‘Tis the Season, and I’m so glad! For yard sales, that is.
Well, I love yard sales, garage sales, whatever you want to call them. If you, too, are a “yard sailor”, you know why. Yard and garage sales are a prepper’s best friend, IMHO! It’s amazing what we can find and what we are looking for probably is not what the majority of our competition is looking for, so, that’s good!
I have a confession. I am bragging here – well, maybe just a little bit anyway. I’m so happy about one of my latest yard sale finds, and a 50 cent bargain, at that!
What am I so happy about? A vintage SaladMaster with slight disabilities, bought for only 50 cents. You heard me. 50 cents! It came with all five cones; for this job, I am using the grater cone; which finely grates. Love it! I’m grating six bars of Kirk’s Castile Soap, which I have hardened off for a month; fixin’ to make a fresh batch of laundry detergent. Always harden your bar soap off; it lasts longer and certainly grates more easily.
Anyway, about the SaladMaster…yes, this one is imperfect; it has a few minor disabilities, which has nothing to do with its ability to perform well. Sound familiar? The non-skid rubber feet caps are all missing…will be visiting the local hardware as soon as I get a “round tuit”; I’m sure they will have something that will do the job very well, for little cash.
I found this little treasure in a box, in a yard. I’m not opposed to sorting through boxes of junk. – and this is why.
I did have to remove the old muddobber’s nest from one of the pieces, wash them thoroughly, including cleaning out the “crevices” with a toothbrush, then run the pieces through the dishwasher for a final cleansing. The metal was heavily pitted, as it had been improperly stored, so, lots of “gentle scrubbing” (is that an oxymoron?) with steel wool; she will never be “like new”, but she works just fine, so, who cares?!
My 50 cent bargain is also missing the guard that’s supposed to help keep your fingers out of the unit while you turn it, I guess. But then, if you look on ebay, you’ll find about a dozen for sale, ranging in price from $49.99 to $100.00, most of them missing this same piece, or, at least, the pin that holds it in place. If you’re going to stick your fingers down in this while turning it, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to use it. :-)
Servantheart, GREAT find on the salad master. It is always nice to find a hidden treasure. You mentioned making laundry soap, would love to have your recipe for it. On You Tube there are several recipes for it some for dry and some for liquid which to you prefer? I have all the ingredients to make it I think but have yet to try it. Would love to hear your feed back on this. Thanks and good job! :o)
Good for you Servantheart-you have such a great sense of humor-I hope we can meet in person someday (on earth ,I know we will in heaven).How do you harden the soap ? Thanks. Arlene
Sorry, all – I should have told you how to harden the bar soap: just take it out of the package and leave it on a rack, such as a cookie rack, for at least three (3) weeks; I prefer four (4). It will “harden off” (dry out), and, again, it lasts longer if you use it for soap, and is easier to grate for “recipes”.
Looking forward to it, Sister!
Hey, Suni! Have had a good day today; had a new friend and a prepper in for a meat canning session. Think she will be a very valuable addition to my circle.
Here’s the soap recipe I like:
I bought a blue (non-food-grade) plastic bucket and lid from Lowe’s to keep it in, about $5.00, U.S.
Ingredients (everything needed found at China, er…Wal-Mart)
1. One four pound twelve ounce box of Borax {Found in Laundry Isle }
2. Six (6) bars of Kirk’s Castile soap {Found in bar soaps @ Wal-mart – bottom shelf – I don’t think they want you to find it}; Kirk’s Castile is all-natural, pure coconut oil.
3. one four pound box of arm & hammer baking soda {Laundry Isle}
4. one box of arm & hammer super washing soda {laundry Isle}
5. Bucket of Oxy Clean (laundry isle} – this is optional, but I personally do like to add it. Omitting it will reduce cost, however. I use the “Sun” brand, which works just fine and is much cheaper than OC.
