5 Green & Clean Laundry Helpers

As a mother of five kiddos under the age of eight, I deal with a LOT of laundry. We can do upwards of twenty loads per week around our house, and a good portion of the items are kids' clothes that tend to get covered in tomato sauce, marker, and spit up.We also live in a very hard water area, so keeping the clothes soft, colors bright, and whites white is a constant battle.

Since most commercially available stain removers and fabric softeners are laden with nasty chemicals, I prefer to look for natural solutions to my laundry problems. Natural laundry remedies are also cost effective, which makes them winners in my book.  Here is a compilation of my top tips and tricks - feel free to add your own in the comments section!!

1. Baking Soda

Baking soda can perform a vast array of household wonders, and keeping your laundry clean, soft and odor-free is just the tip of the iceberg.  Soak stinky items overnight (cloth diapers, gym socks, the lovey that your child drags to the grocery store ... and the park ... and the bathroom) in a tub or bucket with a solution of baking soda diluted in warm water. To remove stains from cotton clothing, make a paste of baking soda and water and rub it into the stain. Allow the baking soda paste to sit for an hour or two, and then launder as usual. For general fabric softening, add 1/2 cup of baking soda to the rinse cycle of every load. In short, buy it in bulk!

2. Vinegar

Another superstar of household uses, vinegar is a great addition to your laundry room arsenal. Adding it to your fabric softener dispenser in every load will leave you with soft clothes. Vinegar will also help remove any built up detergent residue in your laundry, which will leave you with brighter colors and whiter whites! Finally, vinegar (in an ironic turn of events, considering how it tends to clear a room due to its tear-inducing aroma) is great at removing lingering odors in fabrics.

3. Fresh Air

Air drying your clothes is an excellent choice for several reasons. First off, it's FREE. I like free. By cutting out the use of your electricity-sucking dryer you are not only saving yourself a few dollars, but saving the environment, too.  Line drying is also much gentler on fabrics than the intense heat of a dryer, so clothes will stay looking new much longer. Your duds will also take on that irresistibly fresh scent of sunshine and blue skies that only line drying can provide. Plus, there's something inherently beautiful about a woman with a laundry basket on her hip and a bag of clothespins in her hand.

4. Sunshine

Speaking of sunshine, give it a try on stubborn, organic stains and dingy whites! The sun will naturally remove or diminish most organic stains (baby poop, spit up, etc ...), and will return most whites to their original glory. Hang items in the sunniest spot in your yard and allow them to sit for a few hours. Harnessing the power of the sun is a beautiful thing ... 

5. Lemon Juice

Did life hand you lemons? No problem! Squeeze those babies and add the juice to your next load of whites. Much like the acid in vinegar acts as a bleach alternative, one cup of lemon juice added to your regular detergent can whiten a whole load of whites without the harsh side effects of household bleach.

Happy laundering!