Washing In My Own Laundry Soap

There's a chance my mother was even more excited about my first use of my home-made laundry soap than I was. In fact, right before she'd called I was already getting ready to wash some clothes.

When I first drained the detergent into the little cup that comes with the container it was that same watery consistency from when I first poured it in. I put a bit more in and started the washer. Still pretty nervous about the soap I stopped the washer about half-way through and poured some in from the other end (after a good shake.) Still a bit watery but nowhere near as clear or thin as it seemed before.

After I washed it you better bet this girl gave the laundry a sniff test before I went forward. I didn't smell a thing, no chemicals, no foul odor, not even wet clothes. Into the dryer they went while I started another load of laundry. For the second load of laundry I used vinegar as my fabric softener.

The consensus: I'm happy with yet another positive change being made in our household and say this one is worth a try for all of those who are interested.

Pintesting - Chem-Free Cleaning - Laundry Detergent

The Christmas before my daughter was born my mother gave me a bottle of Dreft telling me that it was gold. Dreft, as it was explained to me was the laundry detergent I should be using to wash my little ones clothing. I was left with the impression that it was gentler and perhaps contained less of the harsh chemicals I was using on my husband and my own's clothing. Since that time I have been dutifully using Dreft to wash my little girls clothes.

But wait a minute! Why didn't I ever stop to think that if it wasn't so great for my little lamb to snuggle up in sheets washed in the same detergent I was using on my own, maybe the detergent I was using simply wasn't so great.

If you're using a chemical free laundry detergent there's should be no reason to have to do your childs' laundry in separate loads with and entirely different detergent. You're already saving money by only using one type of detergent rather than two.

Today's pin-test comes from the information I got here via this pin.

Grating Fel Naptha proved simpler than I expected. The soap is really soft so it grates quickly and easily. I was able to do it despite having a sprained wrist (on the side that would be holding the grater).

I opted to use empty containers from my husbands juice. He wasn't happy about this. Because the juices are so sweet he usually saves an old container and splits the juice equally between the containers and then adds water. When he realized there was really no talking me out of using his containers for a short while to make the new laundry detergent he told me what I already knew: to clean them very, very, very well because if I didn't and he mixed juice in a contaminated container he could get very, very, very sick. His faith in what I do and don't know is just amazing.

While I was constantly stirring the soap and water mixture there were more suds than I expected. I was pretty worried I'd already done it wrong. I soldiered on . . you know . . . for science (and because I can be a bit hard-headed and had nothing else to do anyway.)

The resulting pudding-like mixture left me feeling pretty satisfied and amused. I used a measuring cup to put the soap into the bottles. One cup in one bottle, One cup in the following, one cup in the last, one cup in the last, one cup in the center, and one cup in the first - then repeat until you run out of soap.

The tops of the bottles ended up getting a little messy.

I did my best to eyeball where the half-way point for the bottles was when I added the hot water.

Shaking up the mix was again, something that left me feeling more satisfied than I expected. It was a little bit fun.

Come morning I was hoping to find a gelatinous blob that would slide when I moved the bottle. My blob did not slide when you moved the bottle. I stuck a wooden spoon in and began breaking up the blob. Then I filled the bottles the rest of the way with hot water. You will need to do a lot of shaking to get your detergent to mix well. I thought my husband would have done well enough but when I began transferring the mix to an empty detergent container it was downright watery. The reason for this was that there was still quite a huge blob left untouched by the shaking. So really go to town on the shaking.

I actually ended up rendering two of the jugs (in my opinion) useless. My husband was cleaning out one of our very messy rooms and throwing things away. Wanting to see what he was throwing away with reckless abandon I headed out to our trash can to look through the boxes. Aside from a $300+ pair of jeans I found some shirts that would make perfect baby rompers and some rose scented laundry water.

Without checking the label I added the laundry water to two of my jugs. When I checked the label I saw that it contained "fragrance", which I now know is a synthetic, toxic, ingredient. I was still able to completely fill our emptied laundry detergent container. I'll need to make more to replace the Dreft but next I plan to replace our fabric softener.

Chemical to Chemical-Free

My little girl has reached the point where I find her looking in all cabinets within reach so I really can't think of a better time to just jump in and replace all those dangerous chemicals.

First I collected 99% of our cleaners and toxic chemicals (I decided to go ahead and finish up the bottles of laundry detergent and children's laundry detergent. I may dispose of what's left of the cleaners or just finish using them. My end game plan is to reuse the containers.)

Then I went to the store and returned all of the unopened containers and exchanged them for greener options. It's not a perfect system putting those toxins right back out there but I don't really have too many pennies to spare.

Now to begin making at-home chemical-free cleaners.