Clean, Fresh Laundry…No Sweat

My husband and I are both athletes. Robert is a distance runner and gym devotee and I am a gym rat through and through. We also work hard, on our feet most of the day, resulting in what I call “The Always Full and Thoroughly Stinky’ laundry basket.

 

Sweaty gym clothes, day to day work clothes, towels, sheets and linens mean that I do a lot of laundry…and the cost of detergent (and the dicey ingredients in a lot of them…) was making me crazy.

 

There had to be a better way to have clean clothes! Enter Eric Russo, dear friend and innovative thinker (not to mention great plant-based cook!). Eric took his home completely solar which began a quest to see how far off the grid he could get. So as I complained one day about laundry soap, he told me about the soap he makes for use by his family and I gave it a try.

 

And I was sold. My laundry is now fresh, delightfully soft with no scent other than clean! And I have more money to spend on workout clothes!

 

Natural Laundry Soap

2 cups bar soap, grated (I use 1 bar Fels Naptha brown soap and 1 bar natural castile soap)

1 quart boiling water

2 cups borax powder8

2 cups washing powder

1 gallon warm water

 

Grate the soap on a box grater (okay, this is a bit of work…) into a large bucket. Pour 1 quart boiling water over the grated soap and stir until dissolved and ‘creamy.’ Stir in borax and washing powders and stir well. Finally, stir in 1 gallon warm water and stir well. Cover and set aside for 24 hours before use. Stir well before your first use.

 

What I love about this laundry soap is that it’s completely natural; my w+ash requires only about 1/3 cup for a full load; it rinses beautifully…and this recipe lasts me for 3-4 months so if you do the math, it’s not much work and your laundry now costs just pennies a load!