I’m just an old-fashioned girl (with an old-fashioned mind) and when it comes to soap, I’m not sophisticated, I’m the sweet and simple kind, but enough already methinks with the cheerfully, cheesy song lyrics because I am here to hold your hand and walk you over to The Carbolic Soap Company, purveyors of all things destined for life in the Vintage Housekeepers laundry room.
While our intentions are good, vintage housekeeping can be an impossible business if we haven’t got the right lotions, potions and tools at our disposal, and products like borax and washing soda are hard to come by on the shelves of the local supermarket, where almost everything you pick up now is liberally scented with eau de chemicals and parfum de pretend…
Which is why finding a little online store selling good old fashioned basics and willing to deliver worldwide is something of a Brocante blessing.
My top ten picks?
1. Reckitts Blue, the perfect solution to yellowing linen. And apparently useful for creating sparkly glassware too! Who knew??
2. 500g bags of Bicarbonate of Soda. No more fiddling with little pots of baking powder. Big bags like this are just designed for decanting into something pretty and transforming your housekeeping in a jiffy.
3. While Ebay vendors are selling these darling little pegs for silly amounts of money for just two, here they are at a sensible price for 24. Plastic schmastic…
4. Aah cinnamon oil, the sweet scent of Christmas! This is essential for Wintery, cosy afternoons and no true Brocante Home-r would be without it.
5. The Lemon Household Bar. Household soap is the answer to many of life’s questions. Grate it and use for soap flakes in the laundry room. Scrub horribly dirty garden hands and little muddy boys. Rub on to stains, slide down the side of drawers that won’t budge and on and on and on…
6. To my mind nothing in the world beats crawling under freshly starched sheets, and powdered starch like this is the very best kind… particularly when it is sold in bulk and can be decanted into a big glass jar with a really rather fabulous label…
7. Ah the mustard bath. An old fashioned treat to be snaffled away in your comfort drawer for after those freezing cold, dog tired Christmas shopping days…
8. One product to slay them all? My choice would be soft soap because you can use it for just about everything from scrubbing the walls to washing the dogs, shifting stains (dab a tiny bit on to a cloth and rub till you drop!) and shining tiles. All this and one tub lasts a lifetime. Almost…
9. Ok so it doesn’t come in the prettiest bottle on the shelf but who cares when it’s uses are so many? Ammonia is one of the most useful liquids in the housekeepers arsenal, and yes I agree it stinks a bit, but nothing comes close to it stain shifting and water softening capabilities and you’d be a darn old housekeeping fool to try and get by without it.
10. And finally, oh my! This is very similar to the cooks coffee grounds soap I have been known to create myself, with the added bonus of
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