I’ve been doing our laundry with soap nuts.
They grow on trees. They’re dried shells of a fruit.
They look funny and smell funny, but they work pretty well. The laundry comes out smelling clean and feeling soft. Even my line-dried bath towels are less crunchy. They’re almost soft. And they smell like clean, line-dried, sunshine baked towels.
You tie a few of these into a little cotton bag, and put them in the washing machine. They release a mild, natural detergent into the water.
From what I read on the internet, they work better with warm water than with cold water, and they’re less effective if you have hard water. We have normal water, and so far I like them. Clothes I’ve washed with them and then line dried smell more like that airy line-dried smell I remember from my childhood than clothes I’ve washed with regular detergent and then line dried.
what the heck?!? where do you get them? how much are they? i want some!
I got them from whole foods, but you can order them from here:
http://www.maggiespureland.com/
Or here:
http://www.lullwaterbrands.com/
I haven’t figured out how much they are per laundry load yet.
I need is a laundry squirrel.
Love the soap nuts. I have a Pasadena related Q for you. Do you know of any good fabric stores in the area? Or, do you know of any crafty bloggers new you that I could ask the same question? I will be there this summer for a meeting and would love to check out some local shops to support my fabric addiction. Your blog is great!