Help- Homemade laundry detergent

[LittleBlue22]

Have any of you made your own laundry detergent? How effective was it on your clothing? I wash a lot of our clothes using cold water, will the detergent breakdown or clump up? I have a 5 gal bucket and a wooden spoon waiting.

I remember there being a similar thread, but I can't find it. If you have that thread bookmarked, do you mind re posting the link here? Thanks

 

[java]

I made this one and it worked great! And then my washer broke. (it was old so I don't think it was the detergent)
It's from the Duggar website and I figured if it worked for them and all their laundry it should work for me.

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

 

[Mermaid02]

I made this one and it worked great! And then my washer broke. (it was old so I don't think it was the detergent)
It's from the Duggar website and I figured if it worked for them and all their laundry it should work for me.

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

I hate the smell of Fels-Naptha and have used Kirk's Castile instead.....

 

[worm761]

I make a powder soap. We haven't had a stain set since I started using it. I love it!

1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup oxygen cleaner

mix ingredients and store in an air tight container. Use one tablespoon per load.

If you can't find washing soda...it is nothing more than sodium carbonate. It is sold as a pool balancer called Ph Plus. Any oxygen cleaner will work. I use Sun brand since it is cheaper and has less ingredients than Oxyclean. I have been using this recipe for almost two years and have had no problems.

 

[Nelfamily]

The one I use is this:

1 bar fels-naptha soap grated
1 cup borax
1 cup arm & hammer washing soda

Mix all together. Use 1 Tbsp. per large load. I start the water first, add soap and then clothes. I also use 2 Tbsp. white vinegar + water to fill line in my fabric softener cup. It helps rinse out any residues from the soap and is a natural water softener, plus it's much cheaper than the stuff from the store. If you want them to smell a certain way you can add any essential oil to the gallon jug of vinegar. I used about 20 drops of lavender and it smelled really good. It doesn't smell like vinegar though even without the EO. You can use a different soap if you want, just make sure it's soap and not a deodorant bar. One batch lasts us a month with 4 people to wash for.

You can also do a search for where to find the washing soda. it depends on where in the country you live. We have it at Fred Meyer's and Pauls in Idaho.

happy washing!

 

[tonilea]

Here is the recipe I use for liquid detergent. It is from my blog, so pardon the format.

I am about 1/2 way through my first batch of homemade laundry detergent. Thus far, it seems to clean at least as well as the Purex brand I used to use. The only thing I miss is the scent of the store bought detergent.

1 quart Water (boiling)
1 bar of Fels Naptha (grated) - That was very hard to find!
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
2 gallons of Water
1 bucket - a cat litter bucket works great!

Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.
Pour the soap water into a large, clean pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved. I used a large whisk. Add 2 gallons of water, whisk until well mixed.

Cover pail and use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. The soap gelled up, so I used a whisk to break it up. According to the different recipes I have read, it should be stirred before each use, but since I whisked it up, it hasn't seemed to change consistency.

Cost break down:
(I can't remember the exact prices, so prices are approximate, but definitely rounded higher.)

Fels Naptha - $1.25
20 Mule Team Borax - $4.50 / 3 = $1.50
Washing Soda - $4.50 / 3 = $1.50

I should be able to get at least three and likely four batches out of the borax and washing soda, so I am dividing them by three. So $4.25 or less (very likely less) per batch. Each batch is 144 loads. It comes out to 0.0295138888888889, less than three cents per load.

Overall, I thought it was an interesting project and certainly a money saver, especially since the laundry detergent I was buying is steadily becoming more expensive.

 

[pearlieq]

1 bar fels-naptha soap grated
1 cup borax
1 cup arm & hammer washing soda

I use the same recipe, but I usually use Ivory instead of the Fels-Naptha soap. It's not as strong, but we don't get that dirty--just day-to-day activities at home or at the office.

I use 2T, wash with cold, add the detergent first, and use vinegar in the fabric softener cup. Everything comes out nice and clean.

 

[C.Ann]

I used to make my own dry laundry detergent "out" of a variety of cleaning solutions.. You see, my late DH worked in the supermarket business and was always allowed to bring home any boxes of soap detergent that were crushed, had tears in the box, or whatever..

So - I had a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and I would dump all the different brands in there.. I would mix them up good and then add a box of powdered dishwasher detergent - again, mixing well.. I too used cold water to wash my clothes in, so I would take the appropriate amount of dry soap powder out of the bucket, pour it into a pint jar, add hot/warm water, shake it up good, and then add it to the washing machine after it filled with the cold water..

I have to say, I have never, ever had clothes come out as clean as those clothes did.. My whites were so white they would practically blind you to look at them.. It was really nice because I no longer had to "soak" things overnight or pre-treat spots.. Just tossed everything into the machine with this solution and obtained amazing results..