Tammy's Recipes

Hi, Carey!

I don't use bleach much at all... and very little of our stuff is lightly colored, besides diapers (and it's best not to use bleach on cloth diapers)... I looked at color-safe bleach once, but it was expensive! So I've never tried that. I should look for the Purex-2 and see how long it would last and how much is in the bottle. :)

Today I washed Joshua's work clothes, and I tried using 1/3 cap of store-detergent AND 1/2 cup of my homemade soap. It seemed to work really nicely. If I continue doing this, I'll at least be saving 2/3 of the cost of washing the work clothes, since I normally have to use a completely full cap per load!! (I always used 1/2 cap or less for our regular clothes.)

I don't normally use fabric softener. Occasionally I add a little distilled white vinegar in the final rinse of my diapers, but that is more for reducing hard water build-up than for softening (though it does soften them a little).

I haven't had store-bought fabric softener for years... I find that if I just don't buy it, then there's never the temptation to use it (because I love the smell!). ;)

I do have some dryer sheets but don't use them very often. Most of our laundry is line-dried. We also don't have much clothes that isn't 100% cotton, so even when I do use the dryer, there isn't much static. After considering the fact that fabric softener and dryer sheets aren't good for the appliances, plus they cost money, we've gotten along well without them.

I find that shaking clothes out really well before hanging (and even after, if needed!) helps a LOT with stiffness. This goes for indoor and outdoor hanging. I wrote more about this in my article I just posted for you! :)

But, I also think I am probably just used to a little stiffness in my clothes! I imagine I might notice more if I were accustomed to always wearing dryer-dried clothes. :)

~Tammy

Just today I read a substitute for fabric softener in a magazine. I haven't tried it out yet, but thought I'd share it anyways.

"Add 2 cups of white vinagar to a full tub of rinse water OR use 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of baking soda per wash load."

Again, I haven't tried it yet so I can't say if it works, but there you go!

Actually, I have done both! :)

The vinegar I thought would get a little pricey, and though I thought it made the clothes (or, diapers ;D) somewhat softer, I didn't think it was worth the expense or time spent trying to remember to run down to the basement and add it! :D I do occasionally use vinegar in my diaper rinses, but it's more for combatting hard-water build-up than softening purposes. :)

I didn't know that baking soda was supposed to soften clothes, but I've done that too! I've used it in diaper loads and in white loads. There was never an expense issue for me with baking soda, since I have a relative who works at an Arm & Hammer factory who can give me lots of free baking soda. ;) However, I don't really recall noticing that the laundry was softer.

It may be that these natural softeners make a more subtle difference than the commercial fabric softeners. But at least baking soda and vinegar are things that are okay/good* for washing machines! :)

*Although I was told once that leaving laundry to soak in vinegar water in the washer could cause rusting of the washer.

Good to know and learn from your experience! =D Thanks so much for sharing with us. I was thinking that baking soda would get a little pricey to use as fabric softener... I buy regular fabric softener sheets and cut them in three, and only use one chunk per load. The main reason is because of static. I hate static. =P My one box of sheets is still lasting and I've had it for about two years! ;-) So... I find that cheap and it works for us - for now at least. =)

BTW, this is Anne Jisca. I'm not home right now and don't have access to my password, so I can't sign in for this comment, or the one you replied to above! ;-)

I'm loving the discussions you have on here, Tammy. I grew up in a very thrifty home, and love finding even more ways to bring that into my home now. =)

Thanks for your comments, Anne Jisca! :)

For some reason, the limited number of times that I do use our electric dryer don't seem to produce any static in our clothes. I wonder if this is because almost all of our clothes is 100% cotton. Or, maybe it only happens to clothes that is regularly dryer-dried.

Okay, I had to stop and Google. :) It seems like static is from the clothes rubbing together in the dryer. Here's an interesting article I found about fabric softeners. I imagine there are a lot more good resources out there, I just haven't looked! :)

We used to use fabric softener, because if we didn't I would itch from the roughness.
I found theblue balls that go into the dryer at Bed Bath and Beyond. They are a type of soft flexible rubber, I think. They tumble with your clothing and make them soft without adding any more chemicals. They have always been in the section of "As seen on TV", when I purchased them for myself or others. We have used them for at least a year and still love them.
I believe they cost around 20 dollars, but we have saved much more than that in the last year on fabric softner.

I wonder what exactly borax does, as far as clothes is concerned. I learned that hard way that too much washing soda is bad for the laundry. Now, I'm super careful how much of things I put in!

Hi, Jen!

