Laundry: Being Green While Getting Clean!

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Thursday, January 19, 2023

This week, we asked our community to share some of their non-toxic laundry tips with us. We were so overwhelmed by the many blog submissions that we didn’t want to highlight onlyl one! Below is what our bloggers suggest when "going green" with laundry.

Micaela from Mindful Momma suggests safer ways to scent, soften & reduce static in your laundry.

Scent:

Toss a lavender sachet into your dryer. You can easily make your own or buy them on Etsy but I admit to buying them from Trader Joe's occasionally.
Put a few drops of your favorite essential oil on a reusable cloth in the dryer.

Soften:

Add 1/2 cup of baking soda in with your detergent in the wash cycle. Baking soda is a natural water softener.
Vinegar is also popular for softening laundry. About 1/2 cup in the fabric softener container should do the trick.
Soak a cotton cloth in your favorite eco-friendly fabric softener. Squeeze out any excess liquid and toss in the dryer.

Static:

Dry synthetic fabrics separately from natural fibers as synthetics tend to create more static cling.
Throw a dryer ball or a tennis ball into the dryer to help eliminate static. I love these handmade, wool dryer balls from Etsy!*
Add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle. Don't worry, your favorite shirt won't smell like a pickle - the vinegar smell dissipates in the wash!

Betsy from Eco-Novice shows us how to green our laundry in 10 easy steps, such as:

Use an eco-friendly laundry detergent. Use as little as possible to get the job done.
To remove stains or whiten fabrics, try using hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice, borax, vinegar, or an eco-friendly bleach-alternative instead of bleach.

Claire from MomsRising has some good tips on buying laundry supplies:

Skip the fragrances: Avoid laundry supplies with fragrances, which may be linked to toxic chemicals like phthalates. Washington Toxics Coalition recommends looking beyond products with Fragrance-Free labels, which may still contain fragrances, and choosing products that list all of their ingredients
What to look for: The Center for Environmental Health recommends choosing “vegetable-based laundry detergent (made from corn, palm kernel, or coconut oil) that is fragrance-free, dye-free, and does not contain optical brighteners.”
Look it up: Look up products using on-the-go tools like the Good Guide. Learn more about toxic chemicals in popular laundry brands, and cleaning supplies, with this fact sheet from Women’s Voices for the Earth.

Diane from Big Green Purse uses a clothes line to dry her laundry. Here’s what she looks for when buying one:

You can use a length of rope you already have, but make sure it’s thin enough to be able to clip a clothes pin to. Otherwise, you’ll have to throw things over the top of the line, which works unless a strong (i.e., fast-drying) breeze is about. You can find several clothes line options in the Big Green Purse store, or at your local hardware store. NOTE: Most lines stretch over time, so you may need to buy a line tightener to keep the line taut enough so that the clothes don’t end up dragging on the ground.
You can try a rotary line dryer. Hang the laundry, then use a hand crank to easily raise the whole load another 16 inches or so to catch the breeze and dry quickly. For something simpler, install a retractable clothes line in your bathroom or laundry room. These lines can’t accommodate a lot of laundry at once, but they’re great for socks and underwear.

Check out the full posts of these bloggers and more:

10 Steps to Greener Laundry by Betsy of Eco-Novice
Green Your Laundry with Bouncing Woolies Dryer Balls by Christine of Mama Papa Barn
Clean and Green Dry Cleaning Methods by Diane MacEachern of Big Green Purse
Easy Dryer Sheet Alternatives by Micaela of Mindful Momma
An Eco-Friendly, Non-Toxic Laundry Room by Brenna of Almost All the Truth
Green Your Laundry Routine by January of Frugally Green Mom
Stiff Jeans & Sandpaper Towels by Steph of Good Girl Gone Green
Top 5 Safe Laundry Tips by Claire Moshenberg of Moms Rising

Thank you everyone for your submissions! Interested in joining our network and submitting your blogs to be featured? Sign-up today!

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of Healthy Child Healthy World.

Posted by Cindy @ One Part Sunshine on 05/29/2023 at 06:54 PM

I love Crunchy Betty’s idea of spraying your wet laundry with white vinegar before drying. I add a little essential oil to the spray to give the laundry a nice fresh smell.

Posted by Queen of Green on 04/25/2023 at 04:51 PM

I just posted a similar blog about tips to boost my favourite DIY green cleaning recipes! https://bit.ly/JDBCNX

Lindsay, Queen of Green

Posted by Nancy on 04/20/2023 at 01:25 PM

We have been using a laundry ball for the last 2 years. It has been an amazing money saver for us. We haven’t had to purchase any detergent during that time. Instead of chemicals, it uses mineral and ceramic pellets to clean dirty clothes. It also saves the environment b/c with the dirty water, its not contaminating the water supply. We put a bit of baking soda and vinegar in the wash and everything comes out clean! My husband put up a clothes line (we just moved to AZ=sun! :) ) and have been using that for all of our laundry. Not only are we saving money on not using the dryer (bit $ sucker), its also quite peaceful adding clothes to the line. I quite enjoy it. :)

Posted by Suzanne Christopher on 04/20/2023 at 12:54 PM

I am a mother of 2 girls, and I have been using Shaklee products to clean my house and Laundry. It’s very effective. Shaklee has made environmentally safe products for over 50 years.

Posted by Katie on 04/19/2023 at 01:37 PM

Make your own laundry detergent with just three ingredients! https://www.livingcrunchy.com/2023/04/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent/

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