What do you get when you combine a 5 gallon bucket and a toilet plunger? An off grid washing machine. Well, maybe not a machine in the traditional sense, unless you consider my hands the motor. This is something I have been wanting to make for quite some time now. The other day while I was in town, I saw a toilet plunger on the shelf and put it in my cart. I also picked up 3 bottles of Mrs Stewart’s bluing, I’ll explain more about that in a bit.
Plunger with holes
This primitive prototype washing machine started out as a 5 gallon bucket and the plunger. I handed the plunger to PB and asked him to cut some holes in the plunger, that makes it easier to plunge the clothes without making tons of bubbles and a big mess. I left it up to PB to decide how to cut the holes and in what shape. He took it downstairs for a few minutes, then brought it back to me, he handed me the plunger with 3, perfectly round, quarter sized holes. he handed me the rubber plugs that came from those centers.
Off Grid Washing Machine
I had a few socks and a couple of thermal shirts, all white, that needed to be washed. I put them in the bucket, filled it with enough water to cover the clothes by a few inches, added some homemade laundry soap (recipe to follow) and began to plunge. It worked like a charm. But of course, PB is never happy with prototypes, he wants to improve things, so he decided that a lid was in order, the lid would keep the water from splashing about as I plunged the clothes. We didn’t have a lid for the bucket, at least not one we wanted to cut a hole in. PB found another 5 gallon bucket, it had a bad place in the bottom, but it had a screw on lid. PB cut the bottom off that bucket and slid it into the first bucket, it fit like a charm.
Lid with hole
Lid with hole
Next, PB cut a hole in the screw on lid, he created a gasket using a prescription pill bottle, that keeps the plunger handle straight and keeps any water from splashing out of the hole in the top. Since the bucket is several inches taller now, the handle for the plunger wasn’t long enough, so PB removed the original handle and replaced it with a longer handle. Now I can put the whole thing on the floor and plunge from a standing position, I get more power to my stroke now. It works great!
Off Grid Washing Machine
I washed the clothes, I removed the clothes, wringing each one by hand, then I dumped out the water. I added fresh water, a bit of baking soda, that helps freshen and helps soften the clothes too. I added some bluing, put the top back on the primitive washing machine and began the rinse cycle. I plunged for several minutes, until I felt like everything was rinsed well. I removed each piece of clothing, wringing each one, then I hung them on the clothes line to dry.
The next thing I want to get is a mop bucket with a roller wringer, that’s the cheapest way I can go if I purchase one, perhaps PB will make a roller wringer for me in the mean time, I wouldn’t be surprised. I can use the roller wringer for my clothes, the water would drain into the bucket, it would take less time to dry on the line, and the clothes would not have to be hand wrung, that makes more wrinkles. Using a roller wringer, it would smooth out wrinkles instead of causing them, dual benefit.
Now to my homemade laundry soap, this is something I have been using for years, long before I moved off grid. it is so much cheaper to make and use, I have control over what is going in. My clothes come out clean, clean smelling, not smelling of perfumes and chemicals. My clothes are also softer.
The recipe is so simple, it’s 3 ingredients. Bar soap, borax and washing soda (not baking soda). I prefer using a castile soap, you can use Dr Bronner’s, or my personal favorite right now, Kirk’s Castile Soap, of course you can use a bath soap like Ivory, just don’t use anything that has moisturizers or major additives, they may work for your skin, but they will not work well to clean clothes. You take the bar soap, grate it in a food processor, or you can do it by hand, you want to get it grated as fine as possible, I like to run the blade attachment on the soap after I grate it, just to make it finer, it dissolves better that way. Once you have the bar soap in powder form, measure it, you can just eyeball it if you want, it doesn’t have to be exact. Add an equal amount of borax and the same amount of washing soda. Measure by volume, not by weight. So, it’s one part powdered bar soap, one part borax and one part washing soda. Put everything in a container with a lid and mix it well, you might have to break up any lumps in the borax and washing soda.
I know a lot of people who use homemade laundry soap like to take it to the next step and make it into a liquid, some people just like using liquids better, they say the powder doesn’t dissolve well, I have not had that problem, I think it’s because I grate the bar soap so fine, that’s the part that will give you trouble dissolving, especially in cold water if you don’t get it fine enough. Since I go ahead and take the extra time to use the blade attachment of my food processor, the bar soap is pretty fine and it dissolves just fine for me. If you want to make this into a liquid, just do a search for homemade laundry soap, you’ll find lots of recipes that take the next step of making it into a liquid, I just prefer not to do it myself, it takes up much less space this way too.
You use 1-3 tablespoons of the mixture per wash load, no more, it will not seem like enough, especially if you are used to using commercial laundry detergent by the cup full, I like to use a coffee scoop, it is just right. This will not suds up in the water, if you feel like it’s not enough, or you have an especially dirty load of wash, then run it through another wash cycle with another 1-2 tablespoons of powder, adding more to the initial wash will not get things any cleaner, in fact, it will defeat the purpose as it may not rinse out well if you add too much. Have you ever looked at your rinse water in the laundry? Notice how dirty and sudsy it looks? That’s because your clothes are not getting rinsed out very well. Your clothes will be cleaner, fresher and will rinse cleaner using this homemade laundry soap. Give it a try.
