Homemade Laundry Detergent!

I love Pinterest. I can spend hours pinning away, happy as a clam. With my recent Pinterest Review kick, I've been focusing mostly on recipes... My Week of Pinterest cooking took more than a week, mostly because first I, then my husband, got sick with a really nasty head cold. Also because most of these meals make way more food than the two of us can eat in one sitting. But also, life gets in the way, and with our busy social calendar, we just don't cook at home as often as I'd like. But I keep pinning. And I will keep trying things out. I've even created a new category called "Pinterest Reviews"...

Well, one of the things I have been blithely pinning away about is Homemade cleaners. I like knowing what's in my cleaning products, and if it can be natural and effective, I'm all in. I'm really sensitive to harsh cleaners, and always on the look out for good alternatives. 

While pinning one day, I noticed that a lot of these "DIY Cleaners" come from a blog called One Good Thing By Jillee. She's all over this stuff, and has pages of products to make and try. I'm in love! I highly recommend you check out her blog. And if you're skeptical about trying a product yourself, let me know, I'll try anything once! 

With all this in mind, I set out to make my own laundry detergent. Now Jillee has a recipe for a huge amount (literally, a year's worth of laundry detergent), but I'm a try it out kinda girl, so I was extra pleased to find a recipe for a trial size!

The recipe calls for:

• 1 bar grated Fels Naptha soap (I used Dr. Bronner's Lavender bar soap)


• 3 cups Borax


• 2 cups washing soda


• 3/4 cup baking soda


• 4 1/2 cups oxygen bleach


• 1 cup (heaping) fabric softener crystals – store-bought or Homemade (optional)
  
  
  
  • I opted to make the fabric softener crystals, which were simply 1 cup of epsom salt with 10 drops of essential oil... I used 20 drops of Lavender.
  
  
  
  

I was able to find all the ingredients at Wegman's, but if you have any trouble, here's some links for Amazon!

 

 

So easy to make...

I chopped the soap in to chunks, and grated it in my Ninja food processor. When it was roughly chopped I tossed in the salt mixture to get better traction, and really break it down to a fine grind. Then I just mixed everything together in a large lidded jar.

Doesn't break the bank~

It makes about 100 ounces of laundry detergent, which at 2 Tbsp per load, should be approximately 100 loads. And if you figure that I used about $11 worth of materials, that makes it $.12 per ounce...

Liquid detergent Tide is $.18 per ounce, and Dreft is $.28 per ounce... and I used to use those tabs or pacs that you toss in. No measuring, no scooping, just dump one in and go. Those things are really expensive... From $.33 for All, to $.47 for Seventh Generation.  

**High Efficiency / Front Load Washers** You guys only need 1 Tbsp - so it's even better for you guys! $.06 per ounce!! You CANNOT beat this.

Completely worth doing!

You can see how this is going to save me a lot of money. And it only took about 15 minutes to make. It smells great, I know exactly what's in it, I can change the scent, and I love the fact that I made it!

But wait, there's more!

You can even turn your powder in to those handy little tabs! Jillee suggested mixing 2 Tbsp (or 1, front loaders!) with some vinegar (enough that you can kind of sculpt it)  and pressing it in to the wells of an ice cube tray. I was really dubious about this. She said to let it dry for a few days, and pop them out. Now I thought for sure that they would crumble to dust when I popped them out... 

 

But as you can see they popped just fine! Now I have my lovely powder which I can scoop, or turn in to these easy little pods.

I started using the detergent immediately, and I have been using it for every wash for the last two weeks. It cleans just as well as any other laundry detergent I've ever tried. Clothes come out clean, and there's a soft fragrance to it - nothing overwhelming. And of course, if I want more scent, I can just add more! But I'm pleased as punch with how it came out, and have already launched in to my next project... The jar on the right shows my first batch of Homemade Fabric Softener for Homemade Dryer Sheets. I ran my first load with my spiffy new dryer sheets today, and will be back in a week or so to give my review!