Powdered Laundry Detergent
2 parts grated soap (Fels-Naptha, Zote, or Ivory)
1 part baking soda
1 part borax
Mix and store in air tight container.
Use 1-2 tbsp per load.
It was kinda messy and a lot of work to grate the soap. I might try to find soap flakes next time. I've finished one load of sheets and they turned out fine. The true test will be Mike's work clothes. :) Do you make your own detergent? Whats your experience been with it?
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Yes...it's amazing how much money it saves to make homemade! I use a recipe I found on soulemama's blog: http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2010/05/on-the-laundry-line.html
ReplyDeleteWe LOVE it. My husband likes to grate the soap which I'm always happy to let him do :). I've made lavendar and unscented (for baby clothes/blankets). I have citrus, eucalyptus, and peppermint bars waiting their turn to become powder.
I always feel so good about myself when I scoop homemade laundry detergent into the detergent tray...what is it about the little domestic things? :) Happy laundry washing!
~Ashten :)
I make my laundry detergent and LOVE IT! I make liquid and add essential oils to it sometimes {lavender}. I have always used Fels-Napth, I've never heard of Zote, do you prefer this over Fels-Naptha?
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up at Unwasted Homemaking :).
www.dontwasteyourhomemaking.com
Actually I've heard that Fels-Naptha is better I just can't find it where I live. I'm happy with how the Zote worked though!
ReplyDeleteI have used both zote and fels naptha, and both work fine. zote isn't available where I live, but my brother sent some too me from AZ, actually a whole box (13 bars) so I will be using Zote for years! ha!
ReplyDeletehey girl! i make my own too. you can get the fels-naptha at harps by the regular bar soap and body wash. i make the liquid one too. a 2 gallon batch lasts me about a month...so far i've made two batches and then i'll be out of the soap but still plenty of borax and washing soda. i put about $5.50 into this project, so i'm seeing it as VERY effective!!
ReplyDeleteHey Kelly. Where did you get the washing soda? Does Harps have it too?
ReplyDeletewow, i really want to try this, but am wondering if it is safe for an "HE" high efficiency washer. does anyone know? mine is a kenmore. thank you
ReplyDeleteHey Bambi. I did a search on google and it seems like the people who've used it on HE washers haven't had any issues, but you might wanna do some more research to make sure. Thanks for stoppin by!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Post!! I've always wanted to try making my own laundry soap but hadn't found a good recipe till now!
ReplyDeletehey missy and bamdi--yes harps has the washing soda as well...forgot that walmart didn't! though i did get the borax at walmart.
ReplyDeletemy washer is HE and the borax box says that's fine...along with some other sites i've found. i haven't had issues and feel like my stuff is getting clean:-) i am very happy with it! love that i haven't bought laundry dtg in what feels like ages! with 3 little boys i seriously so about 15-20 loads a week. this was seriously worth the effort.
I know this is an old post, but life has kept me too busy to keep up with the blogs I love in my Google Reader, so I am finally catching up this weekend and thought I could give some helpful advice about grating a bar of soap.
ReplyDeleteI’ve made laundry soap the way you do for over a year. I love it, but I found grating the soap to be extremely difficult, especially considering I used the smallest holes on the grater so that the soap would be as much like a powder as possible and dissolve the best. Anyway, I tried drying my bars of soap out in the sun last summer by setting them outside in direct sunlight nearly everyday for weeks. While they were a little dryer and therefore easier to grate it still was not a solution to my problem. When I first read about making your own laundry soap this way (which there are about a hundred posts on with a million comments, lol) I recalled someone mentioning drying their bars of soap out by placing them on a cookie sheet in the oven. I thought that might work, but I did not know what temperature to do this at and for how long. I tried googling it and read through some on those many comments on those numerous posts about making your own laundry soap and someone mentioned microwaving. TAH-DAH.
Cut your bar of soap into 6-8 pieces with a sturdy knife (this is the hardest part). Its more effective to have smaller pieces (than one large bar of soap) because the microwave waves more evenly penetrate. Anyway using a paper plate (because this is a little messy and you don’t want to use anything that you would want to eat off of in the future) place all 6-8 pieces on plate and microwave for 45-60 seconds. Remove plate from microwave. THE SOAP WILL BE HOT! Let the soap cool completely then place all the pieces in a large Ziploc bag, seal the bag, and break the soap pieces into a powder. This should be easy, if you are still ending up with small chunks of soap you need to experiment with microwaving your soap for longer. Repeat with several more bars of soap so that you are stocked up for when you need it (you can pour each bars powder from the large Ziploc into a smaller one for storage and later add it to the correct amounts of borax and washing soda.
Disclaimer: I use Fels-Naptha Soap. It has what I find to be a mild and pleasant scent. When microwaved it becomes a strong and therefore way too perfumy scent (this will go away) so you may want to do this when husband is not home, open a window to air out kitchen, and you might need to microwave some vinegar in order to remove the smell from your microwave.
I hope this works for you. Obviously, sorry this is such a long comment but I know how much this has helped me, I think without having discovered the microwave method I would have given up on making my own laundry soap by now.
Many Blessings,
Hollie
Thanks for the comment! I'm still on my first batch. I'll have to try this when I run out!
ReplyDeleteI use my food processor to shred soap. Works great and is done in seconds! Never have had a problem with soap flavored food:)
ReplyDelete