Some of you might say that you remember line dried clothes feeling rough, scratchy, not soft at all. One major reason that happens is because not all of the commercial laundry detergent is being rinsed out of your laundry. Take a peek at the rinse cycle about halfway through, you will probably be shocked and disgusted at how dirty and sudsy the water looks, this is being dried into your laundry, chances are you will probably want to do a second rinse cycle after that. It’s amazing at how much dirt and detergent is left behind on your laundry, this is the main reason why if you line dried this laundry, it would come out stiff as cardboard and scratchy as well. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much cleaner your clothes will be, smell and feel, no matter how you dry them.
Now to the Mrs Stewart’s bluing. One thing that commercial laundry detergents have are optical brighteners, this makes your colors look brighter and your whites look whiter. I say they do it to combat the dulling residue that is left behind from the detergent itself. Since the homemade laundry soap does not have these optical brighteners, eventually you will notice your colors and whites are not as bright as they used to be, so if you go back to what your grandmother used, Mrs Stewart’s bluing, you will not have that problem. You use this in the rinse cycle. Be sure not to get any undiluted bluing on anything, it will stain.
Off Grid Washing Machine
Today, I used my improvised laundry washing “machine”, I used the bluing in the rinse, the only problem I have now is I am going to have to use this on the rest of my socks for sure, half of them are going to look whiter and cleaner than the other half.
It’s a funny thing, when I explain to my friends out here about my improvised washing machine, they each tell me that I am more than welcome to come over to their house to do laundry using their washing machine and dryer. In a way, it is not a surprising reaction, they think I’m doing everything the hard way, who in their right mind would want to do laundry by hand when there are perfectly functioning, modern washing machines and dryers available? Well, perhaps I am a bit nutty, living off grid, heating with wood, hauling my own water, generating my own electricity… it seems natural to me to want to wash my clothes by hand and dry the clothes using a solar dryer, a clothesline.
Off Grid Washing Machine
Of course I can use a washing machine and dryer, any time I want, but knowing that I CAN do it without electricity or machines, unless you count muscle power. I am now one step closer to being more independent. There is also a small laziness factor in there too. How can doing laundry by hand be lazy? Well, it’s easy, to do laundry with a washing machine and dryer means I have to gather all the laundry, sort it and carry it down the hill to my neighbor’s house, it’s a big hill. I am tied to his house for as long as I am doing laundry, then I have to lug those clothes back up the hill, did I mention it’s a big hill? Then put them away. If I am doing laundry at the skycastle, then I can do them as I please, without having to lug anything up or down the hill, I can do the laundry as I go, I don’t feel like I have to have a full load, I can do smaller loads with no guilt.
Would I recommend this to everyone? Probably not, most of the people I know wouldn’t be interested. But for those who are interested, this is one way to do it. Even if you don’t use the primitive method of washing, you can still use the homemade laundry soap, it will save you money, it will get your clothes cleaner (IMHO), and you will feel better about the whole thing. I know there will be someone out there with a dozen kids, several toddlers and at least one in diapers who will say they aren’t interested in all the extra work, and to them I say, my heart goes out to you, and more power to you, thank God for modern conveniences like washing machines and dryers. You can still try the homemade laundry soap, it doesn’t take that long to make and you will save money using it, plus the extra cleanliness factor of using the homemade stuff verses the commercial stuff. You also might want to put aside a bucket or two, and a clean (unused) toilet plunger, just in case, you just never know when it may come in handy.
One cautionary note, if you use a gray water system and your gray water pours out on plants you want to keep alive, do not use the borax, it will kill plants. Just omit the borax in this case and don’t worry about it, your clothes will still come out clean.
I am now wearing one of the thermal shirts as a sleep shirt, it is soft as can be, it smells clean, not of perfume, but clean. Did I mention it’s soft? I love the feel of the material against my skin, knowing there is nothing that is going to irritate my skin, not that I am particularly sensitive to things like that, it’s nice to know that I don’t have be concerned about it. It is possible to develop sensitivities by being exposed to chemicals over a period of time. And yes, I know that everything I listed above is a chemical, the difference is I know what these chemicals are, I can pronounce the names, they have been in use for generations. Yes, I feel better about using these.
Do you use homemade laundry soap? Do you make your own bar soap? Do you use a primitive method of doing laundry? Let me know about it, leave a comment, especially if you try any part of this, let me know what you think. :)
I know it isn’t off-grid… But a microwave works surprisingly well at reducing bar soap into powder.
Microwave a bar for a couple minutes. It’ll start puffing up and expanding, growing into a weird-shaped mass as the microwave expands the tiny pockets of air between particles of soap.
Let the foamy mass cool. Crumble it in your hands and you’ll have your fine soap powder. If anything, it’s TOO fine — add a little water as you crumble it to keep the dust down.
Thanks JJB, I’ll give that a try, I do have access to a microwave, I even have one but don’t use it because of the computer chip/timer in it, I don’t have a pure sine wave inverter, yet… computer chips and timers do not like modified sine wave inverters. :)
I’ll give that a try, if nothing else, to see the soap bar do its thing. Yeah, I’m still a kid at heart. ;)
UPDATE:
OK, I just watched a couple of YouTube videos about microwaving soap, they specifically use Ivory soap because it come with tiny bubbles in the bar, that’s why it floats. It seems that the bar really REALLY expands, a lot! If I were to try this, I would cut my bar of soap into at least 3 pieces and nuke each one separately. The other thing it seems to do is make everything, including the inside of the microwave smell like soap, not very appetizing for the next food item to be nuked, if I knew for sure I could get that smell out of the microwave, I might try it, perhaps I’ll take my microwave down to my neighbor’s house and do it in there instead of using my neighbor’s microwave, I don’t want to mess up his microwave. :)
This is excellent! I would love to make a primitive washing machine, if anything just to keep on hand in cases of emergency. I am going to make my own detergent….excited about trying it out!
