Most elementary school kids are already on board the ‘save the environment!‘ train. Unfortunately, many of their parents are still holding on to their same toxic cleaning products without understanding how easy it really is to ‘go natural.’
Many moms are already buying expensive, unscented, hypoallergenic laundry products because their kids suffer from allergies. Why not hit a double header for education and the environment by making your own natural laundry products and selling them to raise money for your school!
Following are two homemade laundry products you can make and sell:
Laundry Soap
1/3 bar Fels Neptha or Ivory soap
½ cup Borax (whitens and deodorizes)
½ cup washing soda
A 5 gallon bucket
Grate the bar soap and place in a sauce pan with 6 cups of the water and heat until soap melts. Add the Borax and washing soda, stir until dissolved, remove from heat. Pour 4 cups water in a 2 gallon bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir well. Add 1 gallon plus 6 more cups of water and continue to stir. Let the mixture sit for 24 hrs. (Instructions: Use ½ cup per laundry load.)
The 2 gallons made will wash about 64 loads for only pennies a load. Simply make several batches at a time in separate buckets. All ingredients are easily found in supermarkets or discount stores – you can check and see if a wholesaler will be willing to give you a whopping discount, and hit local stores for donations of half gallon containers with tight fitting caps. Don’t forget to list the ingredients on each jug of detergent!
Fabric Softener
1 part white vinegar
1 part baking soda
2 parts hot water
In a clean bucket, mix the baking soda and hot water, stirring until dissolved, then add the vinegar and continue stirring. Wait for the fizzing to stop and pour into containers. (Instructions: Shake well before using. Use ¼ cup per rinse cycle. Put ingredients and instructions on a label.)
Find a store or individuals willing to donate the following:
- Plastic containers of one size. Can use recycled, washed-out, smaller sized plastic laundry bottles donated after a school drive for this purpose. (Recycled is allowable when properly labeled.)
- Large adhesive labels
- Product recipe cards
Find a printing company willing to donate a custom designed and pre-printed label (with instructions). Otherwise, the kids can create their own label designs with crayons or magic markets. A master copy of the recipes can be easily duplicated on the school copier machine. Perhaps there are donors or store sponsors willing to cover your ingredient costs.
The kids can do all sorts of jobs like clean out the donated reusable bottles, grate the soap, help with the mixing and filling of bottles, and become your ace sales force.
For the packaging, find volunteers with sewing machines able to make small, cord enclosed, denim laundry bags with the fabric donated by a fabric store. Stencil the name of your school on the bag, and you can easily charge at least $20 per bag full of product!
As a project follow-up in the classroom, product reviews can be presented and tallied on a scorecard when compared to the manufactured products. Make this project a learning experience for elementary aged school children, while at the same time, educating their parents to the benefits of natural cleaning.
