Flying Saucers Did My Laundry

by Mike Sowden on February 19, 2008 in Sex

The average laundry detergent contains a veritable laboratory of chemicals. All those cleaning agents, stabilizers and brightening compounds certainly do the trick, but at what cost?

Those optical brighteners that make your whites even whiter by absorbing ultraviolet light and sending it back as blue light to mask discoloration may be great on your clothes, but they are not so great against your body (eye irritations and skin rashes). Besides, they’re terrible for the environment – slow to biodegrade, harmful to aquatic life and capable of mutating bacteria. There’s a stain you can’t remove.

Here’s a fun alternative – throw a few EcoBalls in your washing machine. One set costs around $60 and lasts for 750 to 1,000 washes – a substantial saving on detergent. Furthermore, they wash quickly on a low heat, giving you another saving on your household bill (and allowing your clothes to last and last). They have antibacterial qualities, and soften clothes as they go. They’re also free of perfume.

Despite being completely soap and chemical free, these little saucers seem to work fine (check out the mostly positive reviews here). Yet again, it suggests we’ve been fooled – we don’t need to use a cocktail of chemicals to get things clean. But if little green flying saucers bouncing around inside your washer aren’t your thing (or if you miss that summer-fresh smell), there are plenty of ecologically friendly detergents to choose from”¦

Image: EcoBalls

Sara
February 20th, 2008 at 4:35 PM

These are awesome! If you want a fresh scent with your laundry, simply toss a sack of dried herbs in with your clothes when you dry them. Make sure the sack is a thick enough weave (not cheesecloth) and the herbs are very dry so you don’t get any oils on your clothes.
Sara
February 20th, 2008 at 4:44 PM

These are awesome! If you want a fresh scent with your laundry, simply toss a sack of dried herbs in with your clothes when you dry them. Make sure the sack is a thick enough weave (not cheesecloth) and the herbs are very dry so you don’t get any oils on your clothes.
Mike S.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:07 PM

Terrific idea, Sara.

Apparently a few people also found that after a month or so of zero-detergent washing, a faintly musty smell was coming from the machine. The way to get rid of this is apparently to put a 50/50 water to white vinegar solution on a high-temp wash – leaves the machine fresh and zingy.
Sara
February 20th, 2008 at 5:42 PM

These are awesome! If you want a fresh scent with your laundry, simply toss a sack of dried herbs in with your clothes when you dry them. Make sure the sack is a thick enough weave (not cheesecloth) and the herbs are very dry so you don’t get any oils on your clothes.
Sarah
February 21st, 2008 at 12:19 PM

But I’m wondering, what are they and how the heck do they work?