Green housing : Laundry detergent

Ivy laundry detergent is my favorite. It is natural, free, and zero-waste. Ivy grows every where aound us, and in those weird times, why are more than happy to have a good reason to put you outside the house ! You only need 3 ingredients: climbing ivy, water, and a little time. Plus, it’s fun, easy, and completely safe to make! Climbing ivy contains between 5 and 8% of saponin, an effective cleaning agent. (as a proof of saponin, just qhake your mixture when ready, you will see bubles that show you you have natural soap in your bottle !) It’s a natural detergent and foaming substance, and is great for lifting grease, dirt, and grime from clothing. As a result, we can make laundry soap with climbing ivy by extracting saponin through a simple process known as a decoction. This could actually be done with any other plant having a high saponin content. For instanse, you can try this recipe with other plants like quinoa, alfalfa, soap nuts, horse chestnut or soapweed. I stick with climbing ivy as it can be found anywhere in the planet, specially in north part and it is available all year long ! So feel free to experiment! As a bonus : kids can help you to pick the leaves and to prepare the concoction, as far as they wash their hands afeter touching ivy.

The ingredients

·   50 leaves of ivy
·   Water
·   1 tea spoon of Bicarbonad of soda

The easy recipe

Pick 50 ivy leaves : the best, the ones which contains a higher proportion of saponi are the oldest one. The big and dark leaves.
Clean them and cut the stems.
Put the leaves in a saucepan add a liter of cold water
Crumple the leaves to let seve escape easily. Cover and set it over strong flame
When boiling, leave 15 minutes, cover, low heat.
Set outisde flame in a jar with leaves for 24h. let it cool down and macerate.

After 24h, Filter and pu in bottle. Add a pinch of bicarbonad of soda. To extend its life, you can add a few drops of an anti-bacterial essantial oil (tea tree, geranium)

Tag the bottle. Store it in the fridge, No more than 1 month

How to use it

Suitable for dark and coloured laundry.
Add a pinch of bicarbonad of soda in the washing machine drum if laundry is very dirty and 1 full glass of ivy detergent in the proper area for laundry detergent (20cl)

Conservation

2 to 4 weeks in the fridge if it’s warm where you live.