In our small household we go through so much laundry detergent with all the loads of laundry we do with 2 littles AND cloth diapering! The cost of detergent is so expensive so I started looking into making my own.
My mother in law makes her own and so she let me have some to try it out on Brandons work clothes that smell because of the environment he works in (even though it's an office building-it reeks) as well as his workout clothes. I washed them all in her detergent and they came out smelling great! I was definitely impressed.
So as soon as I finished my box of Gain I had been using, I spent about an hour making the laundry detergent with the 3 simple ingredients that Louanne just GAVE me! They are really cheap anyways and you can get it all at Walmart or Kroger!
The "hardest" part of the whole process was grating the bar of soap-and that wasn't even "hard"! I now have a 5 gallon bucket sitting in my basement that will allow me to fill up my detergent container many times-making a total of 10 gallons of soap. I think we are set on laundry detergent for quite some time. :)
This is the recipe that I followed. And here are some step by step photos of my process!
Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap
(Front or top load machine-best value)
Ingredients:
4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar*
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda**
½ Cup Borax
Directions:
-Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)
I did add some lavender essential oil to it to give it a slight lavender smell.
And that's it! Laundry soap for a lonnnng time! I'm very pleased :)
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