Greening Up My Act

Homemade Laundry Detergent: The Gateway Drug to DIY Cleaners

April 11, 2023 Kat Cox & Tiffany Verbeck Episode 4
Greening Up My Act
Homemade Laundry Detergent: The Gateway Drug to DIY Cleaners
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

This week, Kat and Tiff reveal their 3-ingredient recipe for cheesecake — err, laundry detergent. This DIY laundry detergent is so easy (and sustainable!) that it might become your  gateway drug to homemade products, like it was for Tiffany. These two marketing writers also talk you through a simple way to uncover green hooey for yourself and learn the true sustainability of your household products in this green living podcast.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are paid links.


What We Recommend:

If you don’t want to make your own and are a millionaire:

What We Mentioned:

Source Links:

Instagram: @greeningupmyact
Facebook: Greening Up My Act
Email us with questions: greeningupmyact@gmail.com
YouTube: Greening Up My Act

What I found was so simple that I it blew my mind. I was always intimidated by homemade homemade anything, right? But I made laundry detergent because you think like, oh, it's gotta be 18,000 things that I have to go to. Well, yeah, chemistry was my worst subject. Right? And it just seems like Oh, I'm gonna ruin my clothes if I do it wrong, whatever. But what I found, you literally need two ingredients. What? No pre mixing required Okay, hello, cat. No, Tiffany. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty well. Fun. Presidents Day. We're recording on Presidents Day. Yes, happy Presidents Day everyone to those who observe. Do you have a favorite president? Um, I gotta throw it throw it out there for Jimmy Carter. Yes. When did hospice but you know such a good man. He was I think he was totally underrated for his time. And I think I think we all look back and forget like he was he was treated wrong by the Washington establishment agreed. And I actually I didn't meet him, but I saw him speak at my Think Tank job when I lived in DC. So Oh, cool. That must have been awesome. I just think he like he just hangs out. And does charity work all the time? Just Habitat for Humanity? Yeah. What? I saw a video where he showed up after a fall. His I was all bruised. And he's like, I'm here though. Yeah, I am. Yep. It's crazy. Yeah, it really is inspiring, because it's like, so many other presidents. And I don't blame them. I mean, they're probably exhausted. But yeah, just kind of like, back into the shadows and like, or live a very different life, which is fine. But or do giant tours making millions of dollars, you know, he's not making millions of dollars, Habitat for Humanity. And like, yeah, totally, exactly. Do you have a favorite president? I mean, like, I feel like Grover Cleveland is just the funniest name I've ever heard. But no, I you know, and once you start studying presidents, you're like, well, they'll they were men, normal men. I think some some did some pretty interesting. Good things, but it's kind of hard to be like excited about US presidents sometimes. Yeah, totally. Yeah, it's kind of like always a mixed bag. Like with any, any human. Yeah, at least an executive bag. I probably should have come up with a better answer than that. You know, I like Grover, he's fine. Yeah. I don't know anything about him. But yeah. Oh, actually, I did read a book about. I'm not gonna remember my brain is totally fried. Yeah, it's yeah, it's it's late in the evening on a Monday President. Exactly. The child is asleep. The brain has shut off. Yeah, the brain has stopped. Although the brain has to start working again. Because I have a story for you. Well, maybe we should introduce what we're doing this season, we should greening up my act. Welcome. We talk about green products and green living. And we research them and try to figure out if they are actually good for the environment, or not even good for the environment, because that doesn't exist, but better for the most harmful. Yeah, yes. Or if they work? Or if it's just a bunch of marketing, because we are to marketers, and we can sometimes see through some of the read. actually read the fine print. Right. But who has time for that? We do. So that's why we're here. Exactly. That's what we're here for. Yeah. So we're trying to do the research that nobody else has time for. Because this stuff matters. But my goodness, are we all busy? And I think this week's episode is proof that there is so much research to be done. Yes. Holy give seen my notes. Yes. So tell me Tiffany, what are we talking about this evening, we are talking about homemade laundry detergent. And it is the thing I'm very excited, because it's the thing that got me into green housekeeping to begin with, oh, this was your gateway drug. It was totally. And because it's all about like, sticking it to the man in a little. Quite a few ways. I'll show it. I'll explain that. And minimalism, sustainability