals 4 tablespoons–and be done with it)

It took me five minutes only to put this all together. Really, only five minutes. Grating the soap is what took the longest.

I have a top loading washing machine (came with the house), so I’ve gotten in the habit of pouring/dumping my laundry detergent in first and letting the tub fill before adding the clothes. Waiting like this allows the detergent to dissolve. In the past I could usually tell that the dissolving was occurring because I could see bubbles. With DIY laundry detergent? Not so much. Actually, not at all. And that had me worried.

But I dumped in my first load of clothes, let it run its course and came back when I heard the washing machine turn off.

Everything looked clean. And everything smelled clean. I figured, OK, this might just work. And I tossed the wet clothes in the dryer for five minutes to get out the excess water (like I always do), and then started hanging up the items one by one to dry.

I started a second load, then a third and you know what I’ve discovered? This stuff works.

The only problem is that we, as Americans, have been brainwashed–no brainwashed is too strong a term but it’s a good pun since I’m talking about laundry right–or led to believe that the more bubbles in a cleaning product, the better.

Bubbles=clean.

And when you’re using DIY laundry detergent, you just don’t have the bubbles. And you need to get over that.

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A Note From Prepare Today

• An alternative to Fels Naptha laundry bar soap is the pink laundry bar soap Zote, which is sometimes cheaper than Fels Naptha. You can use a bar of either laundry soap to pre-treat a moistened collar to help eliminate that grimy ring-around-the-collar.
  
• Can't find Arm and Hammer Washing Soda? Some stores carry their own house brand of washing soda, ask.
  
• Washing soda is sodium carbonate. You can find it in a pool supply store/department. Ask for PH plus, or whatever their featured band of sodium carbonate may be.
• As long as you're in the pool supply store/department, why not get some DRY CHLORINE? http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/83/83-1/Countryside_Staff1.html

  Also known as calcium hypochlorite, it is used primarily in swimming pools. Since it is a powder, it has the significant benefit of extended shelf life. Dry chlorine may be stored for up to 10 years with minimal degradation if it is kept dry, cool and in an airtight container.

  This is a far better choice for quantity storage than liquid bleach. Dry chlorine is commonly available at swimming pool supply stores as well as many hardware and grocery stores.

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Helpful Laundry Hints

• Commercial fabric softeners impair the natural absorbency of towels and diapers by coating the fibers with wax-like chemicals.
  
• White vinegar is a natural fabric softener (1/2 cup per load in the final rinse cycle usually works). Plus, vinegar helps to remove soap residue.
• Borax, or sodium borate, (1/4 cup) can also be used in the final rinse cycle to soften your laundry.
• One problem with using homemade laundry detergent is that over time it can leave your whites a little dingy. This can be remedied by adding washing soda to your washing machine before filling it with hot water and then adding the whites to soak overnight. They come out nice and white.
• Mixing one cup of Borax with two cups of warm water will give you a stain remover that works on blood, chocolate, coffee, mildew and urine stains.

CAUTION:

Just because something is 'Natural' doesn't mean it can't cause problems. Be sure and keep all cleaning powders and mixtures away from children and pets.

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BASIC INGREDIENTS FOR
NON-TOXIC CLEANER RECIPES

http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm

Five basic ingredients serve as the building blocks for many safe home cleaning needs:

1. Baking Soda - Cleans and deodorizes. Softens water to increase sudsing and cleaning power of soap. Good scouring powder.
2. Borax - Cleans and deodorizes. Excellent disinfectant. Softens water. Available in laundry section of grocery store.
3. Soap - Biodegrades safely and completely and is non-toxic. Available in grocery stores and health food stores. Sold as liquid, flakes, powder or in bars. Bars can be grated to dissolve more easily in hot water. Insist on soap without synthetic scents, colors or other additives.
4. Washing Soda - Cuts grease and removes stains. Disinfects. Softens water. Available in laundry section of grocery store or in pure form from chemical supply houses as "sodium carbonate."
5. White Vinegar or Lemon Juice - Cuts grease and freshens.

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Make your own dishwasher detergent

• Mix 2 parts Borax and 1 part Baking Soda, use 1 tablespoon per wash (although very hard water may need 2 tablespoons). White vinegar in the Jet Dry dispenser will give you sparkling glasses and dishes.

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Let's Clean House

Some of you have a growing awareness that regardless of the political party in power our government is crawling with 'dirty' politicians.

Here's an informative article from Meridian Magazine titled: Washington and Zarahemla: The Beltway-Nephite Disease

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/090903disease.html

Have you read the Constitution recently? Ever?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html

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President Gorden B. Hinckley

“Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” (D&C 133:5). Thus has He spoken to us in modern revelation. Be clean in body. Be clean in mind. Be clean in language. Be clean in dress and manner.

- “‘Be Ye Clean’,” Ensign, May 1996 -

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