Friday, April 09, 2021

#fridaysforfuture 4/9/21


 #fridaysforfuture (with frozen Utah Lake from a couple months ago). 

Lots of things that are better for the planet save us money, too. 

Recently I learned how to make homemade laundry soap. This stuff is dirt cheap. I bought everything to make it for about as much as one or two containers of grocery store laundry soap--and I think it's going to last me a year or more. And it works great, as far as I can tell. I use it in my HE washer. It was easy to make, though there was a bit of a learning curve (let's just say my oven and floor got *really* clean... checking your bucket for holes and following the recipe below will help you avoid my mistake!)

This recipe has no phosphates, which cause algae overgrowth and fish death in bodies of water and which can be hard for treatment plants to get out (Utah Lake, I'm looking your way). It's biodegradable (though you shouldn't use it directly in a river or steam while camping or whatever). It might be healthier, as it's more natural. It cuts way down on plastic packaging, the manufacture of which releases lots of greenhouse gasses--and which never completely goes away, microplastics being found now in most waterways, animals, and us.

This blog had some good info and recipes.
https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-recipe
(I used Fels-Naphtha soap this time, but I'm going to try Kirk's Castile Bar Soap next time, since FN uses palm kernal oil, which isn't great.)

Worth a try! 

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