and science. So it's kind of like all those things in one which is exciting, hashtag science. And what I found was so simple, that I it blew my mind. It was just, it's truly Yeah. Like I always thought I was always intimidated by homemade homemade anything, right? But I made laundry detergent because you think like, oh, it's gotta be 18,000 things that I have to go to. Well, yeah, chemistry was my worst subject. Ever. It's like magic to me. I was like, this is alchemy. I don't understand. Right? And it just seems like Oh, I'm gonna ruin my clothes if I do it wrong, whatever. But what I found, you literally need two ingredients. And I gave you a homework assignment. So obviously, that went okay. And I want to hear how it went. Yeah, but two ingredients. No pre mixing required. Well, so Yeah, cuz I was like, Man, I can't I don't have time to like mix all this stuff. And so my mom had made her own homemade detergent before and you might have seen this even some people try this. It was literally a five gallon muck. five gallon bucket, like literally just a bucket of muck. And it was just as huge is like science experiment of just sitting in your launch gelatin, like it just turned into this jello, disgusting waiting for the dog to drown in it. Just Yes, little it was crazy. And then I kind of found out as I was doing the research that that that that actual, that exact recipe is really bad for your washing machine. So I wouldn't recommend going that route. If you've heard of that, or seen that around on the interwebs. So yeah, when I was doing research, I read an article from apartment therapy, which is a I have a love hate relationship with apartment therapy fair. If you've ever read that blog. Yeah. It take head take a sippy. Still fighting off cold, but sorry. Yeah. But yeah, so I learned that first off, some liquid laundry detergents are made from oil. And that the directions that they give us on a tide or something, it's way too much. So like two things. Some are made from oil. And also, we use way too much. Yeah. So even if we use the amount that it tells us to on the directions, we're using too much. And it builds up on our clothing. Which is why people I never did this, and I never would but some people do strip their fabrics. Have you heard of this? Yeah. I would never take the time to do that. No, no, it's just one more thing of laundry. I have to do. No, thank you. Yes. I'm not that into my clothes looking fresh, I guess. But I don't I don't know. But yeah, I think that's why people have to do that. And I don't know exactly what goes into stripping your fabric. But it's because this type of detergent builds up on the clothes. Yeah, I want to add on to that something I learned too. When you use too much soap. It actually takes longer for your clothes to dry in the dryer too. So that's even worse. Right? You're adding to your electric bill. And yeah, carbon footprint, by that is fascinating. Yeah, I think it's again, because of the oils and things. Yeah, it would make sense. Yeah. And then the real kicker for me was that I learned that the unconcentrated form of liquid detergents are the one that's in the huge like, yeah, you know, giant, bulky container is up to 90% water well, and so you're paying for that you're paying for water, you're storing that water in your house somewhere your truck paying for trucking, it's got to be shipped with using gasoline, like all of these things. And it's just from for water. So that that really opened my eyes and I was like yeah, shit like 90% of this is water. Maybe there's a better way. Yeah. And it turns out there his dish dish tell us okay, so seriously, super simple. It's two ingredients, like I said, and those ingredients, I'll go ahead and tell you our washing soda and dish soap. Not even brand names. Just it doesn't matter. Washington I mean, most washing soda that people buy is by Armand Hammer. But yeah, dish soap, like what you clean your dishes with? It turns out the chemicals the chemistry of it is almost exactly the same as your laundry detergent. Oh, okay. isn't crazy. So, yeah, yeah, so I like looked all into this chemistry part of things. And detergent only needs three things to work really well. Okay, these things are gonna be kinda like big words, but surfactants alkalis and catalytic enzymes. So surfactants are basically soap. Yeah, surface surface scrubbers. Yes surface. I had it in here and get rid of it, sir. Is extractions or something. So there's so dope, they break up stains, they prevent dirt from redepositing on the fabric. That's all a surfactant is. Some of them are made from petroleum. Some of them are made from plants like coconut, soybean palm. Okay. And there are two different kinds of surfactants. One is ionic one is an Ionic. So Ionic has the molecules contained to charge. Remember this back from chemistry? Probably not having PTSD like flashbacks. Yeah, so basically, all you need to know is that antibiotic is better for hard