Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Hello!

 I realized last night that I needed to make more laundry detergent and then thought, "Hey, I can share this on my blog!" Viola, here it is! This is a wonderful, easy way to save tons of money and avoid putting harsh chemicals on your clothes.
I actually started making my own laundry detergent for that very reason, because my hubby has very sensitive skin and gets spots all over his body if we use laundry detergent with any kind of fragrance or dye in it.  (Yikes! Not. fun.) We were using "All Free and Clear", but that stuff is kind of expensive and doesn't last very long.

Then one day I was talking to my friend, Kayci and she told me about how she makes her own laundry detergent. I had never heard of such a thing, and decided to try it, with a few modifications. (she makes liquid detergent, I decided just to do the powder because I didn't feel like cooking the liquid.)

The rest is history! I've been making it for over a year now and love it.

 It is SO much cheaper- I usually spend about $16 on supplies.  That is enough for two batches of soap. You could make it all at once or just make one batch at a time. (more on this in a minute..) The finished product of a double batch of soap lasts 8-10 months! A batch lasts about 4 months with me washing 2 or 3 loads of laundry a day.

I know.
Awesome, right?

 Do you want to know how to make your own?

Powdered Laundry Degergent

For one batch (about enough for 4 months or so) use:
1- 76 oz box of Borax
1 -55oz box of Super Washing Soda ( I can only find this at Kroger, my local grocery store. For some reason, Wal-Mart or Target doesn't carry it.)
1-4lb box Baking Soda
3 bars Ivory soap

Here's a picture so you can know what to look for :

(My store didn't have big boxes of Baking Soda for some reason, but you probably know what baking soda looks like.  The detergent works just as well with or without the baking soda. ;)



Find a big container to put it all in; I use a 5-gallon pepperchini bucket my hubby brought home from work.
Pour all three boxes of powder into the bucket. This only fills it up about 1/2 of the way, so you don't really need that big of a container. Its just what I have. :)


Get a cheese grater, grate the ivory soap into the bucket. I found that the graters with smaller holes work better, because the soap dissolves better when its in the water. Especially if you're washing with cold water to save energy, like I do. Now, grate away! Get your kids involved too, they love to help. :)

When the soap is all grated up, it kind of looks like mozzerella cheese, like this:




Now you just have to mix it up until everything is incorporated, and you're ready to go!


You only need about 2 Tablespoons per load of laundry, unless its really dirty. I just use an old coffee scoop to measure it out.


I've found that this recipe works just as well or better than most laundry detergents. It gets out just about everything except coffee stains on white clothes, which is why bleach exists. :)  And it costs so much less! It only takes a little bit of work for a whole lotta savings. Let you know if you try it and like it, or if you try it and don't . Happy laundry!




This post has been linked to Natural Mother's Network Seasonal Celebration SundayWildcrafting Wednesday at Mind Body and Sole

11 comments:

Gooby said...

Thank you for this formula. Anxious to try it.
Here is one of my favorite alternatives for green cleaning:

Souring Powder: Mix 1 cup Borax, 1 cup baking soda and 1 cup salt.

Happy spring cleaning.

Becca Swan said...

That does work well, I've used it before!

Jenn said...

Think I'm going to try this Becca :) We've been buying BioKleen because it's been on huge sale AND had a coupon attached to the bottle. I tried to stock up on it while it was on sale, but even then, it's still $12 a bottle. Lasts a long time but not as long as the homemade detergent! I'll let you know how it goes when I do :)

Becca Swan said...

Sweet! Yeah, this is super easy and super cheap.:) I hope it works well for you, Jenn!

Jenn said...

I love all these ingredients, too. I make homemade cleaners with them all the time. Just never thought to do laundry detergent but it makes so much sense :)

Rebecca Watkins said...

Thank you so much for sharing this great post. I am so inspired to make my own soap now and not only is it cheaper, you know exactly what you're putting in so there are no nasty chemical cocktails to deal with! I host a linky and would love it if you popped over and linked this post! It would be great to introduce your blog to my readership! Seasonal Celebration Linky http://naturalmothersnetwork.com/seasonal-celebration-sunday/seasonal-celebration/ Thank you :-)

Becca Swan said...

You're welcome, Rebecca and thanks for visiting! I'm on my way over to link up right now. :)

Natural Mothers Network said...

Becca thank you very much for placing this post at Natural Mothers Network's linky: Seasonal Celebration! You helped make Seasonal Celebration a wealth of intelligent, creative and resourceful information and it's been such a pleasure for me and many others to read through each post. I am really looking forward to seeing you again Sunday evening or Monday! Rebecca x

Becca Swan said...

I am really enjoying browsing around the Natural Mother's Network site! There's a lot of really good information on there. I'll definitely be back for the next Seasonal Celebration, and be a regular visitor there. :)

Katherine Atkinson said...

Hi Becca,

This would be a great post for Wildcrafting Wednesday. I really hope you'll stop by and share it. :)

Thanks!
~ Kathy

Becca Swan said...

I'm on my way now, Kathy! Thanks for inviting me. :)