Soapnuts!

I was intrigued at the thought. Nut shells, cleaning my laundry? That can be used many times? This fascinates me.

I immediately ordered them from the first site i found them in, which was unfortunately in the UK. Someone was kind enough to give me a link to a place in the US that sells them, and kindly reminded me that Google is my friend. haha. I had to wait a little bit for the soapnuts to come in, and even longer before i was actually ready to use them.

But i'm getting ahead of myself. First things first - what are soap nuts?

Soap nuts are the fruit of the Chinese Soapberry Tree (Sapindus mukorrosi). They are shells that contain saponin, an all-natural surfectant. When water touches the shells, it creates a detergent that works wonders for cleaning. You take a few shells and put them in a small drawstring bag, and toss it in the wash with your clothes. That's it. You can even leave them in through the rinse cycle and they won't get sudsy or anything. :) I added a little lavender essential oil to the bag to lightly scent my laundry.

What drew me to throw dried Chinese berries into my wash? I was looking for an all-natural laundry detergent. When conventional detergents are entered into the water system, it wreaks havoc on the ecosystem...killing algae and fish, polluting our waters. I personally like water and would like to keep it for a while, so i figured reducing the damage would be a small step. This lead me to soapnuts. They're biodegradeable, reneawable, all sorts of good stuff. Also reusable... one baggie of the soapnuts can be used for 4-6 loads of laundry. It also naturally softens your clothes, so there's no need for added softener.

Upon reading the included info, i found that you can also make a cleaning solution with the nuts, by simmering them in water and putting the solution in a spray bottle. I have to say, it is the UGLIEST cleaning solution ever, but it works just fine!

Some places you can find soapnuts to try on your own:

Maggie's Pure Land - California

In A Soapnut Shell - UK

So that's it... in a nut shell. ;)