Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I met a family in the hospital a while back that made their own laundry detergent. Their recipe sounded like a lot of work. They told me that it saved them a lot of money. Their clothes looked great so, I decided to check into it. I searched several sites but the one I like the best is http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/. It gave a recipe for a powdered detergent that was less messy and time consuming to make. I haven't tried it out yet. I'm still trying to find the ingredients. If anyone knows where I can find these products please let me know. By using these recipes it will only cost pennies per load.

Powdered Laundry Detergent
1 cup grated bar of Ivory Soap (you may try other types as well)
1/2 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (don't confuse with baking soda. They're different)
1/2 cup Borax
Store in an air tight container like rubbermaid
For a light load use 1 Tbsp
For a heavy load use 2 Tbsp
*There will be no suds when you use this

Homemade Fabric Softener
2 cups White Vinegar
2 cups Baking Soda
4 cups Water
Combine and pour into a plastic bottle.
Use 1/4 cup in the final rinse or put it in a Downy Ball

4 comments:

  1. Ok, that is so funny! I commented about the last post and mentioned my laundry soap I make and then I check back and you have one posted! How funny is that! :)

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  2. That is the recipe we use. You can find all the igredients in the laundry aisle at Meijer or Walmart. Its not too difficult to find. We use the good sensitive soap for our children because of their sensitive skin. It smells good, but not over fragrant and it cleans great. One thing though, it doesn't sud up. At first I thought we made it wrong, but the suds don't really do anything anyway. But the soap works great and lasts us for months.

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  3. I've looked at the Wal-Marts and Targets here and can't find the Borax or Washing Soda. I haven't tried Meijer yet. I'll have to go there next. What soap do you use? We use Cetaphil for Sam's sensitive skin.

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  4. We used Jergens for the laundry soap but use dove sensitive for their baths. Hey, I'm emailing you some pics of the borax and washing soap boxes. It may help you find them if you know what it looks like. You may even want to post them here on the blog for others as well. I tried to paste them in my comment, but it wouldn't work.

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