Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World (11 page)

A combination of soap and abrasive works well to clean ordinary bathtub rings and small amounts of soap scum in the tub or shower. Use the soft scrub described previously, or spray the surface with soapy water, then shake on baking soda. Use something abrasive, like a nylon pad or loofah sponge, to scrub away scum.

If the scum resists these attempts, try scrubbing with borax. If that doesn’t work, heat a cup of undiluted white vinegar until it almost simmers, then, wearing gloves, wipe the hot vinegar over the soap scum, wait a minute, then scrub.

For glass doors that are fogged with soap residue, try warm vinegar alone. Or try polishing the glass with cornstarch sprinkled on a damp cloth, then rinse thoroughly.

To prevent soap scum, consider switching soaps. In our experience, castile soaps (i.e., vegetable oil soaps) seem to leave less scum behind, or at least clean up better, than big-brand commercial bar soaps, which are often made with animal fat (sodium tallowate).

HARD WATER SCALE REMOVER

Hot vinegar removes hard water scale almost instantly. If the scale is particularly stubborn, place a rag soaked with hot vinegar on the scale for a few minutes, then wipe clean. Boil vinegar in teakettles to remove the white scale that builds up at the bottom.

DEODORIZER

Baking soda is your go-to deodorizer. Sprinkle it generously on your carpet, go to bed, and vacuum the next morning. Do the same with car upholstery and carpets. If you can’t wait overnight, wait at least 15 minutes. Wash stinky hampers and garbage cans with baking soda and hot water. Sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of the kitchen garbage can to reduce odors, and change the powder every week. If plastic containers pick up food smells, soak them in warm water and baking soda. Wash the inside of your refrigerator with baking soda dissolved in water.

MILDEW REMOVERS

To attack mold and mildew in the bathroom, combine 1 tablespoon tea tree oil with 1 cup water in a spray bottle. Shake well before each use. Tea tree oil is a powerful natural fungicide. It’s sold in health food stores, near the essential oils. While it’s pricey, a little goes a long way. What you don’t use for mildew combat can find its way into other cleaning products, like the Almost Universal Spray (page
70
), or be used in other projects, like homemade deodorant and mouthwash.

To remove musty mildew smells from a room, wipe the walls with ½ cup borax diluted in a bucket of water.

Suitcases, camping gear, old trunks, and other objects that have developed mildew in storage can be either sprayed with the tea tree oil solution or wiped with the borax solution. Straight vinegar works well, too. If possible, put the items out in the sun.

25>

Laundry Day

The truth is there is no single universal recipe for homemade laundry detergent. Each household is unique. The variables include whether you have hard or soft water, what type of machine you have, and what kind of clothes you wash.

To create a homemade detergent that fits your needs, you must first understand the basic ingredients of homemade detergent and how they act. To start you off, we’ll give a basic recipe. If it doesn’t work as well as you hope, customize your blend. The rewards of taking an independent stance on laundry are worth it. You can say good-bye to obnoxious perfumes, phosphates, optical brighteners, and chlorine bleach—and you’ll save money, too.

THE PLAYERS AND HOW THEY WORK

SOAP

All store-bought laundry detergent is . . . detergent, not soap. What’s the difference? Soap is derived from animal or plant fats, while detergents are a more modern invention, usually based on petrochemicals, although some have been developed out of plant sources. Water alone actually cleans quite well, especially when combined with agitation, but when you are dealing with oily dirt, water needs assistance. Both soap and detergent work as emulsifiers, allowing water and oil to mix. Dirt in the fabric is agitated out during the washing process and swept away in the rinse water. Both soap and synthetic detergents facilitate this process, but in hard water, soap forms insoluble salts, aka soap scum. Detergents don’t form these salts, which is why commercial laundry products rinse clean in all types of water. They’ve replaced soap in the laundry for this very reason. However, unless detergents are formulated to be fully biodegradable and otherwise environmentally friendly, they are water pollutants.

Homemade laundry formulas are made with grated soap. Pregrated soap flakes used to be available in the laundry aisle, but they seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur, so you have to grate your own. Soaps with enough oil in them to moisturize skin are going to leave that oil on your laundry, so ordinary body bars are
not
good candidates for laundry soap. It’s easy to make your own inexpensive laundry soap; see the Coconut Laundry Soap recipe in Project 42.

