Homemade and eco-friendly Laundry Detergent ~ tried and tested...
Our planet is a living breathing organism that hosts us as a parent does their child. We need to show Her the same respect we show one another. When we work in harmony with our surroundings/Mother, there will always be a win-win scenario.
This harmonious scenario not only aids in the welfare of you and the environment, it also saves you $$$, as you get the same or better than you'd get from a commercial product. And it's really not as much work as it seems...
Any small cup that you'd like to use as a measure, I have one that is 100g...
1 measure Washing Soda/Soda Ash
1 measure Coarse Sea Salt
2 measures (or more?) Bicarbonate of Soda
1 measure finely grated pure Soap
4-5 drops essential Oil
Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl (to give you room to move). Add drops of essential oil and mix it up so that fragrance is nicely dispersed. You can grind down your final mix if you prefer a finer mix (I use my food processor).
If you're using close to my 100g measure, a medium lunch tin size container will suffice for storage.
I use about 10-20ml/g per load, dependant on load (a plastic medicine spoon, or small 30ml cup makes nice scoop) and place detergent directly into the drum (but only because i've always done this ;)
Voila!
- Washing Soda can be found at your local grocery store, ask a shop assistant to direct you since they may keep it in different places (I found mine in the dish-washing section). The Washing Soda comes in quite big crystals, so to be able to combine ingredients more evenly with small granules, I put the soda crystals through a liquidizer/mixer with blades.
- The Bicarb also acts as a softener, and the soap/oils will give great fragrance - thereby eliminating the use of added softeners. Play around with this measure, since up to 1/2 cup per load is often suggested instead of softener, this is probably water related
- Any bar of natural vegetable soap from your grocer or health shop. While handmade bars may cost a bit more, you only actual use a 1/5 or so at a time so it does last. Grate the soap bar on fine into an container, and take out what you need as you need. This'll save you time later too. According to research on the 'net, Sunlight and other laundry soap bars have been reformulated using synthetic detergents and/or possibly use fillers that are not biodegradable or kind, and are, IMHO, best avoided.
- Research and test the use of essential Oils ~ they are highly therapeutic. But you don't want to use an oil that stimulates and then wash your bedding ;). Lavender is quite a safe bet but you can have a lot of fun here.
- My local baking supply store (non-chain affiliated) stocks Bicarb for much cheaper than my big discount retailer...hmmm?? And Washing Soda too is much cheaper from a hardware supply store than same "big discount" grocer.
Borax is a key ingredient in most of the recipies I sourced however in some countries it's on a watchlist, can be used to kill roaches/ants/rodents, and is toxic. Borax apparently softens water, but so does Washing Soda and Salt. It's a good cleaning and deodorising agent, but Bicarb is excellent in this department. Is Borax really eco-friendly? Where does it come from? Is it harmful in any way? I can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere, and given that our skin is our biggest organ I scrapped it altogether, with no hassle.
