Homemade Laundry Detergent

[benshelpmeet]

This is a great site! This guys description of the green slime he made in his kitchen that his wife liked was funny...Leaver 2000? I'll stick with a milder soap. I've heard of people using Ivory, Zote, Fels Naptha, etc.

On one site a lady said she uses regular Baking Soda and it works fine. I might have to try that because I can't find Washing Soda.

www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/03/15/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent-and-save-big-money/

[dianatyree]

I've been makeing the homemade laundry soap for quite a while and like it. It used to bother me if I couldn't see any suds but I got over it I've tried fels naptha, kirks castlile, and ivory aloe soap. so far for smell the ivory aloe is my favorite and it comes in a ten pack for $3 something. For those of you having trouble finding the washing soda maybe you could contact arm and hammer and see if it's sold in your area. I get it at kroger grocery store here as even walmart didn't have it. Diana

[benshelpmeet]

Thank you for posting, I'm just about to start using homemade laundry soap and I need all the advice I can get.

I'm going to check at Kroger they have Fels Naptha too, and Wal Mart does not.

Also I have sensitive skin and some soaps ( Laundry detergents ) bother my skin, so I'm going to try Ivory. Do you have children who get really dirty? What about your husbands clothes, do they get fairly dirty? How does this homemade laundry soap work? I'm going to give it a try. Do you use 1 cup? How much for a large load? What about pre wash? Do you have a recipe? What about fabric softener? What about dryer sheets?

[Tammy]

I've been making our own laundry soap for a while now. (Got the inspiration right here!)

Here is a post about my first experiment with it: thispilgrimage.blogspot.com/2008/07/laundry-soap-experiment.html

I have used Ivory soap, which is nice for its mildness and for its aroma. I have also used Zote, and it works well too. I recommend using soap that is intended for laundry, because anything else leaves a scummy ring inside the washing machine.

We enjoy making our own - it's so much cheaper, and it's fun, too.

[dianatyree]

My husbands clothes get pretty greasy at work and manurey from the barn, and this works pretty well, I do pretreat some stains with a solution I mix up using a squirt bottle I think it's half a cup of the laundry soap, I use purex naturals, and half cup of non chlorine bleach and then water to the top, it holds 24 oz. I suppose I could try the homeade soap for the pretreating, I just never did. I keep a bottle of the purex here in case the other doesn't work on something. I have some softener sheets I use once in a while if the dryer gets staticky, but I hang most of our clothes to dry so that isn't too much of a problem. My washer does get a coating on it that I have to scrub off but I can't figure out if it's the soap, or the grease from work, it is gray in color. I was told to use 1/2 c. of laundry soap for a large or extra large load. I use more if the load is really dirty. I guess we are all kind of experimenting. Diana

[benshelpmeet]

Well todays the day my laundry detergent ran out yesterday and with 9 people to wash for there are daily clothes to wash. I love to wash and fold clothes. I love the fresh smell, and folding each members clothes and thinking of how special each person is to me even when there not acting so special.

Today I will grate my Dial Glycerin soap with white tea and vit E ( it smells really good but I'm not sure if it will clean as good as Fels Naptha or Zote? If I do not like it I will try one of those next. :)and I'll add my other ingredients and wash a few loads. I'll let yall know how it goes. I'm pretty picky, it will have to be pretty impressive or me to stick with. I do not like having to pretreat much. Our girls get as dirty as my little boy playing on our farm (now in the muddy season), and in the woods, and with the animals. Farm life is great.

Ben gets grease and grime on his clothes installing two way radios, but he doesn't get too dirty most of the time.

Hey can't you add a certain amount of Vinegar into your rinse cycle as a softener? Does anyone know how much to add? Can you use distilled Vinegar too or just Apple Cider?

sister Tammy, thank you for the help, I remember the post on laundry detergent you are speaking of , but I cannot find it. I posted that years ago, I wanted to try it out, but never did. Now with the price of living being so high, I am forced to try it. I feel confident it will work well for us, I might just have to tweak it a bit to my liking. Like sister Diana said ''I guess we are all kind of experimenting.''

I think it's neat to be able to make your own products and not have to buy what's popular or a poor substitute. I love saving $money$.

Love ~ sister Darlene ~

[benshelpmeet]

I put together my detergent, and it turned out good. I know it says to let cool over night, but I had to go ahead and do a load. I hope it turns out ok.

[benshelpmeet]

This seems to be working good for me. It was so neat to see how it thickened the next day, I re-stirred it and washed more clothes.

I wonder if it will keep getting thick like that? I want to put it into bottles.

The smell is great!

[Tammy]

Mine gets really thick. I would call it a gel. I stir it around and break it up with my hands, but I wouldn't put it in a bottle with a narrow mouth. It might be too difficult to get it out. I make it and keep it in a big plastic 2 1/2 gallon pail right by the washer.

