Lehman's

For those of you interested, Lehman's is the mother of all self-sufficiency supliers. They have a mail order catalogue as well as this site

http://www.lehmans.com/

Boiling Clothes (Deux) and other Cloth Matters

Despite what some people advocate, you can boil any type of fabric (not just white cottons) and it will get them clean clean clean. You know that 'grey tinge' that develops after a while? Well, despite what detergent manufacturers used to like to tell us (I am dating myself here) - it is not from soap. It is dirt. Even when you have washed the item sixteen times in the machine and it is 'clean' It is dirt. It may be something to do with hard water (in which case add baking soda or borax) but a great part of the problem is that the washing machine cannot get water hot enough for long enough to remove stains and embedded dirt, especually if you've tured down your water heater to save on your gas bill.

This surety of insight came about because after mucking about in the garden yesterday, my brassiere had grass stains soaked through. It also had a grey back, so I decided to boil it. It is now pale pink again. The same goes for the vintage slip I had pretty much abandoned wearing (even though it has a lovely chiffon hem and bodice) because it had a grey cast, especially in the back. It too is now pale pink again.

Perhaps this is TMI, but hold onto your hat because there's more:

On several of the earth crunchy fora I subscribe to, there has been talk of using not only 'mama cloths' but cloth wipes for the toilet. I had written about thisin a hippy novel I wrote, wherein they lived in the woods, but do it in suburbia? Well, I washed cloth nappies for all three of my kids for two years each, and have used 'mama cloths' myself, so why not? We live in an area (with redwood, pine cedar and eucalyptus trees) that has a tendency to clogged plumbing due to the roots growing into the pipes, so any less stress on the plumbing is a good idea. And, if you prefer, but cannot afford a bidet, a per bottle works great and is chearp-cuts down on the ooky factor so those bothered by such things.

Bung it all in a covered pail with some water and borax, just like nappy days, and wash with your weekly wash loads.

Next on the docket: a tin tub, a hand agitator and a mangle.