Homemade Laundry Detergent Part 2

A little over a month ago I tried my hand at making my own homemade laundry detergent.  Days after making this my detergent was put to the test with several loads of vomit covered items (I know, lovely).  It was then that I realized that this would not pass the test for heavy duty loads. I have since also discovered that it does not do well at removing things like deodorant and sweat stains and that it leaves clothes pretty much smelling the same as they did when they went in the washer. So when doing a load that has my husband's clothes in it, they all come out smelling like his cologne which is nice smelling but not how I want MY clothes to smell.  Of course this is a much better smell then the clothes that went in with vomit on them.  I also had to bump up the amount of detergent to a cup each load to try to make it cleaner so this has reduced the amount of loads I get out of a batch, also reducing the amount of savings. Now having said all that you may think I have thrown in the towel on homemade detergent. But seeing as I still had ingredients left and that I am determined to give it a proper chance before resorting back to overpriced, watered down, chemical filled store bought detergent, I gave it another go. This time trying the powdered detergent hoping that by not watering it down it will be more effective. I haven't washed any clothes with this but promise to update when I have properly tested it out.

Ingredients:
* 2 cups grated Fels Naptha (or other bar soap)
* 1 cup Washing Soda
* 1 cup Borax

(Again, I was able to find all 3 of these together at Fred Meyer's)

I just tossed all 3 of these into my food processor and gave it a spin until it was powdered. A little warning, this is much like putting flour in your food processor and creates the same lovely "dust" so don't make near any open food or drink (says the lady who had a class of Iced Via sitting about 6 inches from my food processor at the time of making this).  When that was done I put it in an old empty flax seed container (I hear many people use old large yogurt containers). I added 15 drops of essential oil, orange is my scent of choice at the moment, put the lid on and gave it a good shake. I then labeled the top with a reminder that I would need 2 Tbsp per load and put it in my laundry room. Again, I will update when I have used it long enough to really get a feel for it. Hoping this goes better then the liquid version!

**UPDATE**
Since I was on here today getting the measurements to make some more detergent I thought I had better update you on this current version of detergent that we are using. I can happily say that this powdered version is working MUCH better than the liquid and I have continued to use it on a regular basis. I now make a triple batch at a time and don't have to remake it all that often. I have started using Dial bar soap instead of Nels Faptha as it is more readily available and with sale and coupon I can get it an 8 bar pack at a great price. Plus, I love the great clean smell:) Speaking of smell, I no longer have had the issue of my clothes coming out smelling the same as they went in, so I am pleased.
Also, I am very happy with how long my supplies are lasting. I just ran out of Washing Soda today and I bought it 5 months ago. There is still about 1/3 of Borax left.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have been planning to make my own detergent for a few months now but was waiting to run out of my store bought detergent. That finally happened this week so I excitedly gathered all the ingredients I needed to make my own (I know, it is pathetic the things that excite me these days). Now there are literally dozens of homemade laundry detergent recipes out there. I settled on this one and will decide whether to stick with it after a few uses. I already did 3 loads of laundry with it yesterday and am pleased for the most part. I am thinking about upping the washing soda and borax though as I read that that helps with getting the clothes really clean.

Ingredients:

1/3 bar Fels Naptha

½ cup washing soda

½ cup borax powder

Two gallon bucket 

*essential oil (optional)

Directions:

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.
   

Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.

  

Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.   Now add your soap mixture and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.
  

Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. 

You use ½ cup per load.

*I also added 1/3 oz of orange scented essential oil for a nice scent. 

 **Mine didn't really gel after the 24 hours. But I read that that was normal for it to come out watery and that it can still be used that way. I am going to play around with this a little bit but was happy how it turned out for my first time. This really didn't take much time at all so it wasn't an extra hassle.


Now while I am pleased that one side effect of using homemade detergent is getting rid of the chemicals used to clean our clothes, the main reason I am doing it is to save money. To make sure this was really a money saving endeavor, I kept track of what I spent on all of the ingredients. Here is the breakdown:
-Fels Naptha: 0.99
-Arm & Hammer Washing Soda: 2.69
-Borax: 3.67
-Essential Oil: 4.99
TOTAL: 12.34

The Borax and Washing Soda will last me quite awhile but I am going to figure this based on the Fels Naptha and Essential Oil for which I get 3 batches. Each batch will do 64 loads of laundry. So a third of $12.34 is $4.11. 64 loads at $4.11 comes out to .06 cents a load. Now if we compare this to a leading brand of detergent (I looked at Tide): For 64 loads of Tide it is $14.99 which comes out to .23 cents a load. It is almost 4 times the cost. I say that makes it well worth the effort!
For those of you wondering where to find these items, they can be found at local grocery stores. I was able to find all 3 items together at Fred Meyer, which is what the prices were based on. I picked up the essential oil at a organic store.


*** For an updated version of this post please read HERE*** 

Thinking I need to retake elementary science!

 I have been planning for awhile to switch from store bought cleaners to homemade ones, mostly for money saving purposes. I have been using natural cleaners for awhile so the issue of toxins in our cleaners isn't my main motivator but I have been trying really hard to find different ways to cut some of our unnecessary spending. So when hubby told me the toilet bowl cleaner ran out the other day I actually got excited. I can finally start trying out some of these cleaning remedies I had been reading up on!

The boys bathroom has been in need of a good clean for a little while now so I decided to start with the toilet. The directions I found said to mix 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 cup vinegar. So I did this in a small 2 cup measuring cup. Boy was  I surprised when I added the baking soda! It instantly foamed and spilled out all over my counter. I guess I got a bonus clean with that one! I just had to chuckle because I should have known this would happen. Isn't that the basic recipe for volcano lava in science experiments? Needless to say I tried again, pouring the ingredients straight into the toilet bowl. It didn't have quite the same reaction, I think because of all the water in the bowl, so I may try mixing it ahead of time when I clean next. I will just make sure to use a bigger bowl!