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Archive for the ‘Laundry Soap’ Category
Water is such a precious commodity. Every living thing depends on water, but many natural water sources are polluted. One of the main culprits is the soap that many of us use on a daily basis. Many household and industrial chemicals have found their way to our rivers and lakes.
To help planet Earth recover from all the harmful effects of modernization, it is time to go back to basics. Homemade laundry detergent that uses environment-friendly materials can definitely go a long way. These detergents clean your clothes and do the environment a world of good. The laundry soap recipe utilizes natural ingredients to clean your clothes, the way that Mother Nature intended.
Many of us are trying to find ways to cut back on spending, and save some extra money, perhaps to pay off some debt, or to save for that vacation you’ve been planning. For some, like myself have decided to brew their own coffee instead of buying it on the go, for others it could be going out to eat less, saving coupons and so forth. One great thing you and your family can do, to not only save money, but also introduce a much healthier and much safer product that the entire family uses, is to make your own laundry soap.
Making your own laundry soap is simple and very affordable. You have several recipes to choose from by doing a simple search on the internet, or finding a recipe book on making your own natural products. You not only know what is in your soap, but you have control. Many store bought detergents have harsh ingredients that can cause skin irritations. This is a major reason why new Mothers are recommended to wash their infants cloths, and blankets in a mild soap instead of a detergents.
We use this recipe and get between 60- 70 loads per batch for less than $1.00
All you need is a 2 gallon bucket with a lid, 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha, ½ cup of washing soda, and a ½ cup of borax powder. Your Fels Naptha will need to be graded and have 6 cups of water added to it in a sauce pan and heat until soap begins to melt. Then you will need to add 1/2 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax and stir until it has dissolved. Now remove from heat and pour 4 cups of hot water into your bucket, add your soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cup of water and stir. Now all you need to do is let it sit for 24 hours and it will gel up. When it is ready to use it will have a gel like clumpy appearance; you can use a large wooden spoon to stir the gel substance into liquid form and use only 1/2 cup per load.
For over 100 year Fels Naptha has been used for effectively treating and preventing poison ivy, poison sumac and poison oak. Did you know that poison ivy resin can remain on your clothes for up to one year? Many handmade laundry soap recipes include the ingredient Fels Naptha as a base, because of its century long reputation for not only effectively eliminating the dangers of these resins, but Fels Naptha gets the job done when it comes to eliminating tough stains.
Though you can typically find Fels Naptha in the same aisle as you would find soap bars, it is not recommended to use Fels Naptha as a body washing soap bar, for its active ingredient is a skin and eye irritant. This soap should be reserved instead as a base for homemade laundry soap, or for pre treating stains before washing. The ingredient benzene solvent is proved to cut through grease and tough stains. Fels Naptha has also been known to get rid of aphids in the garden and to treat itchy bug bites and burns and itching from poison ivy, oak and sumac.
Who isn’t trying to stretch a buck today, with gas prices still pretty high and unemployment through the roof; the unstable economy has many of us cutting back, looking for ways to save money and live more practical. Well I would like to share with you a project that could save you and your family some extra cash and that is to make your own laundry soap. Not only will you save some money but it is much milder and safer for you and the environment, still keeping your clothes freshly clean. You do not need to be an experienced soap crafter to make your own laundry soap, it is actually very simple and unlike making some handmade soaps that take up to 4 to 6 weeks to cure, you can make your own laundry soap and use it in just a day.
There are several different recipes you can find on the Internet, here is one that I use and am very pleased with. All you need is a 2 gallon bucket with a lid, 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha, ½ cup of washing soda, and a ½ cup of borax powder. Your Fels Naptha will need to be graded and have 6 cups of water added to it in a sauce pan and heat until soap begins to melt. Then you will need to add 1/2 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax and stir until it has dissolved. Now remove from heat and pour 4 cups of hot water into your bucket, add your soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cup of water and stir. Now all you need to do is let it sit for 24 hours and it will gel up. When it is ready to use it will have a gel like clumpy appearance; you can use a large wooden spoon to stir the gel substance into liquid form and use only 1/2 cup per load. This recipe will supply you with an estimated 64 loads and cost less than six bucks!
If I could afford to live a healthier lifestyle, I would; is what I hear often from friends and family, as I am also discouraged at times when doing my grocery shopping. Eating healthy organic food is expensive; eliminating unhealthy eating habits is hard. Taking the easy road, the more convenient way will always be more attractive. We are always in search of bargains and deals, we have become a society that wants to work less and get paid more, and we want to microwave everything, giving us immediate results. We have compromised many natural ingredients, giving products longer shelf life, and producing larger quantities for larger profits.
