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Homemade Laundry Detergent

About a month or so ago I became compelled to find economical ways to bring my family and home into a greener lifestyle.  We had already begun trying to revamp our eating thanks to the Atkins Nutritional Approach (and to all you naysayers out there, look at "phase 4" of the Atkins plan before you judge the whole Atkins lifestyle or better yet try reading the book ). 

Anyway I digress, I have tried two different recipes for laundry soap, one liquid and one powdered.  I purchased Borax, Washing Soda, Baking Soda, Sun Oxygen Cleaner, the ever popular yet not terribly natural Fels Naptha Laundry Bar Soap and White Vinegar.  After reviewing many different types of recipes I through together a liquid recipe of my own proportions that included a little of everything I had purchased and proceeded to let it sit overnight as so many liquid recipes had recomended. 

Now, the next day this stuff was supposed to be a gloopy gelatinous bucket of slime and instead had a bucket that was half clear liquid and half fluffy frothy waxy goop.   So, I put it through my blender and turned it into what I wound up calling 'laundry fluff'.  It works really really well actually.  However the whole liquid soap process made me want to try out one of the powdered recipes I had found, namely one I found from http://www.pepperpaints.com   I followed her recipe exactly with the exception of adding a bit of baking soda to mine.  I also shared her desire to use something more natural than Fels Naptha and also picked up two bars of Dr. Bronners Magic Soap.  I bought Lavender and Eucalyptus though. 

I set up the other night with my husband while we watched a DVD and it took me the whole length of the Jackie Chan Movie "The Tuxedo" to finely grate the two bars of soap.  I combined the powdered ingredients with the grated soap and put the lid on the container and shook it to mix everything together.  It smells DIVINE. 

I have gone back and forth between using the liquid goop I made, er, Laundry Fluff, and the powdered stuff I made.  Both seem to work about the same and I am so glad because I much prefer the powdered version.  I do have to say though, I will be getting a food processer because grating the soap by hand is a wee bit tedious. 

The Lovable Mr. Bigot

So anyway, I think have mentioned before that I work at a convenience store in a rural small town in the bible belt. Hmm, well I know I mentioned working in the convenience store but anyway. Ever since we moved here I have had a very hard time adjusting to the local mind set. Suffice it to say I am one of the few democrats in this area not to mention pagans and probably a few other things as well. However I have noticed that being a pale white girl seems to make all old white bigots assume I am as small minded as they are.

About two months ago a man whom I sarcastically refer to as our towns most lovable bigot walks into the store I work at to get his semi regular purchase of a thirty pack of cat pee, uh. I mean cheap and nasty beer when he gets in line just behind a man who was having payment issues. While I proceeded to help the customer in front of Mr. Bigot try to pay for his own purchase with not one but two credit cards that were both declined followed by an attempt at running a check through our telecheck system that was also declined, said customer eventually resolved the whole issue by paying with sticky coins and wadded up dollar bills an eternity of time had gone by that allowed for two extra customers to queue up behind Bigot man: One was a lovely black woman followed by a white woman nearly as pale as me who is married to a black man and has children with him.

Apparently the lovable bigot didn't notice the two behind him because after he finished paying for his beer he told me this lovely joke (please imagine a heavy dose of sarcasm in that last couple of words complete with eye rolling) :

"Do you know the difference between the White House and the Zoo? In the Zoo they have an African lion and in the White House they have a lyin' African. ". He chuckled in amusement the same way I smirked when the look on his face changed to discomfort as he noticed the customers behind him. Its amazing to me how quickly he walked out of the store and in dead silence. It was fantastic to behold!

The black woman behind him seemed completely uninterested and instead noticed her friend standing behind her. " Girl I didn't see you there what have you been up to?" She said with smiles and light heartedness. The other woman who seemed shaken by what the heartless idiot had said replied " just listening to that mans racist joke". The first woman said " he doesn't bother me. And you shouldn't let that bother you either that's his world not ours...". It made the girl behind her smile and in that instance at least on the surface the lovable bigots metaphorical cross burning was wiped out with its intended recipients smile and grace of beautiful indifference.

The whole situation reminded me that truth like beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. It brings to my mind concepts discussed in the book : The Four Agreements. Basically the book discusses how if you honestly do your best in all that you do you shouldn't let another persons opinion ruffle your feathers. That person is living in a world all their own just as each one of us is and each of our ideas about everything is based on our own experiences. For better or worse those experiences change the color of the lenses we see life through and invariably affect how we treat one another and indeed everything we come in contact with.

Not that I label myself as Wiccan (plain ol pagan is just fine by me at the moment. ) But the so called 'Wiccan Rede' which states "an it harm none, Do what thou wilt". Is pretty good advice and simply put. In other words live your life but don't hurt anyone or anything. Be respectful of other peoples right to do the same.

I find myself grateful for this scenario taking place in my life. It taught me and reminded me of some forgotten bits of wisdom that I've been blessed with in my life.