The Parenting Victory of No-Dye Laundry Soap

 You don't think you make a difference in how your kids see the world until they say some random thing that makes you ponder if they've been paying more attention that you thought. 

The other day Junie wanted to wash her white dress shirt for work. No big deal that, the kids have all done their own laundry for years and years. She was concerned, however, with getting out some stains. So I gave her my secret stash of Tide, which I use only when I really need to get out a stubborn spot. 

"My shirt is white Dad," she said. 

"Yeah?" I said. 

"This is blue. It's gonna stain." 

And it hit me. 

She's so unfamiliar with conventional laundry soap that she doesn't know dyes are a ridiculous, but standard part of them. 

I was unduly proud. 

Upset by how much waste is produced by laundry products, from the large plastic bottles, to the watered down detergent itself, and the unnecessary dyes and perfumes, we long ago switched to eco friendly detergent sheets from Earth Breeze. Paper packaging, ultra-concentrated, and dye and fragrance free. They are packaged and sent out from Oregon, but manufactured in China, which is a fact that has been gnawing at us for awhile. Still, the benefits outweigh the negatives. 

Plus they work great, although ain't nothin' gonna take out a tough stain like old fashioned Tide. 

In addition to the laundry sheets, we try and recycle to a mad degree (we've got two carts from the city; a normal household is given one) but I do wonder how much of the plastic is actually recycled. 

We also use Grove for our dish and hand soap, as they come in aluminum bottles, and their toilet paper, which is made from bamboo. I love Grove and the quality of their paper products, but as with Earth Breeze I wish the product wasn't manufactured in China (although they claim net zero emissions by the end of supply chain) and I fail to see why paper that wipes your poop needs to be bleached white before such a task. 

But apparently, in our own small way, we've committed so hard to these practices that our kid has incorporated them into her reality. And yes, like I said, that makes me dang proud.