Life without a washing machine...

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vexed87
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by vexed87 »

jennypenny wrote:This machine also works better with homemade soap and vinegar.
What recipe are you using Jenny? In the UK we can't get borax, and the substitute is somewhat of a specialty item and can't be sourced locally, hence its very expensive to buy on amazon/ebay and cannot be bought cheap.

vexed87
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by vexed87 »

fiby41 wrote:It was the Levi's CEO IIRC who suggested not to waste water washing the jeans instead fold it and put it in a zip lock inside the refrigerator freezer to kill the smell and germs.
Did not know about this, I hate it when dark jeans fade... Mind blown!

Edit: Actually thinking about this, I am skeptical this method would work. Because we know that not all bacteria will die, even at -80C, in our lab freezers, e.coli is happily stored at this temperature but doesn't die. As soon you remove your jeans from the freezer they will carry on making funky smells.

A better method would be to hang outdoors on a sunny day as UV does kill bacteria, but is dependent on line of sight so all surfaces would need to be exposed. Hopefully the wind would also carry away any bad whiffs. I'm not sure being kept in a bag at -20C would do anything to your jeans, but then again, I haven't tried it! :roll:
Last edited by vexed87 on Wed May 20, 2015 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

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jennypenny
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by jennypenny »

I use the dry recipe on the wiki http://earlyretirementextreme.com/wiki/ ... le=Laundry

I have hard water, hence the extra oxi-clean. Oxi-clean is actually a substitute for borax, so you might try making the recipe 1 cup OC, 1 cup washing soda, 1 bar of soap. If you have soft water, you might need a low-sudsing soap like Fels-Naptha.* If you can't get washing soda, you can make it from baking soda. I think vinegar is important when using homemade soap to keep the clothes from looking dingy, but maybe that's just from my type of water and excessively dirty laundry. The vinegar step also eliminates the need for a fabric softener.

*Some people swear by FN or Ivory soap because they are 'natural.' I use mostly Irish Spring because I like the scent. I think the only soap to avoid is one that's extra moisturizing (Dove or Olay in the US) or easy to lather (like Lever in the US) because of too many suds and too much oily residue.
Last edited by jennypenny on Wed May 20, 2015 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

vexed87
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by vexed87 »

@jenny, thanks I didn't realise the OC was a good replacement for borax. I'll sub it in and give it another go. Thankfully washing soda is really easy to get hold of in supermarkets in the UK, borax on the otherhand is banned by the EU for retail sale. I use basic washing soap which doesn't have a scent. I either add a few drops of essential oil or use about 1/8 of a cup of downy scent pearls, but usually just for bedding as its expensive.

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jennypenny
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by jennypenny »

If Borax is banned, I wonder if the ingredients in your version of Oxi-Clean are different? If you buy some, PM me so we can compare them.

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fiby41
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by fiby41 »

vexed87 wrote:As soon as you take your jeans out the freezer they will carry on making funky smells.
The smell and germs are two different issues as the germs don't cause the smell. The smell is usually dust, sweat, dead cells and other bodily fluids that get absorbed/accumulated on surface.

As I understand it, the explanation for smell elimination by refrigeration is same as why smell of hot foodstuffs fill a room and spread while we need to sniff cold food to detect smell. (Hot fluids (liquid and gas) expand/spread while cold fluids contract/condense.) Refrigerated finished preparations have to be supplied a lot of heat before they release their aroma so jeans should be safe.

However some germs might still remain as you say.

@SimpleLife: The ancient Cynic school of philosophy would have been proud of you. :D

Disclaimer: I've never tried this as I have only one jean which I rarely use and have to wash it because it gets discoloured with mud and soil.

vexed87
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by vexed87 »

Short of soiling your clothes with sweat or other unmentionables, I'm 99% sure most bad smells are caused by bacteria, i.e. bad breath due to poor oral hygiene, rotting garbage etc.

Heavy sweating will still be an issue, that said, my legs don't tend to sweat THAT much.

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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by jacob »

Ok, so I looked it up ;-P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_odor

Sweat comes in two forms. Cooling sweat is mainly salt and water. Stress/signal sweat contains sugars and proteins. The two types come from different glands, eccrine and apocrine. Neither type of sweat has any smell [to the human nose]. Bacteria on the skin (and in maybe in clothes from the skin?) eat the later kind (proteins and sugars) and excrete fatty acids and enzymes to break them down into acids and gases some of which smell [to the human nose], e.g. butyric acid (aka, either the worst or the best chemistry experiment, depending on perspective, you did in high school, definitely the stinkiest!).

It's a matter of semantics whether it it's the fart or the farter who smells, then. Practically speaking, you need the input (sweat), the converter (bacteria), and the output (waste) to get to the smell. Therefore the stink can be reduced by interfering anywhere along that chain.

If you kill bacteria (soap, freezing, UV, silver clothes), less sweat gets converted to smelly products.
If you wash off smelly products or simply let them fade away (air it out), the smell also goes away.
If you cool down something smelly, it will smell less since smell leaves by vaporisation and there's less of that when things are cold.
If you don't add sweat in the first place, that also helps.

