Laundry Detergent Update

My friend Shannon responded to my post about laundry detergent. She checked a book she had at home and this is what it said about making your own detergent:

Here's what the book said...basically the author (Karen Logan) said she searched the world over to find a laundry detergent that worked as well as her favorite and she couldn't find one; however, she did come up with a recipe to reduce the amount of detergent she uses:

Ingredients: Your favorite laundry detergent and perhaps some baking soda and borax to boost. (You'll find the borax in the laundry section of your store, usually in a green box).

What Else You'll Need: You'll want to keep a 1/2 cup scooper handy for measuring the baking soda or borax.

How to Use: Use only half as much of your favorite laundry detergent as you regularly use. (Please us a nonphosphate detergent - check the box or use a liquid which are all phosphate free).

She uses the borax when her clothes are extra dirty or dingy. She says it also works great with hard water. She uses the baking soda when she wants to deodorize and soften the clothes.

She also says that the 1/2 cup is good for a full load and that you'll want to use 1/4 cup with a medium load.

Good to know! I'm definitely going to try this out.

One Thing At a Time: Laundry Detergent

I don't particularly like floral scented things and I really hate any kind of cleaning product that smells like food. Dish soap that smells like apples? Detergent that smells like oranges? Dog shampoo that smells like watermelon? That last one is the weirdest. Why would I want my dog to smell like fruit?

I was using Cheer Free and Gentle, but I took running out of laundry detergent as an opportunity to switch to a green cleaner. Target had Seventh Generation Laundry Cleaner on sale, so I went with it.



I think I ended up going with the lavender and eucalyptus scented one. It smells like a hippie. I really don't know how else to describe it. It's natural and earthy and... like a hippie.

I did the first load and when I opened the machine and caught a whiff of the laundry, I wasn't sure if "wet hippie" was something I wanted to be smelling. It smelled a little funky. I threw the towels in the dryer, tossed my jeans on the drying rack and prayed for the best. I'll tell you, opening the dryer was a much better smell. It just smelled like warm, clean clothes. It didn't smell like plants, it didn't smell like food. It just smelled clean. The clothes that air dried smelled fine too. They don't smell as fresh, but they don't smell bad, and what else can you really ask for?

Laundry detergent is kind of a mystery to me. After reading some labels and product reviews, it turns out that a lot of detergents are petroleum-based and have some form of plastic in them. Call me crazy, but that seems a little bizarre. The more I read about this stuff, the more alarmed I am at the amount of crap we willingly allow into our homes.

On a little side note... Is it possible to make your own laundry cleaner? Is there some magic combination of baking soda and borax or something that will get the job done even safer and cheaper than a $12 bottle of Seventh Generation?