Making my own cleaning products is really fun, I feel like a chemist in the kitchen, measuring, mixing and cooking products! The products I used are organic, chemical free, less toxic than the industrial products – which have been proven to raise the chance of developing asthma by the way. My laundry is cleaner, and not just spotless; it’s cleaner from processed products, it’s natural and safer. Clean eating, clean cleaning – it all makes sense to me!
Cleaning spray and dish soap seem quite harmless to the plates or the sink; I’m not taking much risk here. On the other hand, the idea of making my own laundry detergent to wash my clothes didn’t seduce me at first. I thought it might ruin them, leave stains or something. So I tried it with some old clothes; not that I wear Prada or anything, but still.
And guess what, the clothes came out clean and smelling nice (Citrus); and that’s all you want from a laundry detergent really!
Cost – Ridiculous. I’m very bad at math so I couldn’t make the calculation, but I’d say roughly less than €2 for about 2 litres. And no more buying plastic bottles either! Yay for the environment! And f*** the big industries in the process!
Time – About 20 minutes.
Ingredients
- Water, 2l
- Marseille soap flakes, 40 gr
- Soft soap / green soap, 20gr
- Soda crystals, 4 tablespoons
- Essential oil, 40 drops (Citrus, Tea Tree, Lavender, etc.)
Procedure
- Boil all the ingredients in a pot (not the essential oil)
- Let cool down. When lukewarm (not cold), pour the detergent in a bottle. Reuse your last detergent bottle, or another similar container. Glass is also good.
- Add the essential oil and shake well.
Quantity for a batch of laundry
In her recipe, Bea Johnson mentions the use of a mustard glass as a measure. You get the idea. By the way, it reminds me to tell you that the recipe comes from Bea Johnson’s book: Zero Waste Home.
One last thing, make sure you shake the bottle well before each use.
Give it a try! Cut the quantities in half for a start, choose your favourite flavour for the essential oil, and off you go! Let me know how it goes!
