best of… regina morrison: eco-friendly laundry & dish detergent

Let’s take a look back on 2011 – the posts that inspired, challenged, and encouraged us. Today, enjoy this tutorial from Regina Morrison, published this past spring.

I love eco-friendly cleaning products.  They smell great, they don’t irritate my eyes or skin, and I don’t have to worry when my dog licks the shower.  {Yeah, he does that…}

I do my best to purchase products labeled eco-friendly or safe for the environment, but this can get expensive, especially with laundry detergent.  My solution? Make my own.

For a fraction of the cost of environmentally safe detergent, you can make a HUGE amount of green detergent.

What you will need:

• 1 bar of plain soap {non antibacterial and free of dyes or harsh perfumes… I used a bar of Burt’s Bees soap}
• borax {you can find this in the laundry detergent aisle at most stores}
• washing soda {I had a hard time finding this so I ended up buying Target brand oxygen cleaner.  Its main ingredient is sodium carbonate which is the main ingredient on washing soda.}
• sea salt
• grater or food processor
• air tight containers

Laundry Detergent Steps:

Grate the bar of soap either by hand with a cheese grater or chop it into small cubes and put it in the food processor until it turns to powder {which is what I did}.

Put the grated soap into your container and mix in 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda.

Shake up until well combined.  Use about 2 tablespoons per load of laundry. 

Dish Detergent Steps:

Mix together 1 cup of borax, 1 cup of washing soda, and 1 cup of sea salt.  Store in an air tight container. 

Tips:

• If you want your detergents to have a scent, add a few drops of essential oils
• For the best results with your dishwasher, put vinegar in the spot where rinse aide should go – your dishes will sparkle!