Soap Nuts – Laundry

I use soap nuts.  I only started using them last January.  Each bag of nuts lasts 6ish loads of laundry.  I like that they are natural and in the end cost less.  I still use oxiclean with some loads and I also use vinegar with my towels and I use bleach with the loads I would’ve bleached before.  This summer we did have a few shirts of my husbands that didn’t seem to come completely clean but haven’t had an issue since.  DH is a surveyor and out in the woods/mountains/elements all day long.  At least one of the shirts came from a day that they weathered a dust storm followed by a thunderstorm.  I’m not sure if regular soap would’ve done any better.  I did buy some laundry soap because DH complained about those shirts, but I haven’t really used it.  I need to go and get those shirts and just wash them with the soap and see ifit makes any difference.  With all my free time, I don’t know why I haven’t already done it!!  lol =)  I look forward to reading other response from those who’ve used them longer.  Oh, I’ve been told that you can compost them also, and being that they are a berry I don’t see why not.  So, instead of causing more garbage or chemicals in the water and ground, they can be composted!

I use soapnuts too and are happy with them overall. I make a strong version of the soapnuts liquid with EO so that I can use cool water as well. I put the liquid into sterilized canning jars while still hot and they seal and then last a lot longer without going bad. I have been making between 6-8 jars at a time and they last for a while. I use baking soda in the wash with the liquid sometimes and use a homemade vinegar based rinse for extra cleaning and fabric softening. If I need to do a “nasty” load of something or get my whites a little whiter I still use them but add to the load a whole other concoction that works quite well when needed. It does not do that well on stains on it’s own. I am past the diaper stage, so I cannot attest to that, but they work fine in hot water on my homemade, cloth pads and liners. Not sure if that is comparable or not! I bought our bag about a year ago and have still not needed to order any more. I used the whole nuts in the little muslin baggie at first but switched to making the liquid a while ago and like it MUCH better. It seems to be even more economical that way as well.

That’s all the info I can think to give from my experience. HTH!

-Miranda

It’s not hard and you only have to do it once every 2-4 months if you let the lids seal like you are canning them. I fill up my two biggest pots with purified water (you can probably use tap just fine, though, depending on what your water is like), put in 20-30 nuts (depending on if it is my biggest or second biggest), let it come to a boil then turn it down to simmer for a while. When the nuts have started turning a grayish tinge I know they are about done. You don’t need to stir it or keep it covered. You just need to watch that it gets turned down when it starts boiling so that it doesn’t foam up and over the pot. When I deem the liquid to be “strong” enough. I pour it into sterilized canning jars, add my tea tree and lavendar oils (you could skip this if you wanted to, but I don’t really like the smell of plain SN and adding some EO is not hard and helps with the cleaning as well). Then I put the lids on the jars and wait for them to seal. Then I store them in my laundry room.

HTH

-Miranda