Self-sufficient households; help!

[miss_thenorth]

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I used my food processor. tried it by hand first, but too hard on the old arthritic joints...

 

[me&thegals]

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Hi Trudy--I have used it in its powdered form. I just shake the box good each time to get all the soap chunks to be more evenly distributed

For that reason, though, I have now also made the liquid form and am enjoying that, too.

 

[ninjapoodles]

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When I hand-mill soap, and need to grate some, I use the grating attachment on my food processor. It certainly wouldn't hurt your blender, either, if you just cut it into pieces first.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

I bought a salad shooter at a rummage just for stuff not food that needed graded. Works great.

 

[miss_jayne]

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Trudy,
i have been using this w/ only 2 tsp. per large load. it has been working fantastic. it even took crazy stains out. less is more with soap sometimes. the more in your laundry, the more that has to rinse out.

if you want whiter whites, try Mrs. Stewart's bluing...cheap and kicks laundry in the can!

hope this is helpful!

 

[miss_jayne]

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anytime i hear salad shooter, i just wanna sing the jingle from the commercial....
salad shoooooterrrrrrr!

sorry, couldn't resist!

 

[quadcam79]

dont know if anyone mentioned this since I havent rad through the 25 pages of replies but...The Encyclopedia of Country Living, the book rocks..it has everything you can think of dealing with self sufficiency . it was a 30 yr compilation , the author passed away in 2005

http://books.google.com/books?id=8v...a=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA4,M1

the 10th edition is out her husband keeps it updated, you can order it right from Don , he says "Just tell everyone that is interested in the book to wait until the the first of August to order. The book will not be out until July 28th, please tell everyone you know that they can reach me at [email protected] or [email protected] or call 520-678-2271, it will take a while to get it on the website that is the reason I am asking you to do it this way for a little while"

if you want the 9th edition you can also contact don and maybe get a discounted price on it.

 

[crazychickengirl]

Ok..I'm so excited! After searching around with no luck in finding the washing soda or the Fels naptha, I've finally found it! I thought I was going to have to order in online, but determined to find it somewhere else after seeing those high shipping charges. I just couldn't see paying that much extra to save money. Anyways, I just happened to call the local grocery store and they had it! And the Fels Naptha was only $1.19 ($1.75 onine + shipping) and the washing soda was $1.99 ($4.95 online + shipping)!!!

It's a yucky rainy day, so today I'm going to make up a few batches! I also have two friends that would like to try it, so we're splitting the cost on all the ingredients! I think I found everything for a little over $8 and that will make 6 batches! You can't beat that!

I do have a question of liquid vs. powder....what are your preferences? I'm trying to decide which one to make. I guess I'll start out with a powder batch since I don't have a large pan to cook it in. I'll let you know how it turns out!

 

[BearSwampChick]

I used a box grater to grate the FN bar, but I didn't feel like the pieces were small enough, so I put it in a food processor and that worked well. For storage, I'm using a ziploc storage bag, so it's easy to redistribute the mix. I know a jar is prettier, but nobody sees my laundry room in the basement but me, so practical is more, uh, practical for me.

For Lone Cowboy, I've been using 4 tsps. in my loads because I have a large tub. For really bad stains, try keeping an extra bar of FN and using that for pre-wash stain removal. Just wet the end and rub it into the stain.

 

[crazychickengirl]

Alright...I think I may have gone overboard with savings! I just finished up making one batch of the detergant and decided to figure up just how many loads one batch would do! Using 2 tsp per load of laundry, it will do approx 90 loads! So that's literally $.03 per load!!! One batch of the detergant ends up costing $2.72!

In my case, I normally buy 1 bottle of Era that does 32 loads (I probably may it do 45 loads...to make the math easier for me! LOL) for $4.99, plus a bottle of Gain fabric softener for approx $4. (I think it's closer to $5) Anyways...if one batch of the homemade does 90 loads, then it's equivalent to 2 bottles of Era. So in a year, normally I would spend $107.88 on detergant and fabric softener. By using homemade, and not using fabric softener, I would only spend $16.32! So that's $91.56 in savings! WOW!

Ok...I'm done rambling...but I just had to share!!! Now I'm gonna find out if it WORKS!!!