Soap Nuts Review and Giveaway

I've been looking for safer, more environmentally friendly products to use around the house for laundry, cleaning and other needs. I've just tried USDA Certified Organic Greener Living Soap Nuts, courtesy of Buy Soap Nuts. Soap Nuts are the fruit of trees in India and Nepal and contain saponin, a natural soap. They also have anti-microbial (germ killing) properties.


I was impressed not only that my clothes came out clean, but at how soft my clothes were... without using a fabric softener sheet. When I washed a load of clothes that included some sweaters I was surprised that I had no static cling, the load with my big plush robe had a bit of static, but not much. My flannel sheets came out great as well. I'm fragrance sensitive, so it was great to have just the smell of clean.

Although very good for regularly soiled clothes, which mine were, I haven't tried them on heavier soiled clothes, but for stained clothes it is recommended to use some type of stain remover as well. I also haven't tried it on my whites yet.

To use for laundry, put 4 or 5 Soap Nuts in a small muslin bag and put it in the washer with your laundry. Remove the bag before putting your clothes in the dryer. They normally do 4 or 5 loads, but in cold water, I easily got 6.

You can also make a concentrated liquid by boiling 12-15 whole Soap Nuts in 6 cups of water for 30 minutes. The liquid does not contain any preservatives so it will need to be used within a few days. It can be stored in the refrigerator or portioned in ice cube trays and frozen.

Regardless of whether you use the whole nuts or liquid, the spent nuts can be added to your compost. I don't have a compost pile, so I just push them into the soil in my pots.

Another thing that impressed me about Soap Nuts is that they are not just for laundry: they can be used for other household cleaning needs and because of their anti-microbial properties they can also used help relieve skins conditions like eczema and psoriasis. I'll be spraying the liquid on some of my plants later this spring to see how well they work to deter bugs.

I haven't found any one product that I plan on using exclusively for laundry or other needs, but Soap Nuts are truly an all purpose item and it's another one of those products that I'll continue to use.

Now on to the giveaway. Buy Soap Nuts has generously offered a 500g bag of their USDA Certified Organic Greener Living Soap Nuts, a $22 value, to one of my readers.

Please read the rules before continuing

Mandatory: You only need to do this once. Check out Buy Soap Nuts and comment with something you learned about Soap Nuts.

Extra entries:

Leave separate comments for each entry. If it says 2 entries, remember to leave 2 comments

• Tweet this giveaway using: " RT @vlbsweeps Win Greener Living Soap Nuts http://bit.ly/9ysQUY Ends 4/24 #giveaway #giveaways #green #eco-friendly" This can be done daily, leave the link to the tweet in your comment.
  
• Blog about this giveaway (see rules) with a link to this giveaway and to Buy Soap Nuts for 5 entries, leave direct link of your post.
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Additional Rules: Open to US and Canadian residents

This giveaway ends 4/24 at 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time.