apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

you forgot trader joe's! i've been buying detergent there for about 6 months now. it smells great (actual lavender!), it's cheaper than the stuff at the regular grocery store, and it's cool to use in a front-loading machine.

also, vons (probably safeway too) has come out with an earth-friendly line of cleaners. i've been getting liquid fabric softener there lately. i like using the same scent for all my products, and i was tres stoked to discover it also contains actual lavender.

doh! you're right doolzie, I totally forgot about tj's! Thanks for chiming in!

In typical AT fashion, I will comment about the picture and not the content of the post. That bed looks perfect. The simplicity of the wood combined with what looks to be impossibly flat, pressed white sheets makes me cringe with jealousy. I do not care that we shalt not want for I do.

Now, let's get down to the grit. Where do "we" think that I can drop some hard-earned cash on that duvet or something similar, something with boxes or some matelasse cover and shams with clean lines?

Thanks for the help. Thanks for the shove off of the cliff of materialism.

I worked at an all natural grocery store and got all of this stuff for cheap. Out of all the ones I tried, Seventh Generation was the worse. It's super pricey and it doesn't clean my clothes. After a year of searching for a perfect natural detergent this is our favorite;

Earth Friendly Products Ultra Ecos Magnolia and Lily scented. It comes with a soy based fabric softener.

We pay $10 at whole foods for a 100 load bottle.
It smells perfect and leaves our clothes smelling good.
And it's sodium laurel sulfate free!

I'd really love to see a good post on soap versus detergent -- there is so much confusion between them.

For example, Charlie's Soap is a detergent, and NOT a soap, which is quite significant with respect to the environment.

It's too bad that Amilya's Soapworks no longer exists, because she had true laundry SOAP, as well as great information on the difference between soap and detergent, why soap is better -- for both people and the environment.

Check out Savon de Marseille, Dr. Bronner's (although their laundry product, SalSuds, is a detergent), and Pure Soap Flakes from Allo Laverie in Manhattan.

They have a great article about washing with soap:

http://www.french-handlaundry.com/orvus_vs_soap.htm

The key information in their article is how to wash anything that has been in contact with your skin, especially in areas with hard water: soak first in borax or washing soda (the alkaline substances and water will flush away the acids so that it can be cleaned properly).

Here's another useful article about soaps versus detergents, although its focus is on products for skin:

http://www.clearwatersoapworks.com/site/1501105/page/588981

@ hendrickb11: The source is usually noted on AT posts, in this case on the last line: "Image is of Calvin Klein Core Collection"

It's available at Macy's via the link ;)

-Ruth

I've been using the "washer ball" for a couple of years, no big ole box of detergent lying around. Somehow it makes the water softer to clean clothes. I also use the dryer balls and I could tell with each wash that my clothes were softer than ever.

Does anyone care too enlighten the ignorant among us (that would be me!) about what is environmentally wrong with regular laundry products? I use Tide. Why should I switch to something else? I would defitinely consider doing so if I had a good reason.

outonalimb_2008, here you go:

http://www.thegreenguide.com/greenguide/home-garden/cleaning/laundry-detergents

I've had a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds around the house for forever, since I use it for dishes and floors and surfaces, but I just today realized it works in the washing machine and the dishwasher. I plan to give it a try.

Sheesh! Scary stuff! Thanks for the link, Cheryl, I will definitely look into this.

I will also toss in a very old laundry tip I just remembered, from my grandmother (who was born in 1889--yes, that's 1889--she has since passed on, as you might imagine). According to her, the way they used to whiten linen tablecloths etc (or anything else, really) was to spread them out on the green grass on a sunny day. She said their was something about the combination of the chlorofyll (sp?) in the grass and the sunlight that really took the stains and grey out of them. I have tried that myself, and it really does work, amazingly well. Can't get much more environmentally-friendly than that (assuming no chemicals on the grass)!

I don't use softeners in the washing machine nor in the dryer: my clothes are soft.

Ecover laundry powder works very well, and the Ecover non-chlorine bleach powder added to white sheets seems to make them even fresher (we use it for all our whites). Washing our sheets in Tide used to irritate our skin, but Ecover doesn't. We also use dryer balls. Dryer balls are apparently bad because they're made out of PVC, but personally we just didn't want to use dryer sheets because they usually contain animal fat. Gross.

