Going natural: Washing detergent

The next item on my list of natural products to tackle is laundry detergent. I've been using Seventh Generation products in the laundry for a long time but I thought there was still room for improvement.

So I decided to try using soap nuts. The theory is that you throw a few soap nuts in a cotton bag into the washing machine with your dirty clothes. This is okay if you wash with hot water but I don't.

So I soaked the soap nuts in boiling water overnight to produce the soapy liquid and then I use 1/2 a cup per load. I also added a few drops of lavender essential oil.

So far its working great! Unfortunately soap nuts are not cheap. I think the economics may work out the same as purchasing laundry detergent but at least I now know there are no chemicals going into my clothes.