Something I have been focusing on lately is waste. Whether it's wasting money, throwing away spoiled food or the pile of plastic in my recycle bin, I'm trying to pay attention to how much I am wasting. My daughter asked me a while back, "What if we had to keep every piece of garbage we ever created?" That question had a big impact on me and I have been pondering it ever since. As I began to looked around, I noticed that my bright- yellow, plastic jugs of laundry soap took up a lot of space. What if I had to keep every one of these? Where I recycle, only food grade plastic containers can be recycled. Even if these bright- yellow ones went into the recycling bin, I'm not convinced all of our plastics are really being recycled and they have to go somewhere. That is a conversation for another day though. Living gently with my planet, I wanted to find another way. Switching to more natural products is one way to live more gently, but even they come in plastic containers. I decided to try making my own laundry soap. I tried both liquid and powdered, and settled on the powdered for our family. Ive been using it for a few months now. It works well, doesn't bother my sensitive skin and there is very little to recycle or compost when you are finished.
Ingredients:
1 bar of Castile soap ( I like the Simple Organics brand at Fred Meyer)
4 cups of washing soda or 4 cups of baking soda turned into washing soda.
Washing soda and baking soda are not interchangeable. While baking soda works great as a leavening for baking cookies and cakes, it lacks the higher PH level to work well as a cleaner. However, if you spread the baking soda on a baking sheet and heat it at 475 degrees for an hour, it changes chemically, raising its PH level, creating a better cleaner. ( this is something I read, tried, and it seems to work.)
Grate the soap on the fine grate and mix it with the washing soda. I use a mask because it creates a fine dust while mixing.
I then put the mixture in my food processor and further blend it until you barely notice the soap and it seems blended; a few pulses.
If you want a scent, you can either buy a scented soap or add a few drops of essential oil to the food processor. I buy lavender scented soap and use lavender oil both. ( I love the scent of lavender)
Store in your favorite container with a lid.
Use 1-2 TBSP dry soap per load depending on how soiled your laundry is. This makes about 100 TBSPs of laundry soap.
(I cut this recipe in half for my small family, hence the half bar of soap in the first picture.)
Ingredients:
4 cups of washing soda or 4 cups of baking soda turned into washing soda.
Washing soda and baking soda are not interchangeable. While baking soda works great as a leavening for baking cookies and cakes, it lacks the higher PH level to work well as a cleaner. However, if you spread the baking soda on a baking sheet and heat it at 475 degrees for an hour, it changes chemically, raising its PH level, creating a better cleaner. ( this is something I read, tried, and it seems to work.)
Grate the soap on the fine grate and mix it with the washing soda. I use a mask because it creates a fine dust while mixing.
If you want a scent, you can either buy a scented soap or add a few drops of essential oil to the food processor. I buy lavender scented soap and use lavender oil both. ( I love the scent of lavender)
Store in your favorite container with a lid.
Use 1-2 TBSP dry soap per load depending on how soiled your laundry is. This makes about 100 TBSPs of laundry soap.
(I cut this recipe in half for my small family, hence the half bar of soap in the first picture.)
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