Hey ya'll! Today Jordan and I wanted to share with you how to make liquid laundry detergent! This stuff is super cheap around $.005 per load. One batch yields about 240 loads so you won't have to make this very often. The real question is does it work? Heck yes! I've been using this for over a year (don't ask why it has taken so long to do the tutorial :) and it works great. If there is only two of you in your house you can split the batch with a friend or neighbor! That's what Jordan and I did. Or you can give it as a gift like I did here.
Ingredients:
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1 bar Fels Naptha soap or other non foamy soap (You can find all the ingredients in laundry aisle)
1 or 2- 5 gallon buckets
Directions:
Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Grate soap. Slowly add soap and turn down the heat to medium low. Once melted slowly add in borax and washing soda. Stir until dissolved. Add to the 5 gallon or 2- 5 gallon buckets and then fill it completely up with very warm water stirring half way and when your done filling. Wait a few hours for it to cool down and mix well again. Can take 8 to 24 hours to completely set up.
Use 1/3 cup of laundry detergent per load for big loads. It will not produce a lot of bubbles! You may notice after you have used it for awhile that it will start to get thick chunks, just mix it again with a whisk or stick blender.
Side notes: You can use this in cold water. I only use cold water to wash my clothes (saves energy). I have read other places that say that this can be used in HE washers.
Have you made laundry detergent before? What's your experience?
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We have been making laundry detergent at home fir several years now. We use homemade soap instead of fels naptha though because it uses a petroleum derived solvent. With young children in the home we just aren't comfortable using the fels naptha. Homemade detergent is awesome though, gets our diapers nice and clean.
ReplyDeleteO thats really interesting! Maybe I will try that the next batch I make since I make my own soap too! Thanks for sharing this useful info!
DeleteI have made one recipe that I found on the internet...very similar to your recipe, however I added one container of laundry fragrance booster, Downy I believe. I did this as hubby (big complainer) whined that he missed the fragrance of his fav soap. We don't have any issues with allergies, so I made this one concession. I also used zote brand soap...for some reason I thought the fels naptha was harsh for some reason. I am very pleased with my homemade soap and love the way it cleans our clothes. We don't have kids at home so this will last a very very long time! We also have very hard water here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and this still performs well.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of other people using a fragrance booster! I wish I could have super nice smelling clothes but with allergies and other reasons we have almost unscented everything! I'm glad this works so well for you guys too!
DeleteWould you not be able to use a few drops of fragrance oils Amy? I have no knowledge of making my own soap, sounds very interesting though, may be I have a look on the internet to find the recipe.
DeleteWishing all bloggers a happy new year.
Christel
You can! Because this recipe makes a large amount you will probably have to use a ton of essential oils!
DeleteI use this same recipe! Just made some today along with liquid hand soap. I thoroughly enjoy making my own cleaning products!
ReplyDeleteMe too! I feel so much better about it knowing its cheaper and healthier!
DeleteI've been making my laundry soap with the same recipe! I usually add a few drops of citrus oil to add a bit of freshness to it.
ReplyDeleteSee what I've been up to at: www.kshippee.blogspot.com
I used to make my own, but it seemed that my clothes weren't coming out very clean. I'll have to try this recipe! I would love to have you share your posts on The HomeAcre Hop!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/01/the-homeacre-hop-2.html
I used to make my own as well using almost the exact recipe. BUT my t shirts would smell weird after wearing them. They would look and smell clean after washing, but after wearing them they would get a sour smell. This only happens with the homemade detergent. Any thoughts to why? I would love to go back to natural.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristi,
DeleteI don't know if this will help or not...but you could try putting a few drops of tea tree oil in your detergent. You can use other essential oils too, but tea tree has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.