Care · All year
Laundry Boosters
Three adds for the wash: oxygen for dingy whites, extra washing soda for hard water, and baking soda or vinegar for odor.
This is how our household cooks, washes, and thinks. It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for a midwife or a doctor.
A minute at the machine · Used by the tablespoon
“The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD.”
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sodium percarbonate, the oxygen booster, for whites and towels
- 1 tbsp washing soda, extra, for hard water or greasy loads
- ½ cup baking soda, for odor in the wash
- ½ cup white vinegar, in the rinse compartment only
Method
- 1
Oxygen booster: add 1 tablespoon of sodium percarbonate with the laundry soap for whites, towels, and cloths that have gone gray. It releases oxygen in the wash and breaks down to washing soda and water. It is not chlorine bleach. Keep the jar dry, labeled, and out of reach. Do not use it on wool, silk, or anything marked dry-clean. Do not combine it with vinegar in the same compartment. The vinegar, if you use it, goes in the rinse only.
- 2
Hard water or a greasy load: add 1 extra tablespoon of washing soda with the soap. It is the same mineral already in the laundry soap. More of it helps minerals in the water. It is still an eye irritant. Measure it. Do not pour by feel over a basket of clothes.
- 3
Odor: add ½ cup of baking soda to the wash. If a smell remains, put ½ cup of white vinegar in the rinse compartment on the next load. Vinegar is not a softener in the pretty sense. It does cut residue. Never store it in the same jar as the soap or the oxygen booster.
From the kitchen
- None of these is a fragrance. If the wash smells clean, it smells like nothing.
- A booster is not for a baby's wool, and it is not for a rash. Ordinary cotton and linens are what these are for.
My note
Kept on this device, beside the recipe, for the next time you cook it.
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