Laundry Detergent – Easy & Inexpensive! September 7, 2011

I never knew what it meant to do laundry (I mean real laundry) until I had kids!

I remember being able to do a couple of loads on my day off when I was in college and I would be set for the rest of the week, maybe longer. At that point spending $8-$15 per container of laundry detergent was no big deal because it would last me a long time.

Once you have kids – whether babies or toddlers (and I am sure teenagers and on up, I am just not there yet) you will never again be caught up with laundry! It doesn’t have to be overwhelming – do a load every day and set a day each week or every other week to wash all the bed sheets and big stuff. But – it does get expensive. I prefer to use detergent that is fragrance free, and as natural as possible – so that means it usually costs even more.

Living on a frugal budget I needed to find a solution – and I have! It doesn’t help find socks lost in the dryer – but it does help save money and clean my clothes all naturally!

I make my own liquid laundry detergent (and have made powdered as well)! It ends up being less than .10 cents per load and cleans my clothes marvelously without any harsh fragrances or chemicals!

Here is how I do it:

Ingredients and Supplies needed:

• Borax
• Bar of Soap (I used Dr Bronner’s Citrus this time!)
• Washing Soda
• Water
• 5 gallon bucket
• Saucepan

That’s all folks!

The process:

Put 4 cups of water into the saucepan and start to heat up while you take your bar soap and either grate it or cut off shavings with a knife (I did the shavings, easier than grating for me!)

Once the water just about boils add your soap and stir it steadily (without boiling) until all soap has dissolved.

*Caution – If you walk away and forget about this and it gets too hot it will OVERFLOW SUDSY WATER all over your stove (not that I know this from experience or anything….)

Once the soap has completely dissolved remove from heat.

Add 3 gallons of hot water (I just used hot tap water – didn’t have to be boiling hot) to your 5 gallon bucket.

Pour the soapy water in and mix well for several minutes.

Next add 1 cup of washing soda – mix well until completely dissolved!

Finally add 1/2 cup borax (this can be omitted if you do not want to use borax – but it does help with set in stains and really dirty camping clothes) – mix well until completely dissolved.

Cover your bucket and let sit overnight.

The next day you will have a mixture of slimy awesome goo. I use about 1/2-1 cup of this liquid detergent per load.

Have fun and enjoy your laundry!

~Jesse

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Similar Posts:

Homemade Dish Soap

I have hairy legs!

Waste Not, Want Not

 

*This post was shared on my Gather Page on 9/10/2011!

Greenfeet – Organic Chico Produce and Nut Wash – Review/Giveaway – Ends 8/31 August 15, 2011

Good things come in small packages. That is the case with this cool new product I got to try!

I was so excited to be contacted by Valerie Reddemann, Founder/President of Greenfeet: The Planet’s Homestore , to do this review and giveaway. I have been a fan of greenfeet for many years – I love that they are local to Chico and they have an amazing array of affordable eco-friendly products. Some of my favorite items I have gotten from greenfeet include my Frigoverre 1/2 gallon glass pitchers that I store my raw milk in every week and my cast iron griddle handle cover to keep me from burning my hands!

Now on to the Organic Chico Produce & Nut Wash that I reviewed – Here are some basics from the greenfeet website about it:

New FDA Accepted Organic, All-Natural Produce Wash and Sanitizer Removes Dangerous bacteria From Raw Veggies & Nuts

Organic Chico Wash removes 99.999% salmonella and E. Coli in 30-90 seconds. It’s revolutionizing food safety.

The secret? a powerful Citric Acid blend. This formula has received numerous awards, is an FDA accepted natural sanitizer AND is certified by the WSDA-USDA that the ingredients comply with the National Organic Program Program (NOP) regulations.

• Wash or spray dangerous bacteria such as salmonella or E.Coli off of foods – this is especially great for items where you don’t know the source
• Fruits, vegetables or nut meats. It works on all of them
• FDA accepted. Non-toxic. Food grade. All-natural

Organic Chico Wash has been lab tested for removal of E.Coli 0157:H7, Salmonella enteritidis serovar typhimuium and Aflatoxin and mold. Organic Chico Wash meets FDA requirements of 5 log reductions in 30 seconds (in other words, it kills all the bad stuff FAST)          

How cool is that! I love the fact that it is so compact by coming as a concentrate and that it is not bringing more toxicity into my house!

I was getting ready to take care of my last batch of Kombucha that was done brewing and I like to add some fruit to it and give it some additional flavor. I am always extra careful about washing the fruit I am putting in my Kombucha to keep all the healthy stuff active and not add any chlorines (Did you know that the majority of produce washes contain chlorine?)

I had a few plums I purchased from Chico Natural Foods (didn’t get a chance to hit the farmer’s market yet this week) and I went to work on them.

First I poured the concentrate into my spray bottle (reused from an old bottle of store-bought cleaner and washed thoroughly!)

I must admit that I was a little taken aback by the color of the concentrate. For some reason I was expecting a clearer color or maybe an orange/yellowish since it is a citrus acid blend – so the brown threw me off. But it doesn’t  have any odor, and honestly, who cares about the color if it is safe and non-toxic!

Next I added some distilled water to fill the bottle. I didn’t want to use tap water or non-filtered water, since the whole purpose of using this is to get the chlorine out of our produce wash.

  

I put on the spray cap and sprayed my plums! It said 30-90 seconds so I set the timer for 2 mins and finished getting my kombucha finished.

