Saturday, April 3, 2010

Home-made Laundry Detergent... cheap, cheap, cheap!

I was so tired of spending at least $10.00 every time I had to buy detergent, then a friend gave me this recipe for detergent you make at home, and now it's cheap, cheap, cheap! Here are the ingredients:



1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap ( all these ingredients can be found in your laundry detergent aisle. I found mine at Kroger)

1 cup of Arm & Hammer washing soda (see pic above...NOT baking soda!)

1/2 cup of Borax powder



Directions: Grate the bar of soap onto a paper plate while you have 5 cups of water on the stove heating just to boiling.

I use this kind of grater to make it easier to grate (this was my moms)



Pour the grated soap into the hot water and stir as the soap melts.



This is what it looks like as it's melting down....sunshine in a pan! :)


Pour 4 gallons of hot water into a 5 gallon bucket. When the soap is completely melted, pour it into the 5 gallon bucket and stir well. Add the washing soda and stir, then add Borax powder and continue to stir until dissolved You can add a few drops of essential oils at this point if you like, but I omit this step because the soap smells SO good. Cover the bucket (I use plastic wrap) and let the mixture cool overnight. It will become very gelatinous!



(don't ya just love my pink bucket! lol)



Stir the detergent (it will look like egg drop soup) before using a funnel and pouring into whatever containers you have. I use old detergent bottles and gallon jugs.



Altogether the ingredients cost about $6.00, it factors out to be a few cents a load! (and you still have washing soda and borax to use again!)



Here's how much I get out of each recipe! You only use 1/2 cup per load unless you have heavily soiled items or towels, then I will use about a cup.



Don't you just love saving money so you can use it for something better............like a trip to TJ Maxx!!!! :-)

Blessings
MELISSA

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been doing this for awhile but decided to go back to commercial detergent as I have teenage boys that have their own "smell" and I found this detergent not strong enough to eliminate it. I also have very hard water which can play a factor in it, too. Excellent cost saver and thanks for sharing!! Bonnie

Tanza said...

Hi Melissa,
WoW !! Just like our Gramma days .. What a wonderful scoop from you .. Thanks for sharing sweet one, and here's wishing you and yours, a wonderfully blessed Easter ~
hugs ~tea~xo

My Cottage Charm said...

Bonnie, I am wondering if I make my detergent stronger than you were doing, cause I have three boys too (and you're right, they def have their own smell lol) but I haven't had any problems with it removing smells. :)

Tea, I hope you have a blessed Easter too! :0) Hugs to you both!

afistfullofweeds* said...

Anything that cheap is certainly worth a try!

Hoppy Easter!~! Rhonda

Faith said...

Hi Happy Easter to you & yours...

I have made the homemade detergent before, but used it in the dry form. I may try the liquid. Only 1/2 cup you say....?

I'm going to find me a pink bucket too...LOL

Love 'n Light said...

What a great idea...I'll have to try it when I have some spare time...Thanks!

LL Nat:~)

mommy Orkid Belle said...

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I will try this and by the things I need the next time I go to the store. This is great!

Adin B

Amy said...

This looks fantastic! Has anyone used it on front loading machines? I'd love to try this, but know that front loaders can be finicky when it comes to the detergents you can use.

Amy said...

Is this ok to use on front load washers?

Amy

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