Washing Clothes With Baking Soda
Greetings to my Titus2 Sisters.
Today I have a quick keeper at home helpful hint for those who might not know about it. If you look on the internet you will see many different ways to use baking soda and today I will share a personal testimony as to how it works for washing clothes.
Being off grid and tiny house living on the road, I'm always looking for ways to refine and minimize our life and one issue we have is washing clothes because we don't just turn on the tap and get water so I try to find ways to take care of our washing needs while conserving water.
Not long ago I posted about using soap nuts and how washed our clothes in a dry bag in the van. You can read about it here: https://titus24sisters.blogspot.com/2020/04/van-dwelling-washing-clothes-as-you.html . They washed very well with small amounts of water to rinse and I really like them but I don't want to be a slave to ordering them off the internet and since then I've been contemplating the thought of using just baking soda to wash clothes. I'm sorry I didn't try this sooner because it works great! I've used baking soda with detergents to boost the cleaning ability especially in hard water but I'm sold on just using it alone now. I even dumped some on a shirt collar with a bit of water until it turned into a paste, rubbed it along the collar and tossed it into the bucket for washing. I let my clothes soak at least a couple hours before washing
I don't have any measurements for you so you'll have to figure that out on your own but for me and my small loads (I wash every day) I just use several tablespoons of it in a five gallon bucket. If using my dry bags I'd use a couple tablespoons to a gallon or two of water. I also like to use essential oils in my wash as it seems to give an added freshness to it. Sometimes I use tea tree oil if I want to have a bit more cleansing or disinfectant (towels etc) and I just use random, good smelling oils and drop a few drops in. (I'm not a particular person as you might be able to tell:-)
Hanging them outside in the sunshine is great because it air dries, the sun cleanses odors and they smell so fresh and clean. It's rough on the road to do this but we find ways:-) Brother Jim always laughs at me because I love hand washing clothes. (Not just because it saves us money and time at the laundry mat, but it's so satisfying.) I like to see dirty clothes soaking, then watch the water turn dirty as I wash them, dumping it out to add fresh water and feeling how clean they are when they're done. It's a great job to hang them on the line and all the while getting exercise doing it...for free. (People pay good money for exercise equipment, they should just live off grid lol :-)
Anyway, that's my keeper of the home tip for you.
We had a good day today, running errands in a bigger town by us. (I had my clothes in the washing bag, jiggling around all day as we drove:-) Brother Jim dropped me off at the grocery store while he ran next door to get some hardware to finish up his project...tomorrow is the big day! (I'll share when it's done.) While he was there he found something for me. I've been looking for just the right one but haven't come across it yet. Well, I actually found one but I wasn't about the justify the high price for it so I thought I would wait and have been looking since. When brother Jim picked me up he said to look under my seat and when I did, I pulled this out...
A cutting board the exact size and weight I was looking for! Keep in mind that we're in a tiny house and our van house is even tinier so size and weight matter. It also has a handle on it to hang it up while we travel. He remembered me telling him I was looking for one and praise God, it's exactly perfect. You all know what it's like to have the right tool to get the job done:-) A bit thank you to hubby brother Jim:-)
I promptly cut up a bunch of mushrooms to put in the dehydrators overnight with the rest of the corn that's drying. (I have 22 cans of corn dehydrating right now.)
On the way back home as we were driving through the countryside I suggested to brother Jim he should talk on his speaker, he's got it hooked out outside the van and uses the CB microphone to speak into it so when we drive through a town he can preach the gospel to people. Anyway he grabbed the mic and said 'It's a good day to serve the Lord!' Right after that we looked over and saw an old farmer walking through the field, lifting his hand to wave. Brother Jim said quickly to check out dontperish.com for the gospel. What perfect timing! We had a good laugh over that and praised God for being able to preach out in the middle of cattle country! That sparked our flame for getting back out in the world to spread the gospel even more.
Tomorrow I have just 4 more garden containers to fill with rocks and I have that project done. Lord willing we might be heading out next week on the road, we shall see!
I leave you with a beautiful picture from a saint in another country...
Today I have a quick keeper at home helpful hint for those who might not know about it. If you look on the internet you will see many different ways to use baking soda and today I will share a personal testimony as to how it works for washing clothes.
Being off grid and tiny house living on the road, I'm always looking for ways to refine and minimize our life and one issue we have is washing clothes because we don't just turn on the tap and get water so I try to find ways to take care of our washing needs while conserving water.
Not long ago I posted about using soap nuts and how washed our clothes in a dry bag in the van. You can read about it here: https://titus24sisters.blogspot.com/2020/04/van-dwelling-washing-clothes-as-you.html . They washed very well with small amounts of water to rinse and I really like them but I don't want to be a slave to ordering them off the internet and since then I've been contemplating the thought of using just baking soda to wash clothes. I'm sorry I didn't try this sooner because it works great! I've used baking soda with detergents to boost the cleaning ability especially in hard water but I'm sold on just using it alone now. I even dumped some on a shirt collar with a bit of water until it turned into a paste, rubbed it along the collar and tossed it into the bucket for washing. I let my clothes soak at least a couple hours before washing
I don't have any measurements for you so you'll have to figure that out on your own but for me and my small loads (I wash every day) I just use several tablespoons of it in a five gallon bucket. If using my dry bags I'd use a couple tablespoons to a gallon or two of water. I also like to use essential oils in my wash as it seems to give an added freshness to it. Sometimes I use tea tree oil if I want to have a bit more cleansing or disinfectant (towels etc) and I just use random, good smelling oils and drop a few drops in. (I'm not a particular person as you might be able to tell:-)
Hanging them outside in the sunshine is great because it air dries, the sun cleanses odors and they smell so fresh and clean. It's rough on the road to do this but we find ways:-) Brother Jim always laughs at me because I love hand washing clothes. (Not just because it saves us money and time at the laundry mat, but it's so satisfying.) I like to see dirty clothes soaking, then watch the water turn dirty as I wash them, dumping it out to add fresh water and feeling how clean they are when they're done. It's a great job to hang them on the line and all the while getting exercise doing it...for free. (People pay good money for exercise equipment, they should just live off grid lol :-)
Anyway, that's my keeper of the home tip for you.
We had a good day today, running errands in a bigger town by us. (I had my clothes in the washing bag, jiggling around all day as we drove:-) Brother Jim dropped me off at the grocery store while he ran next door to get some hardware to finish up his project...tomorrow is the big day! (I'll share when it's done.) While he was there he found something for me. I've been looking for just the right one but haven't come across it yet. Well, I actually found one but I wasn't about the justify the high price for it so I thought I would wait and have been looking since. When brother Jim picked me up he said to look under my seat and when I did, I pulled this out...
I promptly cut up a bunch of mushrooms to put in the dehydrators overnight with the rest of the corn that's drying. (I have 22 cans of corn dehydrating right now.)
On the way back home as we were driving through the countryside I suggested to brother Jim he should talk on his speaker, he's got it hooked out outside the van and uses the CB microphone to speak into it so when we drive through a town he can preach the gospel to people. Anyway he grabbed the mic and said 'It's a good day to serve the Lord!' Right after that we looked over and saw an old farmer walking through the field, lifting his hand to wave. Brother Jim said quickly to check out dontperish.com for the gospel. What perfect timing! We had a good laugh over that and praised God for being able to preach out in the middle of cattle country! That sparked our flame for getting back out in the world to spread the gospel even more.
Tomorrow I have just 4 more garden containers to fill with rocks and I have that project done. Lord willing we might be heading out next week on the road, we shall see!
I leave you with a beautiful picture from a saint in another country...
Blessings,
Sister Deb
The biblical gospel...