Blogs and the internet are full of recipes for homeade laundry detergent, my thought at first was what's with all the hype it's just detergent, we use this stuff everyday and is on sale every week at one store or another. So I decided to take on the challenge and was I surprised at how easy and inexpensive this task was. The detergent also works just as well, if not better, than any store bought detergent I have ever used. My 9 year old daughter loves to help in the kitchen so she jumped in which made it even more enjoyable for me. The three ingredents are Fels-Naptha laundry bar soap, Washing Soda, and Borax. I have to admit that I had never heard of Fels-Naptah or washing soda. The washing soda and Borax were very easy to find in the laundry isle. The Fels-Naptah laundry soap did take a little more effort to find but is very inexpensive. Following is the recipe that I used. One batch makes about 2 gallons of detergent and the cost per batch is about $1. I do have an HE front load washer and I use the same amount that I would normally use. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose.
1/3 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
Empty laundry containers for storage
Bucket for mixing
Grate soap and add to 6 cups of water on stove top until soap dissolves, add washing soda and borax until dissolved. Pour 4 cups hot water into bucket, then add soap mixture. Stir, then add 1 gallon plus 6 cups additional water. Stir, then transfer to containers. Let sit 24 hours to thicken and gel. Stir or shake container before each use.
Stephanie
Can I get a whoop whoop for the homemade laundry detergent! Using this same recipe I filled two laundry detergent containers, a nursery water jug and part of another one. Some recipes call for a whole bar of soap such as ivory, after making this and not being a very patient person, I will say that I would not want to grate a whole bar of soap, but the 1/3 of Fels-Naptha was doable. I actually used a knife and it just kind of grated itself while you chopped it up. It was super easy and so far so good, however please note that it does not suds up in your machine. There really isn't much of a smell and with that being said.....stay tuned for our go at Homemade Fabric Softener!!
ReplyDeleteStacey