waxing philosophical about homemade laundry soap

[PunkinPeep]

Just wanted to say I love the phrase

WHEN THE SOAP HITS THE FAN

thanks!

 

[freemotion]

Is it really that easy? What if i don't have lard, but i have goat's milk? The one thing wrong with the animals we've chosen to raise is that none of them produces any substantial amount of lard.

Anything can be made to look easy by boiling it down to a paragraph or two!

Soap isn't really that hard to make. Lard is fat from pigs that is rendered, and tallow is fat from beef suet that is rendered. Usually it is the lower quality of fats that are used in soapmaking. My grandmother used to make soap outside in a cauldron in the fall when the animals were butchered for the family of 13. Buncha animals. My grandfather was a farmer and grew mostly potatoes and oats, so there was some fat on his animals.

Goat's milk replaces the water in soap recipes, not the fat. You will still need to come up with a few pounds of fat to make the soap.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree with that, and i have thought about that. And then (WARNING, I'M FIXIN TO GET REAL; i don't mean to gross anyone out, but i might) i go to the bathroom or think about other feminine things and think that there are certain things that are really going to need to be washed - and preferrably disinfected. For example, what do you use for toilet paper when you run out of your stores? A cloth that you wash and re-use? Do you want it - if nothing else in your whole world is really clean - do you want that one thing to be REALLY clean? I do.

I'm wondering what the earliest folks did for this? Before the settlers and such....what in the world did they do?

I saw the neatest thing in a mag the other day....it was a female urinal thingy that is designed for gals to pee while standing up....it was swell!

 

[PunkinPeep]

Goat's milk replaces the water in soap recipes, not the fat. You will still need to come up with a few pounds of fat to make the soap.

dang.

I'm wondering what the earliest folks did for this? Before the settlers and such....what in the world did they do?

I seem to remember something about corn cobs.

I saw the neatest thing in a mag the other day....it was a female urinal thingy that is designed for gals to pee while standing up....it was swell!

I remember seeing something like that on The View a very long time ago. This one looked like a paper plate, folded in half! I'm not sure that's for me.

 

[TanksHill]

I have made my own laundry soap for what seems like a year or so now. In that time I am on my same box of borax and washing soda but have tried different bar soaps in the mix. In the mean time I think I have collected enough of the above ingredients to last many years.

Just cause when I finally found the washing soda I bought 3 boxes. I figure we will be relatively clean for at least a few years.



Ps I love it how the dh thinks I am crazy every time I try something new. But then boast about it so proudly.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Ps I love it how the dh thinks I am crazy every time I try something new. But then boast about it so proudly.

My husband does the same thing. In fact, he'll argue with me about something and convince me he's against it - and then i'll hear him telling someone else about what "we" are doing. Geez!

 

[Wifezilla]

think our husbands are related

About the fat thing. Not only do you need a good fat source for soap, assuring you have a good reliable supply of fat for eating is going to be the most difficult thing to do in a soap hitting the fan scenario.

Most of your daily calories should be coming from natural, non-hydrogenated animal fat. I know I can render my ducks for a good amount of fat, but have no idea if I can make soap out of it.

 

[freemotion]

You can make soap out of any fat, some fats will yeild higher quality soaps (hardness, sudsing, caustic, moisturizing, brittle, soft, etc) than others. I would save goose fat for eating unless I had a lot of geese!

This is another reason for processing in the fall before winter hits. The animals put on the most fat and then use it up during the winter, unless well-fed and snugly housed....not necessarily possible in a soap vs fan situation, at least at first.

 

[VickiLynn]

Ps I love it how the dh thinks I am crazy every time I try something new. But then boast about it so proudly.

My husband does the same thing. In fact, he'll argue with me about something and convince me he's against it - and then i'll hear him telling someone else about what "we" are doing. Geez!

I have one of those husbands, too! When there's something I think we need to get or do, his immediate answer is no - then I have to go about convincing why we need it. Eventually he reluctantly agrees. He didn't think we should make laundry soap, expand the garden, get a canner, get chickens,.. Now he's so proud of all that.

When we have a bad storm (like we did last weekend), he usually calls home from work to make sure DS and I are OK. Well, this last time he called and asked if the chickens were OK!?!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Regarding the feminine products, did woman not wash, then boil them in pots on the stove to disinfect? I thought this was normal practice back in the day, also for diapers too.

I could see having a dedicated pot for boiling unmentionables, such as family cloths, feminin napkins and diapers.