This giveaway is closed.
We kick off the fourth day of the Week of Giveaways with a company I adore, Laundry Tree. They’re the company behind Soapnuts, the genius little things that cleans our family’s clothes.
I started using these Soapnuts to wash our cloth diapers, since it’s important to not use detergents with chemicals and residue in order to prolong the diapers’ absorbency. But since we live overseas, I couldn’t afford sky-high shipping charges on natural laundry detergents – so I thought I’d give Soapnuts a whirl.
Never heard of Soapnuts? Neither did I, until recently. They’re are the fruit of a tree found primarily in India, Indonesia, and Nepal, and they are an ideal alternative to traditional laundry detergents. They are simply harvested, de-seeded, and then dried in the sun. And they work — they really, really work!
They are 100%, totally natural. They are organically grown and are free of harsh chemicals, so they are incredibly gentle on clothes and skin. They’re biodegradeable, so they’re better for the environment than regular detergent, and they’re antimicrobial, so they’re even good for septic and greywater systems.
Here’s how they work:
You put three to five Soapnuts into the drawstring bag that’s included in your kit. Tie the bag closed and toss it directly in with your laundry. That’s it! Your clothes are just as clean as using traditional detergents, only with less residue and buildup. There’s absolutely no scent, either.
We now use them as our everyday laundry soap, because they’re really not that expensive. You can use the same Soap Nuts several times, so a deluxe kit will last almost five months. Break it down, and it’s less expensive than traditional detergents.
Seriously, I love this stuff. Lately I’ve been adding a few drops of Laundry Tree’s essential oils into the drawstring bag, so our clothes have been smelling like lavender. Love it.
Laundry Tree is giving one Simple Mom reader a Deluxe Soapnut Kit! It contains everything you’ll need to wash 150 to 175 loads of laundry: a 500g bag of soapnuts, three 1-oz. bottles of their most popular fragrances, two sample bags (to use for traveling or share with friends), and one extra washbag.
To win, here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment at this post, answering the following question: What article of your household’s clothing is the most difficult for you to get clean or keep clean?
The giveaway is open worldwide, and it lasts until this Saturday, May 30. I’ll draw the two winners this weekend.
I hope you win! Check back in a few hours for another giveaway.
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How fun to be the first one to leave a post! Must be b/c I am in London and awake before ‘everyone else’! haha.
I LOVE soap nuts! I can’t find them very easily so I’d love a starter kit!
It is most difficult to keep my sons jeans clean, because he loves to play on green lawn.
Diapers!
My husband’s undershirts.
What a cool item:) I have to say it is my husbands dress shirts. The neck and sleeve areas are hard for me to get real clean.
My children’s white socks. I have to admit I don’t worry too much about it, but it would be nice if they’d atually STAY white!
This product sounds amazing! I make my own detergent, but I would LOVE to try these Soap Nuts!! The knees on my 7 year old son’s pants are the worst! He likes chinos – light tan, of course! And plays in the grass, mud, dirt, you name it!!
Sue´s last blog post…Home Made Simple Coupon Booklet
What an interesting product. We’re always busy keeping little boys clothes clean.
Aimee´s last blog post…Twitterpated over Roast Broccoli with Lemon
My little boys’ clothes – they love to play in the dirt!
It’s baseball season and my son’s uniform pants are grey this year. The red dirt around here is legendary in its staining power.
Dishcloths!
I love soapnuts!
The hardest things of my husband’s to keep clean are his work shirts!
Blessed´s last blog post…What a week.
Those sound amazing! It’s tough for me to get the grass and mud stains out of my kiddos clothes in the summer.
Jamie
Steady Mom´s last blog post…Steady Thought for the Day
Definitely the kids clothes! Between spit up, mud and poop…it seems like I’m always doing laundry and scrubbing out stains.
I hadn’t heard of soap nuts before but I’d love to try them.
Sherri (Serene Journey)´s last blog post…How To Choose Goals And Ensure Success
My hubbie’s sweat stained undershirts are easliy the hardest thing for me to keep clean, but I can’t wait for him to be home from Iraq so that I can fight that little laundry battle once again!!
light colored (especially white) t-shirts of my 3 kids.
Definitely the knees of my son’s pants. He is learning to walk so there’s a lot of crawling and falling onto his knees. Sounds like a great product! I’d love to try it.
