Plastic Swap--Laundry Detergent

Unable to find something non-toxic that also does not come in a plastic container, I have opted for making my own laundry detergent. All the raw ingredients come in recycled and recyclable paper packaging, and the process is really quite simple and quick. The hardest part is grating a bar of soap. Recipes abound on the internet and Pinterest in particular, though mine came from the magazine Taproot. I'm not publishing the recipe here, as I do not have permission from the lovely Taproot peeps, but you can easily spend 30 seconds online and find pretty much the same recipe that I use.

Simple and inexpensive ingredients. The castile soap is from Trader Joe's.

So how does my laundry fare? It's CLEAN. And doesn't smell like much of anything. Which is exactly what a chemical-free laundry detergent is supposed to do! You might not get out some troublesome stains, but honestly, that hasn't been a priority for me in years. I don't have uniforms to maintain, I don't wear fancy clothes to an office for work, so stains have not been much of an issue for us. If it is, I'm sure there are some great non-toxic stain removers out there. If you have one to recommend, please tell me about it in the comments!