Congrats to the winners of the soap nuts giveaway:

Jen @ A Heavenly Perspective

Stacy @ Recipes for Moms

Please contact me with your mailing information.  You’ll each receive a 4 oz. (40 load) Soap Nuts and a sample of the EXTREME 18x Soap Nuts Laundry Soap 1 oz. trial size.

For those of you who weren’t the lucky winners, I absolutely recommend soap nuts products for your laundry.  You can read about my experience with them at the soap nuts review.  Here are even more uses for soap nuts and some tips to help you when you get them for your laundry:

You Can Use Soap Nuts for:

• cleaning carpets
• stove tops
• washing dishes
• all-purpose cleaner
• and more!

For most of these uses, you need either the 18x liquid OR you can make your own liquid using the nuts (directions come with the package).  However, if you make your own liquid, because there isn’t a preservative it will only last a week and you have to keep it in the fridge (therefore, it’s not my deal because my fridge is always too full!).

Practical Tips for Soap Nuts in the Laundry Room:

• First, know that the shelf life of these buggers is very, very long. Just try to keep them out of moist air and in a cool place (like maybe…your laundry room).
• How to figure out if the soap nuts can handle another load: I mentioned that I was always tempted to overuse the soap nuts, since they can last for 3-7 loads.  The gals over at NaturOli helped me out with this uber-tip:
  “We recommend that if people aren’t sure about how much “juice” is left in the soap nuts after several loads that they take the bag with the soap nuts and let the water filling the washer run over it then squeeze the bag. If you see suds and or feel that slightly slipperiness of the saponins there’s enough for another load. Gauge amount of slippery feeling to how large a load. You can also add one or two new soap nuts to the bag of the used ones if you’ve already loaded a big load and you don’t get much of a feeling of slippery when you squeeze the wash bag.”
  This is so easy to do!  It’s much less subjective that trying to figure out when your soap nuts look “tan” or “soft” per the instructions that come with them.  I tried the “sudsing” method with a bag of soap nuts that I was about to compost, and they still had suds.  So just from this tip I got an extra freebie load of laundry out of my soap nuts.  Love that!
• Soap nuts last longer if you wash in cold water. Just remember to “activate” them by soaking in hot water in a little cup while you sort clothes or something.
• If you can figure out when your rinse cycle starts and can make it to the washer in time (this is not a tip I will ever take advantage of!), you can pull the soap nuts bag out to make them last even longer!
• If you get the  Soap Nuts Liquid Laundry Detergent Concentrate, it only takes a teaspoon for a whole load.  Don’t try to guess.  You’ll want to put an actual teaspoon with your bottle to make sure you’re not wasting the liquid by overdoing it.
• I just used the last of my liquid today (sniff!).  That is sad, but the happy news is that there were DEFinitely more than 6 loads in there.  In retrospect, I should have counted for you all, but I did not.  I used a “scant” teaspoon in each load – of course – frugal Katie.  Worked great for me!
• I like to make sure my soap nuts dry between loads by hanging the whole bag to dry.  My washer has a little tab on the inside of the door that is perfectly convenient.
• Like with most laundry soaps or detergents, many stains (at least in families with children!) still need a pre-treatment or even a soak.  Soap nuts do not claim to be superstars in the laundry room, just an environmentally friendly option.  I have a little favorite for pre-treating up my sleeve, and they’ll give you some via KS – giveaway scheduled in November!  (Hint:  I’m using their dishwasher detergent at the moment, as well.)
• Something cool:  soap nuts make towels fluffier!

Ready to Purchase Soap Nuts?

If you’re going to give soap nuts a try, may I humbly ask that you click over to their site through Kitchen Stewardship?  Since I help publicize for NaturOli, they share with me when my readers make a purchase.  (I would recommend them anyway, to be honest, but it’s nice to make all the time I spend at the computer worth my while, and get something extra for the ol’ food budget!)

Here are some options for you to choose from, and you can always find a link to NaturOli in my sidebar when you want to do your shopping.

• EXTREME 18x Soap Nuts Laundry Soap 1 oz. trial size.
• a 4 oz. (40 load) Soap Nuts
• Soap Nut Natural Shampoo Bar
• 32 oz. – 320 loads for $28.95
• 48 oz – 480 loads for $45.95
  (I like to buy in bulk to keep it under 10 cents a load)
• 8 oz liquid concentrate – 48 loads
• View all your laundry choices here, including a 5-load soap nuts sampler for $2.95 for those who don’t like to commit until they’ve seen results with their own eyes (and nose)!

Thank you!  If you have other question about soap nuts, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll make sure I find the answer for you.