One of my readers, April, e-mailed her recipe for making her own laundry soap. It sounds pretty easy. I think I might give this a try. I thought that some of you may be interested as well, so here is the recipe. Thanks so much April!!
The basic recipe for home-made laundry detergent is as follows:
1 cup grated/shredded soap
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup sodium carbonate*
Use one tablespoon per load.
You can use any measurements as long as you keep the ratio of 2 parts soap to one part sodium carbonate and one part borax.
Supposedly, you can use this same mixture in the dishwasher. Again, use one tablespoon.
The original recipe calls for Fels-Naptha soap, but I use whatever I can get for free or close to free. Lately, I have been using Dial Basic because during triples week I was able to get a three pack for 0.15.
* Sodium Carbonate goes by many names. It is Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. It is Chem Plus in the pool section. And I have been told it is Soda Ash at the pool supply store and you can get in bulk, there.
I like to put all the ingredients in my Magic Bullet to get everything all powdered together well. You could also use a food processor or blender, but at the moment, I don’t have either of those.
I have also discovered that a formula scoop measures just slightly more than a tablespoon, and a cleaned, empty formula can makes a good storage container for the detergent.
I’ve been using a similar detergent recipe for several months now and LOVE it!
I use a variation for my cloth diapers as well (doesn’t use bar soap but OxiClean Free instead).
Will this work with COLD water and well as hot? I have GOT to try this…… THANKS!!!!!!!!
I have used this for 4 months- and it saves soooo much money—and works well