How to create a natural disinfectant for laundry

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Normal washing in the washing machine or by hand is not always sufficient for our laundry. Maybe we bought used clothes, and we don’t know the previous owners. Maybe we have children in the house, and we want to make sure that their clothes are perfectly safe.

Or unfortunately, we take care of a sick person, and we want to get rid of any bacteria. There are several disinfectant powders on the market, but they contain many chemicals. If we want something natural, we can create our laundry disinfectant, which works as an industrial one. Just put it in the washing machine together with the laundry to sanitize it properly.

Needed: Sodium bicarbonate, White or apple vinegar, Essential oils, Lemon juice.

The fastest way to create a natural laundry disinfectant is to use baking soda. We can treat it directly as industrial sanitizing powder. We then put one or two spoons directly in the basket or the detergent compartment.

It is also perfect for hand laundry. Just dissolve it in water before soaking your clothes. In addition to being an effective natural sanitizer, sodium bicarbonate is also perfect against stains.

Essential oils are another sanitizer for our laundry, officinal lavender, green tea, citrus, and thyme oils, thanks to their antibacterial effect. To achieve our goal, add a few drops of essential oil to our usual detergent. If we wash by hand, we can first immerse the garments in water with a few drops of the oils and then proceed with washing.

There are two other natural sanitizers perfect for laundry: vinegar and lemon. The vinegar should be placed in the tray instead of the fabric softener. If we prefer we can use the apple one which has a less aggressive smell.

Indeed, just like the fabric softener will give our laundry a good smell. For the lemon juice, add a few drops to the detergent, the washing machine, or by hand, depending on how we wash the garments.

We can use all these ingredients separately or create a real sanitizing powder to be preserved and used as the industrial one. We keep the baking soda as a base and add the essential oils and vinegar. We make sure to pour the liquid component little by little so that no lumps form. We can also pass it in the blender to mix it better. We then keep the mixture in a closed jar and a not too hot place. It is now ready for use!

Note: We remove the laundry from the washing line as soon as it is dry.