When we made the switch to a non toxic home a few years back, I discarded every toxic cleaning product out of our cleaning cabinet in one shot. My husband thought I was insane. Honestly, I still chuckle thinking about the looks he gave me during that time. He had only one request: “Don’t get rid of the bleach, I need my whites to stay white”. I never used bleach on my clothing but I knew for him it was essential we find alternatives. This was a sure way to ensure our familial commitment to non-toxic living. It took some trial & error but we eventually found a few alternatives that worked for all of us. Today, I’m sharing 6 non toxic alternatives to bleach & laundry detergent.
1. Add Baking Soda To Your Load
Baking soda has been around for centuries. It has hundreds of uses from baking, cooking to household cleaning. Baking soda is a staple in our home. I clean with it religiously when we are in a pinch for cleaning products. 
When it comes to laundry use, just add 1/2 cup of baking soda to your usual detergent to give it a powerful cleaning boost. We’ve done this a few times the past few months with stubborn stains and trust me, IT WORKS! Make sure you add the baking soda to your washer drum BEFORE adding your clothes. Also, never add it to the automatic dispenser because it may clump from not dissolving completely.
2. Soak Clothes In Distilled White Vinegar
Distilled white vinegar is so multi-faceted that we’d probably be here all day rattling off its uses. Vinegar is a gem when it comes to disinfecting items & surfaces. It’s acidic properties aid in the removal of stubborn stains like rust and lime. When it comes to clothing, vinegar’s acetic acid is mild enough to not harm fabrics while strong enough to dissolve soap residue left behind by detergents. Cloth diapers and inserts LOVE vinegar washes. I’ve gotten the most stubborn blowout stains completely out by adding vinegar to our wash cycles.
Hard to remove collar & pit stains? Just spray vinegar as a pre-treatment to rid them for good! Vinegar naturally softens & freshens fabrics as well so this is a MUST HAVE for laundry day. TIP: Add vinegar and baking soda to your wash cycle to both brighten colors and whiten whites!
3. Add Hydrogen Peroxide
If you’ve seen those “eco-friendly” bleach options in store get ready to have your jaw drop. Those products are nothing more than good ol’ hydrogen peroxide. Yea, you can pick your jaw up off the floor now..lol. There is absolutely NO NEED to spend $10+ on these products when you can just buy some hydrogen peroxide and use it for laundry day. 
This cleaner alternative is extremely easy to use. All you have to do is add 1 cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide to a full load. That’s it! You’ll have a sanitized, brightened and whitened load all while caring for our environment.
4. Lemon
When life gives you lemons you can make a lot more than lemonade. Using lemon to whiten your clothes works just as well as hydrogen peroxide. Lemon also provides the same bleaching effect & is just as acidic as vinegar. 
Just add one cup of fresh lemon juice to your cycle and you’re good to go! Dingy socks? Add one sliced lemon to a large pot of boiling water. Once you turn off the heat, add your socks and let them soak in the solution overnight. Wash the next day as usual.
5. Use The Sun
Using the sun to whiten your whites is an ideal green & non-toxic alternative to bleach. It’s also free so you can’t beat that! I can attest, this method works like a charm. I never really understood why my mom would put out school uniform shirts out on the clothesline before washing them until I finally asked as an adult. She said it was to get the stains out and make our shirts look good as new. We definitely had the crispest & brightest shirts in school so mom was definitely on to something. We’ve even used this method to clear baby poop stains out of countless onesies. The ultraviolet rays of the sun fade stains, whiten and disinfect fabrics all at once..while they’re dry, not wet.
6. Use Sal Suds To Wash Your Clothes
We LOVE Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds all purpose cleaner. Aside from using it to clean our home it makes a GREAT laundry detergent alternative. It leaves clothes clean, fragrance free and soft. This is an amazing non-toxic yet gentle alternative to those with sensitive skin and skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Sal suds is powerful to clean the most stubborn stains yet will NOT irritate your skin!
We just use 1 tablespoon of Sal Suds since we have a high efficiency washer. If you have a standard washer you can use 2 tablespoons of the concentrated cleaner. We also add baking soda and vinegar for those extremely deep cleans ie: blowout diaper stains, grass stains, marinara and curry stains. Spray a pre-treatment mixture directly on the stain & rub in prior to washing for extra stubborn stains.
Using a non-toxic alternative to bleach and laundry detergent is beneficial both to your health and the environment. Many of the staple products we grew up with contain endocrine distruptors & inflammatory ingredients that can induce an endless list of chronic and autoimmune conditions. You lessen the risk of triggering these conditions all while leaving less of a carbon footprint on our planet. I’d say that’s a win-win!
Have you tried using a non toxic alternative to bleach and laundry detergent? If so, what were your results? Check out my other non-toxic home posts for more tips!
