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"When I am silent, I have thunder hidden inside."  - rumi

Vinegar & Lavender... the solutions to everything

7/25/2012

2 Comments

 
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In a conservation effort (wallet and resources - although I suppose those both boil down to money), we put up a clothes line.  The clothes will be linty, but fresh and dry... going back to our roots... doing-it-old-school... childhood memories and all that jazz.  

The only issue is that our clothes are literally stiff as a board and covered in ants.  Yup, we, as many locals, have a HUGE problem with ants.  Our yard is one huge ant hill.  I guess the ants are in love with our laundry detergent.  

Picture me trying to shake ants off boards... 

It's not that easy. 

We have boxes of dryer sheets (I tend to stock up on items when I can get them SUPER cheap), but those won't do a whole lot of good in the washer... and I really don't want to go buy liquid fabric softener.  What did I do?  I Googled it, of course! 

A blog called "One Good Thing, by Jillee" popped up in my search.  She posted a recipe for homemade fabric softener - 6 cups water, 3 cups vinegar, 2 cups hair conditioner.  Seems simple and cheap.  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/homemade-fabric-softener-finally.html 

Now, to address the ants.  I'm assuming shaking ants off non-board clothes might be easier, but still no fun.  

I have a bottle of lavender oil left over from a home flea treatment... and it turns out ants are repelled by lavender too!  Whoo hoooooo!  I don't even have to go buy lavender conditioner or a bottle of something special.  

I'm making up a batch right now and I'll test it out with a fresh load of laundry in the morning ;) 

2 Comments
Dana
7/25/2012 09:40:54 am

Hi Emily, You might like this old post on my blog : http://www.thewhitesilkpurse.blogspot.com/search/label/laundry%20soap

I've been making and using this laundry detergent for more than two years now and LOVE it still. I use the powdered version (at the end) most often, but keep the paste version on hand for spotting and stains.

When I want an especially sweet smelling load I use the Downy Un-stopable Scent Booster. It's kind of spendy so I don't use it with everything since my goal was saving $$.

It took me about an hour to make a year's supply of the powdered version.

You'll enjoy your line!

Dana

PS I read that cornmeal will cure the ant issue too. Just sprinkle it about and they'll vanish. Apparently they don't metabolize it well.

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Emily Martin
7/25/2012 09:58:47 am

Fabulous! I do remember your blog post and you sent us a sample too! It was great ;) I might need to make some up soon (we're nearly out of detergent right now). And I'll give the cornmeal a shot.... although I might need to find a Hispanic grocery (might be a challenge around here)... the local stores only carry small containers of cornmeal and we have nearly 2 acres to cover ;)

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