I have finally (nearly) run out of homemade laundry detergent! That’s what, nearly a year for a one person household? I confess, I completely failed to keep track of how many loads that was, but not bad! Also, I’m not completely out of soap, but there isn’t enough for a full batch, so I bought more. I went with Dr. Bronners again, but this time I got a peppermint bar instead of the unscented. I adore the way their peppermint smells, and will be really excited if all my clothes smell like that. Maybe this time I’ll tape a bit of paper to my laundry detergent container, and actually count how many loads I get out of it.
I did slightly change my mixing method. I still grated the soap by hand using a box grater, and I measured the 1C of soap at that stage. Afterwards, when I had added the borax and washing soda, I then ran it through a mini-food processor that I acquired from a resident who was moving out of my apartment building. This gives it a much more uniform texture, and I am somewhat less worried about getting equal amounts of each cleaning agent in each scoop. Though I am now wondering if I should measure the soap post-food processor. Also, probably not enough to make that much of a difference, but the volume has decreased a bit overall, making there be more of each cleaning agent per scoop.
A thing I have just discovered/remembered is that I started out using 2 TBS as per my last post on this topic, but I have definitely been using 1 for the last little while. I think I’m going to switch back to somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 for sheets and towels, but this is mainly because I’m fostering cats and letting them sleep on my bed, and they make a mess of everything and I want those things to be Really Clean.
Another thing about the quantity is that if I was doing 1Tbs, that may explain a small laundry-related conundrum I had recently. I have a nice long skirt that had a bit of a sweat stain/yellowing around the inside of the waist band. I had run it through the wash at least once this season before taking it on a visit home. While there, I used my Mom’s Tide to do my laundry, and that really defeated the persistent yellowing much better than my homemade stuff, but if I was using half the recommended amount, that might explain it.
Otherwise, I really haven’t noticed any deficiencies in cleaning ability, though my habit of line-drying everything is on a slight decline as the lint quotient on my towels is really out of control! So towels, and maybe sheets are going to go through the dryer. I’m thinking about instituting a bi-annual machine dry of my clothing, just to combat the lint issue. Also, investing in either stock in the companies that make adhesive lint rollers, or buying a real lint brush. Lint = not attractive, and somehow suddenly EVERYWHERE.
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I bought some beautiful Manos del Uruguray Silk Blend from the 