Yes, I do use this recipe for cloth diapers. I have various prefold diapers (no Fuzzi Bunz). I use very little soap for my diapers.

I used to use All Free and Clear, and when I was first using cloth diapers, I was using way too much soap! I didn't realise it wasn't all rinsing out, until my baby got diaper rash from having a wet diaper against him that still had detergent in it. (I changed him very frequently, but detergent residue is really harsh!) The diapers also started smelling like a wet dog when they were washed! Yuck! So I rinsed them really well in hot water and started using about 1 tablespoon of detergent per large load (with top-loading washer).

I did find this page which talks all about laundering cloth diapers. They actually say not to use soaps on cloth diapers, and to use detergents instead. I try to be careful, because things can be harmful to cloth diapers but not show up until weeks or months later. I have been using my homemade soap for my diapers, but I do use a very very small amount. After reading the info from that site (Punkinbutt.com), I now wonder if I should go back to using the All Free and Clear. Either way, I use such a small amount that it isn't very expensive.

Over the years, I have found that using a very small amount of detergent, making sure diapers are rinsed well, and line-drying whenever possible is the best way to keep my diapers looking healthy and smelling good! :)

Leave it to you, Ruth........ nah, don't worry about it. I probably shouldn't blog about diapers on the front page of my site, but we can talk about poop in the comments. lol! I mean, Joshua blogged about tomato horn worms, and put up pictures! I'd rather touch poopy diapers than tomato horn worms. Yeah. :)

My mom always used a bar of soap when she was scrubbing out her cloth diapers. But then, she used a little bleach on her diapers, too...

Can you strip your fleece liners in the bathroom sink with hot water, since you don't have hot in your washer right now? Also, what's this about dish detergent stripping diapers? What kind do you use?

I have been having some smell issues. I probably just need to get more baking soda and do a nice hot wash with it. It's like the hard water build-up smell, but a hot vinegar wash isn't taking it all away like it did before. It doesn't help that it's getting colder and colder outside and less favorable for hanging on the line to dry...

Cloth diapering is so easy, but yet so... um, interesting! I went a whole year blissfully washing my diapers with lots of detergent and it wasn't until I couldn't line-dry that I had build-up and smell issues...

Oh, my, sounds like you have some fun on your hands with Malachi's diapers! You're such a good mom. I hope Malachi doesn't do those poopy diapers all day long. Usually the benefit of solid-food poop is that it's less frequent than breastmilk-only. Well, at any rate you'll really love it when he's potty trained. It's amazingly wonderful only having one in diapers again. I didn't mind two in diapers, but now I think it must have been a lot of work! :) Funny how we feel that way afterwards :)

Thanks for your comment. :)

Oh, my! A whole cap of detergent in the diaper loads?! Here's what I would do: Put your clean diapers in the washer and run a hot wash. No soap, no nothing. See if the water gets soapy.

I did that and I had an amazing amount of suds. And this was from diapers that I had washed and dried and thought were clean. I kept washing (well, actually, rinsing!) in hot or warm water until the water had no suds. It took like 4 or 5 rinses. I know, an awful lot of water!

From then on I use at MOST 2 tablespoons of detergent. The key is to watch how sudsy your rinse water is, because you want the detergent to all wash out. I realised that my baby's diapers weren't really greasy or extremely soiled, and that washing them was mostly for just rinsing them clean and sanitizing. I think that may be why they require so little soap. Just open your washer and see how sudsy the final rinse water is. It shouldn't be very sudsy, if at all.

If the baking soda and vinegar are getting all rinsed out of the diapers, it shouldn't bother your baby. Here is how I could tell that the diaper rash was from detergent build-up in the diapers: The rash was on the front of the baby and all over, not localized like a normal rash. Around that time I also noticed that the diapers smelled a little like a wet dog when they had been washed (before they were dried) and someone suggested detergent build-up.

When I line-dry my diapers, I think they smell wonderful. When I use the dryer, even occasionally, they start smelling funny. If you have hard water, there's also a possibility of hard water build-up. That will cause the diaper to stink horribly when the baby has wet. A hot wash with vinegar should help. But I've also heard that some people who use vinegar every single time they wash, can get funny smells from that. So I don't routinely use vinegar.

Really, my basic tips are to use very little detergent and to line-dry in the sun. I wish I could line-dry all year for my diapers and never ever have to put them in the dryer!!

