Home Made Laundry Soap

[disneydreamersx4]

Washing soda is sodium carbonate. NOT sodium bicarbonate which is baking soda. In some areas/stores you can find washing soda in your laundry aisle. If you can't find it in your laundry aisle...it is also used as PH balancer for pools. It is PHplus. Just look at the ingredients. It should be the only one.

http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=AH1001&Show=ExtInfo

I have been making my own powder detergent for around 2 years now. I spend less than $20 a YEAR. The powder takes only about 2 minutes to make. I never notice I am low until I go to do a load and there isn't any detergent. Here is my recipe:

1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup laundry booster (Oxy Clean or Sun and the like)


I notice your recipe for the dry powder doesn't include Fels Naptha or Ivory....or did you forget to type that ingredient?? thanks

 

[bettymae1121]

I have about a 1/2 jug of tide left, then I'm going to start making my own detergent. we only use 1/2 the recommened amount and use 1 cup baking soda in all our laundry esp towels. Swithing to homemade detergent is going to save us a huge amount of money!!

Ditto! I only use half the recommended amount too, and also add baking soda! But I plan on making my own once my bottle of Kirkland's runs out (about 20 years from now, that bottle is huge!). I don't like heavy scents on my clothes and even using only half the soap, I can still smell it on our clothes.

 

[MrsPete]

I used to make this before I got my high efficiency machine (now I'm afraid it might damage my expensive investment!). It is GREAT on whites, but tends to fade colors a bit.

 

[xanphylus]

Thanks for the info guys! I will go buy my new container and soap ingredients this weekend for sure! Hope the kids like playing grate the soap- it will be my oldest kiddos new job. I bet she will like it though- it's like cooking.

 

[joybeth]

The recipe I used was:

Dry Laundry Soap

1/2 bar of Fels Naptha
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

While I was out shopping for the items, I notice the bar of Fels Naptha was about 5.5 oz. compared to the 3 oz. bar of Ivory. I just used the whole Ivory bar. I used 2 tbsp. of the powder for the wash. It worked great.

I found this exact recipe here and have using it since April. I can't express how much we LOVE it! Clothes come out so clean and fresh smelling. And, no static. I also use 2 tablespoons for a load and add 1/4 cup white vinegar. My daughter had me make her a batch to take to college with her. I grate the fels naptha with a cheese grater and then mix it all together in the food processor to get a nice consistency. I always make a double batch.
jb

 

[joybeth]

If you mix it dry and use only 2 tbs. How do you know if there's a good enough mixture of ingredients?

You can tell by looking at it. I mix it all in the food processor and then give it a stir in the container when I use it.

 

[Disneymommy2006]

My youngest has to use the "free" types of laundry detergent due to eczema...would this qualify since there's no added perfumes or scents? I would love to save that extra money but he is so sensitive and I don't want to cause any flair up for him. Anyone with kiddos with that same problem use the homemade detergent listed above??? Thanks for the advice!

 

[disneydreamersx4]

Does anyone have the cost per load for the dry soap mixture??

 

[dis2cruise]

I found this exact recipe here and have using it since April. I can't express how much we LOVE it! Clothes come out so clean and fresh smelling. And, no static. I also use 2 tablespoons for a load and add 1/4 cup white vinegar. My daughter had me make her a batch to take to college with her. I grate the fels naptha with a cheese grater and then mix it all together in the food processor to get a nice consistency. I always make a double batch.
jb

Do you add the vinegar to the dry mix when you place the clothes into the wash?

 

[disneydreamersx4]

*bump*

 

[pklein09]

Well, I went looking for the dry ingredients....I've got some washing soda on the shelf. I could find the borax, but not the washing soda or the Fels Naptha. No problem for the soap - I've seen where other's have used Ivory soap. Where have you found the washing soda? I've checked grocery stores and WalMart (thought for sure I'd find it there).

TIA!

 

[Purseval]

Washing soda is in the laundry aisle. At our store it was near the OxyClean. Look for what appears to be a huge box of arm and hammer baking soda, only it says washing soda. Fels was also in the laundry aisle, not the soap aisle. It is considered a stain remover.

 

[pklein09]

Washing soda is in the laundry aisle. At our store it was near the OxyClean. Look for what appears to be a huge box of arm and hammer baking soda, only it says washing soda. Fels was also in the laundry aisle, not the soap aisle. It is considered a stain remover.

Yep, checked all those places....need to try some more stores....

 

[webprinter]

I cannot find it at any of our stores either. I looked all over the laundry dept and all over the rest of the cleaning area. None. All I could find was Borax and next to it was a large box of Baking Soda. I checked it 4 times and it said baking soda. I still purchased it thinking I could use it to clean the sinks.

 

[ceecee]

Kroger has it in the laundry section.

 

[Praise2Him]

I couldn't find it at WalMart or grocery stores either (small town) but our ACE hardware carries all the supplies, so try them if you have one.

 

[DawnM]

I would do a google search for this. In my search it looked like it was fine for sensitive skin.

Dawn

My youngest has to use the "free" types of laundry detergent due to eczema...would this qualify since there's no added perfumes or scents? I would love to save that extra money but he is so sensitive and I don't want to cause any flair up for him. Anyone with kiddos with that same problem use the homemade detergent listed above??? Thanks for the advice!

 

[Mellie2162]

I use a similar recipe, but do not liquify it. I add 1 c fels naptha (grated or through food processor), 1c washing soad and 1 c borax. I use 2-3 Tablespoons per load. It desolves fine in my cold water, too. And not making it into a liquid saves on storage space and time.

This is exactly what we do. We used to do the liquid but I found by the time I got to the middle of hte bucket it didnt seem to clean as well. The method above has saved us a ton of money in detergents and the best part...my DH does the soap making for me!

 

[jack'smom]

We made this detergent and have been using it for about a month. I've found that it has really faded our colors. Anyone else have this problem? I'm looking for a different recipe that won't fade our clothes.

 

[Purseval]

I couldn't find it at WalMart or grocery stores either (small town) but our ACE hardware carries all the supplies, so try them if you have one.

Our Ace stocks it online but if you want Fels in a store you have to order a case and have it delivered to the store or convince the manager that it's worth it to take up shelf space stocking it.

In case some of you aren't sure what to look for: