Evolution of Clean

Our evolution of clean all started about 6 years ago when Kei's emotional health was rock bottom. In the process to find balance we attempted to rid the house of as many chemicals as possible... natural shampoo (for Kei), natural laundry detergent, natural "girl" products, etc... We also started her on various supplements to avoid harsher drugs, the brief window when she was on drugs was not pretty, nor did they seem to help. Over time, a precarious balance has been achieved. As long as life doesn't throw too many changes her way all is well. If maintaining balance means no chemicals, then that is a small price to pay...except chemical free products are often a little pricey. 

The biggest evolution of clean has been in the laundry department. Somewhere along the line, I started using soap nuts, which worked well, but were a bit of a pain - especially for young laundry students (The girls started being responsible for their own laundry when they hit high school). I then switched to a soap nut derived liquid detergent - which is easy peasy to use but pricey. Off and on I've toyed with the idea of making my own laundry detergent, but have always bulked at getting all the ingredients - a daunting and somewhat costly pursuit when attempting to find Japanese equivalents or imported products. 

This leads me to today... 

I just finished baking Baking Soda in an attempt to make Washing Soda, a main ingredient in homemade laundry detergent. 

My next step was making liquid laundry detergent using this recipe.

I am honestly surprised at how simple the process was, even with the added step of making my own washing soda. I think the most complicated thing might be figuring out earthquake tie downs for the 2 gallon sized glass jugs. 

So was it a success? It IS considerably cheaper!! How it actually works - we'll have to see how everything comes out in the wash 😄

BTW - I will also be making Laundry Scent Booster as soon as Amazon delivers my order of Epsom salt.