water. Okay. But I think you can kind of use either, because there is no rule to this. You can use whatever works for you blow up your washing machine. Exactly. Well, maybe the other the big gelatinous goop might, but these will not. And they're so the anion. And ionic ones are usually called ethers of fatty alcohols. I have this entire article from the spruce that I'm going to link and it's really amazing because it breaks down every single ingredient in laundry detergent, like kinda like I'm doing now but in more detail, and they just kind of show you like, what's in it and what everything does. Well. The only thing that I need to add in here that I found out since I wrote these notes, is that an Ionic? Surfactant? The ones I'm talking about, that's better for hard water. Some of them are not great. For your for, like discharging into waterways. Okay. Yeah. systems or waterways. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll get into that a little bit later. But just know that there are different kinds, and I'm going to tell you how to tell what's good and what's not good. Oh, okay. I know. And I think we should have a whole episode on this because it took a while for me to figure out how to how to to actually tell ya to read labels. Yes. 100%. So, the other so that's surfactants. Next is alkalis. Okay, all that an alkali does is neutralizes acid. But in the laundry, it removes dirt and stains from fabric. So basically, alkali complicated word. All it is is either baking soda, washing soda, or borax. Okay, so, so far we have soap, and we have baking soda, washing soda, or we're X soda. So open soda. Exactly. So those are two. The next one, honestly, from what I found is optional. Okay, so they're catalytic enzymes. They do help clean especially in cool water. Okay, I always wash it. I don't wash anything and warm water anymore. Me neither. I started washing and cold. And I think it's, I think it's way better. Yeah. Because I think that's the most energy that's used is heating the water heating the water. Exactly. So enzymes can help that, but honestly, I don't really use them and it's fine. So I'll get into that a little bit more. Okay. Sorry, how to clean my news. Oh, yeah. The cold the cold wreaks havoc, the cold. So, so the catalytic catalytic enzymes are called, they're gonna be called like protease. Emily's mayonnaise. There's like all these days may or may not use. I have some of that in my fridge. I'd like it in my sandwich. But this spruce breaks down all of the this first article, so if you are really curious about it, so there's not much at least when I looked, this was again, like a year ago. So there wasn't much of a market for this stuff by itself. So it was kind of hard to find like an enzyme powdered form that you can bought. Yes, exactly. I did find one. But it was hard to find. I think I saw have some more options these days. So the other things that serve no purpose that a most detergents have is fragrances and dyes. So your turns out your laundry detergent doesn't actually need to be like dark blue to function. It's just to you know, make it pretty in your closet that you cannot so much. Exactly. And stain everything and get all over everything I hate to hide. Like it's like everything is gross. Yeah, like leaks everywhere. So, they also have other things like preservatives, which sounds really weird. Apparently it still limit the growth of bacteria, which makes sense. It does. And actually, I'm pretty sure that the like dish soap has preservatives in it as well. So, okay, that would make sense to So in summary, soap, washing soda, and an enzyme. That's easy. Three ingredients. I feel like that's like a recipe Eat on a blog about cooking quick desserts that won't kill you or something. Three ingredients. My three ingredient cheesecake. Exactly. I made three ingredient Nutella cookies. They were actually pretty good for being like three ingredients. I yeah, I think those are my favorite magic cookies that are just three ingredients, right? Yeah, took like 15 minutes is great Okay, so I did all this chemistry for you. Thank you figured out what the heck, what laundry detergent is even made of. And then I found a goldmine of information on the Environmental Working Groups website. Oh, the Environmental Working Group is this incredibly useful website that anybody even remotely interested in green housekeeping, Green Living whatever needs to know about because they rate each product from A to F. Whoo. Yeah. And there's tons of products, mostly cleaning products, but soy sauce and whatnot. So I think they have another section of like makeup and skincare products and stuff too. But yeah, so it's like through looking at the Environmental Working Groups. website. I figured out that even like a laundry detergent that says free and clear or eco friendly it as possibly still terrible for you and for the environment. That's so infuriating. Hmm. And a lot of them that are rated f by the E WG Environmental