[...] Quite brilliant low tech devices are sometimes developed to provide modern creature comforts. Only, yesterday we reported on a washing machine made from a bucket and plunger. [...]
Hello again.
I’ve done this in my own microwave, honest. I did use Ivory soap, though a coworker told me he used Irish Spring and it worked fine too. I suspect there are enough air bubbles in most soaps to make it work.
The microwave did smell rather like ivory soap when I was done. After I removed the plate with the soap foam on it, though, there was no lingering taste issue. Honestly, I considered the odor a minor bonus — a fresh and clean (smelling) microwave. Probably the best my family’s microwave smelled since we bought it. :) And you’ll note that I’m still alive and typing, so my wife didn’t find the results offensive either. ;)
The Ivory soap does foam up quite a bit. That’s probably why it crumbles so well. But it didn’t overfill my microwave or anything. You can always stop the microwave and it’ll stop expanding instantly.
JBB, it will be a while before I need to make another batch, just made a big batch, but I’ll give it a try when it’s time to make more. I’ll do a partial bar and give it a day or so to make sure the smell does go away, or I might lug mine to his house and use it. If it only takes a couple of minutes, I might even give it a go at my house, the timer part will not like it, but the microwave itself should work just fine on my power. I’ll be sure to write about it if/when I do try it. :) Thanks for writing again.
Hi!
I really enjoyed reading your article. I just want to tell you I own a hand-driven washing machine that’s actually made for that purpose to begin with. It’s made from aluminum, it looks kind of like a ball attatched to a set of legs. There’s an air-tight lid and you make it move using a crank. It’s pretty small, you could put it on a sturdy table. Cool, right? :-)
Take care!
This is a variation of the “cowboy washing machine”. They used to put their clothes in a milk can with soap and water and leave it in the back of their pickup truck. After a long day of bumping around, they were washed. A 5-gallon plastic pail can substitute.
What a good idea roddy6667, that would work great! Especially out here where I live, the roads are unpaved, dirt, rocky, hilly, mountainous, up and down, jar your teeth out of your head rough. A trip to the mailbox and back would be just long (and bouncy) enough to get clothes clean.
Nice article. It’s good to know how to do things by hand. Maybe we won’t replace that washer when it finally dies :-)
A broken dryer last summer helped us gain some energy-reduction momentum. We found that most of the world does not use clothes driers at all. So we got some of these sturdy clothes drying racks and began changing our laundry habits. By drying overnight under the ceiling fan we can even deal with the winter months!
Thanks Joanne, I have read about soapnuts before, looks interesting. I would like to try a local plant that creates saponins, need to do more research and find something, I think at least one of our cactus can be used for that.
I stumbled across your article after I had just made a similar “washing machine.” I purchased the bucket, plunger, and nice metal drying rack for around $20. I have been making my own laundry soap from a similar recipe for years now. We usually spend around $30 at the laundromat every month, so I figure this plan will at pay for itself in less than one month!! I just did a load and it’s outside hanging on the drying rack. It is a very good feeling to be doing these things on our own! Thanks for the article!
Wow, great!
I am completely off grid with a little generator to give me power to top up batteries and power my computer, I need to rely on my girlfriend for washing which means I have a two week cycle for getting clean clothes back :) (love her for doing it for me! and other things too of course!)
This reminds me of the weekly wash my gran used to do in the back yard….should have thought of it sooner ! Thanks for the details, will be making a ‘machine’ this weekend!!!
I read about a similar set up many years ago in a camping book called Roughing It Easy. They also recommended putting your clothes, water and detergent in a lidded bucket and putting it in the trunk of your car as you drive to your next camp site, arrive with clean clothes! It’s the agitation that cleans your clothes more than the detergent, anyway.(That’s why our ancestors used rocks on a river bank! lol ) I make your recipe for detergent and love it! Sometimes I add a few drops of lavender oil to scent my sheets. Smells heavenly!
Thanks ModgePodge, I like adding a few drops of tea tree oil, especially when washing something particularly smelly, it really freshens it up. I’m glad you like the homemade laundry soap, it really works great, I am spoiled by it and remember why I like it when I run out and use the commercial stuff…
Instead of wringing by hand you could take another 5 gallon bucket, drill holes in it, place wet clothes in it, put another bucket in it and press. Doesn’t get out all the water but its a hell of a lot easier than hand wringing. Mop bucket wringers DO NOT WORK. You need a proper wringer like a dyna jet or the ones Lehmans sell, but they are expensive. A spin dryer would work well, if you have the power.
I’m sold on making my own detergent!!! It doesn’t take much time and my laundry comes out clean and smelling fresh. I prefer fresh to perfume. I don’t even have to use fabric softener anymore, even the items I choose to hang dry are soft. I love the fact that I know what is going in the detergent since two of my children have sensitive skin.
I’ve been making my own bar soap for years. I can make enough soap in an afternoon to last for an entire year. I use all vegetable oils (olive, coconut, soy, palm, castor) and the soap is great. I make some to wash the dogs to which I’ve added some peppermint oil to help kill and repel fleas. I also make shampoo bars. Most people don’t like the idea of rubbing a solid bar against the hair, but I have military short hair and it takes no time at all. I prefer it to using commercial detergent bars sold as soap. Homemade soap is also very moisturizing. No more dry skin in the winter.
