UPDATE March 2019: I've been using my laundry powder recipe for almost a year now & still loving it! I've tweaked the recipe just slightly since first posting this blog - recipe below is updated for you. I have begun making our own natural homemade laundry powder! You might be wondering why on earth I would want to add yet another 'chore' to an already busy life right?! Well there's a couple of reasons behind it which I'm going to share in this blog post, plus my recipe if you want to have a go making your own homemade natural laundry powder! I’ve always been a bit of a label reader, interested about what's in the stuff I'm buying; from ingredients in food products to what garments are made of. But recently I've really opened my eyes to what we’re bringing into our home and our diets on a day-to-day basis. Knowledge is power and I've been soaking up documentaries, books and web articles on the topic. From processed foods to the chemicals in our cleaning products - there are so many things in supermarket products that I can’t even pronounce and have no actual idea what they are! Here's the ingredient list for a supermarket shelf brand of laundry powder: 5% to 15% Anionic surfactants, Oxygen-based bleaching agents; < 5% -Enzymes, Nonionic surfactants, Optical brighteners, Perfume, Phosphonates, Polycarboxylates, Soap, Zeolites, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citronellol, Eugenol, Limonene. Now just from my own limited research and knowledge I know that synthetic perfumes, phosphates, optical brighteners and some surfactants are hazardous to our health and are common causes of skin irritation. Making our own laundry powder allows me to know exactly what is being used to wash the clothes and linen that touch our skin every day. And skin is the largest organ of our body so I think that's important. Another reason for the switch to homemade laundry powder is that we’re consciously trying to minimise in our household how much single-use plastics we’re consuming. We don’t tend to think about all the products we buy like laundry detergent or fabric softener when we discuss the world's plastic issue. The first thing that comes to mind is plastic bags and water bottles, but all our cleaning products tend to come in plastic containers these days that are just thrown out when they’re finished to make room for a fresh one. And I've worked out that making my own homemade natural laundry powder is going to cost about 40c per load. Which is on par with the eco-brand laundry detergent we were using. YOU WILL NEED:
HOW TO MAKE:
Grating the soap is the intensive part, but all up it only took me 10 minutes to make a batch of laundry powder which is going to last me about 40 washes. And you could easily make double the mixture in one batch - my food processor was nowhere near full. Wondering where to buy the ingredients?
Some articles online suggest using an old food processor to make your laundry powder in, but I figured everything I put in it for my laundry powder recipe is a cleaning agent so a good scrub out with hot, soapy water afterwards had me more than happy to use it the very next day for baking. If you're worried about the borax powder in your food processor just add it at the end into your laundry container. There's a plethora of natural homemade laundry powder recipes out there to choose from. Lastly, did you know you can add white vinegar to your washing machine's fabric softener dispenser as a cheaper, safer alternative to store bought fabric softeners?? I tried this just this weekend on my towels and I can attest that it works well! And it doesn't make your towels smell like vinegar I promise. They come out fresh smelling and soft.
If you have any questions leave me a comment! x
5 Comments
Kerryn
20/6/2018 02:07:53 pm
Love this! Totally going to make this with the kids at the weekend ✌️
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Heidi Horton
22/6/2018 01:18:46 pm
It's so much fun making homemade cleaning products! Enjoy :)
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Suzanne
26/7/2018 01:17:48 pm
so great 😃 thanks for sharing. will you be posting any other articles on home made cleaning products?
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Heidi
26/7/2018 07:27:07 pm
Hi Suzanne, most definitely! I’ve been trying a few out and will share some very soon that I’ve had success with :)
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I like to take care of my health, both physical and mental. To avoid deficiencies, I had to adopt a balanced diet and above all use a specific food supplement. It is on this article that I found the product that allowed me to relive and enjoy optimal well-being without health concerns.
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