DIY Laundry Pre-Treat Options

Three Reliable Ways To Get Stains Out

I had so much fun telling you all about some of the fun things I made as Christmas gifts (fizzy bath salts, peppermint sugar scrub, decongestant shower melts and wax melts) that I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my favorite homemade cleaning supplies!


I've had my most recent adventures making my own pre-treat laundry spray. I will first advise you to stay away from any recipe that mixes hydrogen peroxide with baking/washing soda and tells you to put it in a spray bottle. The washing/baking soda will react with the peroxide, expand, and then the liquid starts spraying, almost magically, out.  Mind you, this will happen long after you've left the room. You'll just come back to a film-y mess.

This is a great pre-treater, especially for protein stains, though. It's that chemical reaction that works so well getting out the stain so you don't want it sitting around anyway. If it's not too difficult for your lifestyle you can mix it up on an as-needed basis. 

Explosive Laundry Treatment!

• 2 parts water
• 1 part washing soda
• 1 part hydrogen peroxide

Soak stain thoroughly in treatment for roughly 20 minutes and wash as usual.

That doesn't, personally, suit my lifestyle. I like something that's easy to grab when I need it. I was even willing to spend extra time putting a recipe together if it meant it would be ready to use when I needed it. After some research, additions and a fun name I'm using the following recipe. It has a couple of ingredients you might not have in the house, but since you'll be able to make multiple batches, I think they're totally worth it.

Bellow!

• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup liquid castile soap (Dr. Bronner's is great and readily available)
• 1/4 cup liquid glycerine (any drugstore)
• 2 tablespoons baking soda 
• 1 tablespoons washing soda (in the laundry aisle at most grocery stores)
• 10-15 drops lemon essential oil (I use NOW)

In a pan mix the baking soda, washing soda and water on high heat. Stir continuously until powders are thoroughly disolved and water appears clear. Allow to cool before adding the rest of the ingredients.  Pour into a spray bottle and spray onto stains 10 to 15 minutes before washing. Swirl/shake before using.

I love this! It makes a reasonably large supply, doesn't require any weird storage and smells amazing. The lemon essential oil is for cleaning as well as fragrance so while it can be omitted, it's not interchangeable with any other essential oil.

If you're not already a DIYer this may seem like an expensive route with a lot of ingredients you don't use or have on hand. While it winds up being less expensive in the long run there is a certain upfront investment. I can assure you all that I want that you'll find other uses for your essential oil or that you'll be amazed at how much you'll use your bottle of Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap, but buying all that may not suit your wallet right now. I get that.

For that reason, I'll introduce one more idea. It's cheap, easy and environmentally pretty sound.
 

Cheap & Easy Stain Fighter

• 1 Bar Laundry Soap like Fels-Naptha or Zote (Zote being more environmentally friendly but you can always use Kirk's Original Coconut Castile Soap if you keep it vegan at your house)
• 1 Pretty Soap Dish

I like to keep the soap in the plastic netting that some produce (like onions or lemons) come in, for a little extra scrubbing power.

You'll need to get the bar a little wet to get the lather going and apply it to a stain, so if you don't have a nearby sink keep a spray bottle with water in it. That's it!

I've always liked the idea of starting with the money saved with one DIY and using those savings to buy some of those investment items. For instance, taking the difference in price between a bottle of, say, Shout and a bar of Fels-Naptha and putting it in a little change purse. When the change purse has enough in it use that money to buy a big container you'd need for DIY laundry detergent, buy that. When you would ordinarily have to buy more detergent (the recipe I use makes enough for over 250 loads at a price that's comparable to a big bottle of Tide) put the money you would have spent on it in your change purse to save up for the next little investment product.

I've had to live on a very strict budget before, so I still sometimes cringe paying almost $10 for a tiny bottle of essential oil or pacing up and down the aisle at Wal-Mart (a store that I don't feel good patronizing to begin with) trying to justify spending $5 more on the pretty glass jar than the functional plastic bin.

Those are my three pre-treatments. Hopefully one will suit your needs.

I hope to go through all of your laundry options soon. Going soup to nuts from pre-treat to dryer balls.


*****Since taking the above photos I've started putting Bellow! into an old glass vinegar bottle with the sprayer from the bottle pictured screwed on it. It fits perfectly and I'm much happier with it.

Small for You, Big for Me!

So much has changed! In classic Katherine styling I've been working different recipes and writing up blogs to accompany them. Some I'm perfecting the recipe before putting it out there, others lack pictures. (Hopefully, I'll put out a series of blogs on laundry and do-it-yourself products that I've researched, made and used by years end!)

Bigger than that, for me anyway, I met someone. I know! Almost 40, never married, set in my ways and I managed to meet a nice man that doesn't feel at all like a compromise.

If you don't know me, I'll give you a little hint of how comfortable as a singleton I was.  I posted this exactly five days before meeting Ben:

I was laughing for a few days about how funny and happily single I was. I was. I like not having to answer to anyone and the idea that I could take off on a moments notice. (Which is still true. I'd never considered that you could be involved with someone and still have those things.)