There are two brands of soap that we know of made specifically for laundry: the somewhat sinisterly named Fels-Naptha and the cheerfully pink Zote. Both are inexpensive and yield very good results, but both contain dyes, perfumes, and other chemical additives. If you’re avoiding commercial laundry detergent to avoid chemical additives, you’d want to avoid these two products. The choice is up to you. Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds liquid is an all-natural, all-purpose detergent. While not formulated specifically for laundry, it would be a good green alternative to Fels-Naptha or Zote.

BORAX

Sodium tetraborate is found in the laundry section of supermarkets under the brand name 20 Mule Team Borax. Don’t confuse it with expensive pharmaceutical-grade borax or the boric acid powder used to kill bugs. Borax is marketed as a laundry booster, to be used in conjunction with your regular detergent. It enhances the performance of soap and detergent by softening hard water. It also helps deodorize laundry and acts as a mild color-safe bleach. Which is not to say it is a bleach, but it brightens laundry and helps lift stains, especially when used in warm or hot water.

WASHING SODA (SODIUM CARBONATE)

Not to be confused with its cousin, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), washing soda is a highly caustic cleaning agent. It cuts grease exceedingly well and helps lift stains. Consider it borax’s more aggressive big brother. Because it is so strong, it should never be used on wool or silk. It will strip the natural oils from these fabrics, leaving them crunchy. Like borax, it also softens water, boosting the cleaning power of soap.

Sodium carbonate is sold by Arm & Hammer under the name Super Washing Soda. Like borax, it’s inexpensive, but it’s not as widely available as borax.

Look for it in the laundry section of supermarkets. If you have trouble finding it, call Arm & Hammer’s customer relations line or visit its Web site for the names of local retailers. You may be able to purchase sodium carbonate at places that sell pool supplies because it is used in the pool business to balance pH levels. Just make sure you get 100 percent sodium carbonate.

Wear kitchen gloves when handling washing soda, because it dries the skin.

BAKING SODA (SODIUM BICARBONATE)

The primary use of baking soda in the laundry is as a water softener and a deodorizer. It is not a cleaning agent in itself, but like borax and washing soda it helps soap clean, and it is noncaustic and nonirritating. Use baking soda in conjunction with soap for not-so-dirty loads. Buy baking soda in large boxes or bags at restaurant supply stores.

Homemade Laundry Powder

PREPARATION:
10 min

Here is our basic recipe. In this formula, baking soda softens the water, borax brightens, and soap lifts dirt. The ratio of each ingredient goes like this:

• 1 part grated laundry soap
  
• 2 parts borax
  
• 2 parts baking soda
  

If you haven’t purchased grated laundry soap, you must begin by grating the soap yourself. See the entry on soap (page
75
) that discusses laundry soap options. Some bars of soap are harder than others. Soft ones will form curls of soap; hard ones form powder. Softer soaps can be pared into thin strips with a potato peeler. You can shred soap on a box grater or, if it’s not rock hard, chop it into chunks and grind it in a food processor.

Add the borax and baking soda to the soap. You can process them together in the food processor or mix them thoroughly by hand with a spoon. Store your laundry powder in a lidded container. At first, use 2 tablespoons per wash load, increasing the amount only if you find you need more cleaning power.

If you’re washing in cold water, there’s a chance of undissolved powder bits being left on clothing. You’d only see it in dark loads. To prevent this, put the powder in the washer, turn on the hot water for just a couple of seconds to help the powder dissolve, then return the setting to cold.

This laundry formula doesn’t foam much, but it still cleans. Its low-sudsing nature makes it safe for front-loading and high-efficiency
(HE)
machines.

If the recipe above doesn’t work as well as you’d like, break down the elements to find the perfect solution for your home. Play mad scientist in the laundry room. Here are some variations and customizations:

SUBSTITUTE WASHING SODA FOR BAKING SODA FOR GREATER CLEANING POWER.
We formulated the Homemade Laundry Powder recipe with baking soda because washing soda can be hard to find. We’d suggest you try baking soda first and move up to washing soda if you have to.

All wash starts with soap, so
KEEP A TUB OF PLAIN GRATED LAUNDRY SOAP ON HAND.
Soap provides the vital service of lifting dirt and allowing it to be rinsed away. In hard water, though, soap can leave behind traces of soap scum, over time resulting in stiff fabric and graying whites. The trick with soap is to use as little as possible. Truthfully, it takes very little soap to make water a more effective cleaner. Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons per load and work up if needed.

