In the last few weeks, my hubby and I have ran out of dishwasher soap and laundry soap. We decided that when that happened, we would replace them with a more chemical free choice.
While I had been away in North Carolina for a friend's wedding, I was able to talk to my beloved “aunt”. (I put quotations around it because there is no blood relation, but really, she is closer to me than any of my blood aunts. I've known her since I was about 11, and have stayed closer with her despite the miles and sometimes even oceans between us). She told me her recipe for laundry soap. I didn't follow it EXACTLY, but I did use it as a base for mine.
Here's what I'm using right now:
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax
1 grated bar of Spotless – it's the stain bar from Rocky Mountain Soap (it's a Castille bar made from coconut and olive oils)
I use or rather, my hubby uses 1 to 2 TBS per load. I say that hubby uses it because I haven't been able to do the laundry in our house for quite some time. I have arthritis in my knees which hinders doing laundry in this house because it's two flights of stairs from where the dirty laundry is kept to the washing machine. I was still helping out when that was all that was going on, but since I got pregnant this time I've been dealing with extreme morning sickness, and more recently excruciating pubic pain due to my pelvic ring shifting and separating. Husband has really stepped up and taken over many chores that I can't do any more. (Praise God for a wonderful spouse!!)
Back to the soap - we've used it for about two weeks now, and it seems to be doing a really fantastic job! Our clothes are clean, we aren't putting as many chemicals down the drain, and our budget has a couple more dollars worth of wiggle room! All major pluses in my book!
One caveat, though, is that I cannot wash my bamboozle diapers in this mix. I'm sure I COULD, but I called the company to get their thoughts on the soap. Because I am using a pure castille soap, there is a possibility that these particular diapers could have a residue left on them that would render them almost useless. We are still using tide free on them (well, we will be when our bundle of joy joins us, as the little mister is potty trained now!!) and they are still perfect.
On to dishwasher soap! This one is just about the same as the laundry soap. Get ready for it!...here goes:
1 : 1 ratio of washing soda to borax
easy peasy!
We are also using white distilled vinegar as a rinse agent too. I just pour it in to the reservoir where you would usually put jet dry or whatever other rinse agent you would use.
We haven't used this one for very long yet, so I'll have to update you in a few weeks to see how we think it is doing. Another recipe I saw while researching this one was the same as above (do at least 2 cups of each ingredient) and add 1 package of lemon kool aid...not the one with sugar, just the envelope with the flavour crystals. Apparently, the citric acid in the kool aid boots the cleaning power. If my recipe doesn't work as well as we want, I'll probably add the drink! You could also probably find JUST citric acid and use that, but kool aid seems ubiquitous, and citric acid just doesn't.
Do you use your own recipes for dishes or clothes? If so, I would love to hear about them!
Have a great clean day!
XO,
Bliss
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