We do laundry more often than we used to. Today, it is not unheard of for people to pop two shirts in the wash day (one work and one from the gym). In the past, people were carrying things for so long that it is not so much to do laundry maid. "Wash Day" came once a week, usually on Mondays, when it was cold Sunday roast left over, and nobody had to cook so they could concentrate on the nightmare of a job doing the laundry.
But just because you've got a modern washing machine with a wool cycle, a cycle of warm and light enough for a small Christmas tree does not mean you have to use fancy modern miracle ingredients to get your clothes clean. Do yourself and the environment benefits, and use natural products for washing clothes like your grandmother (or grandmother) used to use.
If you must use a commercial washing powder (and I must admit I do - in hard water areas, using liquid soap into the machine on cold cycle tends to gunge pipes and valves) and they can get away with using less than manufacturer says to use the side of the box. Let's face it: who wrote things on the side of the box? Who will earn more money if you go through three boxes of powder instead of two? Right. In practice, you can reduce the amount of soap powder per load up to three quarters that the manufacturers will tell you that - or even half. You might also be the child's environment using the brand (which, happily, it is usually cheaper), that there is a multitude of whiteners, brighteners and odor. This means that it will pump less goodness-knows-what into the water system. I remember that washing clothes in the commercial powder is still better than dry cleaning.
If you wash in hot water or if the water in your area is not hard (lucky you!), you may be able to get away with using liquid soap in your load. That does not mean a commercial liquid soap. Instead, other than soap scraps and pour boiling water over them to melt them. Once the lead is cooled to gel, it can also be used to soak the clothes dowdy as pre-treatment, and general girl-for-all the work for cleaning floors, cleaning cars and spot cleaning carpets. Also you can use it as a shampoo. You can also use soap flakes, you can buy again, fortunately, if you do not like grating soap.
If you have hard water area, you can still use the soap or soap flakes gel for washing clothes, but you'll need to add water softener. Borax is a classic water softener is used in many natural recipes.
soap residues are responsible for making towels and bed linen as stiff as cardboard. Thorough washing helps, as well as drying in the open. But, really to make sure things remain soft enough to rub on the sensitive bits of your body, use vinegar as a softener. Put about half a cup per load, where the conditioner should be put in the washing machine, or add it to the final rinse.
Essential oils are also popular additions to a natural laundry products. Some oils, not only add a pleasant scent, but also help remove stains and act as disinfectants. Eucalyptus oil makes a great stain remover and a key ingredient in soap Sard Wonder (if you can get from this, it is fantastic for removing all types of stains). Tea tree oil is antibacterial. Thus, the lavender.
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