Special Post: John's Laundry Room

I've long been on the hunt for a laundry detergent that fits my qualifications. There are many available at health food stores that are vegan and (supposedly) eco-friendly. They are pretty expensive, though. I doubt just how earth friendly some of them are, especially considering the amount of water that is being shipped around in those bottles.

Castile soap for laundry

Fortunately, I had a discussion about castile soap with a friend that inspired me to look into using it as a laundry detergent. I wrote about castile soap in a previous post found here . Dr. Bronner's website suggests using straight castile soap as a detergent. That could get pretty costly, though. I found many websites with different formulas for castile soap laundry detergent, but I decided on this one (found here):

1/3 to 1/2 cup liquid lavender Castile soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax

Mix all ingredients in a 2-gallon bucket. Add hot water to fill the bucket and stir well.

Considering that each load requires 1/4 to 1/3 cup of this mixture, that's a lot of laundry detergent! Considering that I'm single, that amount of laundry detergent would last me a ridiculously long time. So, I reduced the quantities and I fill a fairly large applesauce jar with this formula:

1 tablespoon Dr. Bronner's liquid peppermint castile soap

1 tablespoon washing soda

1 tablespoon borax

1 tablespoon white vinegar

4 cups water

I add the vinegar because some people suggest that when first switching to castile soap laundry detergent clothes can get a residue. Adding vinegar prevents this. Eventually, I may remove the vinegar from my formula. This amount lasts me around 1 month.

Cost

This stuff is dirt cheap. Boxes of borax and washing soda are huge and cost $5 or less here in the Midwest and on amazon.com. They are sold by weight, so it's hard to determine cost per batch of detergent. The amount of Dr. Bronner's in my small batch costs me in the area of 15 cents. Vinegar is really cheap and may only be needed at first. Water costs are negligible. The total cost of everything listed above is about $20. At my laundry rate, I'm pretty sure these quantities would make detergent for me for over 5 years. (Laundry detergent at $4 per year? Surely your math is wrong, John. -I assure you not. I tripled checked because it shocked me, too)

Does it work?

For sure! I haven't noticed any difference in the cleanliness of my clothes. My clothes have a slight peppermint smell. It's not overpowering and as I've said before I'm more than happy with not being covered in overpowering scents. I'm not sure about its stain fight ability. I haven't stained any clothes since I've started using it. I keep some Seventh Generation color-safe chlorine-free bleach around just in case, though.

Earth friendly

As I mentioned in my other post about castile soap, Dr. Bronner's is the most eco-friendly soap I've ever encountered. The other ingredients in this detergent don't seem to have any eco negatives and they're certainly less scary than ingredients in commercial products.

To sum up, it's vegan, effective, eco-friendly and cheap (especially when compared to other eco-friendly detergents). If you give it a try, which I hope you do, let me know how it goes for you.