Thanks Randy, that’s my next soap project, making bar soap. I actually have everything I need to do it, I just need to DO IT! Do you use the hot or cold process?
Hi there thanks for the inspiring article. My husband and I are in the process of going off the grid in New Zealand. We are in the very early planning stages. The cost of off the grid electricity systems are astronomical. So we are trying to simplify our life as much as possible to cut down electricity usage. The homemade washing machine looks and sounds brilliant, thanks a lot. I will also try the homemade laundry soap. What do you do regarding fridge and freezers? and what is your main electrical system, solar ? Look forward to hearing your comments. Penny King
Thanks Penny, yes, it is often too expensive to convert existing situations (on grid) to off grid in one fell swoop, the way we did it was to start from scratch and build our place (ourselves) with the intent to being off grid. If you have an existing home, I would suggest doing what a friend of mine did, he converted one room at a time to be off grid, starting with the laundry room. He didn’t “replace” the wiring, he added secondary wiring and wall plugs that were going to the solar/battery array. He made the wall plugs for the solar side a different color, this way he had the option of using either or both systems, and if the grid power goes down, he just plugs into the solar side. I have found that having separate systems instead of one big system to be superior, at least that’s how it has worked out for us. We have 2 sets of solar panels going to 2 separate sets of batteries. We had a problem with one set of the batteries (2 batteries went bad), so we just used the other system until we figured out which batteries were bad.
As far as refrigeration goes, right now we have a dorm room sized refrigerator (it’s a small, very small unit), we don’t use it all the time, we only plug it up when we need it, which isn’t very often. We don’t use a freezer. Something I have in the works, I have a small chest freezer and I am going to buy an external thermostat plug, you set the temperature where you want it, for us it will be refrigerator temps, then you plug the freezer into the thermostat, it allows the freezer to get to the set temp then it cuts off the power, these were originally created for beef keg usage, but it works just fine for making a freezer work like a refrigerator. The freezer is better insulated, plus having a door on top, instead of opening at the front, it is much more efficient and doesn’t use as much power.
Our only power source is solar, we have a wind generator, but never hooked it up, long story…
Concerning soap in a microwave: I do this sometimes, and it’s not even for making bar soap into liquid — it’s for cleaning out the microwave. Take a shpritzer bottle and shpritz the inside of the microwave, then cut up your Ivory bar into quarters and nuke each one for a minute or so. Shpritz the microwave in between quarter-bars. When you’ve done all the bars, not only is your soap in liquid form, but your microwave is easy to wipe clean — no more crusted-on old food (yech!).
I’ve also done this using a glass of water with a few drops of liquid soap, but if you do that, be careful — it bubbles and it superheats, so DO NOT let it microwave for more than about 2 minutes at a time. Watch it closely. When it starts to bubble out of the glass, shut it off and WAIT FIVE MINUTES before opening the microwave door.
My hat is off to you, I enjoyed reading your website, Now i know hoe to make my own soap, The washing machine will come in handy during our next hurricaine.. I am seriously thinking of living off the grid.. We waste so much.. God Help Us.
This was a great article. Wish I had seen this when I lived off grid for 5 years.. With just me and my husband I would not have had to go to the laundermat. My daughter-in-law who lived off grid with us, made her own body soap and just graded it for laundry soap. With our AZ dirt stained clothes nothing took the stain out anyway so it did not mater, and it cleaned it. But with 5 kids I did not ask very often to use her washing machine made especially for off grid. Will keep this in mind with this economy who knows. Also plan to make the laundry detergent. My daughter made some and she liked it.
thanks for the great article and idea.
I’ve been doing laundry this way for over a year :) congratulations!! it’s one of the few ways I can go off grid as a renter. I use castile soap, and a mixture of lemon juice and white vinegar, equal parts, hand wring, and hang up to dry.
Have used this periodically. I learned about it from an Amish supplies magazine. So I was backpacking @ Nicaragua and the only real washing facility I could find were the stone washboards. Destroys clothes, is not an effective cleaner, and takes a LONG time. This is a very simple solution to a very real problem. I want my next to be built using the same design as a hand pump for a well. More leverage, less effort. Love your post, thanks.
When I was younger we had to haul water in the winter when the irrigation canals weren’t running to fill the cistern. My dad cut a plastic 55 gallon drum in half and would let the final rinse water run into it at the end of a wash.
He used a sump pump to pump the rinse water back into the washing machine as wash water for the next load of laundry. Doing 4 or 5 loads of laundry saved over 150 gallons of water a week.
Loved your article. I read it on Homesteader News.
I have been making my own laundry soap (liquid form) for about a year and a half. I use Fels Naptha bar soap in it. The only problem I have is that when my husbands work jeans are stained on the front of the thighs, the stain will not come out with one wash. I use extra of the liquid soap, rub it in really well, then scrub the legs together against one another. I am really thinking about using my old washboard (which I have as decor) to scrub the tough stains before I put them in the wash. That’s how our grandmothers did it; we’ve become accustomed to a life of ease & want to just spritz some “super powered” stain remover instead of using muscle power! Thanks for the article.
Thanks JaneyP, yup sometimes you have to use the old elbow grease to get out the really tough stuff, I use a rub board (of sorts) on my socks, they get really dirty on the bottom, and now my new(ish) boots are leaving black marks on them, it still doesn’t get them spotlessly clean, but it helps. I also use the rub board on any stains, it’s amazing how well it gets them out, even on older stains. My rub board is really a steam rack that came with a really large pan I purchased years ago, it works just like a rub board and it fits right into my bucket or in the sink. I rub the cloth on a bar of soap then I go to town on the stain. I’ll take a picture of it sometime.