Working Group. We're really shocking like Mrs. Meyers. There was one clean day sent free laundry detergent, right? Raytown F. I know. I thought Mrs. Meyers was like one of the great products to use. Yes. And so this specific detergent, and it really depends on the detergent. It's not a brand thing. It's the product itself, because it depends what they're putting in it. But this has some concern for asthma, skin allergies, moderate concern for the environment and development, and developmental and reproductive toxic toxicity, and then acute aquatic toxic toxicity. You this thing that says Clean Day sent for sent free laundry detergent. Not good. No. And so a lot of them Mrs. Meyers products are better rated than that one, but none of them are an A. And there are a lot of ds that come from that brand. That's not good. I know. It's really surprising. And again, seventh generation that's like the go to for eco friendly stuff. Right? Wow. Yeah, it is. That's what everybody thinks. Right? Yeah. So they had I think this one was actually discontinued, but it was the concentrated liquid laundry detergent with white flour and bergamot citrus. I think it was the white flour and burgundy Bergamot citrus, the extras that kind of got them because there was concern for developmental reproductive toxicity from boric acid. Yeah, there's work acid, moderate concern for aquatic toxicity. So it's seventh generation is another thing you get from Whole Foods. And you think it's good because it's on the shelves at Whole Foods. Yes, exactly. And it says natural on the label. We should make a list of words that are just green hooey like yes, absolutely. And yes, totally. We'll do that. We'll put it on Insta. And then so half of the seventh generation products that I researched are A B or above. So they're usually pretty good. But there are still quite a few DS, the one. The one that really bothered me was from attitude, eco friendly laundry detergent. And there's another one from Costco Kirkland. I think both of these may have been discontinued in the meantime, but another one, Kirkland Signature, environmentally friendly laundry detergent. They both got EFS environmentally friendly my ass. Yeah. I mean, it's just crazy. Not so friendly. environmentally unfriendly. Yeah. So I felt after I did all this research, I felt totally scammed. I was like, what? This just feel it felt like the man trying to stick it to me, honestly. He's sticking it back. I need to stick it back. Alright. So I was like, What do I do? And then I figured out I could make my own Nice. Yeah, I feel like there should be a sound effect for greening up my act. So I cleaned up my act but yeah, it's just like a circus music but yeah, so I searched for some recipes and I found some I found one that I recommend, which I told you already was, because it's so easy. And there are similar ones that are pre mixed powder detergents, but, and those are better, but they're known for leaving white residue on your clothes. And honestly this one that I used, even though it's got washing soda and its powder, I have only had one sit in. I've been using it for over a year. I've only had one pair of shorts that for God knows why it's the fabric. They don't like the lines of bamboo viscose. Probably Damn it. I don't know what it is about the shorts, but that's the only thing that's ever had white residue on. It was kind of interesting. So I wanted to go more DIY than those powdered detergents because I don't know, I don't think they work that well. And then I found this book from the Great British Bake offs winner named Nancy birtwhistle. I hope I'm saying your last name, right. Not too bad. It was I think it was say it with an English accent. Yeah, although that's probably offensive. Sorry, England. So yeah, the book is called Clean and Green 101 hints and tips for a more eco friendly home. And this woman is my idol. Because I mean, she can bake. And she can bake. She can clean anything. Literally. It's wild. You should follow her on Instagram too, because she has an amazing instrument like she cleans. She pulls off IV from the side of her house and throws it into her washing machine like cuts it up. There wasn't a washing machine and washes your clothes. Wow. Yeah. How would you ever know this stuff? If you're not learning it from? I mean? What? Yeah. It's amazing. So yeah, I'd recommend this book for sure. We're definitely gonna link it in the notes, show notes. She does. And she was the one that I got the recipe, the just dish soap and washing soda. And then she recommends green bleach for tough stains. And we're gonna be talking about green bleach in episode coming up. Yeah, so yeah, the dish soap and I looked it up, like I said, same ingredients, or at least super similar. So there's the one that I looked up was had an anionic surfactant, which works better in our water, potentially not great for the water. It has glycerin, which is a foam stabilizer has a pH adjuster has