keep a close eye on Venezuela these days.  Lots of lessons about prepping to be learned.  

link to article

What happens when politicians decide that they can change or ignore the laws of physics, human nature, and mathematics.

From the article:

...Shoppers thronged grocery stores across Caracas today as deepening shortages led the government to put Venezuela’s food distribution under military protection...

...“You can’t find anything, I’ve spent 15 days looking for diapers,”


These realities are why some folks stock 'ridiculous' amounts of things. Diapers, toiletries, groceries, whatever. There's been no world-ending EMP, no WW3, no pandemic; just a small group of governing people arrogant enough to believe that they know "better". Venezuela today, Argentina in the 90's, Germany in the 30's, or Russia in the 20's; the cause and effect are pretty much repetitive & predictable.

Ideas and elections have consequences.

thanks for the link

Yeah but a lot of us don't do GD.

Communism FTL.

Clorox abandoned a plant in Venezuela last September due to currency controls.............



Venezuela seized the closed facility, Clorox took a $90 million charge and may pursue legal remedies.

I learned a long time ago its the little things that often go overlooked even for preps and people tend to focus on "Beans, Bullets & Bandages". The quotes about detergent made me double check my stuff put back and I'm in line with my plans but it got me to thinking about Alternates and Contingencies. That lead me to find this:

Link

Its just a minor thing but I was curious so I investigated over the weekend while doing my normal errands.

Sure enough, for about $15 at the local store I was able to buy a box of Borax, a box of washing soda and 6 bars of Fels Naptha soap. If the recipe holds true it all combines to make about  288 loads of washing detergent. One batch makes about 48 loads and there is supposed to be 6 batches if you use all the Borax and washing powder. I plan on testing a batch this next weekend to see how it all works out. 5 cents a load of wash is significantly cheaper than what I have been using. We'll see if it works as claimed. I suspect it will as anywhere you look for reviews of the products there are a ton of people raving about the combo.

If it works as well as claimed having a years worth of laundry detergent is cheap enough. Knowing whats needed and how to make it is just as valuable to me especially considering that when shelves get picked clean these wont be the first things flying off the shelf. I wonder how many people would walk by these items looking for Tide? I know I have in the past. Never knew what the "old school" stuff was used for.

We have a thread on that sort of home made laundery soap and it is capable of doing the job.



I got some more hand me down laundery soap, everyone gives me their old stuff when they buy a front loader that needs special soap.  I am a cheap skate and have 2 of the old toploaders that eat anything.



I do keep the nice easy dispensing laundery jugs for the home made stuff.



I have made the home made stuff and everyone will need to adjust to what they prefer.



One thing I need to do regardless is let my puppies pretreat all stains so they come out better.  As a single guy it is simpler to let my puppies find and pretreat all stains since I am too lazy to remember to do it when throwing a load of laundery in the machine.



Used to be laundery detergent was good.



These days it all kind of sucks, so I am learning about tsp.



But the puppies feel they can get the job done.  

I have been making my  own laundry soap for the last 3 years or so.

I use: 1/2 bar Fels, 1/2 cup Borax, 1/2 cup washing soda into about 2 gallons (not sure of the exact size, as I am using an old detergent container, one of the big ones).

Couple of things:

Stick to the Fels Naptha, it is FAR superior to any other soap for laundry--even though you will read you can use any bar soap.

Heat the water first, shred the Fels Naptha (I use a grater) and get it dissolved, then add in the borax and washing soda.

It will tend to clump up (especially during the winter in the garage), so make sure you give it a good shake before pouring.  Otherwise it works great. It does not have any "whiteners" in it, but I have not seen any degradation in whiteness of sheets and what not.



 

Right now Argentina is having a shortage if ... tampons! Really, most of them are imported and with the importation bans, well.
Been there and done that when it comes to suffering stupid governments ruining everything. No milk, no vegetable oil, no gas, no meds. Just leave it to a banana republic dictator to create some of the most retarded shortages you could think of. What kind of country has problems supplying soap and flour? They even had people stamped on the hand so as to make sure people werent buying more than their allowed quota.
The lesson is having enough supplies, but the real lesson is dont stay in a country that is falling appart in such a way.
FerFAL

The article really gives credence to the thought of socking away more than just food/water/ammo/guns. The basics will be a bitch to live without if you haven't done your homework and prepared in the "non-glamorous" areas as well.

