How to do your own laundry at home (simple, cheap and without waste)?

Do you want to save or reduce your waste? DIY laundry detergent might then interest you, especially if you know the tips and tricks to prevent it from clogging up your washing machine, to make a homemade fabric softener/softener, or to remove stubborn stains, even on white laundry.

Why do laundry at home?

Doing laundry at home has several advantages:

• First of all it is much cheaper.. If conventional laundry detergent bought ready-made in stores costs at least 2 euros per liter, you can do well with less than 1 euro per kilo of homemade laundry detergent.
• It is also customizablesince you can perfume it with your favorite essential oil (which is however not recommended for pregnant women, children and newborns).
• It’s even rewardingas you can rejoice that you made it at home, which can make you proud.
• And finally, it’s zero waste. In fact, you produce little or no waste by producing your own laundry detergent starting from simple raw materials, easily available in bulk in dedicated shops. And even if you don’t start with materials purchased in bulk, the little packaging you buy and throw away will still form far less waste than buying and throwing away a container of conventional laundry detergent every quarter, or even every month if you have a large family. In this, Do-it-yourself laundry is even more eco-friendly.

Doing laundry at home also has some disadvantages, but they are easy to compensate for:

• Homemade laundry detergent does not smell the same as store-bought laundry detergent, certainly, but it is precisely because the commercial ones are full of perfume. You are free to personalize it with a few drops of your favorite essential oil (keeping in mind that it is not recommended for pregnant women, newborns and children) or get rid of the belief that clean laundry must smell like laundry. It’s not laundry detergent that smells clean. These are the laundry detergent brands that want you to associate their scent with the idea of ​​cleanliness.

• Homemade laundry detergent would make your laundry rougher than conventional laundry detergent. But it’s easy to remedy this by also making a DIY fabric softener/softener at home. Simply fill a bottle with 2/3 water and 1/3 household white vinegar. You can also customize the smell with a few drops of essential oil.
• In cold or low temperatures, homemade detergent does not stain like conventional detergent. This is an impression we owe to the fact that conventional detergents are formidable, especially thanks to the many aggressive surfactants. This is also why some sensitive skin may find them irritating. But the best stain remover is to rub Marseille soap directly on the stains, before washing your clothes. And if they’re white clothes, you can also soak them for another hour in a basin of water with a tablespoon or two of sodium percabonate, before putting them in the washing machine.
• Homemade laundry detergent could clog your washing machine. This is a risk that can easily be prevented by running a short cycle once a month, or once every 2 months, without spinning, to clean the drum with 1 liter of household white vinegar.

What are the essential ingredients for DIY laundry at home?

• 45 g Marseille soap flakes (or black soap)
• 1 liter of water
• 3 tablespoons of baking soda (or 2 tablespoons of sodium crystals and 2 tablespoons of baking soda for greater effectiveness).

How to do laundry at home? The simple, quick and economical recipe

1. Dissolve the Marseille soap flakes in water in a bain-marie. Stir occasionally. The glitter will dissolve completely.
2. Add the baking soda (and any sodium crystals, which are optional but make laundry more effective) then mix.
3. Pour it into a clean glass bottle or an old plastic laundry detergent container you may have saved.
4. Shake the detergent well before each use and pour between 50 and 70 ml per machine, depending on the hardness of the water and the degree of soiling of the laundry. And go ahead, drum!

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