6. Optional: a few drops of your favorite essential oil (and I DO mean a few!) – I prefer Lemongrass Essential Oil from Mountain Rose Herbs or The Bulk Herb Store (because it has such a clean scent), or some very dependable producer such as these two. THIS IS OPTIONAL; if you have breathing problems or skin issues, you can omit it.
This laundry soap is so easy to make!
1. Grate the soap bars;
2. dump soap flakes into a large container {I used a 5 gallon pail}
3. Mix with all other ingredients into the bucket.
4. Label bucket, put lid on it, and store in laundry area – ready for use!
-I use about 2-3 tablespoons per load { you can use less with this stuff!}
-smells great during the wash, but leaves clothes scent free & fresh.
-Detergent may become slightly hardened after “sitting”, unused for a good long time, just give it a stir and it will be fine.
– Great for sensitive skin & HE washers
– You can use other bar soap besides the Kirk’s Castile {any bar} which will also change the scent.
Blessings, Sister!
I use dry, Suni, but you can mix a small amount of this with water and shake it together for dish washing detergent, add larger amounts for housekeeping solutions; I use it for carpet cleaning; all kinds of things! Who needs expensive or toxic cleaners, anyway?!!
Yep…we both. Yard sailors…and yard sellers! Though the years we’ve accumulated two garages and two houses full of “stuff” that we recycle. We sort, put in a yard sale and then go find prepper stuff. Turning things we don’t need (furniture, clothes, shoes, pots & pans etc.) into things we do or will need. Good find on your treasure. I grate my Fels Naptha by hand, and then run it through my food processor to make in very fine before I mix it with the Borax & Washing Soda. I like the powder best…doesn’t require as much storage room or sweating over a hot stove! Does you little “treasure” mix your soap powder fine? Just curious.
WE2, Do you mind telling me your measurements on the laundry soap? One Bar Fels Naptha grated, 1 C Borax, 1 C Washing Soda? And how much to a load of laundry? 1/2 C etc.?
1 bar of finely grated (powdery) Fel Naptha, 1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax, and 1 cup of Arm & Hammer WASHING SODA (not baking soda!). All available at WM for less than $5. I use 1 TABLESPOON (maybe w for seriously dirty items) per wash load. For stubborn stains on men’s clothing I simply wet the spots, and rub them w/another bar of Fels Naptha that I keep zipped in a baggie for just treating stains. I let it soak for a couple of hours & then throw it in with the rest of the appropriate laundry items…whites w/whites etc. I have never needed any of those expensive additives like Shout etc. Once you’ve made your own I doubt you’ll ever go back! It just can’t be surpassed for quality or price!
ooops…maybe 2 Tablespoons for extra umphf!
WE2, Thank You very much for the response. I have all the ingredients so now I will make some up and use it. It is time to either buy some detergent or make it, so may as well make it. Thank you again and wish me luck :o)
Hey, WE2! I absolutely LOVE the way the SaladMaster grates the Kirk’s Castile Soap (hardened off for one month); it is very fine, like that fine Italian Cheese the wait staff grind on your food at Olive Garden. Hope this isn’t making you hungry.
PLEASE DON’T EAT THE SOAP! :Crazy2:
Ah-oh; emoticon did not load correctly. Oh, well.
As an added note, putting several tablespoons of the Borax down your drains on a consistent basis also keeps your drains flowing pretty good too! I also mix 1 tablespoon of the Borax with 1 tablespoon of sugar, put it in a jar lid and set it “somewhere” around my sink for those pesky little ants to take home to their hives to kill the whole bunch!
I’ve used this for ants – worked well. Thank you for reminder.
I haven’t been yard sailing in years but I sure acquired a lot of valuable stuff back then. I have always been into Depression Era and especially odd gadgets. One time, I picked up a box of canning jars and asked the lady if she had any more. She took me to her root cellar and told me I could have everything in it for $25 but I had to take everything. It filled the 1979 Suburban to the brim with only the front seat open for me and two car seats. I got a dozen wooden baskets, fruit crates, a meat grinder, an apple picker, a ton of odds and ends but best of all 50+ antique jars of all sizes and shapes. At least 30 of them were blue, some Ball some Mason some Atlas, all with zinc lids. Of course I got jars that were new enough to use for canning as well. I was late to work that day and my boss thought I was a moron for taking all that “junk”.
