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Doing the laundry, naturally!

February 20, 2013 · 56 Comments

Doing the Laundry, Naturally!

 

“The laundry room is highly toxic, containing chemical perfumes in the laundry detergent and especially the dryer sheets. Dryer sheets coat all your clothes with a layer of toxic chemicals. When you wear those clothes, your body moisture causes those chemicals to come into contact with your skin and be absorbed directly into your bloodstream. It’s an easy way to poison your system with cancer-causing chemicals.” Natural News

 

Yep, that stuff is just nasty. Think how many chemicals that might be hiding in your clothes by the time you have stain treated, soaked, washed, rinsed, dried and ironed! Us mums are usually the ones using the products and inhaling them, so we get the double dose! Let’s not talk about how expensive all those products are too.

This is one area we have been natural in for over ten years as my precious girl has sensitive skin. So I have put together my top picks when it comes to keeping your laundry toxic free and all natural.

Stain Removal. It doesn’t come much simpler than this homemade stain remover. It’s cheap, effective and totally natural.

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For stubborn stains (and yes, they are frequent with messy kids!) I like to use Kin Kin Natural’s Oxygen Whitener and soak. It really works well.

 

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Washing. Washing powder can be extremely irritating to sensitive skin and the chemical residue hangs around in your clothes! I have a couple of brands I recommend:

♥   Kin Kin Naturals. Made in Queensland by a family-owned company. Felix used to work for Omo so he has used this knowledge and applied it to totally natural and effective products.

♥   Abode Healthy Home. Developed by leading Australian building biologist, Nicole Bijlsma and author of one of my favourite books, Healthy Home, Healthy Family. You can buy it in bulk online, making it cheaper and more eco-friendly.

♥  Soapnuts are also very eco-friendly as they are simply the seed pod of a berry containing a very high percentage of saponins, a natural surfactants.  I find they are good for lightly soiled clothes with the addition of essential oils for a bit of fragrance. Other people swear by them. Try them out and see what you think.

There are a few other natural washing powders on the market, but be aware of ‘green washing‘ and do your research! What brands do you like?

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Fabric Softener.  I don’t use it. If you want, use vinegar or some drops of essential oils. In fact, once you read this blog post at Care 2, you may never use it again either!

Drying. I try not to use the dryer, but when I have to, these Tumblemonkey wool dryer balls ease my eco-guilt.

tumblemonkey handmade dryer balls

 

If you are hanging out your clothes in the sunshine, use bamboo pegs. They are environmentally friendly, sustainable and will break down in land fill. I hate having bits of broken plastic pegs all over the yard!

 

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Dry cleaning. Dry cleaning uses harsh petrochemicals to clean your clothes. Avoid it if you can or check if you dry cleaner has a Green Earth option, where liquid silicon is used instead.

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Ironing. There really is no need for aerosol or chemical ironing sprays. I just use water in a spray bottle and a hot steam setting. There are recipes around to make your own starch, but I haven’t tried them. Has anyone got a good one?

So, can you ditch the chemicals and keep your clothing and linen natural? Is this something you might like to try?

You might also like to read: Washing your dishes, naturally!

 

 

 

♥Thanks to my awesome friend, Jules for the fab pic of her laundry! ♥

Filed In: HOME / Tagged: Abode, drycleaning, dryer, Kin Kin naturals, pegs, soap nuts, washing, washing powder

Pure Revolution Soap Nuts : Day 5 of Giveaway-A-Day

September 7, 2012 · 38 Comments

Today’s giveaway will have you washing your clothes for a whole year for free, without chemicals!!

Soap nuts are such a fabulous product. You can’t get much more natural than something straight from Mother Nature!

I mentioned on my Facebook page one day that I had always wanted to try soap nuts and the very kind girls from Pure Revolution Soap Nuts promptly posted me some to try.

So, what is a soap nut? (No, it’s not someone crazy about soap!)

Soap nuts are small outer shells of a berry grown on trees. Soap nuts contain saponin, a naturally foaming surfactant which acts like detergent when immersed in water. This creates a 100% safe, natural and chemical-free substitute for normal detergents.

Here are some great reasons to use soap nuts:

  • Do your laundry from as little as 10 cents a wash
  • Completely natural – absolutely no chemicals!
  • Anti-Inflammatory
  • Non-Allergenic
  • Antibacterial
  • Antimicrobial (ie. a natural disinfectant)
  • Environmentally friendly

Soap nuts can also be used as an effective head lice treatment, nappy wash, dishwashing liquid, hand soap, glass cleaner and general household cleaner by making them into a liquid.

I must admit I was a little bit skeptical. Were they going to work on my kid’s grotty sports clothes? Yes! They did. Very impressed.

They leave absolutely no smell on your clothes, so they are perfect for anyone with allergies or sensitivities.

You reuse the soap nuts several times and then they can go into the compost. Cool.

Pure Revolution is run by Queensland natural new age mums, Emma and Emily. They both share an interest in health, nutrition, environmental protection and improving the quality of daily life. They discovered soap nuts when Emma was searching for a non-toxic option for washing her first child’s cloth nappies.

Take a look at the website for some more info. The girls offer free shipping on every order. I love the little calico bag they send the soap nuts in too, as it explains how to use the soap nuts and how to make the liquid.

So, are you interested in trying them out for yourself?

This giveaway has now closed. Please go here to see the winner.

The girls from Pure Revolution have kindly offered to give one of you a whole year’s supply of soap nuts!

This is how you enter:

* LIKE the Pure Revolution Facebook page. Go here.

* LIKE the Natural New Age Mum Facebook page. Go here.

* SUBCRIBE to my blog. Go to the top right hand side of the page and add your email address.

* COMMENT on the Pure Revolution Facebook page,

“I am a natural new age mum and I want to wash my clothes naturally with soap nuts!”

Terms and Conditions: You must have an Australian address to enter. Winners will be chosen using random.org. I will email the winners and also add a comment on this post letting you know who won. Give-away runs from now until Thursday the 13th of September at midnight. This give-away is in no way affiliated with Facebook.

Good luck everyone and thank you so much to Emma and Emily from Pure Revolution!

Aussie Giveaway Linky
Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

Filed In: HOME / Tagged: laundry, natural cleaning, natural washing, Pure Revolution, soap nuts

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