We have been using five gallon buckets for washing clothes. We thought we would try something a little bigger! This is what we came up with. I cut 1/3 off the top of a 55 gal. poly barrel and drilled and tapped a faucet in the bottom, and connected  a garden hose to it. This idea worked out great for blankets, however  we found using a  15 gal. poly water barrel with the top cut off is by far a better way to wash a larger amount of clothes at one time.

 Many readers have impressed us with the ways they would use this hand laundry plunger, here are a few:

1. Paula Says, "The first thing I thought was how nice it would be to use it to wash my horses' fly masks. One of my horses has uveitis and has to wear a mask most of the time to from the pain from the bright sunlight that the uveitis causes. I always try to keep clean masks on them all, but it means elbows deep in a muck bucket of water on a regular basis. Then there is the poison ivy that transfers from the masks to me when I wash them, because believe it or not, horses love to eat poison ivy. But unfortunately in the process they get it on their masks too. This plunger would be a wonderful "hands off" approach for that".

2. Heather says,  "When we come out of the water after surfing, get dressed in dry clothes and drive home we still need to wash our wetsuits out so the saltwater won't ruin the neoprene. This product is JUST THE THING for helping this happen because it is so difficult to stay dry while rinsing a wetsuit since they seem to have 80 tentacles".


3.Gayle B says, "I would love to have this for a long camping trip but what I really think it would be great for, is the RV in our emergency/get-away stuff"

4. Jennifer says, 'This is so exciting! I would absolutely start by using it on bedspreads and sleeping bags on the bathtub. We are not off grid, but I want to learn as much as possible to reduce our use of the grid".


Enter in the giveaway below, ends July 19 @ midnight Don't Forget to Dosado at the Homestead Barn Hop!

With a Wal-mart culture, it has become increasingly easy to forget the Forgotten Way of America’s roots, in handcrafting daily items that lasted for generations.  Dusty attics and barns sales attest to this. We simply would like to share our “Forgotten Finds” and adventures with you.
 
 It all starts with a desire. Books have fueled this fire in our adventure, and have aided in the plan making process. We have learned that being frugal, planning & changing our ways of living, has enabled us to live this Forgotten Way lifestyle. Living off-grid, growing our own food, and learning to work with our hands has become a way of life.

 This being our first blog debut, we thought we would talk about the forgotten art of laundry. Since we make drying racks for a living this is a topic dear to our heart. When we first moved out to the country we used an old wringer washer and plugged it into the generator and hung clothes on the drying rack. I use to have a James Wringer Washer  and sold it when we were paying off debt. I would highly recommend it for doing laundry with 100% no electricity. If you have a solar set up, a high efficiency washer, or a good old wringer washer, works too.

 We exclusively dry our clothes on our Homesteading drying racks, because we got tired of what was on the market. We started building heavy duty racks that wouldn’t overlap wet laundry on top of each other.

 Laundry soap is expensive and can be harmful to you and your little ones. Old fashioned laundry soap just like grandmother made years ago, is the way to go!  Here is the recipe we use:

1/2 a bar of Fels Naptha

20 Mule Team Borax

Arm and Hammer Washing soda

(Ingredients available in the laundry area of most stores)


Step One: Shred, chop or shave your soap into small pieces.

Step Two: Measure and start heating water. You will need Six cups of water heated to melt the soap in a sauce pan. Add the soap and water to the pan.

Step Three: Once the soap is all dissolved, you stir in half a cup of Borax and half a cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. Stir over heat until it is all dissolved.

Step Four: Remove from heat and pour into a large bucket.

Step Five: Add four cups more of hot water to the bucket and stir until well blended. I use a whisk and just whip it real good for about 30 seconds.

Step Six: Add one gallon plus six cups of cold water to the mixture. Mix well. Let sit for 24 hours.

Ready to use! 1/4 cup for high efficiency machines and 1/2 - 3/4 cup for regular washers. I added the 3/4 cup because sometimes my kids clothes need it. Farm+ Kids = Dirt!
Store in your old laundry soap bottle or other plastic container for easy pouring. It looks like liquid gel. It likes to separate a little I just shake it up a little or whisk it. Clothes come out real clean and smell fresh.

Soaps Gone Buy  is a place to buy ingredients for laundry soap making, if you can’t find it at your local grocery store. Note: you can buy it cheaper at a local store or hardware then you can online. Look around and find the best price. I buy my supplies at Winco, and I end up paying around  $12.00, and that makes buckets and buckets full.

Stain removers.  What are those?  Fels Naphtha and a little elbow grease and that usually works. Bleach, I try not to use it and I buy black socks. The sun is a great natural bleacher.

Ironing is really not part a of my life. My husband’s nice shirts I shake hard and hang on a clothes hanger close to the hot stove (close, but not too close). That works great. They are totally wrinkle free. We just don’t have much to iron.

 Laundry never ends at our house and I’m sure it’s the same at your home. Having the right tools, however, really helps off-grid or not. Our strong desire is to assist Mothers and Fathers in pressing times to redirect hard earned funds to more needed budget goals.