I just made a similar version of your washing machine yesterday and did my clothes today.. the only difference with mine is that I used a 7 gallon bucket that cost 2.99 at Tractor Supply and also installed a drain spout on it so that I did not have to do so much tipping over.. also would make it beneficial to hook a hose up to for gray water collection. Fun stuff though. :)
What great ideas. I’m looking at washing boards to use as a pretreatment and I’ll definitely try the homemade soap. We have a cabin in upper Michigan so the homemade washing machine will work there. I haven’t been this excited in a long time! LOL
You people are amazing, so insperational.
I am looking to sell off my little city life and “run away” ! Thank you for your tips and I hope to be like you when I grow up. lol (I’m in my 40s)
Oh cool is this. Love it and my honey said he wants to make one too. Lots of projects in the works, but would be nice to have one for small items when needed and I like the idea of homemade soap which I’ve always wanted to try.
peace n abundance from northern New Mexico geodesic dome home livin’
CheyAnne
I have a mobile washer but the plunger with holes might be just as good. Now that you mention it, I think I’d be happier with a longer handle, too.
I like that idea of using the pill bottle in the lid hole. I was just going to cut a hole in my lid and leave it at that. It is glued, caulked or just stuck in there?
I use the same laundry soap recipe and love it. The only problem I’ve had was trying to use it in the detergent dispenser in powder form in a modern front load washing machine. Some of it got stuck in the little tray and didn’t make it into the laundry. Making it into a liquid or adding directly to the clothes solved that problem.
Isn’t using a microwave hypocritical to living off the grid? I think so! But I like the homemade washing machine idea and know how to make one better than I the way I tried before using a plunger.
Antoinette, why do you believe using a microwave is being hypocritical to living off grid? I use lots of “electronic” equipment, computers, lights, water pumps, vacuums, power tools, radios… I use all of these things and more, I am just not hooked up to the “grid”, I make my own power, it’s a small system, but it’s all we need, and it makes no difference what I choose to use my electricity on, I am still “off grid”. Being off grid doesn’t mean you have to go back to the stone age and give up all modern conveniences. Now, I do a lot of things by hand, like laundry, dishes, cooking and such, that’s my choice, that has nothing to do with being hooked up or not hooked up to the electric company, anyone can do those things. :)
I liked your method – I do a lot of hand laundry and was wondering why you don’t just do it by hand with an old fashioned washboard? Have you researched that method?
tigertrax, thanks for your reply, I do use a sort of washboard, it’s a round metal steam rack that fits into the bucket, I use that for stains and really dirty stuff, for everything else, using the plunger works just fine.
I just purchased 2 big plastic buckets, lots bigger than the 5 gallon buckets. I don’t know off the top of my head what size these are, but they work great, I can wash up to 3 loads of laundry in one session without having to dump and refill the buckets, I start with the whites and less dirty items and work my way to the darks and most dirty items, it works great.
Wretha, I love your washing machine. My washer quit agitating properly, and I don’t have the money to repair or replace it. I was lucky enough to find this site just when I needed it. I have made a nice little set-up for myself to do the wash by putting the bucket on a stool so I don’t have to bend over. I find the plunging process quite relaxing, and it provides me with an good upper body workout. Since the washer’s spin cycle works, I use that to get the water out of my clothes. In the future, I might try a mop bucket, but someone here didn’t think it worked well. I just last night made some laundry detergent from Fels Naptha and currently have some dish towels soaking in it at home. I’m anxious to see how they turn out.
Thanks Molly McGuire, I have graduated to larger buckets, for the sake of doing more laundry, I can do 3 loads of laundry per container of water now, actually 2 containers, one for washing and one for rinsing. I did something similar to you, I needed to get some laundry done quick, my neighbor’s washing machine is going south, at least on the agitating part of the cycle, but the spin cycle still works, so I washed and rinsed the clothes in the tubs, then took them inside to spin and go through the dryer, it worked like a charm, though honestly, I still prefer doing it all by hand and hanging to dry, our climate is sooooo dry, it doesn’t take long to dry.
I agree that the plunging process is soothing, almost zen-like… :)
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48 comments
I know it isn’t off-grid… But a microwave works surprisingly well at reducing bar soap into powder.
Microwave a bar for a couple minutes. It’ll start puffing up and expanding, growing into a weird-shaped mass as the microwave expands the tiny pockets of air between particles of soap.
Let the foamy mass cool. Crumble it in your hands and you’ll have your fine soap powder. If anything, it’s TOO fine — add a little water as you crumble it to keep the dust down.
Thanks JJB, I’ll give that a try, I do have access to a microwave, I even have one but don’t use it because of the computer chip/timer in it, I don’t have a pure sine wave inverter, yet… computer chips and timers do not like modified sine wave inverters. :)
I’ll give that a try, if nothing else, to see the soap bar do its thing. Yeah, I’m still a kid at heart. ;)
UPDATE:
OK, I just watched a couple of YouTube videos about microwaving soap, they specifically use Ivory soap because it come with tiny bubbles in the bar, that’s why it floats. It seems that the bar really REALLY expands, a lot! If I were to try this, I would cut my bar of soap into at least 3 pieces and nuke each one separately. The other thing it seems to do is make everything, including the inside of the microwave smell like soap, not very appetizing for the next food item to be nuked, if I knew for sure I could get that smell out of the microwave, I might try it, perhaps I’ll take my microwave down to my neighbor’s house and do it in there instead of using my neighbor’s microwave, I don’t want to mess up his microwave. :)
This is excellent! I would love to make a primitive washing machine, if anything just to keep on hand in cases of emergency. I am going to make my own detergent….excited about trying it out!
