Eco friendly laundry soap

Being earth conscious is something that started for me back in elementary school. I don't recall who they were affiliated with but I know this man came to our school and talked to us about the three R's... reduce.. reuse.. recycle. And believe you me, I took every word he said to heart. My parents were vigilant about having a garden, no matter how small the space was in whatever home we rented (they eventually bought a place with sufficient garden and child raising space), my mother canned and one of my father's favorite gripes was who was wasting what, whether is be the light left on in a room or throwing out products that were still usable. In the last few years, Chris and I have delved deeper in honoring our responsibility as beings on this beautiful planet in hopes of finding just one more thing we can do to make this world a better place. In previous blogs I've divulged about my slightly unhealthy relationship with laundry. In my younger days I was really into whatever Tide and Downy came out with. I couldn't believe that laundry could smell that good. I was perpetually amazed that something could go into a machine and in 30 minutes or so would be completely renewed and smell THAT amazing... ah. Then I started learning about drinking water. Much to my surprise there isn't an endless supply of it, in fact, it's quite the treasure. If you haven't researched much about the state of drinking water on this planet I highly recommend you do so. I learned that all that stuff you wash your dishes, clothes and body with washes down the drain and then recycles back into drinking water. Another thing you learn in elementary school is the water cycle. Even with a rudimentary understanding of the process we know that whatever goes back into the water ends up in rivers, streams, the clouds and the rain. So what's really in your soap? Check that list out. An old bottle of shampoo I have says things like Laureth-16 and Lauramidopropylbetane. Uh? What? If anyone has layman's terms for those I'd be much obliged. I also read at the beginning of my pregnancy that they have found parabens (the preservatives found in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals) in breast milk. Oh joy. That was the last day I used my bath and body works lotion. Luckily Nature's Gate makes a paraben free body wash and lotion. I know I can't undue all the paraben using I've done but no better time than now for any kind of self improvement. I've been buying Seventh Generation products for many years now but I kept looking at the big ugly plastic bottle I was 'recycling' and thought to myself ~there's got to be a better way. Chris and I watched 'No Impact Man' (I recommend seeing it if you haven't) and one of the many things he did was make his own laundry soap!!!! http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/lv-grn-make-you.html Granted, he didn't use his washing machine, I'm still using mine. I wash full, large loads and use cold water 99% of the time~none the less, I know I'm using electricity to do this, but I am making my own laundry detergent. Yes, the point. I looked up the recipe on his blog and had a great time making it! I've also switched over to using Dr. Bronner's castile soap for anything I would need soap for. I can refill my ONE plastic bottle  at the local grocery store which also cuts down on my plastic consumption. The recipe for the laundry soap is so easy, I tweaked it a bit from the recipe given on the 'No Impact Man' blog... here's how it went.

My ingredients! The Arm & Hammer cost $3.19 and it goes a LONG way. It can also be used for all sorts of cleaning around the house. The Borax was around $5 and the Bronner's Soap was $3.00. My satisfaction and peace of mind: priceless. The soap has to be grated down as to make 'soap flakes'. I used my cheese grater.

After the first time using the detergent I realized that this size is too big. I put it through my zyliss (a fine grater for things like parmesan) and it was more of a powder. The dissolving issue I had with the bigger flakes was solved!

I mixed the 1 cup of soap flakes with 1/2 cup of Borax and 1/2 cup Washing Soda. 

Then I put in into an old glass jar I had sitting around and viola! The recipe says use 1 tbsp for normal loads and 2 tbsp for heavy soil. I didn't feel like my clothes smelled very clean so I've gone to a more 1:1:1 ratio. I do a tbsp of each per load. Ah, now I know what I'm washing my clothes in and feel a little more secure about the cleaning agents that I'm returning to the water supply. Oh yeah, I got a clothes line too (thanks honey).

Chris took this pic