Green cleaning machine

At the start of the year it was my resolution to become greener, particularly at home.

For years I’ve been witnessing the amount of packaging that comes home from the grocery stores only to be thrown away.  Not everything can be recycled so poor, poor Mother Earth gets to have a gaping hole in her being filled with our waste.  Our nasty toxic waste.  It bothers me.

So starting January 1st, like any good resolution should, I began to clean up my act.  I became even more scrupulous on recycling and I changed the majority of our toiletries to Lush.  Then I made sure all the cleaning products we use were the environmentally friendly variety.  We also swapped toothpaste for home made powder and no longer bought mouth wash (did you know it’s being linked to mouth cancer?).

This was just a half way measure and I’d give myself excuses mainly I don’t have time to do more.

Yesterday was a big turning point.  When I went shopping to pick up laundry detergent and shampoo I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I went home and made my own products to use.  And do you know what?  It took very little time.  I probably spend more time trying to track down the very small selection of eco cleaners in the supermarket than it took to make my own products.

Having 2 boys and a toddler (well she should be toddling!!) I have a fair amount of laundry to do.  About a month ago I stopped using fabric conditioner and switched to distilled vinegar.  I was worried at first because I didn’t want our clothes to have that ‘eau de Fish & Chip shop’ smell.  They come out of the wash smelling rather fresh and not at all vinegary. I’m pleased with the switch.

Going back to my laundry detergent, I’ve used it 3 times so far.  All times on 30C with no problems.  I can’t tell the difference between homemade and eco shop bought.  It didn’t remove the stains on a white school shirt but I doubt that unless the laundry gods intervened with a miracle anything was going to it white again (green paint, pencil and other assorted splotches).  The ‘normal’ school shirts have washed just fine.

So laundry a success!  With the ingredients it probably cost me under £1 to make 2.5 litres.

And as for the shampoo.  I’m a little frizzy today but as I’m very much a wash and go kind of girl I’m not too bothered!