Our laundry liquid ran out over the weekend, and rather than buy more we* made our own out of the ingredients we bought from Summer Naturals in January. It worked so well that dahlings, I simply had to share.
I Grated 2 bars of Dr Bronners Castile soap, 1 lavenderr, 1 tea-tree.
And added
1.5 cup of Borax
1.5 cup of Soda Crystals
1.5 cup Bicarbonate of Soda.
and shook it up in a bottle. And your done.
(Oh, and instead of fabric conditioner a cup of vinegar scented with lavender.)
(All purchased from the wonderful Summer Naturals.)
I thought I was saving a packet but I worked out the total cost as £8.80. The cup and a half of borax, bicarbonate of soda and soda crystals cost only £1.80. The 2 bars of Dr Bronners castile soap cost 3.50 each, totalling £7. You only use 2 table spoons of powder per wash, so it last for ages, but this is still pretty expensive. I did some research, however and found out that any pure soap bar can be used, and preferably one that is vegetable oil based. You can buy bars of pure vegetable oil soap for as little as 40p, so next time I will buy basic soap. That will bring the costs down to approximately £2.60 for a large tub of washing powder. Party.
Apart from the cost savings and heavenly scent, making our own washing powder ensures there are no chemical nasties lurking in our laundry. Behind the advertising claims of the big brand laundry detergent manufacturers (Daz, Fairy, Bold, Lenor etc) is a cocktail of optical brighteners, surfactants, artificial musks, and all sorts of other long worded chemicals. As well as being bad for us, these chemicals are bad for the planet, and many of them are tested on animals too. BAD TIMES. (read more here )
It worked amazingly well and it smells divine, my mister and I love it.
Have a lovely long weekend lovelies. My father in law is here to stay and its nearly my misters birthday so its going to be good one.
Hannah x
*Um, when I say ‘we’ made the powder, what I mean was me and my cankle lay on the sofa, propped up, on ice, whilst my mister made it in the kitchen. Lovely man.
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Oooh, I'd never thought about making washing powder, it sounds great. Thanks for sharing and hope the ankle improves soon.
ReplyDeleteAh well done Mister. I dont like the idea of nasty chemicals either, we use soap nuts here. Funny little nut things which I put in a small jute bag, and bung it in with the wash. Work a treat, but no nice smell. Might add some vinegar & lavender next time. x
ReplyDeleteWow! You were productive with your cankle.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to do this for ages! Nice work! *s*
ReplyDeleteps. baby bunting = tres cute.
wow what a great idea! Must try it sometime! Love your enthousiasm!!!
ReplyDeleteWe use Surcare, as it's good (or at least not bad) for Dave's very eczematic skin. The box says it contains some of the things you mention, so I'm not waying up the benefits of using something better for the planet that could irritate his skin, versus something not great that means his skin is relatively ok.
ReplyDeleteCould you give me an update in a month or so if you think there is any difference?
Hmmm... never thought about this before but I might have to try it. Recently gave up shampoos etc that have all the nasties in them and have felt so much better since... so this might be worth trying as I have such sensitive skin...
ReplyDeleteThanks as always for being so sweet and informative! :)