BORAX IS PROBABLY THE BEST ALL-AROUND AID FOR SOAP.
It won’t harm your clothes, and it helps brighten and deodorize laundry. Toss in about ½ cup borax along with the 2 tablespoons of soap, as described above, to make laundry detergent on the fly.

BAKING SODA DOESN’T WHITEN, BUT IT SOFTENS YOUR WATER SO THE SOAP WORKS BETTER.
It also deodorizes. Use baking soda alone with soap or in combination with borax. Add both in ¼-cup increments until you find a level that works for you.

WASHING SODA
is best employed for washing grease out of clothes—that’s where it excels, and that’s what differentiates it from borax and baking soda. Add ½ cup to loads that need extra cleaning power.

FLOUR SACK BATH TOWELS

We’re all for line drying whenever possible. It saves energy and wear on clothing. One frequent objection to line drying is that terry cloth towels come off the line crunchy. This is true. Heavy terry cloth towels depend on the fluffing action of the drier to stay soft. They’re definitely a product of the machine age. Here’s an alternative: Try using light cotton toweling in the bath instead. You might be familiar with a breed of kitchen towel called a flour sack towel, those large (around 2 x 3 feet), thin, soft cotton towels often used for drying glassware. They absorb water fast, don’t take up much room in the wash, and dry in a wink. One will do for the body, another for the hair. Try it out. If you like it, you can make larger bath sheets out of heavy muslin or similar material.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

SYNTHETIC FIBERS

These petroleum-based fabrics hold dirt and odors more than natural fibers. They were developed in conjunction with petroleum-based detergents, and these detergents clean them best—though, as always, your results may vary. There’s no shame in keeping some regular detergent around for washing your loads of stinky team uniforms, work coveralls, and the like.

WOOL AND SILK

Fine wool and silk items should be washed by hand in cold water. High pH (alkaline) cleansing agents, like washing soda, will damage them, as will regular detergents and soaps, which are also fairly alkaline. Delicates are best cleaned with soap that has been buffered to decrease its pH so that it’s neutral rather than base. Use liquid castile soap, like Dr. Bronner’s. Acidify it by adding white distilled vinegar to the soap in a 2:1 ratio. For example, mix 1 teaspoon vinegar with 2 teaspoons soap and use this as a hand wash. Add a splash of white vinegar to the rinse water to help remove any soap film and to further restore the acid levels of the fabric.

Soapwort
(Saponaria officinalis)
is a plant with soaping qualities. It’s too mild for day-to-day dirt, but it would pamper your most delicate clothing. In fact, some museums use soapwort to wash antique textiles. Add 1 cup soapwort shampoo (made without any of the optional herbal additives, which might stain light fabric) to a sink full of water to hand-wash delicates. Add more if you need additional cleaning power. See the discussion of soapwort in shampoo in Project 5.

Soap nuts, the fruits of trees from the
Sapindus
genus, are another naturally occurring surfactant. They have a neutral pH and thus are gentle enough to use on wool and silk. (See “Soap Nuts, a Natural Alternative” on page
82
.)

WHITENERS

Commercial detergents whiten and brighten with a mix of chlorine bleach and optical whiteners. Neither are very friendly to you or the environment. Chorine bleach breaks down into dangerous toxins like dioxin, which accumulate in people and animals, causing cancers and developmental defects. Optical brighteners don’t clean fabric, they only give the illusion of cleanliness. They distribute tiny particles all over the fabric that absorb ultraviolet light and reflect blue light, making your clothes
appear
whiter and brighter. You might notice a faint fluorescent glow to your laundry liquid—that’s them. The problems with optical brighteners are that they may cause skin irritation, they’re not biodegradable, and they’re toxic to fish.

There are alternatives to toxic whiteners. First and foremost, wash your whites separately from colors, otherwise you’re fighting a losing battle.

FOR GENERAL BRIGHTENING:
Borax does a good job of this. It brightens by creating hydrogen peroxide in chemical reaction with water. Increase borax’s effectiveness by using it in hot water and/or presoaking your laundry in it.

TO TREAT GRAYED WHITES:
Whites that look gray, as opposed to yellow, are probably coated with soap scum created by soap and hard water. Try washing them once or twice in hot water alone, or in hot water and washing soda, to remove this residue. You might notice the wash water suds up from residual soap trapped in the fibers.