Laundry Love. Yeah, right.

Laundry is my pet peeve.  I can spend all day doing laundry; washing, drying, folding, putting it all away.  And then, at the end of the day, I change into my P.J.'s to crawl into bed and *bam!* there's more laundry.  It never ends.

I'm picky about my laundry detergent, too.  It has to work AND it has too smell good.  I have been hesitant to make the switch to chemical free in the laundry room because of those reasons.  I've made my own detergent powders in the past and always been disappointed.  Other recipes with rave reviews still contain store bought softener which, I feel, defeats the purpose.

I decided to try again a couple months ago with a recipe I found on pinterest for a liquid laundry detergent.  Hubby was skeptical telling me we would be separating our clothes so he could use tide.  I started using the new home-made detergent without even telling him just to see what he thought.  One day, while he was switching the load from the washer to the dryer, he yelled accross the upstairs balcony, "This laundry smells so good!"  Only then did I reveal that I had made the stuff.  We have been pleasantly surprised with the recipe as I made my second batch of it last week.  Our laundry smells fresh and we have not been disappointed by its cleaning power.  It was also a good introduction for me to the world of Dr. Bonner's Liquid Castile Soap.

Check out the recipe at the Live Simply blog.

The dryer sheets were an easier thing to cut.  I had been phasing them out for the last several months before buying some wool dryer balls.  Wool dryer balls are an all natural way to fluff your laundry while decreasing static and drying time.  I heard good things about Woolzies brand so I bough a package of 6 XL balls.  I toss all 6 into the dryer.  It couldn't be easier.  I intended to try adding 10-15 drops of essential oil on one of the balls and tossing it in later in the cycle for an added fresh scent, but haven't felt the need to try it yet.  As an added bonus, the fur-babies are anxious to help with the laundry now.  ;)