Front loader’s “door” needs to be left OPEN between washes to avoid mildew. Very easy solution. I also leave the soap dispenser “drawer” open.
HE front loading machines have been around in Europe forever with many advantages:
-wash with less water and less soap ?? good for environment and wallet
-actually clean clothes with longer washing cycles (instead of just smelling clean from perfume in detergent)
-drum system rotates in both directions, alternately, so shirt sleeves don’t tangle (nor do laces, tights…)

They might have recently changed, but it’s the washing machine Katie purchased in the past. Top loaders in general though tend to have less issues with mold than front loaders, even when they’re cleaned as directed.

Why a Speed Queen? I looked on their website and a lot of the one star reviews are recent.

The author wrote this last year and likely wont see this, but for my fels naphta recipe I would microwave the soap first which made it so much easier to grate. Not sure Dr. Bronners will do the same, but I’m going to try anyway.

Front loader washing machines are notorious for growing mold and mildew on the door seal so they need extra attention to help mitigate these issues. Here’s how to help keep them clean! https://wellnessmama.com/natural-home/clean-washing-machine/ Katie’s family uses a top loader Speed Queen which doesn’t have the problems HE front loaders do.

I know some people pick ivy leaves and wash their laundry with that and say it works wonderful. Also have you heard of Nancy Birtwhistle? She has incredible natural green ways to clean your home. She has authored 4 books on the subject packed with recipes.

I’m curious, how does the natural HE detergent hold up against more stubborn stains, like grease or grass.
Would you recommend adding any boosters for extra cleaning power?

Simple recipe:

Equal parts of baking soda and organic extra virgin coconut oil (NOT denatured).
Mix together until we’ll-blended and use as needed.
Coconut oil melts at 76 degrees, so if your home is warmer than 76 degrees, put it in the fridge during the summer.

Since this is a dry powder adding liquid soap will likely cause it to clump and not clean as well.

If you want to use the powdered recipe it doesn’t need any Sal Suds.

Fast forward 4 years to 2024, and now Sal Suds costs anywhere from $20 – $36 per 32 oz. bottle. Even less of a bargain than when you posted in 2020.

Thank you so much for this! I ordered everything last night but was able to research it and cancel it just now after this comment. I appreciate it!

No, you would be adding doubling the soap that way which would likely create too many suds for an HE machine. You would either use the borax free recipe or the laundry soap recipe seperately.

I make the liquid laundry soap and I use 12 oz. of liquid castile soap to make five gallons of soap. I found the calculations here:

https://www.lisabronner.com/liquid-vs-bar-in-dr-bronners-pure-castile-soap/

Volume of actual soap
I don’t know how to de-math this, but people who put together their own recipes for cleaners might want to know this. Bar soaps are 5% water; liquids are 61%. The chemistry is a little different for both, but considering that a bar of soap weighs 5 oz, and thus 4.75 oz of it is soap, you would need 12.18 ounces (a little over 1 ½ c.) of liquid soap to equal the soap content of a 5 oz bar. Doing the math the other way, 1 cup of liquid soap equals approximately 2/3 of a bar (or 3.64 oz.) of Dr. B’s bar soap.