Thanks JLP, I know you’ll like the laundry soap, let me know when you do it and what you think about it.
[...] Quite brilliant low tech devices are sometimes developed to provide modern creature comforts. Only, yesterday we reported on a washing machine made from a bucket and plunger. [...]
Hello again.
I’ve done this in my own microwave, honest. I did use Ivory soap, though a coworker told me he used Irish Spring and it worked fine too. I suspect there are enough air bubbles in most soaps to make it work.
The microwave did smell rather like ivory soap when I was done. After I removed the plate with the soap foam on it, though, there was no lingering taste issue. Honestly, I considered the odor a minor bonus — a fresh and clean (smelling) microwave. Probably the best my family’s microwave smelled since we bought it. :) And you’ll note that I’m still alive and typing, so my wife didn’t find the results offensive either. ;)
The Ivory soap does foam up quite a bit. That’s probably why it crumbles so well. But it didn’t overfill my microwave or anything. You can always stop the microwave and it’ll stop expanding instantly.
JBB, it will be a while before I need to make another batch, just made a big batch, but I’ll give it a try when it’s time to make more. I’ll do a partial bar and give it a day or so to make sure the smell does go away, or I might lug mine to his house and use it. If it only takes a couple of minutes, I might even give it a go at my house, the timer part will not like it, but the microwave itself should work just fine on my power. I’ll be sure to write about it if/when I do try it. :) Thanks for writing again.
Hi!
I really enjoyed reading your article. I just want to tell you I own a hand-driven washing machine that’s actually made for that purpose to begin with. It’s made from aluminum, it looks kind of like a ball attatched to a set of legs. There’s an air-tight lid and you make it move using a crank. It’s pretty small, you could put it on a sturdy table. Cool, right? :-)
Take care!
Thanks Turid, I think I have seen what you are talking about, at least a modern version of it, on the internet. Is there a name or model number on it?
This is a variation of the “cowboy washing machine”. They used to put their clothes in a milk can with soap and water and leave it in the back of their pickup truck. After a long day of bumping around, they were washed. A 5-gallon plastic pail can substitute.
What a good idea roddy6667, that would work great! Especially out here where I live, the roads are unpaved, dirt, rocky, hilly, mountainous, up and down, jar your teeth out of your head rough. A trip to the mailbox and back would be just long (and bouncy) enough to get clothes clean.
Nice article. It’s good to know how to do things by hand. Maybe we won’t replace that washer when it finally dies :-)
A broken dryer last summer helped us gain some energy-reduction momentum. We found that most of the world does not use clothes driers at all. So we got some of these sturdy clothes drying racks and began changing our laundry habits. By drying overnight under the ceiling fan we can even deal with the winter months!
Way to go Nickie! :)
Hello, I’ve been using soapnuts with fantastic results. Also, the water is completely fine for the garden and the used up soapnuts can be composted.
Thanks for the washing ‘machine’ idea. Brilliant!
Thanks Joanne, I have read about soapnuts before, looks interesting. I would like to try a local plant that creates saponins, need to do more research and find something, I think at least one of our cactus can be used for that.
Wretha
I stumbled across your article after I had just made a similar “washing machine.” I purchased the bucket, plunger, and nice metal drying rack for around $20. I have been making my own laundry soap from a similar recipe for years now. We usually spend around $30 at the laundromat every month, so I figure this plan will at pay for itself in less than one month!! I just did a load and it’s outside hanging on the drying rack. It is a very good feeling to be doing these things on our own! Thanks for the article!
Thanks AshleyO, it’s great being independent and doing things on the cheap! :) Sounds like you got a great deal on your stuff.
Wretha
Wow, great!
I am completely off grid with a little generator to give me power to top up batteries and power my computer, I need to rely on my girlfriend for washing which means I have a two week cycle for getting clean clothes back :) (love her for doing it for me! and other things too of course!)
This reminds me of the weekly wash my gran used to do in the back yard….should have thought of it sooner ! Thanks for the details, will be making a ‘machine’ this weekend!!!
Great going Mike! When you get it finished, how about a picture?
I read about a similar set up many years ago in a camping book called Roughing It Easy. They also recommended putting your clothes, water and detergent in a lidded bucket and putting it in the trunk of your car as you drive to your next camp site, arrive with clean clothes! It’s the agitation that cleans your clothes more than the detergent, anyway.(That’s why our ancestors used rocks on a river bank! lol ) I make your recipe for detergent and love it! Sometimes I add a few drops of lavender oil to scent my sheets. Smells heavenly!
Thanks ModgePodge, I like adding a few drops of tea tree oil, especially when washing something particularly smelly, it really freshens it up. I’m glad you like the homemade laundry soap, it really works great, I am spoiled by it and remember why I like it when I run out and use the commercial stuff…
Instead of wringing by hand you could take another 5 gallon bucket, drill holes in it, place wet clothes in it, put another bucket in it and press. Doesn’t get out all the water but its a hell of a lot easier than hand wringing. Mop bucket wringers DO NOT WORK. You need a proper wringer like a dyna jet or the ones Lehmans sell, but they are expensive. A spin dryer would work well, if you have the power.