About a year before that I was watching a romcom and when the leading man got down on his knee to ask her to marry him I, without thinking, yelled "Don't do it!" at my television. It's a funny story, but I was a little embarrassed when it happened. (Ok, mostly because of the whole yelling at my TV thing.)

Now, I'm not saying that this is the love of my life, or my soulmate or any of those other ridiculous things I don't believe in. (Sorry, not ready to be a romantic quite yet.) But we are kind of insanely happy together. We're planning to move in together (way too soon). So, you may be seeing some lovely Ikea hacks or fun flea market finds. (We'll see. Recently I've only found boiled peanuts and orange soda at the flea market.)

Ben is lovable and funny and almost completely onboard with my new mantra "plastic free by 2023". (He's only about 80% onboard, but I only want to be about 90% plastic free so it may work.) He wants to raise chickens for eggs and is interested in ethical meat sources. (Do you think I could eat my own chickens? I'm not sure.)

Best news? He loves dogs.

It's all golden now. I know. Wait a year, you say. With complacency you'll each see what the other is really all about and then you'll feel differently. You're probably right. I'm just going to take this time, make it last as long as possible and enjoy it as much as I can.

I was in such a hurry when I was younger. I wanted to just be married already and start having kids. Now I just want to make this part last forever. It's not realistic and the day will come when things change and I'll try to enjoy that as much as possible when it comes.

Sauna Etiquette

Going for a Shvitz

After a week of hitting the sauna at my local YMCA I'm a little disappointed. Not in the sauna experience! It's pretty wonderful and I suggest everyone try it, health permitting. I'm disappointed that so many women don't get that there are rules. I'm not talking about "soft rules" like not listening to music or talking (although I'll touch on a couple of these) but the hard rules about hygiene.

Before I went to the sauna I did a little reading.  My favorite was this how to, which I highly recommend but seemed a little male oriented. I thought we needed some more feminine guidelines. I'll not bore you with the basics like don't drink and sauna or sauna when pregnant, as that's printed on the doors of most public saunas.

When I go for a shvitz (it's Yiddish for "sweat") I like to look a little glamorous. I wrap myself in a towel and put my hair up in a terry cloth headband like I'm at a fancy spa. (Remember to take all your jewelry off.) No underpants, but I never take the towel off. I'm shy like that, but also, my gym has a rule. Always wearing a pair of shower shoes or flip-flops. (Saunas are the perfect temperature for foot funk, so you don't want to turn your sneaker into an incubator or catch it from someone else.)

Maybe you're a little more casual than I and wear old biking shorts and a tee with your hair up in a ponytail (no metal clips or such). That's fine, just make sure they're clean and not the ones you just worked out in.  The same is true with a swimsuit. This is where a hard rule comes in. You must be clean when you go in the sauna! Take a quick rinse off in the shower if you've just been in the pool, working out or even are just wearing a lot of lotion or perfumes. Try to keep outside smells and toxins out for the long term health of the sauna.

You're gonna need towels! Towels to wrap around you, towels to sit on and towels to dry off with. (Again, clean and not full of chlorine from the pool.) Goodness knows what a pain this can be if your gym doesn't provide towels. You can choose to sauna in something other than a towel but you must sit on one. Don't leave behind a sweaty butt print. On the bright side, it doesn't have to be a full sized towel. You can sit on a nice hand towel to lighten your laundry load.

You really should bring a clean towel for showering off after, though. One of the many reasons to sauna is to help your body get rid of toxins through sweat. You don't want to get them out just to rub them back all over your skin. (I even use a mild soap during my after-shower.)

Are you lucky enough that you find yourself frequently in the sauna by yourself? I'll admit, I am.
Because I am alone I feel free to bring a little bad new-age music with nature sounds. It is my secret shame. (Generally, I like heavy metal.) I'd never do this if people were there. Even with headphones it can disturb someone else. 

If you have the opportunity to do this always be respectful of others. While I doubt anyone is going to go into an Enya induced rage, you should still turn it off the moment someone else enters. Use an old iPod or even a discman. Something that you won't be overly upset if it doesn't survive the heat. Really, other than this specific circumstance, there is no reason to bring any electronics into a sauna.

Do you find yourself often in company? Generally saunas are thought to be a "quiet place". Somewhere to turn off the chatter and be a little introspective.  Don't feel the need to fill the air or look at others with a critical eye. You should be too hot for any of that anyway.

Conversely, you may find that your sauna is the chatty type. If you find yourself walking in to find conversations, just make the best of it. Giving side-eye and clucking at strangers is not conducive to a good experience for anyone. 

Saunas, strangely, seem out of fashion now. Fewer gyms have them and those that still do find them empty a good portion on the day. Once you go, it'll be hard to understand why anyone ever stopped. Twenty minutes in a sauna is life changing. I never come home from one and don't daydream about building one in my backyard.