Making your own laundry detergent doesn't mean sacrificing cleanliness or risking color fading. What it does mean is saving an incredible amount of money, not washing your clothes with toxins and not using toxins in the water that eventually makes it back into our water systems. The ingredients for this make-it-yourself natural laundry detergent are easy to find and inexpensive, and a little of this detergent goes a long way.

What you need: a 2 gallon clean container | 2 gallons hot distilled water, plus a little more | 2 cups baking soda | 1 grated Dr. Bronner's Magic Organic Castile Soap Bar, in your scent choice (available at most health food stores and Target)

How you make it:
1) In a large saucepan, cover the grated soap with just enough hot water to cover it and cook on medium-low heat. Stir frequently until the soap is completely melted.
2) In a large pail, pour 2 gallons of hot distilled water and add to it the melted soap. Stir well.
3) Add the baking soda and stir well once more to mix it all.
4) Pour it into your preferred 2 gallon container, I use the "in the door" slim water kind that you can get at Walmart for about $6. The baking soda in the mixture won't dissolve and when resting will separate from the soap mixture, this is normal.

How to use it:
1) Shake to mix.
2) For a full regular load use 1/2 cup of the laundry soap, for a very dirty or extra large load use 1 cup.

Baking soda is one of the best friends a Green cleaner can have! It has so many uses and is all natural and safe. Plus it's really very economically friendly too, often times under $1 a box. Here are 5 of my favorite uses for it.

1) Kitchen Scrubber - Baking soda is great for safely scrubbing stuck-on grease all over the kitchen. All you do is sprinkle a little over the spot then gently rub with a wet wash cloth or sponge and the grease will come right up.

2) Plastic Container Freshener - After a while reusable plastic containers smell a little funky and that stink can leach into your food. So we end up tossing them out. Not anymore! Simply pour some baking soda in the container, cover and leave overnight. In the morning just use a wet sponge to wipe the container then wash and the stink will be gone.

3) Stuck On Food - After letting food sit on a plate or after baking in a dish, food can become stuck and the sponge just is not cutting it. Sprinkle a little bit of baking soda over the stuck on food then gently scrub with a sponge or wet washcloth and it should come off without ruining your dish.