Laundry detergent no longer has phosphates which is eco-friendly but clothes aren’t as clean and bright as they were when we were kids. You can buy T.S.P. (Trisodium Phosphate) in the paint section of hardware stores. A couple weeks, once a year I use 1/4 cup of TSP with regular detergent & wash everything. The rest of the year I use eco-friendly Soapnuts.
Result: better for the environment than using phosphates year round and clothes are cleaner and brighter.
Update August 6, 2016 – ¼ cup of TSP is a lot unless you have very ‘hard’ water. I now use a level teaspoon with regular laundry (I still use soap nuts).
FYI – the T.S.P. carton I bought is labeled as “All purpose heavy duty cleaner” and nowhere does it say Trisodium Phosphate. It claims to
– removes wax and grease
– prepares surfaces for painting
– cleans garage floors and driveways
– aids in restoring paint brushes
Nowhere does it mention laundry. You’re not supposed to know. Now you do.
NOTE: it’s an irritant. Do NOT ingest. Do not get in eyes or on skin. Do not mix with ammonia. Keep out of reach of children.
Gerold
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I have also read that by putting a tablespoon of TSP on a fire in a woodstove, it helps with creosote. So now, I can also put it in my diy laundry soap!
Interesting! I didn’t know TSP combatted creosote. Thanks for sharing!
In many places TSP is still called TSP but now labeled “Phosphate Free”. This variety is actually Sodium Meta silicate (IIRC). The good stuff with phosphate is still available in larger stores like Home Depot or Lowes but is getting harder to find in smaller stores. Might be worth stocking up in case they phase the good stuff out.
As an aside, I live in the city where the phosphate hullabaloo began. As many of us knew when they banned phosphates, there would be no drop in phosphates levels in our waterways. Sure enough there has been no decrease in phosphates. Google searches reveal almost no articles extolling the promised improvements. Phosphates are removed at water treatment facilities prior to discharge back into the river. The increased phosphate in waterways is agricultural around here.
Thanks for the heads-up, IndenturedServant.
I was talking to a rep from one of the paint companies about a year ago extolling the wonders of TSP and he warned that they were looking for an alternative to TSP and it would likely not be as effective. So it has come to pass.
I have stockpiled about twenty quarts of it. I should buy more while it’s still available. At worst It’ll make a good barter item and, being dry, it should last forever.
You gave me a good idea. I’ll post a warning and on this blog, FakeBook, and email the Usual Suspects to remind them to stock up.
And, you’re right about agricultural run-off. I read an article (wish I’d kept it) that at the time they phased TSP out of laundry detergent, less than 1% of the phosphates in waterways were from laundry detergent and more than 99% was from agricultural run-off (both fertilizer and manure).
Any idea why we’re so insane?
– Gerold
“Any idea why we’re so insane?”
Personally I believe it’s because there is not enough adversity in our individual lives. We’ve had it too good for too long. We’re also “too rich”. Even the poor today have $800 cell phones, satellite tv, $300 sneakers and a $50,000 car in the driveway to shuttle our obese behinds two blocks to the corner store. We’re so rich that we have no real concept of what “poor” is. The agenda driven, bought and paid for, left wing media champions any cause, no matter how absurd or poorly thought out and the mindless sheople jump on the bandwagon. We’re bored! We have no critical thinking skills.
When myself, any of the Kartrashians, Bill Gates and Kofi Annan are fighting it out for putrid food residue in a dumpster just to stay alive, sanity will return. Until then it would be wise to chart a quiet course through the backwaters of “civilization”.
I think we reached “peak human” in about 1970. We allow the chronically and willfully stupid to breed, rewarding the practice with entitlements while dumbing everything down to the lowest common denominator. As a species I think (and hope sometimes) that humans are toast. We were a grand experiment with great potential but we squandered it and the Earth deserves better.
BTW, I saw your comment on The Burning Platform and started reading some of your stuff. One or more of the voices in my head will probably leave a few more insanity laced comments as I read more. Feel free to edit with a hatchet if necessary! 🙂
As long I’m just starting to read your site, do you have what could be considered “A Grand Unified Doom Theory” article about where we might go from here?
I wish I could argue with even one of the astute points you made, IndenturedServant. So sorry, I cannot. That means we’ll each be preaching to the choir which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because even the choir needs reassurance that we accurately observe an insane world.
I wonder how many Romans saw the factors that led to their decline and eventual collapse while it was happening? I’ve never come across anything but then the more I learn, the less I trust historians.
Good question about “A Grand Unified Doom Theory.” I should work on it. I find that the more I research and learn, the more dots I connect.
Nothing firm, but I think there are two opposing forces at work. One is the New World Order psychopaths planting their false flags and controlling the media, public indoctrination system, entertainment, etc. The other is the rise of the internet exposing them and their bagmen, the banksters and bought-and-paid-for politicians. Brexit is example of people opposing the overlords. I think that’s the key; oppose but don’t fight as that’s playing into their agenda for a greater crack-down.
I doubt one-world-government can work for the simple reason command and control economies don’t work (USSR, N. Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.) and the bigger the government, the stupider it is. However, that won’t stop them from trying. And that means a lot of pain for those unable to get out of the way. There aren’t enough hills for everyone to head to and the people already living there will oppose them.
In other words, it’s gonna be a shit-show.
BTW – I’ve never needed to edit comments. Maybe it’s the company I keep. Long articles with big words, few videos helps me limit and control my readership to those like-minded. I’m not out to convert anyone.
– Gerold
Yeah, I think we’re reading from the same sheet music. Governments sole purpose is control but what every govt fails to realize is that the most valuable asset/resource they have is always their citizens and the freedom of those citizens to create things from their imagination. This generally coincides with the control of the economy by a central bank.
While some regulation can be useful, govt always over steps its bounds and knowingly or not, they stifle that creativity and freedom. I tend to believe it is intentional because the essence of a centrally planned fiat monetary system is eternal growth. An absence of growth=recession so they grow the system until the money returns to its intrinsic value then throw a big war to cover it all up and roll out the next be all end all system to replace it.
They system is designed for maximum wealth extraction from people and nations and the transfer of that wealth to themselves.
I think the best a person can expect is to stay informed and be positioned to bob and weave as much as necessary.
Again, I cannot disagree with what you say. And, yes, governments are so stupid they cannot see they’re biting the hands that feed them. Indeed, as you say “the system is designed for maximum wealth extraction from people and nations and the transfer of that wealth to themselves.” It demonstrates how the elites are out-of-touch with reality that they denigrate the plebes who run the machinery and shine their shoes. Like you say, people are also a necessary resource.
I have a lot more faith in ordinary people than the elites do. They remind me of what Winston Churchill said about Americans, that they always do the right thing, but only after trying everything else.
It’s going to be a challenge to “bob and weave” around the next World War. Can’t say I’m looking forward to that.
– Gerold
I agree with you about soapnuts. They’re easier on the skin, eco-friendly and don’t corrode washing machine gaskets. I had heard about baking soda but never knew vodka removed stains. Thanks for the advice.