preservatives. Yeah. And so it's got so much of what laundry detergent has and I gotta tell you, I felt super weird just squeezing my bottle of dish soap. But it was it works. And then Armand hammers washing soda and the yellow box. You can get it at hardware stores, grocery stores on Amazon. And it's eco friendlier than other options. The ew G gives it an A but there are harmful chemicals put out during production. So it's not like I don't know it's not. Nothing's perfect. Right. But right. Yeah, I mean, it's way better. It's sacrifice you're making, right? Yeah. So but it has to be liquid dish detergent. Not like a not like not dish washer detergent like dish soap. Yes. Keep on your dish soap. Yeah, definitely not the stuff you put in your dishwasher. Yeah. And by the way, don't put dish soap in your dishwasher. Use dish detergent. Also, have you know, I had a roommate who did and that we had a foam party in the kitchen. Basically, I got I thought that was just something in movies. No, no and habits was bad. So funny. You should use this one because it has a foam stabilizer. But yeah, keep it down. Keep them to yourself. That's pretty crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Dish soap. Like what you'll keep on your kitchen sink and wash your dishes by hand with. Yeah. Which we have to have another episode about because you shouldn't be washing dishes by hand anyway. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, we got to talk about that. Okay. Yeah, we will. So interesting. Okay, so the only thing Nancy didn't have in a recipe was the enzymes, but she also just doesn't use them. So it's like, not that. I don't think it's that important. Yeah. I can't imagine if she's in England. She's not like boiling hot water to their very high. Well, I'm talking about on my left ear here, but don't feel like they heat up water to do the wash all the time. Wait, you mean like wash their clothes in the bathtub and backyard? Would you say no? No. I mean, like she's not using hot water wash on her clothes like Oh, her? Probably not. No. Yeah. She's caught using cold water. Yeah, I would imagine. Like she doesn't in a tub and a kitchen. She needs water on the stove. And she uses a stick to stare it in the sorry, any English. Sorry. I'm sorry. We know that. You also have washing machines. There apparently. Well, I think in Australia, they're in the kitchen. Oh, interesting. That's what it was like for me in Italy in my Yeah. Because that's where the water is. It makes a lot of sense. And it was the tiniest, cutest little washing machine. Yeah, I also broke it while I was there for five minutes. And we can talk about that later. But that was an interesting, interesting time. Yeah, I'm just kind of an idiot. So Uh, so yeah, so the enzymes that I found were, they were hard to find. Like I said, I think there are more options now. But the the ones I found were $24 not cheap. And when I got it, I was like, I gotta try these at least, the bag was so small, like, so tiny. And so I was like, I'm not sure that this is worth $24. And given you have to use like, maybe a quarter, an eighth even of a teaspoon. Oh, that's like a pinch. It's like nothing. Yeah, so it has lasted me a while, but it's just like, I don't want to use it because I know that it feels like liquid gold. So I just like saving it. Yeah, if you're special laundry, stupids for the delicates. So yeah, so the recipe is get your pens and papers out. Ready. One tablespoon washing soda, two tablespoons dish soap directly into the drum before you put anything else in. Then put your clothes on top. Cold water, add enzymes if you want. And if you have heavy stains, you can add a tablespoon of green bleach into the detergent holder not directly on your clothes. Because even though it's green bleach, it's still bleach. Right? I learned that the hard way. Just black shorts are now leave responses. Pretty much. But that's it like why I'm so rude dishwasher here. I'm so confused. What are we doing? Are we doing dishes? Or eventually we're just gonna put all of our socks in the dishwasher. In the washing? Exactly. It's all the same. Same soap. Yeah, so that's it though. Just one tablespoon washing soda, two tablespoons, two tablespoons dish soap. And I will be honest, I don't even measure anymore. You just squirt? Yep. Squirt, squirt. And then like middle school bartender, you'd count to five or whatever. Yeah, pretty much. But it's not very much like you really don't need very much. It's pretty wild. how little you need. So it's not an exact science. I feel like that's the most important takeaway, because you can experiment you can see what works for you. You're not gonna break anything, like I said, and if you need if it's not working, use a little more. Yeah, you know what I mean? Right. But if you use too much, it will dry. Right? Don't use Yes. Start small starts. How do you? How do you know it's working? Like, how do I know? Yeah. Does it have do you have