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Clean Up Your Laundry

Do you know what’s in your laundry detergent, softener, scent booster, and dryer sheets? Isn’t it weird that laundry care labeling often says “warning,” “danger,” or “poison”? Why would you want to wrap yourself in that everyday or send those products into the water system?

Tide’s seemingly clean Pure Essentials Liquid Detergent contains some of the following toxic chemicals that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) deems worthy of at least some concern: Sodium Borate, Ethanolamine, Disodium Diaminostilbene Disulfonate, Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate, Fragrance (synthetic), Diethylene Glycol, Pentasodium DTPA, 1,3-Propanediamine, N,N''-1,2-Ethanediylbis- to name a few. Ingredients found in conventional laundry care products are known to be everything from irritating to carcinogenic.

I used to use all of those crazy, ultra-scented detergents, softeners, and fragrance boosters. Now I realize how toxic, expensive and wasteful that all was. Over time I’ve removed laundry softener and scent boosters from my routine and opted for greener products that still allow for regular wash and dry cycles.

I’ve found two products that are truly eco-friendly while still maintaining a simple, streamlined laundry routine:

Detergent

For detergent, I now use Tangie Laundry Paste, which received an A from the EWG! I chose this product because:

  1. There is no plastic packaging, just use your own vessel or reuse your old detergent bottle!

  2. It contains natural ingredients - I could actually recognize the ingredient's source!

  3. Tangie is a small, American business with a commitment to reducing waste.

  4. The paste bar is cost-effective - I only needed less than half of a bar for 50 ounces of laundry detergent.

It was super easy to go from paste bar to clean laundry. I simply diluted about half of the bar in water in an old 50-ounce detergent bottle, added a few drops of lavender essential oil, gave it a little shake, and put the Tangie directions sticker right on the bottle. I did this as soon as my conventional laundry detergent ran out, so the bar would be fully diluted for the next laundry day.

I noticed no difference between the Tangie laundry solution and the conventional detergent I used to use - which is a good thing! My laundry came out clean and fresh as always.

Dryer Sheets

For dryer sheets, I've made the switch to reusable LooHoo Wool Dryer Balls. I received this product as a gift, but I love it because:

  1. There is no plastic packaging, or packaging at all, really! Just the cloth bag to keep the wool balls in.

  2. They are reusable - no need to constantly buy.

  3. You can add essential oils for natural fragrance.

  4. They are made in America of domestic wool.

It was easy to incorporate the wool balls into my laundry routine. While the laundry is in the washing machine, I readied the balls by applying a few drops of lavender essential oil to each. After putting the clothes into the dryer, I simply threw a few wool balls in and ran the dryer as usual. I live in an apartment building with coin-operated dryers so I can't control the amount of time the clothing tumbles for, which should be reduced with the use of the balls.

I was concerned that my laundry would pick up the fibers from the wool balls in the dryer. In the first use I found that one athletic shirt seemed to attract the fibers, but no extra lint on other items and none in subsequent laundry loads.

I love this minimal, cost-effective, lavender-scented laundry routine!

BOTH of these products are listed in The Green Catalog with an exclusive discount in the hopes you may give them a try.


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