Naturally Optimistic

In this post I talked about making homemade laundry soap. Almost 15 months later I am making a 2nd batch! What a money saver this has been! Oh and I have been using MORE than one cup of it per load, I think it isn't *quite* as strong as my beloved Tide. But still. 15 months! It probably cost us about $4 to do laundry for a year (not including, you know, power, water & mental anguish, of course. Hooray for the homemade!

While continuing my kick of homemade, less chemical, more natural, cheaper cleaning alternatives, I came across a recipe for dishwasher detergent on Pinterest . While I didn't love that this recipe used a citric drink mix, I searched and found another that used straight up citric acid instead. The recipe (& an awesome DIY natural site) is here . The Recipe: 1 C. Borax 1 C. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate) 1/2 C. Citric Acid 1/2 C. Kosher salt You can use white vinegar as the rinse agent. So far so good! We've had pretty good luck with this concoction. The glasses aren't as clear as I'd like them to be, so I think next time I'll add a little more citric acid. I also haven't used the vinegar yet as I've never used a rinsing agent, but I think I will from now on. We mixed up the batch - enough to fill a 1 gallon ice cream tub. I think we'll have enough for a LOOOONG time. You only need to use 1 Tbsp per load. The washing soda, bor...

My friend Lindsay posted this recipe for laundry soap a while back. It coincided perfectly with a scary presentation we had at ECFE about chemicals in all of our products & how toxic the environment is. So, I thought now is the time to break my addiction to TIDE (oh how I love thee!!). Plus its ridiculously cheap to make. And that fits into my budget right now. Here's the recipe: 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap (found in the laundry soap section) 1 c. Arm & Hammer WASHING Soda (Not baking soda!! Also found in the cleaner/laundry section) 1/2 c. Borax (same section) 5 gallon bucket Clean, empty laundry detergent container Essential Oils (optional) 1.Grate the bar of soap and throw it in a saucepan with 4 c. water over med-high heat. Stir until all the soap is melted. 2. Fill the 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water. 3. Add the melted soap/water, washing soda and borax to the 5 gallon bucket. 4. Fill the bucket the rest of the way up with water. Give it a whirl, cover and let it ...