I’m sold on making my own detergent!!! It doesn’t take much time and my laundry comes out clean and smelling fresh. I prefer fresh to perfume. I don’t even have to use fabric softener anymore, even the items I choose to hang dry are soft. I love the fact that I know what is going in the detergent since two of my children have sensitive skin.
I’ve been making my own bar soap for years. I can make enough soap in an afternoon to last for an entire year. I use all vegetable oils (olive, coconut, soy, palm, castor) and the soap is great. I make some to wash the dogs to which I’ve added some peppermint oil to help kill and repel fleas. I also make shampoo bars. Most people don’t like the idea of rubbing a solid bar against the hair, but I have military short hair and it takes no time at all. I prefer it to using commercial detergent bars sold as soap. Homemade soap is also very moisturizing. No more dry skin in the winter.
Thanks Randy, that’s my next soap project, making bar soap. I actually have everything I need to do it, I just need to DO IT! Do you use the hot or cold process?
Hi there thanks for the inspiring article. My husband and I are in the process of going off the grid in New Zealand. We are in the very early planning stages. The cost of off the grid electricity systems are astronomical. So we are trying to simplify our life as much as possible to cut down electricity usage. The homemade washing machine looks and sounds brilliant, thanks a lot. I will also try the homemade laundry soap. What do you do regarding fridge and freezers? and what is your main electrical system, solar ? Look forward to hearing your comments. Penny King
Thanks Penny, yes, it is often too expensive to convert existing situations (on grid) to off grid in one fell swoop, the way we did it was to start from scratch and build our place (ourselves) with the intent to being off grid. If you have an existing home, I would suggest doing what a friend of mine did, he converted one room at a time to be off grid, starting with the laundry room. He didn’t “replace” the wiring, he added secondary wiring and wall plugs that were going to the solar/battery array. He made the wall plugs for the solar side a different color, this way he had the option of using either or both systems, and if the grid power goes down, he just plugs into the solar side. I have found that having separate systems instead of one big system to be superior, at least that’s how it has worked out for us. We have 2 sets of solar panels going to 2 separate sets of batteries. We had a problem with one set of the batteries (2 batteries went bad), so we just used the other system until we figured out which batteries were bad.
As far as refrigeration goes, right now we have a dorm room sized refrigerator (it’s a small, very small unit), we don’t use it all the time, we only plug it up when we need it, which isn’t very often. We don’t use a freezer. Something I have in the works, I have a small chest freezer and I am going to buy an external thermostat plug, you set the temperature where you want it, for us it will be refrigerator temps, then you plug the freezer into the thermostat, it allows the freezer to get to the set temp then it cuts off the power, these were originally created for beef keg usage, but it works just fine for making a freezer work like a refrigerator. The freezer is better insulated, plus having a door on top, instead of opening at the front, it is much more efficient and doesn’t use as much power.
Our only power source is solar, we have a wind generator, but never hooked it up, long story…
Here’s a video of my bar of ivory soap in the microwave. 2 minutes on high. I stopped the microwave when the soap wasn’t doing anything anymore.
http://qik.com/video/3063966
JBB
Wow JBB, what a great video, it’s amazing that soap does that in the microwave! Thanks for posting this. :)
Concerning soap in a microwave: I do this sometimes, and it’s not even for making bar soap into liquid — it’s for cleaning out the microwave. Take a shpritzer bottle and shpritz the inside of the microwave, then cut up your Ivory bar into quarters and nuke each one for a minute or so. Shpritz the microwave in between quarter-bars. When you’ve done all the bars, not only is your soap in liquid form, but your microwave is easy to wipe clean — no more crusted-on old food (yech!).
I’ve also done this using a glass of water with a few drops of liquid soap, but if you do that, be careful — it bubbles and it superheats, so DO NOT let it microwave for more than about 2 minutes at a time. Watch it closely. When it starts to bubble out of the glass, shut it off and WAIT FIVE MINUTES before opening the microwave door.
My hat is off to you, I enjoyed reading your website, Now i know hoe to make my own soap, The washing machine will come in handy during our next hurricaine.. I am seriously thinking of living off the grid.. We waste so much.. God Help Us.
This was a great article. Wish I had seen this when I lived off grid for 5 years.. With just me and my husband I would not have had to go to the laundermat. My daughter-in-law who lived off grid with us, made her own body soap and just graded it for laundry soap. With our AZ dirt stained clothes nothing took the stain out anyway so it did not mater, and it cleaned it. But with 5 kids I did not ask very often to use her washing machine made especially for off grid. Will keep this in mind with this economy who knows. Also plan to make the laundry detergent. My daughter made some and she liked it.
thanks for the great article and idea.
I’ve been doing laundry this way for over a year :) congratulations!! it’s one of the few ways I can go off grid as a renter. I use castile soap, and a mixture of lemon juice and white vinegar, equal parts, hand wring, and hang up to dry.
Have used this periodically. I learned about it from an Amish supplies magazine. So I was backpacking @ Nicaragua and the only real washing facility I could find were the stone washboards. Destroys clothes, is not an effective cleaner, and takes a LONG time. This is a very simple solution to a very real problem. I want my next to be built using the same design as a hand pump for a well. More leverage, less effort. Love your post, thanks.
When I was younger we had to haul water in the winter when the irrigation canals weren’t running to fill the cistern. My dad cut a plastic 55 gallon drum in half and would let the final rinse water run into it at the end of a wash.
