laundry without soap??

In South Louisiana I have a Chinaberry fence row (thank you, wild birds sitting on fence & pooping out seeds). As far as toxicity goes, despite all the warnings about it being poisonous to animals, I have raised goats here for 30+ years with no issues. The goats eat green chinaberry leaves but that's about it.
I read some references to chinaberries in this thread: is there any use for chinaberry seed balls? as a soap or anything else?
We actually call them sh**wood trees, attack them with chainsaws from time to time and cannot get rid of them.
Laundry soap would be good...

Hi Richie, just water, in the summer it’s rain water, in the winter it’s well water, I haven’t seen any difference between the two. I do use dish soap occasionally,usually on jeans , if i get them really dirty….. like scooting on my butt in the garden to weed,, it’s tough on the knees as we get older. So then it requires a little extra help.

Has anyone tried using the horse chestnuts yet?  (used like soapnuts, or do they have to be cracked and boiled first?)  I think I might have posted about this before somewhere on permies, but can't remember now.  

Anway, I too have washed many times in the past few years without soap, and unless dirty, comes out fine.  It's stains from foods sometimes that need something extra.  And oil stains --- oh my lord, they are so difficult.  Anyone have suggestions for oil stains?

mary jayne richmond wrote:Hi Richie, just water, in the summer it’s rain water, in the winter it’s well water...

Thank you for the clarification.  

Felicia Rain wrote:...Anyone have suggestions for oil stains?

Well, after working on vehicles, I will use a little dish soap (squirt) and a cup or two of pickling salt and then a bit of baking soda.  Dont expect your colors to stay though. They will wash out faster using this method.

That salt alone might tackle it, but I'd save it for work clothes.

Sometimes rubbing baking soda over/in the spot (if fresh) can help, but again it's hard on the colors in my experience.  

My personal favorite is to just soak the whole article in the same oil that created the stain. Now its evenly distributed. :)

I find that when I do my stand at the sink minimal plain castile soap/minimal H2o “pit swosh”, if I hand squeeze plain H2o through the clothing arm pit area & hang it on a hanger in the (unused) shower it comes clean. Same for underwear. Works best on clothes I just took off, not letting the sweat dry & set in. Even working hard I can wear my Tshirts several days. This way when I do actually do laundry I can use no detergent -which my skin reacts to.

I agree it is possible to not use soap at all, except for stubborn stains. I hand wash in a washtub with rainwater, and get nice smelling results with just water with a little white vinegar, followed with a rinse in rainwater. I "pre-treat" stains with a little goat milk soap bar or castile soap bar and a spritzer of rainwater, but otherwise don't need soap.

I wash with horse chestnuts or ivy. I harvest chestnuts in the fall and peel, chop, and dry them.
To wash, pour 3 teaspoons of granules into a little boiling water and add it (slightly cooled) to the washing machine.
To wash with ivy, put 10 leaves in an old sock and throw it into the washing machine drum. Horse chestnuts and ivy contain saponins.