Musings from Marilyn

Posts Tagged ‘Laundry’

I’ll admit that I become somewhat of a hermit in wintertime.  I really believe in responding to seasonal changes, and just going with the gentle flow of what Mother Nature is presenting at any given time.  I’m learning to give up complaining about the weather; if there is one thing that you can’t do anything about, it’s the weather!  Kvetching and complaining really adds to the misery.  That being said, the weather is usually quite gray and dank in Seattle, so it’s best to just give in.

I love staying in during the winter.  I wrap myself up in assorted layers of cashmere, wool, cotton and mohair (OK, and in my leopard Snuggie ).  There is just something so comforting and cocoon-like to just be.  Not running around wildly here and there.

Recently we had a rare Seattle snowstorm that lasted a week.  It just kept snowing and snowing, with some frozen rain thrown in for good measure.  If there is any time to stay home, it is during Seattle snow.  Driving conditions are extremely hazardous with all of our  inexperienced drivers, steep hills, unplowed roads (snowplows are extremely rare), and icy streets.  So it is best to stay put.  Needless to say I was happy as a clam bundled up in the house for a week; very zen!

Of course, there is no outdoor clothesline drying for me in winter, just too cold and damp.  I have my laundry racks set up indoors and they’re consistently full of drying clothes.  As seen by the picture, my laundry got a nice view of the winter wonderland as it was drying!  With the heat on indoors, the wet laundry dries relatively fast.

Now we are back to the standard clouds and rain, but my indoor laundry racks are still getting a heavy workout.  Maybe just not as nice of a view. 

“Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy.” ~ Author Unknown

~Marilyn Huttunen

Well, I finally took the plunge and did what was the last holdout of my Eco-Friendly-Clothesline-Loving-Cold-Water-Washing-Laundry-Goddess status:  making my own environmentally friendly detergent.  I have been meaning to do this for years but finally got a nudge, okay, a push from a thread on the eBay Clothing Discussion board.  There was a lively discussion about making homemade detergent, and since I had all the ingredients (and laundry to do) I made up a batch of the powdered detergent.

There is a liquid version and a powdered version.  I chose the powdered version because frankly, it sounded a lot less complicated.  And the liquid version makes something like 792 gallons at a time and I don’t have the storage space.  Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit on the amount, but it was a staggeringly huge amount!

The powdered version is really simple:

• One bar of Fels Naptha soap – finely grated
• One cup of Borax
• One cup of Washing Soda or Baking Soda

I used the fine grate side of my grater to get the soap finely grated, kind of like Parmesan cheese.  It takes a bit of muscle but it goes pretty fast.  Then just mix the Fels Naptha in a bowl with the Borax and the Washing Soda.  Or you could mix it in a jar and shake it up (lid on, please ).  Now it’s ready to go and should look something like this:

Use 2 Tablespoons of powder per load.  Since 2 Tablespoons equals 1/8th cup, I found an old 1/8th measuring cup and keep it with the detergent.  If you are using warm or hot water, just add the powder to the load.  If you are using cold water to wash, you can put the powder into a little saucepan of water on the stove and heat until the soap melts, then add to your laundry load.

Today I washed a white load in warm water, and a dark load in cold water.  The detergent worked really well on both loads and the laundry came out very clean and soft.  Be aware that there are little or no suds, but it does clean amazingly!  There really is no scent either, just the very faint clean smell of the Fels Naptha, which I happen to adore.

It’s easy, it’s safe, it works, and it’s amazingly thrifty.  I haven’t done a cost analysis of this, but I’m sure it’s just pennies per load.  We don’t need a bunch of over-scented chemicals to get our laundry clean!  We can help the environment and help our pocketbook in one fell swoop.  So give it the old college try and you too, can be on the road to being a Laundry Goddess.  It’s fun!

~Marilyn Huttunen

Since becoming a complete and total air-drying fool several years ago, it’s amazing how the little things thrill me.  Now that summer has finally seemed to settle in somewhat in the Seattle area, I have been able to do most of my line drying outside.  Yes.  On a clothesline!

During the loooooooong, rainy winter, spring, and the first weeks of summer, I was feeling quite doubtful that I would ever be able to use my outdoor clothesline again.  Racks of laundry drying indoors filled my kitchen, bathroom, and occasional hallway.  It took days for it to get completely dry.  It was like doing the tango, maneuvering through the maze of drying racks.

It hasn’t been really hot here, but 70 degrees and a nice breeze seem to be the ideal conditions for good drying.  It’s so nice to hang laundry in the morning and actually take it in, dried, in the afternoon.  Everything is so smooth, crisp, and has the intoxicating scent of the sweet summer air. Aaaaaaaah!

Sheets and towels are especially blissful air-dried.  I may be in the minority, but I love a fresh, snappy, stiff air-dried towel!  You will never want to go back to soft, limp, non-absorbent dryer-dried-fabric softener-Bounce kind of towel after you get used to air-dried towels. Fake scented, chemical coated towels are a thing of the past for me, thank goodness.

