A Natural Laundry Boost

Written by Sarah Desjardins of

Becoming Martha

Using natural products in your laundry room, such as baking soda and vinegar, will leave your clothing, bedding, and towels just as clean (or cleaner) than chemicals—and it’s gentler on your pocket book, too. Read on to discover some of the best natural laundry tips!

There is an easy way to make sure your towels and sheets come out fresh smelling with every wash—and it might surprise you. You may just think of baking soda as something to keep smelly odors out of the fridge, but it also works wonders in the laundry room. The 5 pound bag is a convenient way to make sure you always have some on hand. Add ½ cup of baking soda to your laundry’s rinse cycle, and wash on the hottest setting for best results. Dry as normal for the freshest smelling towels and bedsheets.

Hampers, especially those with fabric linings, can be a source of unwanted odors—even after smelly laundry has been removed. To solve this problem, place an baking soda at the bottom of the hamper, or tuck one between the fabric liner and exterior. It will serve the same purpose as that box of baking soda in your fridge: to eliminate bad smells instead of masking them with fragrance.

Sometimes, your washing machine may be the very thing standing in the way of fresh laundry. Dirt and residue often get stuck in the nooks of your machine, so cleaning it once or twice a month is a great way to make sure it’s pristine. Remove all clothing from the machine, then pour ½ cup of baking soda into the detergent compartment and run a complete cycle to remove built-up residue from detergents and dirty laundry.

Pillows are something many people forget to wash, but they should be laundered at least twice a year. Like all other bedding, pillows accumulate dust, dirt, and sweat from our bodies as we sleep, so it’s important to remove all of that residue. To wash, fill your machine with hot water and add ½ cup of baking soda before adding your pillows. (If you have a front load washer, place the pillows and baking soda in at the same time.) Set your machine to the heavy soil setting, and run a full cycle. Make sure to wash two pillows at once, so your machine remains balanced. Once the cycle is completed, transfer the pillows to the dryer with a few tennis balls to fluff them up again.

Not only are dryer sheets full of chemicals that get released into the air, residue from these chemicals are left on your clothes, which then come in contact with your skin. Thankfully, dryer sheets are one of the easiest laundry products to make yourself. Start by placing cut up fabric squares in a container with a tight seal, such as a mason jar. Pour 1 cup of vinegar and, if desired, 8-10 drops of your favorite essential oil over the fabric squares, then seal and shake. Add 3-4 squares with each dryer load to give laundry a natural fabric-softening boost while keeping static at bay.