Wow, sounds like a neat project! Thanks for sharing about it! :)

Arm and Hammer has a product called Super Washing Soda, which is baking soda ash. (The box doesn't say what it is, but my uncle who works at an Arm and Hammer factory was able to tell me what it was.) It is definitely different from sodium bicarbonate ("regular" baking soda, the edible kind!).

It can be found in the laundry aisle, and a medium-sized box (can't remember the weight) is a couple dollars.

It goes a long way. For those of you who haven't used washing soda before, be sure you don't use too much. Before I knew better, I would sprinkle washing soda on my laundry as the washer was filling with water, and one time, a piece of fabric got a hole in it from the soda. It's caustic. Use in SMALL amounts!! :)

Thanks for sharing, Erica! I've actually never used Fels Naptha soap (I use Ivory in my laundry soap), although I think I recall my mom using it years and years ago, on cloth diapers. :)

Careful about assuming that natural=healthy. Lye is very caustic. It is a very effective cleaner, but it is caustic just like washing soda. (My great grandmother made her own lye in a big pot out in the yard. She used ashes to make it. Wonder if there is similarity there with Baking Soda Ash process?)

Gwen

If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands? –Milton Berle

Yes, the commercial fabric softeners leave a coating on the laundry! It's actually not recommended to use fabric softener on towels or on sleepwear for that reason.

I love the smell of fabric softener, but it's expensive, not healthy, and bad for the washer and dryer. I've done my laundry without it for som long, I don't really miss it. And I have my bars of soap to make my clothes smell nice. :) Until the day I decide not to buy commercial soap.... ;)

Marissa, I've never used a front-loading washer, so yes -- I've only tested this in top-loading machines. :) It doesn't make very much suds at all though. Much less than even a small(er) amount of commercial detergent. So I doubt it would cause any lather-issues, but I don't know all the ins and outs of different machines. :)

And for Joshua's (dirty, greasy, etc.) work clothes, I do use 1-2 Tablespoons of commercial detergent, along with my homemade soap. :)

Hi, Holly!

I should figure out how many ounces of Ivory soap I use in mine. I know it just says "bar", and that's my fault. I know that having extra borax or soap in the mixture will make it thicker. That's probably what caused yours to turn out like pudding!

You can still use it, however. :) I made a double-strength batch once, and it turned out too thick. I just mix it with a little hot or warm water before using, to be sure it un-lumps. :)

By the way, welcome! And from your proflie, I see that you live in the same state as we do. :D

Holly, you're welcome! It is really nice not having to spend a lot of money on laundry detergent! :) We're in NW Central Ohio. Probably a couple hours from you! :)

Hi, Missy! :)

I think this laundry soap would be helpful for those with sensitive skin; I've heard of others who had skin issues with most laundry detergents and this homemade laundry soap worked better for them. I'm guessing Dove would be fine, (although I don't think it's "pure" like Ivory?? But I never use Dove) and I haven't tried it myself so I don't want to say for certain. ;)

I would also be sure to get the laundry rinsed really well, regardless of the kind of detergent used (or use less detergent if possible) since detergent or soap residue on clothing can cause problems. :)

I think I will try this. I used the last of my detergent yesterday, so now is the perfect time.

Blessings,
Missy

Oh, I loved reading your review! :) Thanks for sharing. :)

I agree, the long-term use of a detergent or soap shows its true colors. ;) And I don't think my homemade laundry soap removes odors very well, either. However, I add baking soda in the wash sometimes, which helps. I usually just use that with diapers though. Joshua's work clothes smells like, well, a factory! But he only wears them to work, anyway. :)

Tania, I have heard of people adding essential oils to their laundry (I think maybe a couple drops of orange or lavender; also, tea tree oil for cloth diapers) but I have never done it myself. I doubt the occasional use would be harmful, but I'm not sure about frequent use. The problem with a lot of laundry "issues" is that the side effects don't start showing until the damage has already been done! :P

I see you mentioned Walmart, but I have strong objections against going there. So where would one find these? What aisle would you find them in?

Jules, I have found my essential oils at local health food stores. Other options might be a larger grocery store (if they have a "health" section) or ordering from a co-op. :) I'm sure you could order online as well... actually, now that I think of it, I got tea tree oil and peppermint oil from Nature's Sunshine. :) I don't know if they're the cheapest, but I was ordering a couple of their other products during my last pregnancy, and needed a $40 order total, so I added the oils onto my order. :)

Actually if you just fluff your towels in the dryer for about 5 minutes before hanging them out, they loose all stiffness. I have done that before- started the dryer and then decided to hang out the laundry and that little bit of time seems to soften things better than trying to do it while they're a bit damp coming in from the line.