Tuesday, July 02, 2013

making laundry liquid



I made laundry liquid yesterday. The kitchen was awash, I managed to burn lumps of soap on the hob, drop a tea towel into the dog's water and break my mini chopper (I knew I was optimistic thinking it would cut up soap, but it cuts up carrots and soap can't be much harder than that, can it? Turns out it is.)

On the plus side, it cost me more or less nothing to make 9 litres or so. For a while I've been saving little ends of soap in a jar, I had just enough to make almost a cupful of grated soap and I used half a cup of washing soda. Boiled it up on the stove with a couple of litres of water, poured it in a bucket with another 8 litres of cold water, decanted it into various containers, et voila. Laundry soap, enough for quite a while. I've hopefully saved more than a new mini chopper is going to cost me. 

One thing I am going to miss is Ecover fabric conditioner, I love the scent of it, but I do know that some white vinegar in the rinsing water does just as good a job of softening the washing, is far cheaper and doesn't leave a smell behind. Once I can source some cheap white vinegar, all my washing will smell of nothing except fresh air from being hung outside on the line. 








5 comments:

  1. Awesome! I should start getting my leftover soap together to try this. Your laundry looks so gorgeous on the line, I can just imagine it swaying to beautiful music. Well done!

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  2. One of my favourite things in the world is seeing the laundry blowing on the line!

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  3. Oh my gosh! I love that you did this. I was into making all my own cleaning products for a while there. You're inspiring me to start again!

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  4. I really like the idea of using less chemicals in our home, and also saving money :)

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  5. Having a go at making my own laundry liquid is on my to-do list & I've made the mental note - n.o. m.i.n.i. c.h.o.p.p.e.r.s. :)

    I was exactly the same as you about fabric conditioner but started to use vinegar a few weeks ago, and honestly, I wouldn't go back. I LOVE how fresh the clothes smell after using the vinegar.

    Tesco sell 2 litres for 99p (and I'm guessing the rest of the big supermarkets will do something similar). If the supermarkets are out of the question then Summer Naturals is quite good online, 5 litres for £4.99 (although their delivery charges are steep, so would work out expensive if you weren't looking to purchase anything else).

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