like, because I like when I wash my closers. It's not like generally very. It's not like I've been rolling in mud. And I can see that. Like it got the mud out. You know, it's like, okay, yes, I actually have a really good example. So my I have a dog and she smells just smelly. Sorry, baby. Yeah. And we have this couch cover. And I don't know No, it wasn't in the couch cover. It was a blanket that had literally she had been, it's been like six months since I washed it. It smelled so bad. And it was a wool blanket. So it's not that easy to get. Yeah. So I was like, Oh God, so I put it in cold water. Use this exact thing. I didn't even use enzymes or anything. It came out smelling totally clean. Oh, wow. didn't smell the dog at all. I was amazed. Yeah, there is one thing I wanted to note is that like sweaty smells. So normally, when you wash your clothes with like fragrant laundry detergent, you're not going to smell the sweat. Even though that sweat is still going to be in your clothing. It's just gonna be covered up by like flowers. Mm hmm. And so this obviously doesn't have a scent you can add maybe like a soap or something if you like your clothes to be scented. They do have laundry soaps for that but and then you can like grate them up and add them. I don't bother because I don't really like the smells. But yeah, so what I do for the sweaty smell is either soak my T shirts in warm water and a half a cup of baking soda for an hour. Okay, that did help. Or you can create a paste of baking soda and water and apply directly to the pits. And then let that sit for a minute and then throw it in. Okay, Baking soda is amazing that you soda does I mean, it whitens your teeth it. It's actually a cure for heartburn to really, I mean, it makes sense because it's yeah, angelcam basically an antacid right. Yeah. So basically, yeah, so interesting. Yeah, I love baking soda. We'll definitely talk about that too. Yeah. Okay, so like my, my running clothes might need a little pre soak. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, probably. I mean, or people could just not be near me when I'm running. Yeah, that. Would you ever think of that? Get away from me? Get if it bothers you. You need to be further away. Yeah, social distancing. The other option is if you don't want to feel like badass Camus which I totally did it. I loved it. You can look on ew G's list of verified or a rated. So they have like a verification, which doesn't necessarily mean that they're better honestly. It's kind of better it depends on the product. Right. Right. But anything rated an A, you're probably going to, you're doing pretty well. Right. Nice. Yeah. And so because the annoying takeaway is that it's not like I mentioned is not a brand thing. You can't go by the brands. Yeah. Because it's different each product. Yeah, yeah. So there is one called Aspen clean, and every product that they have is either certified or rated A by the Ew, G. And I used to use them a lot for almost everything, but they're just so expensive that I can't that's the problem, right? Yeah, I just kind of was like, yeah, there's got to be some other way to do this. But if you don't have time to do that, even, like, look up all the stuff, which I get, there's another option that's much easier, and you're gonna get like a better version, you're probably not going to get the best, but you're gonna get like, at least not terrible of a product. So the EPA has a label, and it's called Safer Choice. And this is going to be directly on the bottle, or the product or whatever you're buying. And it's this little label that says Safer Choice. And I actually took the time to do the research and compare it with the Environmental Working Group. And all the products that I looked at that were Safer Choice products lined up with environmental working group rates of C or higher. Okay, so that's better, right? Like, yeah, we know that. Yeah. So I looked at some products rated D, and they did not have the Safer Choice Label. So we, you know, we can post a picture of that label on Instagram. So if you're just out and about, and you don't have time to, like, do all this research, which, which I do, I mean, who does? Yeah, right. That's the whole point of this podcast. Exactly. Then you can spot that label. So that has been really helpful for me. And I think it's like, nobody really knows about that. So yeah, I hadn't even considered it. Right. Yeah. That's a really easy thing to do is just look for that label. Yeah, totally. And it's going to be maybe not perfect, but better. Right. Okay. Cost wise. Yeah. If if Aspen clean is kabillion Aspen clean is insane. Yeah, it's works. So well. Honestly, if you're willing to spend the money, it works really well. Alright, so 164 Load container of tide costs of around $13. I think I looked at Target. Yeah, the eco friendly versions that I found cost between 13 and 23 bucks. And who's to say that they weren't because some of these eco friendly. First off, they