TJ's works really well, even with cold water wash, and it smells great. They also sell lavender-filled sachet type things for the dryer.

Is there a really good alternative to bleach? I've switched my detergent and for a while also stopped buying bleach.

And I have no idea why but my towels went off. Only towels and nothing else not even my terry robe. I tried adding vinegar to the wash, also tried baking soda, tried sunning them, tried dumping boiling water on them then soaking with baking soda, and i broke down and bought bleach.....and they're fine now. But I don't want to use it.

RE: bleach, using oxygen bleach is a good alternative, both for cleaning porcelain sinks, etc., and for whites... still chemicals, but better for those times when something just needs *help* to get white again! Mrs. Meyer's makes a "lavender" one but it smells godawful... any recommendations for one with a yummy smell? No smell is easy to come by, but since I use it on sheets I'd really love a subtle fragrance.

Also, I wanted to ask-- does anyone iron their sheets? I hate the way ours are really crumpled coming out of the dryer (we don't use dryer sheets-- too greasy-feeling-- but I do dry on low heat)...I love sleeping on super-smooth ironed hotel linens. Problem is, due to space constraints we only have a mini ironing board used for work clothing emergencies and napkins/pillowcases. I've thought of doing it on our dining table but worry about ruining the finish even if I put an old towel down...also when I have ironed other things this way it is very slippery and too low. What do other people do? Should we suck it up and get a big ironing board? Also, it seems pretty time consuming (right now we are pretty frequent sheet-launders, but if it's going to take me 45 minutes to iron that might change!). How often do people wash/press bed linens? Any suggestions for other methods? We live in the city so while there is space to line dry on our roof I think they would get sooty based on the amount that I find on our windowsills... and no lawn to lay them on. =(

My name is Seaside and I am a Downey Wrinkle Releaser-aholic.

marie516,
Went a bit crazy over the last month and bought 500-thread Eygptian cotton sheets, a new Simmons Beautyrest bed, polyfill mattress topper (on top of the topper built into the mattress), and now life is pure bliss. It's even given me another 30-60 minutes sleep time.

So recently I decided to take this luxury a step further and iron my own sheets. My wife - who refused to do it - thought I was crazy, but it makes a huge difference... not only in looks but in feel.

The problem was, as fast as I ironed, 15 minutes per sheet was the best I could do. That's even with pulling them from the drier slightly damp to reduce wrinkles and ironing time. My bed is a queen size, and that's a lot of flat cotton real estate.

And because I change both sheets twice a week, the hour's downtime was a killer. There's lots more in life to do than stand over a hot iron :)

So I get them professionally laundered. Not only does it save me the hour and more, but the service does them better, drying them on a line in the fresh air, and even folding the fitted sheets better than I ever could. They give free pickup and delivery each week.

As for changing times, back in the old days I used to follow the everyone-changes-once-a-week dogma without much thought. But when I went into it in more detail and looked at the cleanliness issue, it's like wearing the same clothes for a week! No-one I know does that, so why should sleeping in the same sheets be any different? There's still a liter of sweat extruded each night that we're wallowing in. So I upped my standards to twice a week.

I'd now like to change them 3 times a week. I already change the pillow cases daily, so it is not a big step.

Apart from the cleanliness factor, slipping into clean, crisply pressed sheets each night is a luxury I've only formerly experienced in high end hotels. The effort is worth it!

I use Laundry Dropps - www.dropps.com. I was using seventh gen but it just didn't get my clothes clean. The dropps are great because they take up NO space in my closet, and I don't have to lug a jug down to washer in the basement of my apt. Plus they're in super cute little pods!
I think I found mine at Target.
http://dropps.com/shop.php?page=buy

Can't you iron the sheets on the bed or would that harm the mattress in some way? I've been tempted to iron my sheets, but haven't gotten around to trying it. I just figured I'd iron out the obvious wrinkles on the sheet after I put it on the bed.

For those who are fretting about sheet ironing:

I have the Pure Beech modal sheets from Bed Bath and Beyond. They are by far the softest, most snuggly sheets I've ever felt in my life. You won't want to get out of bed. Also, they don't wrinkle unless you leave them crumpled in a ball for weeks. No ironing, beautiful sheets. Also, they are a great price ($80 for a Queen I think). Check them out.