Now the kids tell me that when people “in the city” don’t want their furniture anymore, they just leave it on the curb for anybody to pick up. Son #1 and his buddy found a love seat and pushed it 5 or 6 blocks back to their apartment on a skateboard. Wish I had a video. Daughter found a buffet, a dresser, a coffee table and a baby swing. Son #2 found an entertainment center. Don’t you think I trained them well?
Boy! Howdy! You trained them well. (sound familiar? :)
Man, that was a GREAT day of yard sailin’!
I noticed recently that blue jars are making an appearance again; I failed to take notice, but, I wish I had looked to see if they are coming out of China.
Do you know WHY blue jars disappeared from the scene for years?
Ball and Kerr are both made by the same corporation; they are owned by Jarden Corp. Originally, jars were blue because, as we all know, it takes sand to make glass. The Ball/Kerr manufacturers were in Indiana then, just as they are now. Anyone who has ever been to Indiana knows about the “Indiana Dunes” – the sandy “beaches” the line the southern end of Lake Michigan, and comprise the northern border of Indiana. There was some mineral element in the sand used by these two companies which resulted in a blue glass when manufactured. Unfortunately, no one was very concerned about things like “ecology”, and the dune was completely used up; other dunes did not contain this mineral and did not produce the same blue glass; thus, blue glass ceased to be manufactured.
What they are using to produce blue glass now, I do not know.
And now you know. I’m so glad you asked! :Geek:
Thank you for that piece of history / knowledge. That explains why the new blue jars are a different color – they probably use dye of some sort. The regular Ball canning jars are made in the U.S. but the Ball decorative gallon jar is made in China. I’m betting the blue jars are made in China, too.
You’re welcome, Pam!
Since we’ve taken the conversation this far, howzabout I bore you a little further?
Let’s open a can of worms called, “Golden Harvest” jars. There’s stuff posted all over the internet that these are made by the same company that makes Ball and Kerr. Not true. How do I know? I contacted representatives of each of the “companies”, including Jarden Corp. the parent company (distributor).
The distribution rights to all three are owned by Jarden Corp; I don’t believe Jarden actually manufactures any of them, but ALL are made in Indiana: Ball and Kerr by the same manufacturer, I do believe, and Golden Harvest by a different company, no question. HOWEVER, when I tried to get a straight answer from the Jarden Rep on the Golden Harvest jars, I could not. Basically, she was leading me down the path of “it’s a tax shelter”. So, Golden Harvest jars are a “tax shelter”? That means they want to lose money on them, does it not?
What I do KNOW, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that nearly ALL of the thermal shock breakage I have incurred in canning has been with Golden Harvest jars. Translation: they are not well made. Therefore, when I teach canning, I warn against them, and I do not buy them.
I note that China..er, Wal, Mart now sells “Main Stays” brand jars out of China, and, yes, they underprice Ball and Kerr. I wouldn’t even consider them, personally.
As for me? Sticking with Ball and Kerr. Happy canning, y’all!
You know, sometimes a 30 year old mayonnaise jar is worth more than a whole box of brand new imports.
I hear ya’!
YARD SAILOR ALERT!
Today’s finds:
1. Brand spankin’ new pair of Wolverine Hiking Boots for DH: $35 (originally priced @ $140).
2. Vintage Sears Kenmore portable sewing machine, turquoise blue, with all attachments and “how to” manuals, several metal bobbins: $25;
3. A darling 2-piece dressy shell and matching sheer blouson for me: $2.
4. Mossy Oak pants, like new, for DS who wears a BIG size: $15 for both
What did YOU find this week, y’all?!
And, yes, the sewing machine works nicely!
Win! REALLY good luck to find new boots that fit.