Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Homemade Laundry Detergent


I actually haven't tried this yet, I'm too busy/lazy to want to try the gel type but I found a dry recipe, any comments/suggestions before I attempt this would be appreciated. Any thoughts about adding essential oils?

1 bar bath soap – Fels-Naptha Bar recommended - grate it
(can also use your homemade goat soap)

1 cup washing soda (Harris Teeter carries it)

1 cup baking soda
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

Use 2 Tablespoons for a full load. Just costs a few pennies per use.
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Dawn dish liquid fights laundry stains, and white vinegar is a good fabric softener. If you have the dingy look, add some lemon juice rather than bleach.
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Tips & Warnings (I copied this from another site)
Use a bit more of mixture for hard water
Use a bit of extra Ivory for "fresher" scent
double or triple batch and store in air tight container
Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil if you desire another scent
Remember: Washing soda is NOT the same as baking soda. t will say Washing Soda on the box.
Borax is more natural than other harsh chemicals and is said to only be as harmful to pets and humans as table salt but to be safe, always read labels and follow instructions closely.
keep washing soda out of reach of children
do not mix with bleach

7 comments:

Sharon said...

:) I have no suggestions at all because I've never made my own laundry soap. I'll watch your blog to see how this works out for you because I'm always looking for ways to save some money. Good luck!

Mary Humphrey said...

Hi There! I have used this (or a very similar) recipe. I loved it! I lived in Missouri at the time. We had much softer, clearer, with less iron in the water at that point. I saved a bundle on laundry detergent. I used my "oopsie" soaps in the recipe. I did not make goat milk soap back then, but they were mostly all natural, hand crafted. If I was not happy with the soap (except for those that contained ground herbs or oatmeal), the soap got grated and was used in the laundry detergent. :) Great post!

Susan said...

Hi Joanna, I made this soap for a while and thought it was pretty good. But then I started noticing that my light colors and whites just weren't getting clean, even after adding double the amount and extra washing soda, so I switched back to Tide for those items. Then I noticed that my towels just didn't smell fresh, in fact, smelled not clean. So, I'm back to using Tide and I have a shelf full of the ingredients in your picture. BTW, I have softened water.

I hope it works out better for you. It is very economical, if you don't mind sacrificing quality clean.

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

I don't know what kind of water we have. Durn, if the towels don't smell clean, that's not good.

JK said...

Here's a similiar soap recipe I have on file...
Recipe for Laundry Soap
 1/3 bar of Fels Naphtha Soap
 3 pints water
 ½ cup baking soda
 ½ cup Borax
 2 gallon bucket
 1 quart Hot water
 cold water
Grate the Fels Naptha in a saucepan with 3 pints of water. Heat until dissolved, stir in Soda and Borax stir until thick. Add 1 quart hot water to a 2 gallon bucket and add soap mixture. Mix. Fill bucket with cold water and mix. Set aside for 24 hours until mixture thickens. Use ½ cup of mixture per load of laundry

Haven't tried it as of yet. Like Mary I have used my homemade soap.

Wanted to also stop by to wish you a happy,healthy, prosperous New Year!

Susan said...

Joanna, I think you should try it. You already have the ingredients and it might work entirely different in your water. Everyone on the Backyard Chickens forum swears by it. If you don't like the way it performs, you can always switch back to your other product. You can use the Fels Naptha bar for scrubbing shirt collars and stains. It's supposed to be good for that.

And you can add washing soda or the borax to your regular detergent to boost the cleaning power. You can also use them for household cleaning. All is not lost!

Unknown said...

Hi! I made and used this soap for a year or two after our first child was born and we were trying to save money. It worked great, but after a while I just craved the smell of detergent again. I'm glad you posted this, I'd forgotten the recipe and want to make it again. Maybe try some different essential oils for fragrance?