He used a sump pump to pump the rinse water back into the washing machine as wash water for the next load of laundry. Doing 4 or 5 loads of laundry saved over 150 gallons of water a week.
Loved your article. I read it on Homesteader News.
I have been making my own laundry soap (liquid form) for about a year and a half. I use Fels Naptha bar soap in it. The only problem I have is that when my husbands work jeans are stained on the front of the thighs, the stain will not come out with one wash. I use extra of the liquid soap, rub it in really well, then scrub the legs together against one another. I am really thinking about using my old washboard (which I have as decor) to scrub the tough stains before I put them in the wash. That’s how our grandmothers did it; we’ve become accustomed to a life of ease & want to just spritz some “super powered” stain remover instead of using muscle power! Thanks for the article.
Thanks JaneyP, yup sometimes you have to use the old elbow grease to get out the really tough stuff, I use a rub board (of sorts) on my socks, they get really dirty on the bottom, and now my new(ish) boots are leaving black marks on them, it still doesn’t get them spotlessly clean, but it helps. I also use the rub board on any stains, it’s amazing how well it gets them out, even on older stains. My rub board is really a steam rack that came with a really large pan I purchased years ago, it works just like a rub board and it fits right into my bucket or in the sink. I rub the cloth on a bar of soap then I go to town on the stain. I’ll take a picture of it sometime.
Wretha
I just made a similar version of your washing machine yesterday and did my clothes today.. the only difference with mine is that I used a 7 gallon bucket that cost 2.99 at Tractor Supply and also installed a drain spout on it so that I did not have to do so much tipping over.. also would make it beneficial to hook a hose up to for gray water collection. Fun stuff though. :)
What great ideas. I’m looking at washing boards to use as a pretreatment and I’ll definitely try the homemade soap. We have a cabin in upper Michigan so the homemade washing machine will work there. I haven’t been this excited in a long time! LOL
You people are amazing, so insperational.
I am looking to sell off my little city life and “run away” ! Thank you for your tips and I hope to be like you when I grow up. lol (I’m in my 40s)
Oh cool is this. Love it and my honey said he wants to make one too. Lots of projects in the works, but would be nice to have one for small items when needed and I like the idea of homemade soap which I’ve always wanted to try.
peace n abundance from northern New Mexico geodesic dome home livin’
CheyAnne
I have a mobile washer but the plunger with holes might be just as good. Now that you mention it, I think I’d be happier with a longer handle, too.
I like that idea of using the pill bottle in the lid hole. I was just going to cut a hole in my lid and leave it at that. It is glued, caulked or just stuck in there?
I use the same laundry soap recipe and love it. The only problem I’ve had was trying to use it in the detergent dispenser in powder form in a modern front load washing machine. Some of it got stuck in the little tray and didn’t make it into the laundry. Making it into a liquid or adding directly to the clothes solved that problem.
Isn’t using a microwave hypocritical to living off the grid? I think so! But I like the homemade washing machine idea and know how to make one better than I the way I tried before using a plunger.
Antoinette, why do you believe using a microwave is being hypocritical to living off grid? I use lots of “electronic” equipment, computers, lights, water pumps, vacuums, power tools, radios… I use all of these things and more, I am just not hooked up to the “grid”, I make my own power, it’s a small system, but it’s all we need, and it makes no difference what I choose to use my electricity on, I am still “off grid”. Being off grid doesn’t mean you have to go back to the stone age and give up all modern conveniences. Now, I do a lot of things by hand, like laundry, dishes, cooking and such, that’s my choice, that has nothing to do with being hooked up or not hooked up to the electric company, anyone can do those things. :)
I liked your method – I do a lot of hand laundry and was wondering why you don’t just do it by hand with an old fashioned washboard? Have you researched that method?
tigertrax, thanks for your reply, I do use a sort of washboard, it’s a round metal steam rack that fits into the bucket, I use that for stains and really dirty stuff, for everything else, using the plunger works just fine.
I just purchased 2 big plastic buckets, lots bigger than the 5 gallon buckets. I don’t know off the top of my head what size these are, but they work great, I can wash up to 3 loads of laundry in one session without having to dump and refill the buckets, I start with the whites and less dirty items and work my way to the darks and most dirty items, it works great.
Wretha, I love your washing machine. My washer quit agitating properly, and I don’t have the money to repair or replace it. I was lucky enough to find this site just when I needed it. I have made a nice little set-up for myself to do the wash by putting the bucket on a stool so I don’t have to bend over. I find the plunging process quite relaxing, and it provides me with an good upper body workout. Since the washer’s spin cycle works, I use that to get the water out of my clothes. In the future, I might try a mop bucket, but someone here didn’t think it worked well. I just last night made some laundry detergent from Fels Naptha and currently have some dish towels soaking in it at home. I’m anxious to see how they turn out.
Thank you so much for sharing your tips.
Thanks Molly McGuire, I have graduated to larger buckets, for the sake of doing more laundry, I can do 3 loads of laundry per container of water now, actually 2 containers, one for washing and one for rinsing. I did something similar to you, I needed to get some laundry done quick, my neighbor’s washing machine is going south, at least on the agitating part of the cycle, but the spin cycle still works, so I washed and rinsed the clothes in the tubs, then took them inside to spin and go through the dryer, it worked like a charm, though honestly, I still prefer doing it all by hand and hanging to dry, our climate is sooooo dry, it doesn’t take long to dry.
I agree that the plunging process is soothing, almost zen-like… :)
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