Laundry Through The Years

I can't imagine having to wash your clothes with a washtub and wash board but I do admire  how hard the women worked back in those days. So much has  changed since then but I have to admit there are times I wish life was still like that.

I remember doing laundry in the old wringer washer that my parents had in the basement and having to bring it upstairs to hang outside. It was sometimes hard to do, especially when it was sheets and jeans! I remember thinking that so many people had automatic washers and was hoping that we would get one. We did after a while and it was so much easier but at the same time, I felt as though I was missing something. We continued using the washer and I continued hanging things out and when it was raining I would put the clothes on the wooden rack to dry in the house.

Fast forward a few years and I am still doing laundry in an automatic washer and hanging the clothes but now I am doing something that my mother never did and something I never thought I would do.

What might that be??? Making laundry detergent! I have been doing it for about a year now and can't see myself ever going back to store bought, chemical laden products. It costs a fraction of the price and you use only 2 tablespoons per load (sometimes a bit more if the clothes are really dirty).

This is the recipe I use:

1 cup of borax

1 cup of washing soda (NOT baking soda)

1 cup grated Fels Naphta soap (you can use any kind really)

Mix it all together and use 2 tbsp per load. Sounds pretty darn simple doesn't it! Well it is! I now make it by the gallon and we love it. I can't imagine having to go back to store bought now and spending tons of money on something that is so simple to make.

One thing to note  is that there will be little or no suds with this but suds don't represent cleaning power. I think we all associate suds to how clean something is going to be but that isn't the case. It does take time to get used to that but it is so worth it.

Happy Washing!