I’ve had people still emailing me about my “homemade detergent” recipe.
I thought id post a new post with the recipe again, for those who missed it years ago :-)
To start, heres what you need…
Ingredients:
1. 1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated OR 1 bar of Goat Milk Stuff soap (amazing soap, I prefer it to the Fels Naptha soap. Clean Cotton or Honeysuckle are the best)
2. 1 c Borax
It cost around $2.00 a box
3. 1 c Washing Soda
They were around $2.50 a box
4. 1/4 c OxyClean (not necessary, but can be added – I personally do not put this in, but have heard that if you have lots of messy grass stained clothing, this works well to include. )
Directions:
I recommend doing all this outside… grating SOAP makes a mess!
(note: the dollar tree sells a grater for $1 that works well, its a hand held one, I have since purchased it to use just for my soap grating… that way my cheese one doesnt get dull or have bad after taste when used on real food.)
Mix it all together into a bumpy, granular mix. Don’t worry about stuff getting correctly dispersed, even if it doesn’t quite look like it does.
Use 1T for a light load
Use 2T for a large or dirty load (It’s true! Only 2 Tablespoons per load!)
This recipe came from HERE.
I’ve used this recipe for almost 2 years now! It works great and I have never had a problem with it.
To those curious where my “scoop” came from.. I got it from an order of home made detergent years ago, but I found the same scoops online for under $5, if you wanted one like it. Then again you can go to the dollar store and get a table spoon scoop for way less ;-)
Whenever I make my detergent I do a double batch. It fills up the glass jar in the photo at the top of this post. That one jar will last me well over 6 months, if not longer! – and I do A LOT of laundry :-)
To those curious if it saves money. I believe it does.
Heres what the recipes source website says about the cost savings:
Cost to make your own: Around $2 per batch.
This is about 5.7 cents per load (using 2 tablespoons for each load, you get about 35 loads).
Arm & Hammer laundry detergent is about 12.4 cents per load.
Tide detergent is 30 cents and more per load.
Do the math.. its way cheaper and last way longer.
Its worth the effort.
I use the same detergent and love it. If you have a food processor you can do it all in it. I use mine to grate the soap and then mix all the other ingredients together in it. I would do it outside b/c it kind of makes my kitchen very hazy when I mix it. :)
[Reply]
Thanks for posting the recipe again! Do you ever add essential oils to it for scent? Would that work?
[Reply]
Dreawood Reply:
September 13th, 2010 at 10:56 am
@Lindsey, I havent needed to add any more scent because the soaps I have used are lightly scented :)
[Reply]
My hubby claims it doesn’t work as well on his clothes, I really need to do a blind test on him. But I think it might actually work better for me (with our hard water) as a liquid… and my friend posted about how to do that with the same recipe.
http://notthequeen.blogspot.com/2010/04/recipe-you-probably-dont-want-to-taste.html
[Reply]
Dreawood Reply:
September 13th, 2010 at 10:57 am
@Krista, I think husbands want more “scented” smelling clothes :-) and honestly when my husband runs and has really sweaty clothing, I will use a regular detergent because of that… lets face it, men can stink up clothing a lot quicker than us women :) at least thats my experience LOL
[Reply]
I am curious if anyone uses this detergent with a front loader. I have always been nervous about trying it. I am one of those people who always looks for little front loader safe signs on the label. Although latley I have been using the all in one purex sheets and they are great. However, I am all for using the home made detergent and saving money if it proves to be okay for front loaders.
[Reply]
I found some scoops for $3.95 free shipping on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Natural-Wood-Scoop-Bath-Salts-Herbs-Clay-etc-/360234851078?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53dfab9b06#ht_1023wt_911
Just search for “scoop wood”.
[Reply]
The liquid version goes even further. If you good The Dugger’s family laundry detergent recipe, you can get both the dry recipe and the liquid. The liquid would probably work well in front loaders, and it definitely goes much further for the money!
When I do the dry version, I used a food processor instead of grating. It does go much easier and less mess. :)
[Reply]
I meant to say, if you “google” not good….The Dugger’s family laundry detergent recipe….etc.
[Reply]
Drea, do you use this on your cloth diapers? I’ve been hesitant to make my own because I wasn’t sure how it would do on fluff.
[Reply]
Dreawood Reply:
January 4th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
@Jana (sidetrack’d), hey, no I wouldnt. It is soap based and may cause build up and absorbancy issues on the diapers.
[Reply]
Thank you so much, this was very interesting. I was actually born in Spain ( not telling you what year though!) but was moved around various parts of europe and lastly settled in England when I was a teenager. I dont remember an awful lot of the few years I was in spain, but the delicious smell of spanish food always seems to ring a bell in me or something. It’s weird how I dont remember anything except the smells,isn’t it! I even found a whole website dedicated to spanish recipes, which gave me great delight and thought I really should to share. Anyway, thank you again. I’ll get my husband to add your feed to my rss thing…
[Reply]
What do you use on your cloth diapers?
[Reply]