Greener

I've been learning more and more about ways to be healthier, more

environmentally conscious, and keep my home a safer place for this little girl.

I finally got on the website Skin Deep to see how they rated some of the products I've been using.

Unfortunately they aren't as safe is I'd like. I looked for some brands that are safe and ordered some

products from them (some sale items and they had a New Year discount). I've been curious

for a while and have wanted to try some green products.

I also went to the Good Earth to compare prices on their deodorant now that I'm out.

I bought one Tom's-of-Maine that I had heard about before, and one Alvera that was

recommended by a worker in the store. So far I think I prefer the Alvera.

Those greener choices were comparable to what I had already been spending, but a lot of what I've done has been less expensive, like making my own household cleaners and spider spray. My mother-in-law shared her laundry detergent recipe with me, and I thought I'd share it with you. I'm excited to try it.

(I just copied her email below because she explains it well.)

76 oz. borax

76 oz. washing soda

4 bars of fels-naptha (I think I only used 2--and there are other

brands, but I can't remember what they are right now)

16 oz. baking soda

2 c. Oxyclean

Grate the Fels-Naptha bar as fine as possible. Your food processor

will do the trick or

you can grate

it by hand. Mix all the ingredients

in a large bucket. I use rubber gloves and just start mixing.

1. Fels-Naptha. It is a bar of soap which I have used for years to

pre-treat stains.

It is heavy-duty laundry bar soap and it smells so

clean.

2. Borax. Borax is a natural laundry booster and multipurpose

household cleaner.

3. Washing soda. It acts as a detergent booster as well.

4. Baking soda. Baking soda is great for deodorizing but this is an

optional ingredient.

5. Oxy Clean. Oxy Clean is fabric bleach; actually it is like powdered

peroxide.

Oxy clean helps prevent graying. This is also an optional

ingredient.

The beauty of this soap is that it is inexpensive to make, has no

fillers in it and it costs

pennies per use. It has exceptional

cleaning power, is easy to store because it’s a powder and it can be

used in high efficiency machines. Try this soap on your towels and

whites and you’ll see

why I am so excited about it. Don’t expect any

soap bubbles. Instead you’ll see the

grime coming to the top right

away. One of the reasons that this product is economical is because

you only use 1/8 of a cup per load. That’s about 2 Tablespoons.

Good luck!