Posted on 04/21/2010 6:25:54 AM PDT by goodwithagun
While having clean clothes is obviously both hygienic and neighborly, how they get that way may be more open to imagination and experimentation than you may have considered. And consider you should, because as it turns out, the companies supplying the soaps you use to make your attire springtime fresh may be doing little more than taking you to the cleaners.
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You’ve got a photo for everything JoeProBono - I like!
Thanks! Is this the agitation during the wash cycle or during the rinse cycle? Sorry if I'm asking a dumb question. This just seems like a great idea, and I want to be sure to get it right.
The rinse cycle, but you clothes won’t smell like vinegar. Also, vinegar is naturally anti-microbial, bacterial and viral. You can use it in a spray bottle instead of Lysol or other cleaners. It works beautifully for windows. Mix one part vinegar to two parts water and wipe away with old newspapers. Your windows will gleam.
I could never find the arm & hammer super washing powder in my area....upstate SC.....
I also buy the cheapest fabric softener I can find and then water it down in the dispenser and it lasts for months! I buy maybe 2 bottles of fabric softener a year this way.
I have used vinegar as well but my Dad, a chemistry teacher, warned that it is corrosive and will eventually wreck the metal parts of my washer. How long have you been using vinegar in the rinse cycle?
Citrus essential oils like grapefruit and orange are good, you could add more drops, and they are quite cheap, especially orange, when bought in bulk. I buy my EOs mostly from Essentil Oil University (do a search for it, it’s .org). They sell to producers, not retail, but you just need to write something up, no paperwork needed. I do sell stuff anyway. I recenently ordered a bunch of oils, the orange was something like $13 for 16 ounces. Pure, good quality.
I’ve used white vinegar in washing for years. When it’s very diluted in rinse water I doubt it harms the metal parts.
You don’t need a bread machine to bake homemade bread. I have been doing it for over 30 years. I keep a pound of yeast in the refrigerator and if you store it properly it will keep for a years. Moisture is the thing you have to be careful of. I store mine in a tupperware container and only take it out of the refrig long enough to measure the appropriate amount.
I use 3/4 teaspoon of yeast for a recipe that calls for a “packet” of yeast. 3 packets in the grocery store run over a $1 most places. You should be able to find a pound of yeast for around $3-4.
We often find 25# bags of general purpose flour for $5-7. I usually keep 50# on hand.
Make homemade pizza dough, yeast rolls, cinnamon raisin swirl bread, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns and french bread.
You don’t even need yeast to do homemade biscuits. I do recommend using ARGO (or Rumsford) baking powder, it does not contain aluminum phosphate. (many Alzheimer’s victims have high concentration of aluminum in the brain)
And try dumplings, my family is nuts over my chicken & dumplings. And German potato soup made with leftover ham is a reall hit too.
We buy a lot of potatoes & rice. Both are great staples and you can sure cook a great meal on little cost with them.
I actually enjoy baking, my wife does not. But she sure likes to eat what I cook.
Eat good with much less cost, I learned that during college. I became a good cook then.
I don’t look like that. Don’t wear an apron. Even clean up my own mess in the kitchen. Have a reputation and many satisfied friends. Unfortunately it has developed so that not only do I have to do the baking for the family, but every time we have a church gathering, district lodge meeting or family reunion I have quite a task making enough.
I have tough a few times about opening a bakery or restaurant. But that would probably make something I enjoy doing into work.
I do have a couple of sausage recipe’s that I could sell commercially. Probably will never do it. I live in a very small town.
I have a bar-b-que pork recipe that is used commercially by one of my wife’s relatives in NC, a recipe that my family has had for 50+ years for link beef sausage.
We have a building that we process our beef in at the farm. It has a walk-in box, a Hobart commercial meat slicer, band saw and sausage mill. And a 4x8x5 brick pit with hood that we smoke meat and sausage in. We are set up to do it. But if we did it commercially it would all have to be upgraded to comply with the regulation. It is safe, but you know the drill. It is not about safety, but about regulation and licensing.
We have butchered a lot of wild hogs, they are a real nuisance here. Most of our friends use our facility to butcher their own wild game. We do not charge them, so it is legal. Lots of hunters here.
Remember: A country boy can survive. Especially in TX.
Where does one buy washing soda? Never noticed it in the detergent section of stores.
I don’t look like him either, but hear what he says.
Texas is a bit different though. The mode here is not patterned after any other place I know.
It will not be easily reconciled to where the US is going presently. The cretin who are destroying us, have a thing or two to learn. That lesson might be unplesant for them.
I think the vinegar comment was from me. Actually, I don’t use it at all....anymore. My family had a genetic skin disease that left some of us very sensitive. I didn’t inherit, so I was lucky. In answer to your question, we used vinegar in the machine for nearly 20 years. It (the machine), lasted for more than that, but it died from other causes. Actually, you don’t need that much vinegar to accomplish the removal of soap from your clothes. Just enough to shift the pH slightly is enough. It really left no odor in the clothing.
In the manufacture of soaps, one introduces an alkali to precipitate the soap from the solution. In the case of cheap white vinegar (acetic acid), one is doing the opposite. You’re simply putting the precipitated soap back into solution. Of course, if you have normally acidic water, it might not even be necessary. It is worth a try for those that have a problem with “touchy” skin.
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