might not be eco friendly. Right? There's friends of Smokey the Bear, as you say it Yeah, sure. Yeah. But second, they, you know, they might not actually function well, right, they might not work them out, I clean your clothes. So between the washing soda and the eco friendly dish soap that I got, which I actually got the seventh generation one. And I only realized after learning that the anionic enzymes, and I had to give enzymes are not the best that this one that I had been by, I've been buying it for a year, and it's ready to see. So it's not terrible. But there are a couple ingredients in it that aren't great. So I'm going to switch to a different one. But anyway, if you're looking for an eco friendly dish soap, I'll say, I'll link the one that I'm going to use. Okay, in the show notes. If you're curious if you just want yeah, I have I just bought just so last week, and it's from our local grocery store. Heb. And I haven't I have to look and see if it has the little logo on it. I don't think it does. But it does say like free and clear, you know, right, right, right. Yeah, that's what the seventh generation one was. And I was like, Oh, wait, Shoot, maybe it's not great. But but it's better. You know, it's not terrible. So between the washing soda, the dish soap, it's about nine to $10 for probably more than 64 loads, it's really impossible to tell how many loads you're actually going to get. Yeah, but I would say I think probably because I'm trying to think how quickly I use I think it's probably about maybe equal I would estimate so cheaper it's a little bit cheaper it's not like oh my god you're saving so much money but right so you know if you throw in the extras like the enzymes you're definitely not saving money but are the green bleach although you'd have to use like regular bleach so the cost is like not that different but potentially a little bit cheaper. It's really the other parts of it that are much better and so if you don't feel like doing this at all and you don't want to deal with it there's these laundry pods called drops with two keys will link it and that has enzymes already in it so if you don't want to deal with it then you can just buy those I don't I didn't look up the price they're probably not super cheap but yeah, they don't even list the prime just looking now they don't even list it on the Yeah, that might be why you didn't know we have fabric softener two which is another story we should probably talk about. Yeah, really. Okay, so my rating for this For homemade laundry detergent, we rate every product on a on a scale of one to five granolas. And the crunchy or the better because clearly, you want your granola to be crunchy as crunchy as possible. Yeah. And so one is bad five is great. I am reading homemade laundry detergent five, which is break your tooth off crunchy. Oh, yeah, because it's a little bit cheaper, better for the environment. Try that again. Because it's a little cheaper, better for the environment. It's more work, but not that much more. To be honest. Because I mean, I hope I did the work for you. I try. Yeah, there's a lot of work. Yeah, I mean, who knows? I'm real. It's it's crazy. And it's simpler. Like that's the thing I like about it the most I think is that it simplifies. I was so sick of buying like, oh my god, I gotta order tight. Oh, my God, I gotta order right this to clean my kitchen sink. Oh, my God, I ordered that. It's like, I have like four products that I use for so many different things. And washing soda is one of them. Yeah. So and then, you know, dish soap I use for my dishes and for my laundry. So it's great. Yeah, I would say don't be afraid to give it a go. Follow me into the light. We have three ingredient cookies. Plus, you can wash your clothes. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, thank you. Yeah. And you said you did it. Right. You tried to so I did. I did try it today. So and same thing I didn't want to call you're talking about it. But I washed. I washed from sheets and towels and my dog. My dog's bed cover. Oh, yeah. So I use the washing soda, which was five bucks at the grocery store. And then the heb free and clear lavender whatever dish so I measured it, which means I had to like wipe out the tablespoon. You know? Uh huh. But what's great about it is it's just dish soap. So you just go and rinse it in the sink. And it's right. Yeah. Okay, right. Yeah, you just watch. Just watch my spoon. So, but I did and yeah, the dog bed doesn't smell. Oh, awesome. Because I watched it. I was like, Oh, he's my old old man, dog, old Emmitt. He smells. I watched him to not watch this show. I will say my grandpa actually used it. My grandfather used to he used to say you gotta use lemon Joy kills the ticks. So oh my god. So it probably does. Let's be honest. Yeah, I would tell them with the surfactants. Now we know. And there it is. Yeah. So yeah, it worked. It did work. I do. Okay, but I did. My ex husband bought some really