I've been seeing so many women posting about making their own laundry detergent. They have all been saying that it works much better than Tide, or anything else they've ever used. It seemed easy enough to make, AND you only need 3 ingredients. I also made the liquid version, it's currently setting up so I'll share it with you tomorrow!
Supplies:
- 1 cup Borax
- 1 cup of Washing Soda, NOT baking soda. There's a big difference!
- 1 bar of Fels Naptha, Zote, or Dr Bronners Soap
- Grater, or Food Processor
Borax, Washing Soda, and Fels Naptha can all be found in the laundry aisle at Walmart.
First finely grate the bar of soap, or use a food processor. I grated mine, and it took forever! Then as I was doing additional research a lady suggested using a food processor. So, that might be A LOT faster.
Next, add the soap with 1 cup of Borax, and 1 cup of Washing Soda. Mix thoroughly. I suggest stirring for about 5 minutes or so.
You want it to look like this, below!
You can store it however you like. I wanted mine to be cute, so I stored mine in an old canning jar I picked up at a thrift store today.
Use 1 tablespoon for regular loads, and 2 for heavily soiled loads. This mixture yields 32-40 loads, making it less than $.04 a load!
You can also add 1/2 cup of white vinegar as a fabric softener. It makes your clothes ridiculously soft, and I promise it doesn't make your clothes smell like vinegar.
Let me know how it works for you! I'm going to do my first load now! I've never been so excited to do laundry!
LOVE the jar!!
ReplyDeleteIll be making this asap!
Thanks Lindsey! If I remember right you were the first person to tell me about home made laundry detergent, and I thought you were crazy! You've made me a believer!
ReplyDeleteI love this!!
ReplyDeleteDo you just mix in the 1/2 cup white vinegar at the beginning of the cycle?
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI just put about 1/4 cup in my downy ball. But I imagine you could put it in at the beginning.
If I add too much I smell a slight vinegar smell, but it evaporates and is gone quickly in the dryer. Hope this helps!
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI just finished that first batch we made. I am ready to make another. Thanks a bunch for showing me how. Where are the directions for those picture coasters???
Wanting to make this, just not sure about the "ECO - ness" of it. Do you know, could you explain abit? Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteOf course!
ReplyDeleteBorax is a well known "green cleaner" and is biodegradable. Borax or sodium tetraborite decahydrate, is a naturally occurring mineral composed of sodium (salt), boron, (a primary element in almost everything), oxygen, and water.
Arm and Hammer washing soda is 100% sodium carbonate. It is biodegradable and is also all natural. It's often used as a water softener.
As for the soap, that all depends on which kind you use.
Dr. Bronners soaps are all fair trade organic castile soaps. Here's some info on them- http://drbronner.com/DBMS/LS.htm
Zote pink soap is also biodegradable, and is made from coconut oil and tallow.
As for Fels Naptha, it's still natural but not as good as the other soaps. Here are the ingredients in Fels Naptha: Soap (sodium tallowate*, sodium cocoate* (or) sodium palmate kernelate*, and sodium palmate*), water, talc, cocnut acid*, palm acid*, tallow acid*, PEG-6 methyl ether, glycerin, sorbitol, sodium chloride, pentasodium pentetate and/or tetrasodium etidronate, titatium dioxide, fragrance, Acid Orange (CI 20170), Acid yellow 73
I hope this answers your question!
Just made my first batch of dry washing detergent. It disolves great in the washer and cleans my clothes really well. I added in some purex crystals just for added smell but that step is optional. Thanks for sharing...I will not be buying storebought detergent anymore.
ReplyDelete