Did you know you can make your own play dough, chalk, silly putty, slime, facial masks, hair detangler, fabric softener, glass cleaner, and laundry detergent?
You can. You’re welcome.
And of course, you can make a zillion other things too. Pinterest is a treasure-trove of home helps pins. {Have I mentioned that I love Pinterest? hmmm}
I think we’ve become conditioned to believe that we have to buy everything we need. That’s not very frugal, now is it? In reality, it wasn’t that long ago we made everything we needed. We cooked from scratch. We whipped up a batter from scratch for our waffles and pancakes (Don’t shudder. You can do it!) We made our own bread (I LOVE making bread). And we sewed our own clothes, napkins, curtains, etc. (I’m working on this one. Well, maybe not the clothes part.)
So since we’re talking about making your own, I wanted to share with you my recipe to make your own laundry detergent.
It’s simple really.
½ bar of Ivory or Fels Naptha soap, shaved (a cheese grater works great)
¼ cup Borax (20 Mule Team)
¼ cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer-DO NOT use Baking Soda. Be sure you get the right thing.)
4 qts. of water (1 gallon; 4 cups=1 qt)
Boil your water in large pot. Stir in the soap shavings and stir until all the shavings are melted. Stir in Borax and Washing Soda until dissolved. Allow to come back to room temperature. It will become milky white as it cools. Store in a plastic container with a lid. If you don’t use it frequently, this can separate so you might need to stir it once and awhile. (But, really?!? WHO isn’t doing laundry like a mad woman, on a regular basis?!?)
I use about 1/4 cup for each laundry load.
There are a lot of recipes available online. Other liquid recipes like mine. And even some dry powder recipes.
The savings here is pretty phenomenal. If you buy one family size bottle of clothes detergent, you will most likely pay about $13.00. The cost for these ingredients will also be around $13.00. But the difference is one of those store-bought detergents bottles will wash approximately 32 loads. While these ingredients will wash well over 100 loads. Obviously, that’s a big difference.
So what are you waiting for? Make your own!
I have LITERALLY had a laundry detergent recipe bookmarked in my Google Reader for YEARS to try and do. Yeah, hasn’t happened. And now that we have the new style of washers and dryers (front load) apparently you have to have special detergent for that… which I’m sure is a crock, they just want us to believe we do! But anyway, do you know if your recipe works in front loaders???
Yes it does work! I have a front-loading HE washer too. The deal with HE washers is that you need to have a detergent that is low-suds. Otherwise you’ll have an I Love Lucy moment with bubbles everywhere.
This and most other do it yourself recipes use ingredients that don’t really create suds so you’ll be fine. Promise!
Stacey… I have heard that as long as you keep a front loader clean and clean the ring occasionally that it is fine… I don’t have a front loader so I am about to finish my second batch of homemade detergent… time to make more! lol The only thing that I have changed is I have bar lye soap that I am using instead of the Ivory or Fels Naptha soap…family allergic to Ivory and just have not ordered the Fels Naptha… our lye soap is from Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO from last summer where we bought a whole log and then cut it into bars ourselves… huge money saver…I use 1 whole bar not a half.
Considering I am just about out of laundry soap,I think I may have to try this next…I hate the price I pay for soap..But I have 1 question..How does it smell??I love the smell of my soap.. I can’t imagine my clean clothes not having that.
Hi Karen! This recipe does not have a scent, but if you would like it to all you have to do is add a few drops of essential oil scent of your choice. That is really inexpensive and can be bought at any store that sells soap-making supplies (like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s).