Natural Laundry Update

Posted by lynda on Jan 15, 2012 in Earth-Friendly, Green Living | Comments Off

I am calling my Natural Laundry Experiment a 95% success.  I’ll explain that 5% in a minute.

I shared with you 2 alternatives to using commercially prepared laundry products.  The first is soap nuts.  While they seem to work OK, I’m not totally happy with the brightness of the clothes, especially whites.  The method I prefer is a homemade concoction that works beautifully in all ways, especially the cost.

I grate a bar of Fels Naptha soap and mix with equal parts borax and washing soda.  All these ingredients are readily available at most major grocery stores.  I get mine at Kroger.  I know Amazon also sells these, so you could order them if they are not available in your area.

For the fabric softener, I use plain white vinegar.  I know, I was reluctant to try it because I am not a fan of vinegar’s smell.  But I have to tell you I cannot smell anything after the laundry is complete.  I use about 1/4 cup in the fabric softener dispenser.  The vinegar helps to dissolve any left-over soap in the clothes so they come out extra soft.

The real perk to using vinegar, though, is it’s cleaning the machine itself.   I have one of those front-loading machines that is prone to smell of mold.  Vinegar is a natural mold inhibitor and I can say I have not smelled the mold in the last month.

Anyway, my laundry is clean, bright and smells great.  I don’t like “scents” in my laundry because of allergies.  I just like the smell of clean clothes.  If you like scented laundry, you could use a drop or two of essential oil on a cloth in the dryer.

The 5% I’m not yet happy with is the static.  And I HATE static.  I have tried taking the clothes out before they are too dry.  That helps some with some things.  I am using those dryer balls.

Does anyone have any other static solutions?