Sustainable Living 1

My first post on sustainable living covers laundry detergent.  My journey to sustainability with laundry detergent has taken many turns over the years.  Originally, I used powdered laundry detergent because that's what my mother always used.  Then I learned about how bad phosphates were for the environment and that liquid detergent didn't contain phosphates, so I switched to liquid.  A few years ago, I started buying Seventh Generation laundry detergent to avoid the other nasty chemicals found in your typical laundry detergents.  However, I knew that even Seventh Generation was not perfect and that the plastic bottles were not good for the environment.  So now, this is what I use:

Soap nuts!  Soap nuts are entirely organic in the sense that they grow on a tree, the sapindus tree to be specific.  There is minimal packaging and a few soap nuts go a long way.  As you can see from the packaging, I should be able to get 330 loads out of a bag the approximate size of a typical laundry detergent bottle.  All I need add is boiling water, some essential oils, an upcycled bottle, and my time.  And the used soap nuts go to compost.  It's a win-win situation.