Well hey I am all for getting a great deal, prosperity, and yes patience is something I am always working on improving, and as a business owner, profit is what we want and more of it, but you know what, It all means nothing if you’re dead or very ill. I know you may be thinking this is bit extreme, but I cannot tell you how many people I know or have met who are suffering from cancer, asthma, skin allergies, and on and on. All of which many of these illness have direct relations to what the body has been exposed to over and over again from many of the products we buy on a daily basis such as personal care, to what we wash our cloths with and scrub our floors.
So how much is your health worth to you and your family? I know it is hard to pass up great deals, especially when you have many mouths to feed. You may be asking questions like why I would spend $4.50 on one bar of handmade soap, when I can get much more for less. When I hear someone say I choose to eat the way I do because I cannot afford to eat healthy, or buy healthier products, makes me question two things, priorities and spending habits.
It’s no secret our economy is not doing well; many of us have lost our jobs and are cutting back, but I want to challenge everyone not to not cut back on your health, but rather other less important areas, such as how many cups of coffee or lattes you buy every day. If the average cup a coffee is let’s say $1.50 and you buy two cups per day, 5 days a week adds up to be $15.00 a week, $60.00 a month, and $720.00 annually on just coffee. Maybe you do not drink coffee but, eat out more often that you can really afford to, because of the convenience. I can dissect this all day long using several examples; the bottom line is be honest with yourself, can you really not afford to live healthy? What are you spending your time and money on?
Staying healthy today involves more than just diet and exercise.
Staying healthy means more than a good diet and plenty of exercise today; consumers are becoming more informed of the subtle dangers in the ingredients of their personal care products, and aware that the skin is like a giant sponge that absorbs just about everything it comes in contact with, especially organic solvents and petroleum based chemicals such as Sodium Laurel Sulfate. Over long periods of time these chemicals have been proven to accumulate in the body’s organs and tissue leading to a mountain of health issues. This is why it is so important to not only take care of our body, by making wise decisions on what we put in our body, but on our body as well. Choosing natural skin care products like handmade soaps will help the largest organ of your body; the skin, be the first defense against harmful substances, dehydration and infections.
A number of health professionals today are recommending completely chemical free personal care products, after learning from several case studies that nearly everyone tested showed high levels of petroleum based carcinogenic chemicals in their fatty tissues. A Denver physician, Terry Friedman, MD stated, “To stay healthy, people have to do more than just exercise and eat healthy. Consumers should also avoid personal care products that contain toxic synthetic ingredients that penetrate the skin and accumulate in there tissues. In some cases, these products can have greater impact on health than either diet or exercise,” (Essential Oils Desk Reference, 2009).
I have lots of friends who will exercise like crazy but have a horrible diet, justifying it by the amount of exercise that they do. I myself am guilty of this, having a high metabolism and being extremely active would justify my sweet tooth all day long. Just because on the outside one may look healthy, the junk they are putting on the inside could be killing them. The same goes for the skin. It was not until I got in to the handmade soap and natural skincare business that I realized how important it is for our overall health by taking care of our skin. I am a firm believer that for a healthy lifestyle all three factors are vital for maintaining overall health, exercise, diet, and skin care.
If you are a fisherman or a hunter and take scent control serious as any successful hunter and fisherman should, I highly recommend finding products that have Anise oil in them. I being both a hunter and fisherman; every year buy soaps and shampoos that eliminate human odor. I have spent lots of money on many different products in hope of accomplishing the one goal of disguising my human scent. Well after several years of using natural skin care products I was convicted that this one season of the year I use a non natural product full of chemicals on my body in hope to get closer to that monster buck or catch more fish.
This led me to ask my Mother if she could make a natural soap bar for outdoorsmen like myself. We had learned that the oil Anise is actually used as a scent for many fish baits attracts wild game such bear and dear and also will cover human scent. Best of all it’s a natural oil, which has a long history of medicinal and culinary values as well. I have found that all the human scent control soaps and shampoos that I have bought over the years have chemicals in them such as Triclosan, and many other ingredients that not only could I not spell but even pronounce. I am looking forward to going out in to the woods this season with my new natural scent control.
It’s been almost a month since our youngest daughter left the nest and went away to college. Even though she’s only a few hours’ drive away, I can’t help but worry. It’s not that I don’t trust her to make smart decisions, but I just wish there were a way to show her how much her father and I miss her being around the house. Inspiration struck when I was online looking at natural household recipes. It suddenly occurred to me that I should mail my daughter a care package.
I whipped up a batch of homemade laundry soap and enclosed instructions on which outfits are appropriate for the washer and which should be dry cleaned. As far as I can remember, she always relied on me to do the laundry. I also made sure the care package was chock full of her favorite snack foods and some warm mittens for winter. Even though she’ll be back for Thanksgiving, it’s still nice to receive a present from home.