Homemade Lavender Laundry Detergent

 
I'm seriously obsessed with Dr Bronner's since discovering them about six months ago. It's all we use in our house now! Our family even travels with it when we are headed out of town or going overseas.  We use the organic sugar soap as our body wash and we use the pure-castile bar soap in our bathroom to wash our hands. To date, my favourite scents are the lavender and peppermint. (All Peppermint products are 15% off the entire month of February if you use the code PEPPERMINT before Feb 28th!) 

My daughter and I also use their nourishing unscented balm to help combat dry skin, and their toothpaste is the BOMB. I've used the peppermint toothpaste and I have a tube of cinnamon to try next! I like to alternate daily between Dr Bronners toothpaste and My Magic Mud activated charcoal toothpaste. 

                                                                                __________

As some readers already know, our family decided to transition to a chemical free household once our daughter joined our family. We started by eliminating harmful products that came into contact with our skin; such as soaps, shampoos, moisturizers and make up. With time we expanded that knowledge to household cleaners, choosing natural products with vinegar, essential oils, and no nasties. 

I wanted to take things to the next level and try my hand at making some laundry detergent since I still wasn't 100% satisfied with the "eco friendly" one we were using. I knew Castile soap seemed to be a staple for environmentally conscious households like ours, and decided to pick some up. Two places to buy and pick up Dr Bronner's in Brisbane are Biome and Vive Health, but Dr B also has a fantastic website if you prefer online shopping.

First things first, I decided to clean my washing machine with a recipe I got from Jazze of The Calm Compound. It called for baking soda, vinegar and a few drops of lemon essential oils- super easy!  Once the cycle finished, I got down to business making my homemade laundry detergent.

​Here is the recipe: 

Ingredients 
1 cup of Lavender Dr Bronners liquid Pure- Castile Soap 
1 cup of baking soda
2 cups of warm water 
1/3 cup of salt 
10 drops of lavender essential oil

Method
Place two cups of warm water into a large bowl and dissolve the baking soda and salt.
Pour the contents into a 2.8 liter container (12 US cups)
Add the liquid pure - castille soap and essential oil, then fill to the top with water. Gently mix. 
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To Use

Use 1/4 cup per load of washing. This amount should do 48 loads of laundry!

It doesn't look fancy, like, at all . . . but smells so damn good and works wonders. We have no surfactants, fragrance, preservatives or sulfates! Pretty chuffed with my first ever batch. I wasn't trying to save money, but it's also SUPER cheap to make which is an added bonus if you're looking to tighten up on the household spending. 

Have you ever made your own? What was your experience like?
Tell me in the comments below, or share another recipe of you have one! 

​EMK
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