Peanut
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by Peanut »

Ugh, we are dealing with this now. Machine mysteriously started leaking water, so we went to a laundromat last weekend for the first time in over a decade. Trip turned out to be fun, as we had lunch nearby, but for that reason alone it would clearly be cheaper to fix it than make that a weekly occurrence.

Scrubby
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by Scrubby »

Freezing stuff doesn't kill most bacteria, it just stops growth. If you want to kill them you have to use heat.

vexed87
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by vexed87 »

Scrubby wrote:...If you want to kill them you have to use heat.
Again, it depends on the bacteria! Some are resistant to temperatures that a typical household freezer operates at (this is why frozen food still goes bad after many months). All you do is slow them down for a short period. Some bacteria are equally resilient in heat. In fact you might even accelerate some of bacteria multiplication with mild heat and therefore make your jeans smell worse... unless of course you plan on pasteurising your jeans in ultra high temperature ovens :twisted:

By using only one method you will be selecting for certain lines of bacteria to thrive in your jeans and in thoery this wouldn't reduce any whiffs, you may have just gotten used to the smells!!!

Therefore the most effective approach would be a combination of using the freezer then airing out doors in the sun and then and throwing them in the drier. But now were just being pedantic ;)

enigmaT120
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by enigmaT120 »

Reminds me of this:

Image

theanimal
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

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Alphaville
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by Alphaville »

no, i’ve used the mobi-washer (looks like a plunger, fits a 5gal bucket) and the scrubba bag.

the mobi washer is in my cabin where it gets a lot of use for everything except bedding/large stuff.

in the city i actually have the scrubba. it’s a bit pricey, but travels well and allows me to wash small items the washing machine can’t compute (auto-shit thinks the machine is empty and keeps filling up). some day i’ll make my own washbag and save money, but i needed this in a hurry. a ziploc doesnt work the same—needs to be sturdy. bag is super-efficient with water use.

the mobi washer is great if your floor supports it, otherwise you’ll put scratches on it (or the bathtub finish). it can hurt your wrists too if you overpack the heavy fabrics (eg too many towels or jeans).

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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by theanimal »

The scrubba looks like its just a dry bag with a air valve on it. True?

Is the mobi washer the bike related one? That's all I'm seeing in search, If so, how do you use the hose to clean your clothes?

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Alphaville
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by Alphaville »

theanimal wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 4:17 pm
The scrubba looks like its just a dry bag with a air valve on it. True?

Is the mobi washer the bike related one? That's all I'm seeing in search, If so, how do you use the hose to clean your clothes?
ah! not that one... maybe there was a trademark infringement lawsuit or something went wrong with my morphology wiring...

it’s this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Breathing-Mobile ... 002QUAPSO/

and yeah the scrubba is a dry bag + air valve + internal washboard. it’s not rocket science but it’s a convenient combo ready to ship. with time and materials you could diy one.

-

eta: the handle in the breathing washer above is superhardcore and durable, but this aluminum version seems more wrist-friendly https://www.lehmans.com/product/breathing-hand-washer/

theanimal
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by theanimal »

Ahh that makes more sense thanks. Yes, I actually have that one and have used it in the past with a 5 gal bucket. Do you use any cover on the bucket when you use it? I thought that I didn't get as great a wash using it because if I got aggressive water would go all over the place.

Maybe I should consider revisiting it again considering I already have it, rather than pursuing (buying) another solution.

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Alphaville
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by Alphaville »

you need to fill only about 1/3 and definitely no more than 1/2 with water, and not stuff it with clothes. i suppose you could use a lid with with a hole but stuffing washes poorly. clothes need room for the water to circulate.

better to do 2 small loads than a big one.

eta: also, you don’t need to plunge the thing fully into the water every time, or go up and down all the way: a short steady travel works best in my experience. let me see if i can find a video with the alaska dude where i fist saw this machine.... it’s in life below zero, the dude who lives alone by a lake is washing his socks with a metal version of this.

eta, a: here it is: https://youtu.be/WFhlhPfOVkM?t=76

BeyondtheWrap
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by BeyondtheWrap »

@theanimal: Forum user IWantLess had (has?) one of those. He spoke positively of his experience with it. viewtopic.php?p=81252#p81252

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Alphaville
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Re: Life without a washing machine...

Post by Alphaville »

@bigato

sweat is nothing! just salt and liquid, no problem.

i used to live in a ranch and come home with muddy jeans and/or smelling of cow shit, so... yeah, clothes needed a scrub, and the plunger model removed it. also when you have clay soil... clay is really sticky and needs agitation to remove. in winter, the snow melts, all is muck and sticky clay. then, wood chips, don’t get me started on wodchips and sawdust, how they find they way everywhere when you cut and split firewood. not “filthy” just... clingy. or grease from car repair/tractor maintenance... glues and powders and materials from construction/home repair? wow. farm life/homesteading is a filthy business :lol:

no-wash denim is for fancy people too. farm jeans, oof... they get shiny with filth.

now with city life i wear 2 tshirts all week, handwash them in 3 minutes, they hang dry overnight, no problem.

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