Powder Homemade Laundry Soap

[colowyo0809]

Maybe a bit off topic, but how do you determine if you have hard water? We have a drilled well, and have not had any testing done. Is there an easy way to find out?

have you tried cutting it? if so, it may be hard water

 

[SSDreamin]

 

[Britesea]

You could ask your neighbors- if you are all on wells, then you'll have the same water.

We have hard water, but it's actually very good tasting, so we have the right kind of minerals. Water that doesn't have any minerals in it can taste sort of flat.

 

[moolie]

Do you have a lot of scale build up or discoloring in your sink or tub? That is usually hard water.

My old house had nice, soft water. No stains in the tub, no icky scaley build-up on the faucets. This house is just the opposite. Orangey brown stains in all the sinks, crusty scale on all the faucets, and stinky to boot! The water here is pretty hard!

If your hard water is stinky, you either have sulphur in your well water or if you are on city water that's hard you should drain your hot water tank because it is full of sediment. People with hard water need to drain their hot water tanks more often because of the sediment build-up, it can destroy your hot water tank.

The build-up on your fixtures is easily removed with vinegar--soak a rag in vinegar and leave it on the buildup all day/overnight if necessary, can cover with plastic to keep it damp. Then it's easy to clean

We pour a glug of vinegar into the fabric softener cup for every load of laundry, keeps the machine clean and the soap from building up in our clothes. We also run our dishwasher with a glug of vinegar in the bottom and vinegar in the rinse dispenser, keeps it clean and keeps the deposits off our glasses.

Bathtubs tend to get a ring of scummy build-up, vinegar and baking soda works for this as well. If you have a plastic shower pan, vinegar and baking soda also works but you have to keep on top of it--if I go more than a week between cleanings it takes a lot of muscle power to get the slimy crud off and it leaves me with slimy cruddy rags that need a good soak in vinegar.

Yeah, we have hard water

 

[valmom]

Maybe a bit off topic, but how do you determine if you have hard water? We have a drilled well, and have not had any testing done. Is there an easy way to find out?

If you have a drilled well in VT, I would bet you have hard water! In Massachusetts we had what they called "clear water iron" which meant your water looks clear until it is boiled or it hits a surface that will stain. Then it turns unremovable red. We had to have a water softener. It also had high Mg and Ca.

This house in VT we have calcium but not much iron- thankfully! We don't use a water softener. Soap does rinse off really well in the shower, though, and vinegar is a necessary cleaning ingredient.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Okay...I did the homemade powdered laundry detergent thing. I still will be using the soapnuts for everyday laundry, but am finding they need more help for he dirty greasy work clothes of my machinist DH...and of course, socks and underwear. I am thinking I will be using the powder on the lighter colored pillow cases also. I grated the zote bar...grated the Fels bar, scooped out the measured amounts of the powders...and combined it all in a glass gallon pickle jar.
Once winter gets here though, and water freezes, I will be going back to using well water for laundry. Can't pump ice cubes through the portable pump.

 

[RobinsValleyVT]

Thanks everyone, we don't really have any build-up in our sinks, except occasionally a little white scaling that can be hard to get off, I guess that would be calcium. Our tub doesn't get much buildup at all, just a little soap scum.

I want to make some detergent this weekend, but I'm not sure if I need a dedicated grater/blender for making the powder. Do you use the same ones you cook with? Is it fine to use on food again after going through the dishwasher? Some people mentioned using an old blender, but I only have 1 and I don't want to ruin it!

I also realized I don't own a grater not sure how that happened, I thought I had one.... I may try to pick up a cheap one that I can leave with the detergent making supplies.

 

[Farmfresh]

You can pick up a grater for next to nothing at a thrift store. Most people won't buy them because it is for their food and who knows where they have been, but for soap they are grate. Get it grate.

I don't remember if anyone here has mentioned this, but I run my grated soap along with some of the borax or soda through the food processor when blending the powder. If you just process the soap you get a glob, but the dry ingredient combined with the soap ends up with a nice fine powder that is easy to blend with the other ingredients. I imagine that a blender in small batches would work the same way.

And I forgot to say .... Yes I use the same processor for food as I do soap. I just wash it up well when I am done. I DO have dedicated equipment for when the soap is uncured.

 

[RobinsValleyVT]

You can pick up a grater for next to nothing at a thrift store. Most people won't buy them because it is for their food and who knows where they have been, but for soap they are grate. Get it grate.

I don't remember if anyone here has mentioned this, but I run my grated soap along with some of the borax or soda through the food processor when blending the powder. If you just process the soap you get a glob, but the dry ingredient combined with the soap ends up with a nice fine powder that is easy to blend with the other ingredients. I imagine that a blender in small batches would work the same way.

And I forgot to say .... Yes I use the same processor for food as I do soap. I just wash it up well when I am done. I DO have dedicated equipment for when the soap is uncured.

Ok thanks, I'd hate to ruin my blender or magic bullet for food. I found a great older blender with the glass pitcher at a garage sale that works great, they don't make them like they used to! Those are good tips on making the powder, I'll keep that in mind.

I'll check our goodwill or dollar store for a grater, probably two, since I do need one for the kitchen anyway. I can also think of some other home projects I would use a grater for that I might not want to use on food after, so it won't go to waste.

We've been using detergent that other people gave us when they switched to HE machines because I hate wasting anything, but I'm not thrilled about the chemicals going into our ground water through the septic. I've used Charlie's soap for cloth diapers, but that's a bit pricey, although a good product.

 

[Denim Deb]

I just used a hand grater when I did the soap. Cost me a whole dollar at Dollar Tree.