bougie laundry detergent. And it's been three years. So it's been a while I still have it. But I use it on my sheets. And I changed the sheets today. And it the smell. It's kind of like this nice cologne. So that's nice. I'd like to find a way to like, do the laundry smell smell nice. Yeah, I do. Like, yeah, I understand my clothes as much because it battles your perfume. Right in my bed. And I don't even know I doubt that that brand was eco. He probably just read about it on Twitter and was like, I need to smell good. So that's probably why he got it. But Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, it is hard. You can also do like, I don't know, you know how you feel about essential oils, but you can do like little spritz. Yeah, I used to do that on my pillow. But then I'm like, Yeah, I'm like, sometimes. Fine. Okay, you know, right. Or yeah, like I said, there is soap that you can buy. Like, yeah, there's a lot of options. You might be able to even put essential oils into the I think some people do that. I think they mix essential oils with the Washington soda. Yeah. And that might work. And then there's also fells. Nat fells nap. The fells nap. I don't know how you say it. It's really old school soap like a bar of laundry says Napa. Yeah, I see it. Okay. Yes. It's like something my great grandmother would have used but that's an option. It smells soapy. It's not very good for you, though. So I look at I was like, I liked the smell. And I was like, Oh, I so hope that this is well because I was grading that up for a while in my like the laundry detergent. And I was like mixing it into its own thing. And then I read that that what it's got some crap in it that you don't get it isn't great. So So what made it Napa was a skin and eye irritant, but now they no longer use Napa. They use terpene hydrocarbons. So I don't know if those are. I don't know. I feel like I looked it up on the Environmental Working Group. But it's like no, maybe don't. I'm curious now. Okay, rating. I got it. Oh, it's a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Natural gas condensates petroleum, petroleum distillates and the dissolution of coal tar and peat. It's kind of like when they used to like us lie. Yeah, I was thinking that lie. Yeah. Because that's made from ash. Right? Yeah. Okay, so Phil's nap is made is rated not bad. Actually. It's a see. Okay, but the fragrant The fragrance is the problem. Okay, that makes sense. Oh, and then some other things. I know it's a mixed bag. But yeah, if you want some smells and you don't mind a little, something's in it, then try that or there. There's other options. I think they're actually Nancy recommended in her book or girl Nancy. Yeah, girl. Come on the show. She recommended vegan laundry soap. So, okay, possibly better. I don't know. I haven't looked into it. Vegan laundry. So that's not something I ever thought I would have to. I know. So many vegan things. Vegan laundry. So yeah, it's like gluten free laundry. So that might be a thing. Gluten free water. Exactly. Yeah. We talked about gluten free water. Yeah, honestly. So it's the thing and it's kind of interesting. All right. Thank you. I know it is. So next week, we're talking about wool dryer balls. Yes. Which I stand. Not to give it away. But I do. I'm a wool dryer ball, Stan. Yeah, me too, since we're on a laundry kick. But yeah, yeah. And then in two weeks, I'm going to be chatting about I'm going to tell you all about green bleach. I am stoked. Yeah. It's supposed to be a more eco friendly version of chlorine bleach. And I had an adventure with it. So we'll cover all the things about it. And that'll be interesting. Oh, and I'm gonna be talking about sun bleaching. That's huge. Yes, honestly, life changing. Yeah, I put that's what I do when I watched the dog's bed as I put the pillow. Things like the stuffing interior out outside. So the sound smart. And then yeah, when I wash the cover, that way, kill some bleaching out of it. That is so smart. Thank you. Thank Thank you. I do have advanced degrees as we both do in fine arts. Amazing. Yeah. I'm excited about that one too. Awesome. So yes. So if you you know, be sure to subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen. And then Ding ding ding ding. Yeah. And we have not figured out how to sign off on this. Yeah, well gather. Green it up, baby. Have a green one. Gonna go drink my green tea now. Oh, yeah, I had green. It wasn't green tea. It was just had tea tea. Tea Tea. Tea Tea. Yeah, so well, it will eventually figure out how to start. Yeah, but yeah, this was super fun. I'm Thank you for listening to my lots of chemistry. No, no. Okay, for doing the work. I really appreciate it. Anytime. All right. All righty. Good night.

Intro
What's In Laundry Detergent, Really?
The Trick to Rating the Sustainability of Detergents (and Everything Else)
3-Ingredient DIY Laundry Detergent Recipe
Good Non-DIY Detergents
TLDR/Granola Rating
Next Week: Wool Dryer Balls