It's soapnut love all over again!

I posted already about using soapnuts for your laundry and mentioned that I was wanting to try using the liquid for general cleaning, etc. Well... on Saturday after losing the muslin bag ful of nuts three times in my wash I was getting frustrated with using them. I crave simplicity and these were not proving to be as simple as I first thought with having to shake and turn out each article of clothing from the washer looking for the muslin bag of soapnuts before putting it in the dryer.
So before I was going to decide if I was going to give up on soapnuts, I thought I'd give the liquid a shot. And I'm glad I did. :) I'm back in love with soapnuts and maybe even a little more now. I boiled about 12-14 new soapnuts in 6 cups of water for about 30 minutes then added enough water to bring it back up to 4 cups worth of liquid. I left in the soapnuts but you can take them out if you like. Also, don't be afraid of the tea coloured liquid, it will NOT stain your clothing! :) For an extra boost and to add some scent, I added a few drops (I accidently used too many of TTO) of tea tree oil and lavender essential oils.
For laundry (including cloth), I add in 3 tablespoons (which is how much the oxyclean scoop holds, so I just use an old one to measure it out).
I also added 3tlbs to my bottle of general cleaner and it works SO much better! I just didn't add the essential oils since the soapnut liquid already has some in there. I tried it on my very dirty patio windows and it works fantastic, works great on floors too.
All in all, I"m very happy with the results. I'd like to play around with some scents as I've been checking out the Rockin' Green laundry detergent website and they've come up with some yummy scents that I was thinking of trying.

ETA: A friend of mine just reminded me (thanks Shona!!) that this doesn't keep that long. I've been using the jar for 4 days now stored in my cupboard for 4 days now and it's still perfectly fine but this won't keep for too long. If you weren't a family of 5 who cloth diapers two children and uses this as your main cleaner (lol!) then I'd store it in the fridge or even better, freeze it in ice cube trays and pop up to 3 in the washing machine. If you're using cold water, I'd let the cubes melt first! :)

ETA (May 14, 2010): I made my second batch of soapnut liquid today and have learned something: This stuff loves to boil over furiously! Last time I made it, I used a big stockpot but this time I used a medium sized pot which boiled over all over the place. It's fine to use a medium sized pot, just watch it until it comes to a boil and turn to a simmer right away.

Soap Nuts

I've been hearing about the benefits of soap nuts for a while now and finally about two weeks ago I decided to give it a try. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical of their cleaning power because it's just a the outer shell of a seed from a tree grown in India or Nepal. But I have to say, I'm so impressed with them! They work so well at my regular laundry that I tried them with cloth diapers and soap nuts work even better than detergent on cloth because you don't need to do a final rinse. Think of all the water and energy being saved from skipping a final rinse!
For a load of laundry, put 4-6 soapnuts in the cloth bag that is usually provided when you buy a bag of soapnuts from your health food store.Toss the bag in with your wash load and do laundry as you normally would. Just make sure to remove the bag before putting your clothing in the dryer.
I've been reusing them only twice because I want to make a liquid concentrate from the used soapnuts (I've been reading that you could use them up to four times and then compost the used soap nuts.). You can use soapnut concentrate for a lot of different things: shampoo, dishsoap, add some to a bath for clearing up eczema or psoriasis and general household cleaning. I'm eager to make up a liquid concentrate when I have enough soapnuts to do so. I found this website to be so helpful. There's tons of great information and ideas on how to use soap nuts.
The only negative I can think of for soapnuts is that they aren't effective at getting rid of stains but I usually pretreat my stains with some oxyclean anyways. Also, laying your stained clothing or diapers in the direct sunlight for a few hours will get rid of almost any stain!
I definitely recommend giving soapnuts a try. I'm glad I finally did as I will not be going back to man made detergents again. :)

Simple and Natural Cleaning

Some of the most toxic stuff in our homes are those that are used for cleaning. So toxic that people die each year from the chemicals in cleaners.
Some of the toxins in commercially made cleansers are:

• formaldehyde which is a known carcinogen.
• chlorine which is the #1 cause of breast cancer and has also been used in chemical warfare.
• triclosan which can cause liver damage
• petroleum distillates causes skin and lung cancer
• amonia which causes respiratory problems
• perchlorethylene damages liver, kidney and nervous systems.
• hydrochloric acid damages kidney and liver.
• hypochlorite bleach damaging to skin, eyes and respiratory system and pulmanory edema.
• enzymes and phosphorus cause rashes, allergies and sinus infections

This is just a SMALL list of what is in commercially made cleansers. Since world war 2, more than 80,000 chemicals have been invented. Most of these have been invented for chemical warfare but are now used in our cleaners, food and water supplies.
Once I found this out, I had to make a change! For the past few years I've stopped using most commerical cleansers and went back to basics: vinegar, baking soda, aromatherapy, washing soda, etc. These clean just as well if not better than what you can buy at the store and best of all you save SO much money.
Here's a list of recipes for cleaners:

Soft Scrubber: Mix 1/2 cup baking soda with just enough liquid detergent (I like 7th Generation) to make a paste. Scoop some onto a wet cloth and scrub away! Works great for the bathtub.
Window Cleaner: In a spray bottle, mix in 1/4tsp liquid detergent, 3 tbls vinegar and 2 cups water.
All purpose cleaner: Fill a spray bottle 1/4 of the way full with vinegar (5%), add 20 drops tea tree oil, 10 drops lavender essential oil and fill with water. Shake well before each use. I use this cleaner the most to wash down my counters, spray on cutting boards, wash the bathroom, etc.
Floor Wash: To clean my floors, I fill up the sink abouta  1/4 way with hot water and add a glug (1/4 cup maybe?) of vinegar with 10 drops tea tree oil and 5 drops of lavender. The essential oils will not only help disinfect your floors but leaves your house smelling great!
Mold Killer: Mix 2 tsp tea tree oil in 2 cups water in either a bucket or a spray bottle and apply to moldy area. Do not rinse. Works better than anythign I've ever used!
Disinfectant: To wash cutting boards or when cleaning the toilet bowl, use straight vinegar and leave on as long as possible. I spray vinegar on my cutting boards before I go to bed at night and just rinse in the morning.

Give it a try and I promise you'll never go back to toxin filled chemical cleaners!