laundry tip

@mjemom,

The amount you make up per batch, how long does that quantity last you? I have 3 kids plus myself to do laundry for, and my elderly dad (who doesn’t create much laundry!) throws in a load now & then.

I also wanted to ask about using equipment, be it food processor or hand grater, and then using them for food items after washing them. Some folks have said not to ever use something you grated soap on for food. We don’t have a dishwasher, so if I washed & rinsed a food processor or grater by hand, do you think that would be okay?

Mjemom, the amount I make lasts me 8-9 months. I have two kids. We are “wear something 2-3 times before washing” people, so I normally do 6-8 loads of laundry per week. We wash sheets every 2 weeks. I think how long the detergent lasts you would depend on number of people in your family and how much laundry you do. I know some kids will change clothes 2-3 times a day, so that would mean that momma is doing a whole lotta laundry. That doesn’t fly in our house, unless they’re REALLY dirty.

Hmmm, I’ve never paid a lot of attention and I don’t measure real accurately, but I’d say I probably use about 2 tbsp per load and bit more on the play in the red mud days 😉 I do roughly 4-6 loads a week probably and I would guess that size batch lasts me about couple months give or take. I will do a double batch sometimes but no more because that is all that fits in my container. And then I can experiment with different soaps more often. I do use my same grater I use for cheese and have never had a problem, my cheese has never tasted soapy and no one has gotten sick. Like Lindsay said, I feel like soap is soap and I don’t think of it much differently than dish soap. I would just make sure it was rinsed really well.

Gosh I’m a lot of help aren’t I? I am super persnickety about many things love to plan things very detailed, and very type A for the most part, but this is not one of those areas, I guess here I am more flower child/go with the flow…Maybe I’ll put a sticky note with the day I make it next time and get a better idea.

bluej, I didn’t know that fact about Fels Naptha, but it makes sense. I rarely have to pre-treat stains; like less than once every few weeks MAYBE. I quit buying Shout and other spray on stain removers when we switched to homemade soap several years ago simply because I was trying to save money. Since making my soap with the Fels Naptha, it makes sense that I have not noticed staining on our clothes much.

The one thing Fels Naptha was not able to remove was a vomit stain on dd’s quilt. She threw up a very large amount, and she had eaten tomato sauce and food with chili powder that day. Two stains that would be difficult for any detergent had they not also been mixed with stomach acids. Yuck. I washed that quilt, using double the amount of detergent, twice. When the stain still wouldn’t come out, I used a baking soda paste that I let sit for a few hours. Then I washed it again. Stain still wasn’t out! Then I did the baking soda paste again, let it sit, and then poured straight white vinegar over it. I let the bubbles do their thing and washed the quilt again, using double the detergent again. The stain came almost totally out, finally. I figured it probably wasn’t going to come all the way out after all that, so I went ahead and dried it. The stain is hardly noticeable, unless there is bright sunlight shining directly on it.

So that’s the one time it took more than just the Fels Naptha, but I don’t blame the soap. That would have been a tough stain on even an expensive, store bought detergent!