Making your own laundry soap

Many of us these days are conscious of the environment and of the choices we make when purchase various products.  Laundry detergent may not seem like a big deal, but it is.  Considering the toxicities of their chemical ingredients and the carbon foot print caused in production and delivery, I have opted to do some research and find a cheaper, more eco-friendly option. 

In this post I am going to tell you about how to make your own laundry soap!  It is so easy and only requires a few natural ingredients! If you have allergies at all in your family, this is definitely a recipe to try.

My version is made for hard water as we have very hard water where I live, but if you have soft water, we can easily make one for you too!  The ingredients:  Borax, Soap Flakes and Washing Soda!  That is all.

Soap recipe

Each batch yields approximately 32 ounces (between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load).  I like to only use 1 Tbsp per load on my HE washer.

• 1 cup of soap flakes or grate a bar of soap such as ivory.
• 1 cup of borax
• 1 cup of washing soda

If you have soft water, decrease the washing soda to half. Thoroughly stir together and enjoy the results!  This laundry soap works so well and is so cost effective ($0.08 per load).  For anyone that wonders if Borax safe, well it is!  Borax is about as dangerous as baking soda.  Do not however confuse it with Boric Acid.  The two are NOT the same.  Stay away from Boric Acid.For those of you who want more info, read this excellent Crunchy Betty article where she expounds the toxicity levels of borax.

High Efficiency (HE) Washers - HE front-load washers require “special soap” for one reason alone – low suds. Because they use less water, they require soap that is less sudsy. The good news is,this homemade detergent is VERY low suds. 

Where to buy:  I purchased the soap flakes through well.ca, a great place to shop online for groceries and shipping is free!  They carry many natural and eco-friendly products.  Washing soda and Borax are both available at your local grocer.

Ecofriendly Reusable Snack Bags

I love to find new things and I am always on the look out for something different with a fun twist.  So when I discovered reusable snack bags, I had to investigate further. 


As I usually do, I find something I like and I study it, research it and then figure out how I can make it, hopefully cheaper than it would have cost to buy it.  So that is what I did with these great little snack and sandwich bags.  The one I was first looking at was made of cotton, not as easy to clean/reuse immediately as the plastic bags, but they could definitely go into the washing machine.  I found some using laminated cotton that I really liked as they are easy to clean and wipe down quickly!! Better yet, they had a food safe fabric on the inside. 


After researching them all, and the various ways to close them (that was a challenge), with some very helpful feedback from friends and family testers, this is what I have designed and I am excited to share with everyone. I plan to put them up on my website and my etsy site very soon so stay tuned!  As always, feedback is welcome and please spread the word to all your friends about these great little snack bags!  I have expect Lunch bags will be coming next...stay tuned!

fold-over closure

3 sizes to choose from

velcro closure