Kim and Jamie are sisters who are from CA that now live in IL. We are sharing our love of non-toxic household and personal care items by personally reviewing them for you! Please feel free to comment or email us with any questions.
I’ve been so busy lately, I hate that I’ve 1) neglected the blog, 2) neglected finally making my own laundry detergent. It’s funny how having just 1 toddler can drain all of your energy. (I have total respect for parents that have 2, 3, even 4 or more children! ) With a full time job; a commute that is an hour each way, fitness commitments (though I try to workout at my lunch hour), and trying to maintain a running household, it’s really hard. There is no sugar-coating “real-life” with a family. Albeit, I am very lucky that I don’t have to drive my child to-and-from day care as my sister moved in with us to be our nanny…..we run a crazy house!
My committment to changing little things in our life is still a priority. Like most of the things I plan I do around the house, the time it takes me to finally get there could be a week, a month or several months before they come to fruition. SO, this week I finally got all the ingredients for my next household project! I decided that one very important change I wanted to make around the house was my laundry detergent. Since there are a lot of added ingredients in laundry detergent (parfums, brighteners, bleaching agents), it makes you realize that all of those chemicals get onto your skin all day. Think of all of the things that come in contact with your skin that you have washed: your sheets, your towels, your clothes…..I found a great DIY recipe for a safer laundry detergent using these ingredients:
1) 1.5 cups Washing Soda
2) 1 cup Baking Soda
3) 1 Bar of non-suds soap (important for HE washers)
4) 1/2 cup Citric Acid (I got this at Whole Foods)
5) 5-10 drops Essential Oil ( not necessary, but I chose one of my favorites: Young Living Jade Lemon for a nice fresh scent)
This is very economical, and all the ingredients are natural, and the Dr. Bronner’s bar soap is even organic, so no scary chemicals on our clothes or in the water supply.
Chop or grate the bar soap and then put it into a food processor. Pulse until fine.
Then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse a few times. Transfer to a container and shake a couple times.
Use 1 Tbsp for small loads and 2 Tbsp for a large load.
* I tried my first wash load of towels and it worked!
The next project I will write about will be a great DIY way to dry your clothes and save energy on your heating/electric bill with wool dryer balls!
check out their blog! http://www.thelavenderladies.me