[benshelpmeet]

Well I have great news, yesterday I had a white load with a baby blue polar fleece jacket that was real dirty besides dirt it had, leaves stuck on, and a reddish chalk mark in two places where my daughter had gotten the chalk line chalk on her coat while helping measure and pop a line for our stair rails to our basement. I thought...if this coat comes clean...this is good detergent. And guess what? The coat came out perfectly clean, baby blue, and beautiful!

I'm so glad to know how to make this homemade laundry detergent. Good stuff!

I saved my old liquid detergent bottles and I will fill and use them, they have big openings.

The Recipe I will use is...

Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 bar Dial Glycerin soap (White Tea and Vit E)

1 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer)

1/2 cup of Borax ( 20 Mule Team)


Grate soap into a pot add 4-6 cups water, heat and stir until melted, then set aside.
Pour 2 1/2 gallons of water into a big bucket pour in Washing Soda and Borax, stir until dissolved, then mix in melted soap, mix well.
Use 1 cup for a large load.

This will thicken and get lumpy. No problem.. This is normal, just stir, or shake (if in a bottle,) and use.

I love homemade laundry detergent, just think how much money it saves.

I like the tip about not using regular soaps because they leave a residue in your washer.

That's why I used Glycerin soap.

Zote or Fels Naptha are laundry type soaps and would work well and do work well.

Happy washing! ~sister Darlene ~

[Tammy]

Glycerin soap... Great idea! I think I can get that somewhere.

[benshelpmeet]

I changed and perfected my Detergent Recipe...I love the New stuff!


Darlene's Favorite Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 bar of Glycerin soap ( or soap of your choice) (grated)...I use Dial White Tea and Vit E, it smells great! I think the Dial Cranberry glycerin soap would smell good, and be a pretty pink color.

1 cup Washing Soda ( Arm and Hammer)

1 cup Borax ( 20 mule team )

4 cups plus two gallons of hot water

In a 6 quart pot grate 1 bar of soap into 4 cups warm water, heat but do no boil, stir until dissolved.

Add washing soda and borax to melted soap stir until dissolved.

Pour 2 gallons of very warm or hot water into 3 gallon bucket, then stir in soap, borax, washing soda mixture until mixed well.

Let set over night, this will turn very thick, stir and use 1 cup per Lg load. After you stir it once, you will not need to re-stir it. It has the consistency of lumpy soft jell. I really like it!

Note: If you need to use it right after you make it, you can it works just as well, but it's not thick like it will be the second day. [/color]


1 box of washing soda

1 box of Borax

6 bars of soap

Will make 12 gallons of Detergent for approx $9.00 (Tennessee prices) That's pretty good savings wouldn't you say? If my math is correct you get 216 loads for $9.00. And it has the known chemicals you put in it.

16 cups per gallon (2 gallons of water ) 32 cups total

plus the extra 4 cups for melting the soap = ( 2 1/4 gallons total)

= 36 cups total = 36 loads

plus the bar of soap...I do not think that adds much.

1 box of each plus 6 bars of soap make 6 batches of 36 cups or loads

36 x 6 = 216 large loads...

Enjoy!

~ sister Darlene ~

[benshelpmeet]

New Findings...

OK I measured out my purple bottle of XTRA brand ''tropical passion'' liquid detergent...it claims to have 110 loads worth per bottle. (maybe if your using small loads) I measured 1 of their measuring cups per load (lg load), and it does 40 loads. It contains 1 1/4 gallons of liquid...I pay $6 dollars.


My homemade stuff does 36 lg loads, and my liquid measures 2 1/4 gallons. Remember my homemade stuff makes 6 batches of 2 1/4 gallons for $9.00 That means each batch costs $1.50 ( $9.00 divided by 6 = $1.50)...I like that!

Now my Purex brand ''Natural Elements'' says it does 64 loads ( again maybe small loads) The bottle holds 3/4 of a gallon of liquid and does 34 lg loads, I pay 7.00 a bottle.

Mine does 36 loads for $1.50 and I know the ingredients I put in, no hidden weird chemicals. Pretty neat hugh?

I'm really enjoying this. Next I'm going to start making my cleaners. I'll let you know what I come up with.

~ sister Darlene ~

[Sister Penny]

I know that homemade soap has more natural glycerin and that could be part of the problem with the build-up...one idea is to pre-soak your hubby's greasy clothes in a 5 gallon pail and use a new plunger to smoosh them around in order to get out some of the grease before you use your regular washer...just a thought.

Sister Penny

[benshelpmeet]

Here is a recipe for Powdered Laundry Detergent! I like the liquid kind, but I thought this sounded interesting and someone might like it.


www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/detergent.shtml

Powdered Laundry Detergent

1 Cup Grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax

For light load, use 1 tablespoon.
For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons.



HomeMade Laundry Softener and Stain Remover

www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/softener.shtml



Helpful! Laundry Recipe FAQs


www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/FAQs.shtml


Enjoy! ~ sister Darlene ~