I am relishing, and have a much greater appreciation for these nice summer days.  It’s great to put the summer weather to work; just hang and go (I am inherently lazy)!  Plus, it’s free, and I think the laundry turns out much better.   Here’s to more great summer weather! 

“After enlightenment, the laundry.”  ~Zen Proverb

~Marilyn Huttunen

I’ve aired my dirty laundry for about 6 years now.  Well, actually it’s clean laundry and I air-dry it on either a drying rack or clothesline!  Being a “slow dryer” as it were, I often feel as though my whole life is consumed by laundry.  Either washing it, hanging it, waiting it for it to dry, and putting it way.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  It is a rhythm that slowly weaves its way in and out of my days.

Outdoor drying becomes a huge issue when you live in the Pacific Northwest.  Especially in the fall, winter, and much of the spring.  My indoor drying racks are in constant use during these times.  Once in a great while I dare to hang laundry outdoors in the depths of winter, but it is almost always to no avail – little or no actual drying gets accomplished.

This winter and spring have been especially rough on Seattle-area air drying enthusiasts.  Out of the 132 days since January 1, only 27 days have NOT been rainy!  I may not be that great at math, but I know that it means there have been 105 rainy days.  No wonder I haven’t used my outdoor clothesline much!

Yesterday and today have been sunny though (knock on wood).  Add temps in the 60s, a brisk breeze, and you’ve got ideal conditions for successful solar-powered drying.  In fact, the laundry is dancing out on my backyard clothesline as I write this.  When you become a consistent  air-dryer, nothing brings satisfaction to your soul quite like seeing laundry flap in the wind.  And the resulting intoxicating scent of outdoor dried laundry that is beyond compare.  I love that Mother Nature does her work so wonderfully and bonus, for free!

Those of you who already air-dry know what I’m talking about; and those of you who don’t, I invite you to at least try it.  It does take a bit more patience and waiting.  But when you let nature do the work in its gentle way, you are in for a great experience.  E. B. White says it well: “We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it’s only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.”

~Marilyn Huttunen

If you don’t know it by now, I am a bit of a green-laundry diva.  Yes, I admit it.  The past five years or so I’ve ditched the dryer, opting for complete air drying with an out door clothesline or indoor drying rack.  Since I no longer use the dryer, there is no need for dryer sheets, so I ditched those too.  To complete the green aspect, I’ve been washing with unscented, ‘natural’ detergents in cold water.

Recently though, I’ve realized that I may have gone a bit too far over to the stoic side of laundry.  I’m not quite at pounding the washing on rocks at the rivers edge, but I was headed in that direction – ha!   I realized that I was missing a key element in the laundry process: scent.   I love scent, I love perfume, I love all of nature’s aromas – why did I give that sensory delight up in the laundry?

Sure, if I hang my laundry outside, it does pick up an outdoorsy scent; but after a particularly long, cold winter of indoor drying, that was missed greatly.  My laundry was hung indoors, wet and scentless.  Something was missing.

So I decided to go back to scented detergent.  I washed a load this morning and half the laundry is drying outside, and half inside.  The aroma is amazing, it smells so clean!  The drying laundry inside freshens up the whole house.  The drying laundry outside mingles with the outdoor scent and combines to make an intoxicating smell that can’t be reproduced in the lab.

I will continue to do cold-water washing and air-drying, but I will take back some scent in the process.  I’ve decided that even green-laundry divas need their aromas!

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.”  –E.B. White

~Marilyn Huttunen

Being a bit of a laundry renegade, I am ever on the search for laundry procedures that will not only save me money, but preserve the environment AND get clothes just as clean!  As you probably could guess by now, I am an avid clothesline user.  I air-dry 100% of the time, using a clothesline outside in nice weather and drying racks inside during inclement weather.

As far as my washing procedures go, I use my trusty 20 year old washing machine.  It is nothing fancy, but definitely gets the job done well.  I’ve always washed darks and wools in cold water, but stuck to the age-old tradition of washing colors in warm and whites in hot.  I guess this is just how  it has always been done.  Not wanting to mess with housewifery  tradition,  I didn’t want to change the routine lest some evil descend upon me!

One day, in a flash of determination, I decided to wash everything in cold water.  Yes, even whites.  Even towels.  Even sheets. Even underwear.  I know…GASP!  Eighty to ninety percent of the energy used to wash clothes heats the water.  And unless you are washing something that is really muddy or oily, it’s completely unnecessary with the modern machines and detergents we have now.

I have not noticed any difference in the cleaning results using cold water.  Things get just as clean, in fact to my eye they almost seem cleaner.  I may not feel the warmth from the dryer or hot water washes anymore, but that’s okay with me.  Laundry renegades will do most anything to be cool.

~Marilyn