Doing Dishes

[CaramelSmoothie]

Lizzie thanks for the tips Now that I think about it, I saw the soap in the washroom of the old house, not the kitchen. Lizzie I think you would be in LOVE with the Maggie Walker house in Richmond. It is preserved from the 30s era because that is when Mrs. Walker died.... here is a link to the virtual tour of the house, it is owned by the NPS now

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/Maggie_Walker/rooms/house_tour.html

You can actually see the Fels Naptha soap in this photo, lol

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/Maggie_Walker/rooms/laundry_room.html

 

[Nobert]

I have most of a bar of Fels Naptha around someplace. I found it amusing that the wrapper says: "Contains no Napthaline."

In my last apartment, there were two sinks in the kitchen. Not unusual in itself, but one was quite shallow, the other very deep, with a piece of countertop covering it when not in use. I never did figure out how to use them correctly, and the deep sink was too stained for real use anyway.

 

[GHT]

Ted Weems and his Orchestra -- Washing Dishes With My Sweetie (1930)
vocal by Parker Gibbs

Am-az-ing! How you live and learn. This, although not doing the dishes, is in the same vein:
[video=youtube;fxxKYA7bm94]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxxKYA7bm94[/video]
WASHMACHINE BOOGIE
THE ECHO VALLEY BOYS
Well, come on baby 'cause I wanna do
That washing machine boogie with you
Hear that washer slapping 'em clean
I love the sound of your maching machine
Slip-slap, slap-sloo
Come on honey and I wanna do
The washing machine boogie with you

Well, ol' blue monday was our washday
Now we learned to boogie the blues away
So, come on baby 'cause I wanna do
That washing machine boogie with you
Slip-slap, slap-sloo
Come on honey and I wanna do
The washing machine boogie with you

Well, I feel better if you're on the beam
And you dance to the rhythm of your washing machine
So, come on baby 'cause I wanna do
The washing machine boogie with you
Slip-slap, slap-sloo
Come on honey and I wanna do
The washing machine boogie with you

Well, ol' blue monday was our washday
Now we learned to boogie the blues away
So, come on baby 'cause I wanna do
The washing machine boogie with you
Slip-slap, slap-sloo
Come on honey and I wanna do
The washing machine boogie with you

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Thanks for those tips, Lizzie. I never thought of using bar soap for my dishes. I dislike the plastic waste from the containers of liquid soaps.

 

[vitanola]

Thanks for those tips, Lizzie. I never thought of using bar soap for my dishes. I dislike the plastic waste from the containers of liquid soaps.

If your water is in the least hard the addition of a small amount of Washing Soda to your dishwater is helpful. Dollar General stores sell a boxed "Color Safe Bleach" which consists of Washing Soda wih a small addition of Sodium Perborate. A couple of tablespoons of this mixture added to dishwater really cuts the grease and leaves your glassware sparking. This particular product is less expensive than plain washing soda, oddly enough.

 

[sheeplady]

How does the ZOTE do with greasy dishes and pans with a lot crusted on them?

I see you can also use it for laundry soap so I may pick some up for our laundry needs.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

If your water is in the least hard the addition of a small amount of Washing Soda to your dishwater is helpful. Dollar General stores sell a boxed "Color Safe Bleach" which consists of Washing Soda wih a small addition of Sodium Perborate. A couple of tablespoons of this mixture added to dishwater really cuts the grease and leaves your glassware sparking. This particular product is less expensive than plain washing soda, oddly enough.

I do my dishes by hand-- I don't have a dishwasher.

 

[LizzieMaine]

How does the ZOTE do with greasy dishes and pans with a lot crusted on them?

I see you can also use it for laundry soap so I may pick some up for our laundry needs.

It works fine for me in cleaning a skillet used to fry sausages, and that's pretty greasy. It helps to use the hottest water you can stand.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A bit of an update here --

I just now opened a fresh bar of Zote Soap for doing dishes. I opened the previous bar at the end of January. That's almost five months worth of dishwashing from one bar of soap. Now that's thrifty.

 

[VintageBee]

I do my dishes by hand-- I don't have a dishwasher.

I think she said dishWATER.....I had to Reread it a few times....these eyeglasses aren't helping me at all

 

[Stanley Doble]

Use an iron skillet and you don't need to wash it. A wipe clean with a paper towel is all it needs. If I use mine for spaghetti sauce or get food stuck to it I wash it under the hot tap with a copper scrubbing pad, no soap. A thoroughly seasoned iron pan is almost like Teflon.

Iron seems to season better and faster if you use it with both animal and vegetable fats, like frying bacon in the morning and sauteing in olive oil or peanut oil at night.

Fill your pots and pans with hot water and let them soak until you do the dishes, they will be easier to clean.

 

[VintageBee]

A bit of an update here --

I just now opened a fresh bar of Zote Soap for doing dishes. I opened the previous bar at the end of January. That's almost five months worth of dishwashing from one bar of soap. Now that's thrifty.

Are you grating the Zote into the dishwater? I see bars of it at the market but neve bought any....I may give this a try! And the Dollar General "color safe bleach" tip sounds like a winner-I'll let you know if I find any at our dollar stores.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I just drop the bar into the dishpan and run hot water over it until there's a good mess of suds. Then take the bar out and let it dry off on the drainboard until I need it again. It suds up very well -- I'd used Octagon for years, until it was discontinued, and it didn't suds up as well as the Zote does.

