Being a small business owner in a trying economy with a baby on the way – I am all about saving money, and am definitely not too good to try out a homemade laundry detergent.
So, I set out to find a tried and true recipe for laundry detergent.
I tweeted out for some help, and got no response, so where did I go?
Pinterest!
Where else?!
After find a few different recipes I picked the one that I liked the most, OK, lets be real – I looked at the photos and found the ones in the post I found the most appealing.
Then I looked at the ingredients, which really – eh, if it works it works.
Then I looked at the “$20 for 9+ months of loads of laundry.” SOLD.
Scroll down – read some of the 375+ comments. SOLD.
Then, Saturday evening I was chatting on Google with my friend Jamie and this conversation happened and we got to talking about life, and she brought up laundry detergent & that she had just made some homemade that she LOVED. I told her that ironically I planned to make some the next day, sent over the link to her of the one I planned to use and turns out – that’s the one she picked too!
She told me how much she loved it and that it got stains out of her hubby’s clothes and made Cooper’s, her son that turned 1 in May, feel super soft!
She told me how much she loved it and that it got stains out of her hubby’s clothes and made Cooper’s, her son that turned 1 in May, feel super soft!
SOLD. SOLD. SOLD.
So what’s this awesome recipe?
Homemade Laundry Detergent
1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle
1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the detergent
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle
3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle ($.97 each – I actually bought 4 – one for extra greasy/oily spots for Ryan’s work clothes)
3.5 lbs Oxy Clean or store brand Oxy Clean, found in the detergent isle but I actually bought mine at the Dollar Tree. I bought 4 lbs. ($1.00 Each)
**You could also add Downy Unstoppables, or a powder fabric softener to change the smell or add to the detergent. However, we opted to not add anything extra.
The Process:
Use a 5 gallon bucket, and line it with a trash bag. Either shred or grind up the bars of Fels-Naptha (I cut up the bars into smaller chunks and used our Kitchen Aid which was super easy and made the bar into little pellets – don’t stick the whole bar in there, it’s too large and will stop the blades from moving …. not that I have any experience with that or anything…)
Poor all of the ingredients into the trash-bag-lined bucket and either use your hands or a large cooking spoon (I used a spoon, I found it was less dusty), and mix up.
Your mixture will look something like this:
I found 2 1 gallon containers at the Dollar Tree, and took the scoops out of the Oxy Clean containers which are about 1 TBSP each.
I, then, took a Sharpie and decided to draw a lovely little label on the container.
Use 2 TBSP per load of laundry. You could use 1 TBSP for a small load.
This Laundry soap is great for sensitive skin, Ryan has sensitive skin and has no effects from it, and it leave clothes feeling fabulous.
Notes from reading the other site:
Safe for HE washers and dryers.
Due to using Baking Soda, it would be best to not use on cloth diapers – due to baking soda effecting the absorbancy.
Use at your own risk. 🙂
Original Recipe found here
i made this for my mom for mothers day and added in those downey scent things so it smells extra good! SHE LOVES IT!!! I keep forgetting to make it in my own house, soon!
my mother in law made some and she said she has a recipe for baby friendly detergent too. im planning on making some if my MIL doesnt make it for me. i told her it would be a great, useful, inexpensive shower present 🙂