Honestly, the thing I have the most trouble getting or keeping clean is our kitchen cloth! I think my husband likes to ball them up wet and hide them from me on purpose.
alianora´s last blog post…Not Quite Free to Good Home
What a wonderful product! We have ridiculously hard water here in Indiana, so doing laundry is a bit tricky. Detergent alone is no match for the minerals in our water. The hardest thing for me to get clean is definately my two-year-old son’s play clothes. He helps me alot in the garden, so he gets covered in dirt as all little kids should. But he also has very sensitive skin so I can’t just load up the washer with crazy cleaning products to combat the stains. Sounds like we should give Soap Nuts a whirl!
Pretty interesting product. Never even heard of it.
I’d say my husband’s work shirts are always hard, as he tends to get them dirty when he eats. By the time he gets home and let’s me know there’s a new stain, it’s too late. The man needs a bib!!
Grease stains! Like when my kids wipe their buttery hands on the front of their shirts!! These look really neat!
I’ve never heard of soap nuts. They sound great. Hardest thing to keep clean: all of my kids’ clothes. With four kids under 8, treating stains and doing laundry has become a big part of my life.
My husband’s tshirts are definitely the hardest to keep clean, followed in close second by my toddler’s shirts.
It’s hardest to keep our whites white, actually, with our hard water. That’s really my only issue.
T-Shirts! I guess we’re messy eaters… My son, especially, as he’s just learning to feed himself (and tends to use Mommy as a “human napkin” if I don’t catch him in time!)
My most difficult items are anything whit connected with my teenage daughter. They never come back as white as they should. How does everyone else do it. Soap nut with lavender oil sounds divine.
My preschool age daughter’s shirts are the hardest to get clean.
Avlor´s last blog post…Etsy Treasury: Foxes Foxes Everywhere!
Husbands t-shirts. Pit stains are worse that diapers!!!!
Little boys clothes…especially tan pants and light colored shirts. They always are the first to get grass stains or ketchup right down the front.
It’s a toss-up between my youngest’s onsies and my husband’s socks!
Anything my daughter wears – she is definitely in a messy stage!
burp cloths and washcloths…
tacy´s last blog post…Reading…
Daughter’s clothes. She manages to get ink on her white shirts.
Keli B.´s last blog post…Chicken Milano
I think MY clothes are the hardest to keep clean! While I scour every inch of my girls’ t-shirts for food stains and grass stains and dirt stains… I’m a little more willy-nilly when it comes to my laundry, as if I’m a sophisticated adult that wouldn’t ever get anything on my clothes.
Well, evidently I’m not that sophisticated.
Sarah´s last blog post…Random Catching Up
I have never heard of soap nuts before but it sounds very interesting. I have two little boys (2 and 4) so the hardest things to keep clean are pretty much anything they wear.
I’d have to say that my 15 month old daughter’s clothes are the hardest to keep clean. She gets food and dirt everywhere! My husband’s shirts are a close second though-the sweat stains specifically.
Food and dirt stains on my kids’ (2 & 4) light colored clothing. Can you use these in high-efficiency washers? I just got one and I love it.
Jenny´s last blog post…Elise’s 4th Birthday
The hardest thing for me to keep clean are the white shirts of my boys. I think stains jump up on them!
Funny thing – the hardest things for me to keep clean AND get clean are MY shirts. I am always walking around with baby slobber on my shoulders, spilling things all over my chest… the worst is oil. If I am cooking with olive oil or eating something cooked in it, or eating a salad, I wind up pretty much ruining a shirt by dropping oily bits on me.
Just a comment since I’m always having the oil problem as well… Have you tried using dish soap on the spots? It was a revelation to me when someone suggested that. Obviously it gets the grease off our dishes… why not our clothes!? It works great. =)
Anything white that my daughters (3 and 6) wear is difficult to get and keep clean. I would love to try these. I have heard a lot about them.
That would definitely be my 4 year old’s shirts! They are impossible to keep clean!
I use the soap nuts myself and I can confirm that they work really well. And they can be used for other cleaning purposes too if you boil them. Just boil 5 or 6 nuts in 1 litre of water for 5 minutes. Allow to cool, filter, and then you can use this washing liquid as a shampoo (very good against dandruff), hand soap, for cleaning the house, or even as an antiparasitic for your plants.
