Why make my own? For me it's about saving money! I'm AMAZED at how much money I can save making my own detergent. Some people do it because it's "green" but I'll admit that it comes right down to saving money for me! One little container will last so longgggggggggg!
How well does it work? I wouldn't put it on here if I didn't think it was shockingly great! It doesn't make a lot of suds...commercial detergents have sudsing agents added to them so that when you look in your washer machine you feel good about the soap doing it's job but really suds are not what clean your laundry. This recipe makes a little bit of suds at first but they die out. For me, the true measurement was how much dirty the detergent pulled out of the clothes and into the water and I have to say I was impressed with how dirty the water got or frightened with how dirty it got...depending on how you look at it. Once the clothes came out I actually felt that they were even cleaner than my commercial detergent had done! I'm completely switched over.
1 bar of Fels Naptha soap grated (I grate it with my salad shooter but any electric cheese grater works well)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Super Washing Soda (made by Arm & Hammer)
Grate the fels naptha bar of soap. I was concerned that this would be the difficult part and if anything is difficult or time consuming you can just count me out. But, I had the idea of using my salad shooter that has a cheese grater attachment. It worked great and was super easy clean up cause I just stuck it in the dishwasher afterwards!
Mix the grated soap, borax and washing soda together. That's it, you're done!
Add 1 tbsp to light loads
Add 2 tbsp to large loads or heavily soiled clothes
What is Super Washing Soda? I have no idea! The better question is where to buy it. I couldn't find it in my area until calling the number on the back of Arm & Hammer baking soda (NOT THE SAME THING!) and asking the company to tell me what store in my area sold it. There was only one so off I went to get it. Need to find one in your area...you can ask online here or you can call this number 1-800-524-1328
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use BAKING SODA! It has to be Super Washing Soda as seen in the picture. One box will do cause you only need 1 cup but I bought two because I had a hunch that I'd be making a lot.
I usually make a double batch of this and store in a container.
Not interested in my dry recipe? Here is a link to several other laundry detergent recipes of all sorts.
psst....I stopped buying dryer sheets too....more to come on that later.
18 comments:
I'm almost out of detergent so going to try it. I just now need to find the arm & hammer stuff...they didn't have it at walmart. I couldn't find the soap you listed so just got Ivory..that's ok right? Can I use other bar soaps...dove, caress, etc? Do you need to let this homemade stuff dissolve a lot more than normal powder detergent? I just don't want a residue on my clothes. Looking forward to hearing about the dryer sheets.
Yes, I've heard you can use other bar soaps. Fels Naptha is just a really good stain removing bar soap made for laundry so if you aren't happy with the results of the other one, I wouldn't give up until you try the Fels Naptha bar.
I noticed that it took about 5 min. to dissolve in my washer....so I put it on the longest cycle. But after 5 min. it's all dissolved. I have NO residue on my clothes at all. I do double rinse them though. I've always done that because of our allergies.
I'll look for the Fels naptha bar...since I still need to find the arm and hammer. We always can use help with removing stains. lol Thanks for sharing.
I'm gonna see how Hope's turns out and then I'm gonna try it :) Hope, let me know! Let me know what you find the stuff too....
Great Post! One thing I do when I make mine is put it back in the food processor/blender after I mix it together and turn it on until it is a fine powder. This really helps. I keep a 1/8 cup (measuring cup) in the container and use either 1/2 of that or just a tad less. You can also use Ivory, but mostly I stick to Fels and Zote.
I also use white distilled vinegar instead of fabric softener and found that Dryer Balls cut down on any use of fabric softener (liquid or sheets). You can get them at many different places.
http://www.amazon.com/Dryer-Max-DB-MC12-Set-Balls/dp/B000E202KM/ref=pd_sim_hpc_3)
You can also make dishwasher detergent as well and it works great!
http://cooking-with-aspiring-mom2three.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html
Thanks Mom2three! I appreciate the tip about putting it in the blender. I'll do that next time. =0)
I do use dryer balls but in my are of the country they don't keep the static down. It's just too dry here but I did notice that my homemade dryer balls speed up the drying time so I'll be posting about them soon.
Thanks! I'm going to try this soon!
I've been making my own laundry detergent for a while now; it is indeed so much cheaper! I'm going to try this recipe, too, because it looks a lot easier and cheaper than the one I'm making now. Ivory "soap" flakes became a detergent several years ago. I would probably stick with a pure vegetable-based soap if you are concerned about the environment. Also, I put a few (2-3) drops of my favorite essential oil (like lavender or peppermint) on a cloth and toss it in the dryer to add a wonderful smell to my laundry.
i have the borax and the bar soap (i'm using dr. bronner's since it's vegan and i heard it works well, too--even on cloth diapers!
thanks for that number--i haven't been able to find washing soda yet locally, although i heard you can get it at pool stores...
great tip!
I just made this and am really happy with it. A friend told me about it and that her children's exzema went away after she switched to this. THat's what made me want to try it. The fact that it's super cheap is just added incentive. The only difference from your recipe is I use 2 cups each of the washing soda and Borax. Smells good, too. I'm surprised that ppl are having a hard time finding the washing soda. I have found it at Walmart and Cub Foods, haven't checked Hy-Vee. It's in the laundry detergent isle. I had a harder time finding Fels Naptha.
We use the same detergent recipe, and love it! We were not happy with other bar soaps than Fels Naptha. We tried Zote and it made the towels not absorb water as well. The water in different areas can make a difference as well. Check out my blog for more homemade cleaning recipes.
How does it work in a front loader? If you have one do you just put the soap mix in with the clothes or in where the soap goes up top? I read about the dryer balls and will be checking into them soon. Thanks!
I would think that it would be best to NOT put it on the top part. I don't have a front loading washer so maybe see if there are instructions for using non liquid soap in it.
Or you can do one of two things:
1. make a liquid version using the link provided to those recipes at the bottom of my original post.
2. add it to the clothes before closing the door.
Hope that helps. =0)
I am going to try this. I didn't want to mess with the goopy detergent but the powder I can do! I have a few bottles of detergent left but will make this and use the others when I need to. I put some borax in my top loader in the soap part and it comes out just fine. I plan on putting it where the soap goes. I got some zote but after reading that it makes the towels not absorb well I will find the fels naptha.
After 6 stores I finally thought I'd just buy it on line...found a great website and it sells all the other stuff you'd need too. And it has preshaved fels naptha...I'm getting that next time.
http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/default.asp
My detergent I made didn't really make any suds...is that normal? Want to make sure my clothes will be clean. Got the first load in now so we'll see how it does...I'll post again when I have some results.
HOPE- Thanks for sharing the link. No, it doesn't make much in the way of suds....read my section in my post under How Well Does It Work? I explain it there.
Also, I accidentally sent our Christmas card to you to someone in our church but with your name on it! I don't know how that happened by I'm totally confused and will send you out a new one!
I'm interested in the savings?? How much does it save everyone?
Look for Fels Naptha in the laundry soap area of your store. Often on the top shelf near the stain removers. I found it much better than Ivory Soap for stains.
Gram
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