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And the super clean award goes to…
Bubby Lily was very clean and she loved to do laundry. There was a rumour among the cousins my age that Bubby Lily loved to do the laundry so much that she would actually rewash the clean clothes. The only one who would runner up with Bubby Lily for the laundry award is my friend R in London. He was known in pre-TSA times to travel with his own bleach in the luggage.
Laundry is the greatest!
Bubby Lily’s house in general was always super clean. The washing machine would be humming along, with some whites soaking in bleach nearby. If you snuck a look into her linen closet you would find that everything inside was the color of fresh snow and folded into perfect piles. She even would to iron my Grandpa’s underpants.
“Lisa, dear..” she would begun when she was continuing her important housewife lessons. I would roll my eyes, and say,
“How come my brothers don’t have to learn about this?” They were lucky enough to be boys and therefore were outside playing.
She would continue,
“It is important that your house is orderly…”
D.I.Y. Soaps
Last week I wrote a review of Halle Cottis’s fantastic book, “Natural Solutions for Cleaning and Wellness”. If Bubby Lily were here, I would want to share these natural recipes with her. I am sure that she would find them thrifty and easy to use, as do I. I know they would work well on the underpants.
D.I.Y. Liquid Laundry Soap
This recipe for liquid laundry soap is taken from the book “Natural Solutions for Cleaning and Wellness” by Halle Cottis. I keep the soaps in labelled glass jars and make up a new batch every month or so. The costs goes down if you make this in bulk. It would be fun to create a “Soap Club” with friends to share the expenses and time.
Ingredients
6 cup warm distilled water
4 tbsp kosher salt (important, do not omit)
2 1/4 cups Dr. Brommer’s Sal Suds
Instructions
Dissolve the salt in the warm water. Mix this liquid with the Sal Suds in a large container. Use 1/4 cup of the laundry soap per wash in a standard load.
Notes
If you like your laundry to smell nice then play around with the fragrance. I would add 3 drops of essential oil to your 1/4 cup of soap (per wash). Once you have come up with a fragrance that you like you can add it to the bulk base. Possible fragrance choices are lavender, lemon verbena, gardenia for ladies, and sage or pine for men. If you make a mistake you can correct it. It all comes out in the wash!
Lemon Bleach Alternative
This recipe is taken from “Natural Solutions for Cleaning and Wellness” by Halle Cottis. As I get older I find I am more sensitive to chemicals in my environment. I always seem to have issues with bleach. This formula is great to brighten up your whites without adding to your chemical load. It is better for our larger environment, such as water ways and land as well. In your small way you too can help.
Ingredients
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 gallon hot water
Instructions
Mix the lemon juice with the hot water. For dingy clothes soak for one hour. You can also add the lemon juice directly to the washing machine. Once washed hang the laundry out in the sun to bleach.
Notes
Some of us live in tiny apartments in cities. The sun is a crucial part of making this formula work. I would suggest using the bleach in your washer or with hand washing, and then put the clothes on an old towel and leaving it in a sunny spot. In this way you can use the active and oxidizing rays of the sun to help you have snowy whites.
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