Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Homemade Dishwaher Detergent, Laundry Detergent and Small Surprises

Two things that never seem to end at the homestead (or any house) are dishes and laundry. I make my own dishwasher detergent and laundry soap, and I love it when they both run out at the same time- they both use the same ingredients!





Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

20 Mule Team Borax
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda Powder

This can’t be easier- it’s literally a 1:1 ratio. I do 2 cups of each at a time and keep it in a used 40 oz. peanut butter container.

Also, for added shine, you can fill your final rinse thing with distilled vinegar, but to be honest I forget to do this and it generally happens about once a month.


The Homemade Laundry Detergent I use is apparently copyrighted, so I have to do this…

Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

I will say that I love this stuff- since it’s a no sudsing detergent, it works great in my HE (High Efficiency) washing machine. My 4 kids and I all love to play outside, and this detergent has never let me down!



Other Happenings at the Homestead

I am still working on Buffy’s coop. Today I started putting the fence up for the run. This fenced-in run is only 6 ft by 6 ft and 6 ft tall. It’s connected to the run for the main coop, but there’s not door to allow access from one run to the other. I didn’t get too much accomplished before the rain started. Seriously, everytime I work on this coop, it rains. Had I known I had this power before, I would’ve started the coop a lot earlier, and worked on it every three days…

Also- when I collected eggs today, I found two very small surprises! Two of my little hens had laid their first eggs! Woo Hoo! I can’t tell you how cool it is that the very little eggs today came from hens that I incubated from eggs that my older hens laid this spring! It’s amazing to see it come full circle! You would think I laid them all myself judging by my excitement!





Tomorrow I am back to work at the fence, and hopefully the rain will hold off so I can finally get this done! I still need to get my fall garden cleared and planted and the main garden is in desperate need of attention as well!


2 comments:

  1. That's an awesome laundry detergent recipe, and a pretty good recipe for a cleaning product in general... for floors, counters, stove tops, etc. But just remember not to use it in a gray water system where the water from your washer goes out to water your garden or into a fish pond. Borax is toxic to many plants and aquatic animals.

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  2. I have been using borax and vinegar in the laundry for quite a while; I'm going to have to try this dishwasher recipe.

    I'm so excited to have found your blog. Hubs and I are aspiring homesteaders. Some day soon, someday...

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