Could you add something like Oxyclean IIRC to brighten clothes?

Or maybe add it to each load?

Expy/knows nothing abt washing clothes...

I make my own laundry soap as well, with same recipe. One thing I found was keep the fels-naptha in the garage, it dries out and crumbles/grates much easier. I will also throw a scoop of oxi clean in with some loads for an extra punch, I have three kids four dogs a wife and a Father in law in my house so we go through lots of soap. Also when kids were real young and still potty training I found that a little vinegar helps get out urine smells better than soap alone.

Is Oxyclean stable for long term storage?

Brighteners are compounds which absorb in the UV and radiate it back out in the visible. This gives whites the appearance of being brighter that true white.


I have not seen any lessening of white brightness since going with homemade, so I have no interest in adding anything for that purpose.


One thing I have done lately, is add in 1/4 cup (to the 2 gallon mix) of something called BIZ--it is supposed to be a detergent activator or some such thing. It was cheap, and it helps to prevent the separation of the mixture in storage--that was the biggest trouble I had with the homemade stuff.





 

TSP

Yeah. We've been making that Fels-Naptha soap for 6 years or so. Works fine in our front loader. Sometimes I throw in a scoop of Oxy for the whites. We also bought a tub of TSP 5 years ago, and still use it occasionally. It helps, but our laundry is not exceptionally dirty. Sears used to carry a decent powered detergent line, and might still. They would have a sale once in a while, when I would pick up several tubs of it. One contained an Oxy formula. It was a great buy when it was on sale. You could get a years supply for $20. I think they cut back on their detergent line. We're still using product from a purchase a couple years ago.

I used to spend some time 6 or 7 years ago on the TheLaundryForum.com. Spent most of my time dispelling the evils of Korean Front-Loaders. haha. Some people were convinced that there would never be parts available, units would fall apart, and the only good machine was a Meile at 4 times the price.

On a related note, I dug into my LG front washer last month, and was able to raise the default water levels to something that I consider more advantageous to washing clothes. Works great. I do all my own repairs on appliances, and these machines are quite simple and modular.

Back on topic- Thumbs up for the Fels-Naptha, but if you don't want to spend the time making it in your food processor, and want something a little cheaper, the HE detergents from Sears are a good buy.




PS. I know you want to, but Do not add Sta-Bil to your detergent.  

[UPDATE] Well as promised I mixed up a batch of the fels-soda-borax detergent.  Super easy with a food processor,  took less than 5 mins and that was going slow and measuring exact and switching blades on processor (shred the fels bar first then switch to chopping blade and add in the other powders, chop/mix until its a fine and even mix)

First 3 loads are done and I'm happy with the results. I have a top loading Whirlpool HE and I just sprinkled in 2 tablespoons to the drum before adding clothes. Ran it on a normal cycle and cold water only. Everything came out just fine as expected.  I'm happy with the results,  clothes actually feel softer than with the liquid Tide I was using. I think the homemade stuff works with the hard water much better than the commercial detergents.

The test will be over time.



When I get myself a new hand me down washing machine I tend to run a cycle with no soap.  They tend to have soap in em from people overusing the soap cups or something.



I don't have an issue with the fels naptha and washing powder and borax.



If you are using store bought washing soap of some sort the borax can actually help it at times, think they called it a booster on the box but I am too lazy to go look.  Probably same for the washing powder.



The more I read about tsp being pulled out of everything the more I realize I want to go get some and put it in canning jars and keep some around for a while.

I think the phosphate component of TSP is what the envirowackos are worked up over.

Might not be a bad idea to stock some...

Just throwing this out there, keep lots and lots of baby wipes as they are great for SHTF/camping body cleaning. As long as they stay sealed they will stay wet for years and even if they dry out they can be moistened and made new again with just a little water.

I keep at least two cases of these from Costco on hand at all times.

That is all TSP is is phosphates (three sodiums on a phosphate--gotta have some sort of counter ions), and yes that is what they are worked up about. Excessive phosphate can cause eutrophication of rivers and lakes