I love doing laundry. That's right. It's my dirty little secret. Well, I love most of the laundry routine...except putting all of the clothes where they need to go after they are washed, dried, and folded.
Our routine involves collecting the dirty laundry from all of the cracks and crevices of the house (it's amazing where I find dirty socks!!), sorting it by light or dark, and then transporting it to the laundromat. Our septic system is not re"septive" (get it? LOL) to the loads and loads of laundry that our large family produces, so we wash it at the laundromat and then dry at home.
There's something about the laundromat atmosphere that entrances me. Perhaps it's the white noise of dryers and washers tumbling away, the smells of clean clothes, the faces of different individuals saying "hi" as we share a common task, the kind attendant whom I am getting to know so well. I use the same 2 triple loaders each time. It is a pleasure for me to gaze through the front loading washer window as the dry clothes begin to slowly spin, get wet, and then slish and slosh.
I have discovered an effective laundry detergent, which really isn't a laundry detergent, but an automatic dishwasher powder. It is by Seventh Generation and I purchased it at Target for around 5$ for a good-sized box.
It is my goal to use the least amount of synthetic chemicals as possible in cleaning and laundry products, so I purchased the dishwasher soap originally for the dishwasher. Due to the extreme hardness of our water at home, the Seventh Generation powder did poorly in the dishwasher. I hated to see that big box go to waste, so I thought surely it would be usable as laundry soap. It has water softeners in it as well as other substances that would be practical for washing clothing. It is free of perfumes and dyes, a bonus for the sensitive skin people in our family.
My usual laundry soap, Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds (great stuff for washing anything in the laundry and home & is highly concentrated), was running low, so I grabbed the Seventh Generation Dishwasher powder. I used 1/4 cup of dishwasher powder, 1/4 cup washing soda, and 10 drops of tea tree oil per triple load.
What a joy when I realized it worked so well! I'm not sure how it would work in a top-loader washing machine. It is necessary for me to pre-treat stains (I do have 6 boys!).
So, there ya go! Perhaps you may want give the Seventh Generation dishwasher powder "laundry soap wannabe" a try!
Back to the dishwasher soap. I did find a great dishwasher powder and dishwashing detergent that is free of synthetic ingredients: Citra Dish. Both the automatic dishwasher powder and the liquid dish detergent work well, in my opinion. They work in spite of our hard water! I also like the mild citrus aroma of these products.
Happy laundry and dishwashing!
Blessings :o)
1 comment:
It sounds like we may have the same "cleaning product convictions." I have tons of the Seventh Generation dishwasher powder that I bought on clearance too! We also have very ahrd water and it didnt work for us. I never got that creative though-I just use it to clean my floors :) I applaud you.
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