How to Make Powdered High Efficiency Laundry Detergent

My old washing machine died beyond repair. I replaced it with a High Efficiency (HE) washing machine. HE washing machines use less water than conventional washing machines (and save more electricity and water in the process.) You have to use a low sudsing laundry detergent. If you don’t, the washing machine could overflow. I thought that since every green source is pimping HE washers (including myself I suppose), I thought that finding low sudsing powdered detergent would be easy. Not so much. After a long search I found only two and hated both.

• HE Option #1 - Tide HE made me itch. Not surprising because according to family lore my mother used Tide to wash my cloth diapers when I was a baby. Tide gave baby me diaper rash so bad that the skin on my butt chapped and bled. Even thought I ‘m an adult, my mom says she still feels bad about it. Which just goes to show you Mom Guilt NEVER goes away (sorry Mommies.)
• HE Option #2 - Trader Joes was a huge disappointment. It is a plant based laundry detergent– yay! It didn’t clean our clothes very well. Especially Husband’s muddy and sometimes toxically sweaty running clothes. Be thankful computers don't have Smellorama.

I tried using a smaller amount than usual of a regular liquid detergent. It cleaned our cloths but stank up the washing machine after every load - BAD.

An Easier Way to Clean with Vinegar

Cleaning with vinegar converts know that a 5% acidity solution of white vinegar will clean and disinfect a countertop (although you don’t want to use it to clean a marble countertop – trust me on this one), deter a kitchen ant invasion, and kill mold and mildew in the bathroom.

Once I had the big Ah ha! Moment, I filled up an old spray bottle with equal parts vinegar and water and got to cleaning. The Condo was clean but I wondered why it seemed that I needed to use twice as much of my vinegar and water solution to clean tough stuff like soap scum on my shower doors – my nemesis - than when I used other environmentally friendly cleaners.

The answer was right on the vinegar bottle. A regular bottle of white vinegar is already a 5% acidity solution.

Oh.

By adding water to the vinegar, I was reducing how effective it was as a cleaner and disinfectant. That’s why I needed to use twice as much vinegar to get the job done.

D'oh!

I solved the problem by screwing the spray nozzle of my old cleaning bottle directly onto the bottle of white vinegar. Now I’m cleaning more effectively with my 5% white vinegar solution (of course I but the empty bottle in my recycling bin.)

And before you ask, no, The Condo doesn’t smell like pickles either.

Can You Wash a Plastic Bath Poof?

Not to be too TMI about it but normally I like to use a loofah in the shower/bath for all of my exfoliating needs.

Side note: Did you know that loofah is a type of squash that grows on a vine and not a sea sponge? Really! Well, you smart people out there probably already knew that but I didn’t until a few years ago when one of Husband’s uncles grew loofah and gave them out as parting gifts at a family reunion.

I now return you back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

I got a plastic bath poof with an unsolicited free sample in the mail. Not being one to waste things, I figured I’d use the plastic poof until it got yucky and then I’d switch back to my loofah stash.

Eventually the bath poof got yucky. I wondered if I could extend its life by washing it in a lingerie bag in the washing machine.

Nope.

Landfill = 1, Creative Reuse = 0

How I Slashed my Electric Bills without Moving into a Yurt

Last March I started my own personal 20% Energy Reduction Challenge . My goal was to reduce the amount of electricity in my 1500 square foot free standing Condo used for the year by 20%.

Everything in The Condo runs on electricity except for the natural gas hot water, fireplace, and furnace.

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I didn’t want to add solar panels or wind turbines to my home because they are a poor return on investment where I live. I also wanted keep all of my current non-Energy Star appliances. Everything I had still worked and it would be too costly and wasteful to replace. But most of all I wanted to see if I could meet my goals this way because a slew of Greenzillas insisted that I couldn’t do it without alternative energy and installing new energy efficient everything. I thought I could.