Then I rinsed them off in clean water as directed and voila – clean plums that I feel confident have no yucky stuff on them since I don’t know who touched them last or where exactly they came from…

So easy and wonderful. I recommend this product to everyone. I am the first to admit that I am lazy in the kitchen – I hate to peel fruit and veggies when I don’t have to – AND there are usually a lot of nutrients in the peel that I don’t want to get rid of.

A quick, easy and all natural product like this makes me feel better about cleaning my fruits and veggies that I don’t peel!

Some other reasons I am excited about this product:

• Taking it camping for quick and easy cleanup on cutting boards, etc.
• Using it on all fruits and veggies that I use when fermenting – not good to have chlorine in fermented foods.
• My 4 yr old son helps we wash veggies a lot and I feel at ease letting him use this product.

You can purchase it at Greenfeet for the low price of $5.95 – and if you live in Chico you can pick it up at their warehouse for FREE! If not they can ship it right out to you 🙂

~Jesse

 

**Update 8/18 – Since this is my first giveaway and it has come to my attention it may be the first time many of you have entered a blog giveaway I found this great video online on “how to” enter a blog giveaway! Please check it out and let me know if you have any confusion about how to enter!!

WIN IT!

___

This giveaway is now closed!

Congrats to the winner:

Tia Says: August 23, 2011 at 6:33 am e

#18. I follow @BizzBooBoo on Twitter as @TiaSweepstakes. tiasweepstakes@gmail.com

Check your email Tia and contact me to claim your prize!

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Greenfeet has generously offered to give one bottle of Organic Chico Produce & Nut Wash (value $5.95) to a Bizz & BooBoo reader!

Open to anyone 18 years and older in the US only! Giveaway will end on Wednesday 8/31 at 11:59pm PST.

Leave a comment for each entry – mandatory entry must be done before any others – please leave your email in the comment! If I cannot verify your entry, it will not count. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be picked.

Mandatory Entry:

Subscribe to the Bizz & BooBoo Blog (see right sidebar) AND go to Greenfeet and tell me one thing you learned about the produce wash that I didn’t mention above!

Additional Entries:

You must leave a comment for each entry!

Like Greenfeet on Facebook (leave your username)

Sign up for “Today’s Greenfeet Value” (the right hand side of their homepage)

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Follow @BizzBooBoo on Twitter (leave your username)

Tweet about this giveaway and leave the  direct link in your comment

Sample Tweet: “Enter to #win Organic Produce & Nut Wash from @grndiva & @BizzBooBoo #giveaway Ends 8/31 https://bizzandbooboo.wordpress.com”

Vote for Bizz & BooBoo on Picket Fence Blogs

Make a relevant comment on any non-giveaway post!

Happy entering and Good Luck!

Disclosure: The product provided for this review was given to me free of charge from the company. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. Any opinions expressed are my own honest opinions and are not influenced by any form of compensation. This giveaway is in no way connected to or endorsed by Facebook. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

Homemade Dish Soap! August 8, 2011

Someday I will not have to buy any ready-made cleaners because I will know how to make them at home all naturally.

That day is not today.

But – I am getting there.

I attempted my first homemade dish soap today. Not for the dishwasher (I have tried that – unsuccessfully – several times…) but for when I am washing dishes in the sink.

I found a recipe for a “Lavendar Dish Soap” that looked good on this site.

I had it up in my browser window for about a week before my dish soap was dangerously low and I needed to either go to the store or buy some, or make some! I had all the ingredients on hand so I went to work.

The recipe calls for making a gallon worth – but I really didn’t want to make that much not knowing if I liked it and I didn’t want to have to store a gallon of the stuff somewhere (out of reach of prying Bizz & BooBoo hands).

So I quartered it!

I used:

• A bar of Dr Bronner’s unscented soap (1/4 cup grated)
• 1/4 gallon (4 cups) of water
• 7-8 drops of sweet orange essential oil (I prefer a citrus smell for my dishes than a lavendar)

First I grated the soap that I would need

Then put the soap flakes and water over medium heat.

Once it boiled and simmered I removed from heat and let it cool for a little while, then I added about 7-8 drops of the essential oil and stirred well.

I let it cool for awhile longer, then used a funnel to put into an old dishsoap container I had, and I put the extra in an old maple syrup jar!

Now the verdict – how does it work????

Pretty good! It is a lot more liquidy (be careful when squirting it into the sink or on your sponge, lots comes out quickly!) then store-bought dish soap. I have used it several times for a quick washing of some plates and utensils and been completely happy with it.

Last night I used it for a sinkful of dirty dishes, one of the dishes was very oily from some olive oil I had used in a recipe and it made the dishwater rather oily. I noticed the dishes still had some oil on them after washing & rinsing. So I ran those under some clean hot water with some more soap on a sponge and it turned out fine. Probably next time I will use the advise on the site where I found the recipe and add some vinegar or lemon juice to the water if it is exra oily or greasy.

Looks like it should last me for at least a month or so and then I will decided whether to make this one again, or try my hand at another dish soap recipe.

Have you made any homemade cleaners?

How did you like them?

Have a beautiful day!

~Jesse

PS – Vote for Bizz & BooBoo on Picket Fence Blogs to help get this blog out to more people in cyber-world!! Click on the icon to your right that says “We’re on the Fence” or just click here!

 

**This post was shared on my Gather Page on 9/9/2011!