The last installment of sustainable laundry from the Homegrown Collective – and I saved the most interesting for last! I bet you haven’t heard of either of these two laundry options before (and if you have, then I definitely live under a rock).

These are soap nuts. Crazy looking, right? They are the the pulp and skin of a fruit or berry – where the pulp is the source of saponin (soap). You literally throw the muslin bag of soap nuts into your washing machine – the hulls will naturally break down over time after which they are then compostable!

So apparently soap nuts are used to give body and life back to your clothes – but are also special because these are 100% pure and natural earth candy. There are no chemicals at all, so these are perfect for people whose skin is irritated by softeners or fabric detergents. You can find these at several places online (try here, here and here).

The big ball of fluff is just that — a natural ball of wool, used to substitute for dryer sheets in your dryer. You take an essential oil and add a couple drops to this wool ball, throw the ball into the dryer with your clothes and done. That’s it. The ball takes all the static from your clothes and naturally softens them while adding a simple and gentle smell of whatever essential oil you add. The wool dryer ball lasts such a long time, it saves a ton of money spent on dryer sheets and replaces all those nasty chemicals found in them too. The ball will naturally firm and shrink over time.

Dryer sheet manufacturers are not required to list ALL the chemicals used to create their sheets – so even if you can decipher some of those long chemical names, there is no telling what else is hiding back there. There’s a chance this might not be news to you? If it is, read up on the dangers of the toxic chemicals found in dryer sheets and consider switching to an alternative.

That’s it for my sampling of the GREEN box from The Homegrown Collective. I hope you enjoyed learning about some sustainable ways to change your laundry practices and perhaps have tried some of these now? I’ll be using these soap nuts and laundry soaps for good!