Homemade Goodness Part 1

I've talked many times about trying to be more natural.  I annoy Brent because he thinks I'm a weird-o.  But the older wiser I get, the more I am concerned about what I put into my body {although I fail miserably at this more than I'd like to admit} and into the earth.  And especially what goes into Trent as we try to raise him 'right'...even though that kid only wants to eat goldfish.

One thing I mentioned was wanting to make my own cleaning products.

What I've made so far is glass cleaner, all-purpose cleaner and laundry detergent.  All recipes I found came from Edible Perspectives.  I want to put a lot of information here, so I've included links to all the ingredients so you can read about what makes them 'good' products for your home and the environment.  I'm also going to make it a couple of posts to make them not quite so long!

Laundry Detergent

Ingredients:

1 c. Borax

1.5 bars Castile soap

1 c. Baking soda

1 c. Super washing soda {This was the hardest to find.  Sold mostly at Ace Hardware stores, but the closest one to me was 20 miles away...which i drove to just for it to be sold out.  My dad suggested a local store that did have it!  Score for dad.  So local peeps, go here.}

All my ingredients ready to go!

Steps:
1. Grate the soap bars.  I used a cheese grater.  {I also increased the recipe by 33% to use the full 2 bars.  Yes, I'm an accountant and like math.}

I used Almond and Peppermint and the combo smelled AH-MAZING!

And it looks like cheese, huh?  Don't eat it!

2. Mix all ingredients together.
3. Use approximately 2T per load of laundry.

Bottom line?
It's good for your clothes.
It's good for the environment.
It's cheaper than store bought detergent because everything but the bar soap will make SEVERAL batches - and each batch can wash about 30-40 loads.  I spent less than $20...so do the math.

I've washed a lot of loads and think my clothes come out great and even a little softer! #hippiemomwin