 

[WifeyRobinson]

I want to endorse a product here -- not something I often do, but in this case it's justified. For many years I washed my dishes with Octagon bar soap -- a fine, humble product of the Era -- but in their infinite desire to offer only the most upscale and overpriced goods, the folks at Colgate-Palmolive discontinued that soap last year. I used up my last remaining bar last month, and had to look around for a replacement -- which I have found.


I strongly recommend "Zote" brand all purpose bar soap. This is a Mexican product, which you will find in your neighborhood Mexican grocery store, if you have a Mexican neighborhood nearby, or you might stumble upon it at a Big Lots or dollar-store type of place. It's a *big* bar of soap -- each bar weighs nearly a pound, and is almost as big and as thick and as hard as a brick -- and it produces lots and lots of suds for dishwashing. Just drop it in the dishpan, run some hot water on it, swish it around, and you're all set to go. And it doesn't have an overpowering cloying perfume smell -- there's sort of a lemony-limey scent, which disperses quickly.


Zote is sold as an all-purpose soap, so you can also chip it into your washing machine or washtub, or you can use it with a pail and a scrub brush to wash your floor or your walls or your dog or your car or your kids. It's also very very cheap and each block of soap will last a very long time. If you use one block of this soap in a month, you're running a lunchroom instead of a kitchen. That's Zote -- Z O T E. It's good and it's cheap, and that's all you need in a soap. It comes in pink and in white -- I use the white because I don't see any point in pink soap -- but if you're worried about clashing decor, the pink should work fine. And if you need a good weapon for driving off thugs, goons, or toughs, a bar of Zote in an old stocking would do just fine.

Just found Zotes at Walmart herebandim so excited. It smells divine. Couple quick questions: how sudsy does your water tend to get and where on earth do your store the Behemoth bar once you are done washing?!

 

[LizzieMaine]

It gets very sudsy for me -- the hotter the water the more sudsy it gets. I have naturally soft water, which helps with sudsing, but if you have hard water throw a handful of sal soda (washing soda) into the dishpan while the water's running.

I just leave the bar at the back of the sink after I'm done -- it sits there and looks imposing until about the third month in when it gets down to about the size of a new bar of Octagon.

 

[WifeyRobinson]

It gets very sudsy for me -- the hotter the water the more sudsy it gets. I have naturally soft water, which helps with sudsing, but if you have hard water throw a handful of sal soda (washing soda) into the dishpan while the water's running.

I just leave the bar at the back of the sink after I'm done -- it sits there and looks imposing until about the third month in when it gets down to about the size of a new bar of Octagon.

Is this something I can get at the local market or should I send away? Sorry for all the questions...new to some of this as I'm just starting to make someof the BIGGER vintage lifestyle changes
Can it be used in the washing machine as well? Trying to change over to more appropriate laundry detergents

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'll find it washing soda/sal soda in the laundry section of most any good grocery store -- look down near the specialty product area. It'll usually be in a bright yellow box right next to the Borax.

I use the washing soda mixed with Fels Naptha soap chips in my washing machine -- Zote will work for laundry, but Fels Naptha is better on oily stains, which I get a lot of at work. I chip the bar of soap into a bowl with a grater and then tip the chips into an old Miracle Whip jar. I then dump a couple of cups of washing soda into the jar and then shake it all up to mix. About half a cup of this mixture goes into the washing machine, and when it's dissolved I put the clothes in. I use a wringer washer, but I'd imagine it would work just as well with an automatic.

I wouldn't use Fels Naptha for dishes, though, it can be very rough on the hands.

 

[HudsonHawk]

You'll find it washing soda/sal soda in the laundry section of most any good grocery store -- look down near the specialty product area. It'll usually be in a bright yellow box right next to the Borax.

I use the washing soda mixed with Fels Naptha soap chips in my washing machine -- Zote will work for laundry, but Fels Naptha is better on oily stains, which I get a lot of at work. I chip the bar of soap into a bowl with a grater and then tip the chips into an old Miracle Whip jar. I then dump a couple of cups of washing soda into the jar and then shake it all up to mix. About half a cup of this mixture goes into the washing machine, and when it's dissolved I put the clothes in. I use a wringer washer, but I'd imagine it would work just as well with an automatic.

I wouldn't use Fels Naptha for dishes, though, it can be very rough on the hands.

Fels Naptha is what my mother always used to wash my baseball uniforms. It is/was the best thing I've ever seen at getting the ground-in clay out.

 

[WifeyRobinson]

It gets very sudsy for me -- the hotter the water the more sudsy it gets. I have naturally soft water, which helps with sudsing, but if you have hard water throw a handful of sal soda (washing soda) into the dishpan while the water's running.

I just leave the bar at the back of the sink after I'm done -- it sits there and looks imposing until about the third month in when it gets down to about the size of a new bar of Octagon.

Well I found the Soda at my local Grocer and Goodness gracious great balls of fire that did th trick! Thank you kindly!
As for laundry I'm currently testing out a homemade recipe online as I have an HE washer at the time (hand washer sounds fascinating!! Wish there was a laundry thread in this area! Only saw line drying)

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's instructions on how to use a wringer washer in the "Skills for Living The Era" thread -- lots of other good information on other household skills there, too.