One of the first things I changed in our household was the laundry detergent we were using. I had no idea that the ingredients in the laundry detergent I was buying were TOXIC! I was paying a pretty penny to be slowly poisoned. I switched to a more natural store bought brand thinking that was better but it still had ingredients I didn’t feel comfortable with. So I searched far and wide and tried different combinations and we’re pretty happy with our recipe. My family has not had any skin-related issues not even the little babies. This recipe takes less than 10 minutes to make. Giving you more time to wash, dry, fold, and EVENTUALLY put away your clothes!

What you need to do first:

1. Finish up using the stuff you already have…let’s not be wasteful.

2. While you mindlessly scoop up that powder and pour it onto your clothes in the washer go ahead and take a look at the ingredients. YIKES!

3. Yup, there’s definitely some nasty stuff in there right? Right!

4. Try my recipe and alter it how you like. You can add stuff or take away.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups of Baking Soda

1 1/2 Cups of Washing Soda

1/2 Cup of Epsom Salt

1/2 Bar of Castile Soap (grated) You can use a cheese grater.

2 Tablespoons Salt

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients into a bowl and stir well. Place in a lidded container and use 1- 2 tablespoons per load. If your clothes are extra dirty use 2 tablespoons.

Function of Ingredients

Baking soda is a natural fabric softener, odor-eliminator, and maintains the colors in your clothing.

Super Washing Soda is powerful cleaner, deodorizer, and makes clothes brighter.

Epsom Salt’s grainy texture is great for removing hard stains on clothing.

Castile bar soap is a great natural alternative to other soaps. It is safe to use on your body, face, and hair!

Salt also helps remove stains and helps prevent yellowing in clothing.

I usually double or triple the recipe so I don’t have to make it for months! But since you are going to try it out go ahead and make small batch.

Now, If you are getting off of the commercially prepared stuff, you will have to adjust to the fact that there no longer are the “fragrances” that make your clothes smell so wonderful but could host a long list of health issues.

“Fragrance” on labels are designed to keep certain ingredients a secret so other companies can’t copy their product. On labels, when you see “fragrance” labeled it could represent one or over a hundred chemicals. So, who really knows what’s in it?

It can be a sad transition for you. I don’t add any fragrance to my soap but if you need it you can add in some essential oils or you could get scented castile bar soap (linked above). Remember why you are doing this and you will come to realize that what matters is you have clean clothes to wear.

We like dark clothes. Like black every-thang! So this recipe works for us but if you have lots of whites this is not going to make your whites super bright. You could add 1/2 cup of vinegar to your whites to make them brighter. Vinegar works for all the pastel baby clothes. Win!

I have similar glass canisters to hold my soap. Take a look!

Ingredients to Avoid/ Check Your Label

Anything that says “Fragrance.” Fragrance is a sneaky way to hide phthalates. Phthalates are plastic softeners and are found in everything from vinyl flooring to baby toys. They can cause reproductive harm, allergies, and asthma.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) is a foaming agent that is linked to reproductive harm, neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, and irritating to skin and eyes.