DIY Natural Laundry

I've received requests for more recipes! Note: if you begin this "making it" phase of your life, be prepared - you will end up spending a great deal of time figuring out how to make everything that you consume! It's lovely and wonderful and I'm happy to say that it's my favorite hobby, making things.

Laundry Soap

All items were found in the laundry isle.  Use ½ oz/1 T. per load

1 bar of Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap (may use any bar soap that you like/trust)

1 cup of 20 Mule Team® Borax

1 cup of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

I used my blender to grate/shred the bar soap. Put all into bowl and stir; it seems to never look evenly distributed, which is fine. Thoroughly stir together for 5 minutes and enjoy the results!

Each batch fits into a quart mason jar perfectly. I made 3 quarts but I will probably be using a bar soap next time that has a list of ingredients that I can pronounce and I know what they are, now that I've investigated it.

Note on Fels-Naptha

I didn't expect it to be so fragrant and the label lacks a proper ingredient list but I found one online:  

Soap (sodium tallowate*, sodium cocoate* (or) sodium palmate kernelate*, and sodium palmate*), water, talc, cocnut acid*, palm acid*, tallow acid*, PEG-6 methyl ether, glycerin, sorbitol, sodium chloride, pentasodium pentetate and/or tetrasodium etidronate, titatium dioxide, fragrance, Acid Orange (CI 20170), Acid yellow 73 (ci43350)

Regarding High Efficiency (HE) Front-Load Washers

HE front-load washers require “special soap” for one reason alone – low suds. Because they use less water, they require soap that is less sudsy. The good news is, this homemade detergent is VERY low suds. The ”special” HE detergent is just another advertising mechanism to push consumers to buy “special soap” for unnecessarily high prices.

Vinegar Laundry Softener

1 gallon White Vinegar

20 drops of Lavender Oil

Wool Dryer Balls

To eliminate static and to "fluff" your clothes. There are tons of tutorials on the subject and I had plenty of yarn stashed to make some. Here's the link.

That's my laundry routine, if I have a trouble spot, I just take a pinch of the laundry soap and rub it in the stain with my hands or an old toothbrush and let it sit overnight (sometimes spraying the stain with water before rubbing the soap in helps).