Why does this all matter? Because 'What the heck is borax?' has been the first question EVERYONE has after I tell them about my latest venture: making my own laundry detergent. Inspired by a blog entry on The Burlap Bag's website, making your own laundry detergent seemed easy, cheap, eco-friendly, and had back-to-nature simplicity written all over it.
The Burlap Bag is a local, high quality handmade goods store. A couple of Friday afternoon's ago, I went to check out the newly-opened store that is literally 5 minutes from my house and within walking distance. I loved the locally-made, unique gifts and treasures the Burlap Bag had on display. A few of you might have recently gotten something from TBB :) This is where I learned about the Go Local card, which has recently saturated my life with happiness. It promotes local shops, restaurants, and other establishments in Austin. There are roughly 400 (and growing!) stores that are part of the program, and they usually offer a 10 % discount on your purchase. After several weeks of being a proud owner, I've well recouped the $10 investment in my card :) I mean... places like Verts, the Blue Dahlia Bistro, and the Hey Cupcake trailer take the Go Local card:)
To encourage handmade solutions of all sorts, the owners of The Burlap Bag write a blog with ideas on all sorts of home remedy solutions. The Burlap Bag Laundry Detergent 'Recipe' entry has been my inspiration for this whole effort. Earlier tonight, Marvel, Gloriana, and I went on an HEB run to collect the 'ingredients'. And, of course, I totally went all happy when I saw HEB's Earth Day display... HEAVEN!!!
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| A Whole Family of 7th Generation products!!! |
For this experiment, I was a good scientist and followed the very complicated procedure:
- Get the 3 raw ingredients
- Grate soap
- Mix up
- Use
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| The Lineup, from the left: Borax, Washing Soda, Bar Soap (made in San Antonio, TX!) |
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| Grated ... Soap ... It smelled so good! |
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| 3 Raw ingredients |
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| Final, Blended Product |
So what do you do with the grater covered in soap residue? For once, you let the dishes wash themselves! :)
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| Grater face-down in hot water |
To test the homemade detergent's effectiveness, a control test was set up. An old, oily shirt (used as an oil rag for bike chain cleaning) was cut in half. Part of me died when I turned the hot wash on and put only half of one piece of clothing in the washing machine. Science is science, I remind myself. Testing is currently in progress, and we shall see how the detergent battle ends up!!
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| Control Test- Before Washing |
~~~~~~~~~
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| Control Test - After Washing |
Comments:
I was a little disappointed when I pulled the first half of the shirt that was washed with the handmade soap out of the washer. I, of course, may have had unrealistic expectations (imagining a pristine white tee), so when I saw the Tide washed side come out, I was a little happier :) Counseling from Amanda also helped when she reminded me that my clothes, usually, will not have caked-on grease stains that go months without washing.
Results:
Both sides did see a reduction in grease stains. The Tide side seems to have faired a tiny bit better, but the handmade detergent side appears whiter in the 'After Washing' picture.
Conclusion:
Further tests will include sweaty t-shirt trials. I have about enough Tide for one or two more loads, and then after that, I have about half a lifetime of handmade detergent waiting to be used. Don't be surprised if you get a sample in the near future :D
Now, off to make test samples!
(...Via a run around the neighborhood in this gorgeous 80 degree weather!)