For me the worst are towels, they get dirty very quickly and they are prone to get a persistent bad smell.
Laura´s last blog post…Africa Day in Dublin
My daughter’s t-shirts.They end up so stained!
Kristi´s last blog post…Something Divine
My girls clothes! So, I would love to try these soap nuts!
My son’s clothes are by far the hardest items to clean in our house. I already make our laundry soap, but it has a hard time with his food stained shirts. I would love to see if soap nuts could clean his clothes without the chemicals.
Gerwerken´s last blog post…A Successful Adventure
Oh I wonder if these would work with those pesky grass stains on my kids jeans? They kill me!
katef´s last blog post…A Visit from the Toy Fairy…
Boys=dirty pants, dirty shirts, dirty socks, dirty everything!
Thanks for the great giveaway! I’ve been wanting to try these.
The hardest thing for me to wash is my own everyday shirts! I get stuff on me all the time! The kids get things on me, I drip something on me while I’m cooking or eating….you get the idea.
Laryssa @ Heaven In The Home´s last blog post…Happy Memorial Day!
I have a terrible time with my husband’s socks. He wears white ankle socks and they’re always brown around the shoe line. I’m not very good with bleach and they are NEVER white. Thanksfully, he couldn’t care less
mostly just the things my kids touch.
Lee-Ann´s last blog post…Dusk with the Ducks
These sound great! I have a hard time keeping my husbands soccer clothes (socks, shorts and shirts) clean.
Lauren´s last blog post…Just a quick mid-week post
I would love to enter to win soap nuts! I have read a lot about them, but haven’t been able to find them in our area:( As far as hardest to get clean, that would be my teenage son’s socks. They always end up black on the bottom, and this is with the shoes ON lol! Thanks for the nice giveaways all week! Dana d09@goldingers.com
My husband’s work shirts. He pours concrete for a living, so they’re always stained with mud, concrete dust, etc. These sound cool! We’re into organic, all-natural type things, so I’d love to give these a whirl!
White t’shirts are so difficult. They always turn out dingy looking.
My youngest daughter’s clothes are hardest for me to keep clean…she’s very hard on them.
klutzymama´s last blog post…Last Day Of School & A Sweet Deal
My 7 month-old’s clothing, diapers…you name it he stains it! Thanks so much!
What a wonderful prize.
And, hands down, my most difficult to clean item is socks. With our SC red clay soil, they don’t stand and chance!
Missy K´s last blog post…Clarity
I would say my little 2 month old girls clothing. She tends to have a few “explosions” a week which leads to really tough stains that are hard to get out, especially if you don’t wash them right away. Also our white sofa cover is very very hard to clean!
Laura´s last blog post…7 weeks, and growing
Definitely my daughters shirts! No matter how much I ask her to use her napkin, she almost always reaches for her shirt.
I have seen these before and been wanting to try them, Thanks!
My husbands work shirts and the kids’ bibs are the hardest for me. We love soap nuts!
This is a great giveaway. I have just been looking at ordering some of these. The hardest thing for me to clean seems to be white socks followed by cloth diapers.
Sounds interesting. Grease stains are the hardest thing for me to get out.
I love the sound of this product. I am always looking for something eco-friendly and new, as well as hypoallergenic as my son has some eczema. The hardest thing to keep clean is any of my son’s shirts. He tends to spill food on them every day to some extent. By the time it comes to the laundry room, the stain is set.
Thanks for introducing me to this product!
I love this idea! The hardest thing for me to keep clean is anything of my daughter’s – she is super active and always outside.
Kerry´s last blog post…We Made It!
What a neat product – I would love the opportunity to try them out! Hardest to get clean would have to be my daughter’s tops – she’s a toddler and learning to use utensils when she eats – there’s always a stain or mark that I miss!
Becca´s last blog post…Team VA Weekend
My husband’s white tees are horrible to get clean. He works out in the yard in them, spills stuff on them, and sweats. He’s worse than a kid!
Our cloth diapers hands down but then they probably get the most use out of anything else that ends up in the washing machine. The ground in sweat/dirt on the collars and wrists of white shirts come a close second.
I find that any clothes that end up with banana on them are the hardest to get clean.
Ohh, another fun product!
