I thought I would share the recipe and encourage you to try it! It literally took me only 5 minutes to make. Plus the amount of money saved compared to commercial detergent is amazing. (We are talking a savings of $4-$8 per bottle!) Yeahhhhh Boyyyyyy!!!!! (imagine me saying that in my best Flava Flav voice!)
Here you go!
What you need: (all of this can be found in the laundry section of your local grocery store!)
20 Mule Team Borax
Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
Ivory Hand Soap (there are other alternatives out there for soap- just search the internet for "homemade laundry detergent" and you'll find other options that work just as well.)
How to Make It:
1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 bar of Ivory soap- grated
First, grate the bar of soap with a good ol' fashioned cheese grater. (The soap is soft enough to cut into smaller pieces and run through a food processor or a grinding attachment for a Kitchen Aide Mixer as well.)
In a large bowl or bucket (depending on how much you want to make) combine Borax, Washing Soda, and grated soap together.
Mix well, breaking up any clumps that form.
BAM! You are done!
Store in an air tight container.
Use 1 Tbsp for a small to medium sized load or 2 Tbsp for a large load.
1 "batch" of detergent should last approximately 40 loads. If you make a 5 gallon bucket of it- it should last approximately 10 months or so (depending on the amount of laundry that you do!) Just think- 10 months of detergent for a grand total of $10.
12 comments:
Sweet! Thank you for this! I have all of that! :) I bet you can add drops of essential oils to it too, or crushed lavender powder, etc. Oooo ooo ooo...Saving this! I'll be linking this post too! :)
My MIL does this! :)
Do you have HE machines or regular machines?
Stefenie- good question! I have just a regular machine. I'm not sure if this would be ok to use in a HE washer or not. I bet if you googled homemade laundry detergent for HE washers, you could probably find something!
I was going to ask the same thing about HE machines. Going to google now. Do you use anything for fabric softener? I heard vinegar works for that...
Jayme- I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever used fabric softner...is that completely weird?! someone told me on facebook the other day that vinegar, hair conditioner, and water work well for fabric softner.
Let me know what you find out about the HE washers!
Vinegar does work wonders as a softener!
A word about HE machines.
All the reading I've done, tells me that for the brand name soaps, you use less, (like half as much, etc). So with homemade, I'd believe it's the same idea.
I use my own concoction, and just use less of it in the machine. I do the sniff test and look to see how clean the clothes get to make sure I'm using enough soap.
Thats my two cents worth! ;)
The HE washer designation is all about low suds detergent. According to this site, the recipe listed is a low suds recipe and therefore will work as is in an HE washer. This is awesome.
http://www.diynatural.com/simple-easy-fast-effective-jabs-homemade-laundry-detergent/
I love this! Going to bookmark for future use
I've been wanting to make my own for a long time.
Do the clothes actually come clean if they are visibly dirty?
Do they come out smelling good?
Thanks so much for this! I've been interested in making my own detergent for a while now! Can't wait to make a batch :)
I've been looking for this everywhere!!!! Now, how do you add scent?
Post a Comment