I have a hard time getting anything clean when my husband throws his brand-new uniform socks (dark green) into the wash! Everything has a greenish tint…even with color catchers!
My boys’ shorts and socks. . . . they are drawn to mud and dirt like magnets!
I would have to say the most difficult clothes to get clean are my husband’s work clothes. He works construction and his clothes come home VERY dirty! I would love to try the soap nuts! Thanks for the giveaway!
Sheri´s last blog post…Homeschool Scheduling
My son’s shirts are the hardest to keep clean – seems like the food stains just set immediately.
I’ve recently heard of these as well, and can’t WAIT to give them a try.
I don’t currently have any tiny babies in my house, but I would say that their laundry is the hardest to keep clean. We’ll be starting all over with that later this year.
My daughter’s shirts. She’s even harder on clothes than her two brothers.
The hardest thing for me to keep clean is my daughters clothes! She poops everywhere everytime she eats!! Darn breastmilk! I think the Soap Nuts would be perfect for her clothes! Thanks
Anything baby. The poo explosions, of course, but especially just the dinginess left from my drool machines,
Princess Leia´s last blog post…mysqlerror
I find the dishrags hardest to clean in my house.
Seems like the toughest clothes to keep clean are my sons white socks!!
Wow! Those sound great – never heard of them before.
Its not really clothes, but our cloth napkins are so hard to keep clean with all of the tomato sauce or watermelon or blueberry stains on them!
If I had to choose specifically clothes, it would be my kids’ white socks!
Wow! I’ve never heard of something like this! I think the hardest thing to get clean/keep clean are my girls’ shirts. They spill on themselves, and those stains can just… not be easy to take care of. And they happen continuously, so it’s a neverending cycle.
My hubby’s undershirts!
Baby clothes… how can something so small make such a big mess!
Emily´s last blog post…Flight Video
+1 Kid’s socks! Actually all the kids’ clothes. Thank God I stopped using cloth bibs, they were impossible to keep clean!
Emma @ Baby-log.com´s last blog post…Potty training, step 1 – choosing a potty
Cloth diapers! I’ve heard soapnuts work well with those and I’d love to give them a try!
My husband’s white t-shirts are impossible to keep clean. So after awhile I cut them up and use them as cleaning rags.
My son’s baseball pants! He wears white ones, that are never quite white after the first game.
My son’s socks!
Diapers!!! They aren’t difficult to get clean, they’re difficult to KEEP clean! lol
I just read on another blog about soap nuts while I was researching natural detergents. I’m wanting to make the switch but was looking at all the options. I’m really curious as to if they work or not. It seems bizarre to wash a fruit with your clothes and it have it actually clean them. I’d love to give them a try!
I was just reading about these the other day and thinking I would love to try them out!
Right now, the hardest thing for me to get/keep clean are my infant’s clothes/burp cloths/bibs. Especially when he has a big poo and it gets on his clothes, that’s really hard to get out.
Angela´s last blog post…Homemade Baby Food
The hardest thing for me to keep clean is anything my 2 year old wears. She always spills food/drink on herself.
I want to try these soapnuts – both of my girls have eczema and their skin is often irritated by other detergents!
My kids’ clothes, particularly after a vigorous playtime at the park!
Jen G´s last blog post…More than One
Diapers, for sure. We’ve been having a horrible time getting them completely clean lately!
I think I’m at the point of giving up on having white sheets and a husband at the same time. The edges of my sheets are still white but the part he sleeps on are an unlovely shade of beige. Bleach might work but I wont use it.
My sons grass stained knees on his pants are the hardest to get and keep clean.
The soap nuts sound fantastic!
the baby’s pajamas, of course! they’re always covered in something. i love soapnuts!!
laura´s last blog post…blended by hand?
my 7yr old son’s socks. he runs around OUTSIDE in his socks even though he is not supposed to….. sigh.
I’d love to give these a try. I have the worst time with my son’s jeans – always grass stained!
My son’s baseball uniform! What a pain! These soapnuts sound interesting! I would love to try it!
I would love to say the hardest thing to keep clean is something worn by my two-year-old or my one-year-old, but alas it is my husband who is impossible to keep clean. He’s a lawyer and somehow his dirty button ups rival the hardest working construction man. It’s ridiculous!
My youngest daughter’s clothes are ALWAYS stained!
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