Need your BEST homemade laundry detergent recipe for COLD water!

[pjlla]

maybe a stupid question, but do you do anything special to clean the grater or food processor after working with the soaps, borax, and washing soda so it is okay to use with food later, or do you just wash them really well? or, do you have a separate older grater or processor just for this?

I want to make this in the dry form, and will use it in cold water, so I want to make sure it's ground up really well.

thanks for the original post and any answers to my questions.

I don't really do anything special other wash it VERY thoroughly. I figure it is just soap.... and what else would I clean the food grater or processor with but SOAP!

A word of caution on the hotel soap. I travel for work too and had a bunch of it, decided to replace the Fels with the hotel soap. It did not dissolve well, it left a film in my washer and my clothes.
Good Luck with it, I switched back to Fels.
I do use a homenade fabric softner made of vinegar, cream rinse and water. I've been making it for 6 years now and it works great and has saved me a ton on the commercal stuff.

That is what I was concerned with too, but I read in several places that folks had good luck using regular bar soap to make laundry detergent (most especially CHEAP soap), so I wanted to give it a try. So far both of the loads I did came out just fine. And I have ALSO seen the fabric softener recipes that contain hair conditioner, which I figured could also leave film on your clothes, but obviously it doesn't, since many folks use it for their laundry. So for now I'll say I'm good. Plus I REALLY needed to make detergent and was out of Fels and I live 30 minutes from a store, so I figured I'd go with what I had!

Wow!

What a great tip! I have never heard this before.

Now, OP, I have only made the liquid. The grated soap does not melt enough in cold water and you may end up with splotches of soap on your clothing with the grated.

Fels Naptha is the best because of the way it dissolves. It is made to clean clothing, not bodies.

The moisturizing agent in regular soap leaves a film on clothing.

Like I said above, so far so good on using the regular soap. I did go feel the inside of the washer and I felt the clothes pretty thoroughly as I hung them out and when I folded them and they seemed just fine.

I made detergent with a body soap once. It left oily spots on the clothes because it had moisturizers in it. I'd use Fels Naptha or Ivory if I were to do it again, or I noticed Big Lots had Zote, another bar soap for clothes. Big Lots usually has Sun detergent in giant jugs for $5-6 for 100+ loads, so I buy that now rather than making my own. I found it was getting impossible to find the ingredients for homemade laundry detergent locally, and I was wasting time and money trying to find them when I was out.

I'd rather not buy regular detergent, even if it is free, because of the petro-chemicals used and because it contributes more PLASTIC to the world. I'm trying HARD to eliminate as much plastic consumption in my life as possible. No plastic shopping bags (unless of course, DH stops at the store ), no plastic jugs of detergent or fabric softener (although my vinegar still comes in jugs) etc. I have NO trouble finding the ingredients for the laundry detergent here.... guess I am really lucky.

I always figured that I wash it with soap and water after I use it with food so as long as I clean it well after I grate the soap it should be no different that washing with dish detergent.

Has anyone tried storing the homeade powder and just dissolve it in some warm water before adding it to the washer when needed? it does take a couple minutes but it still would take up less space for storage.

That is what I ended up doing with my first batch of homemade powdered detergent. Sure it works, but it is a PITA. I had to run the bathroom sink tap hot, hot and then mix the powder with hot water in a jar (burning my fingers frequently) and then dump it in the washer. Not an impossible thing to do, but more of a bother than I wanted to deal with.... and storage space in the laundry room isn't a big deal for me.

I make the liquid detergent, using borax, washing soda and bars of soap from WDW. I put it through my meat grinder, and it becomes a powder. I put these 3 ingredients (usually in equal amounts) together into a pail and seal it well. When I need to make a batch of soap, I mix some in warm water, and pour it into large liquid honey containers. By the time I go to use it, it has congealed into a glop that is not liquid, not a solid, but something like a sloppy gel. I find by doing this, it desolves easily in cold water. I pour 1 glug, from the glop into my washer, as it is filling with cold water. It desolves just fine. My clothes are cleaned quite well. I've been doing this for years, and have never had a complaint about my laundry.

That is quite similar to the laundry "sauce" recipe I tried a few months ago. Nearly had the consistency of a very thick yogurt. Worked well, but just wasn't dissolving well enough in the cold water. The next batch I made was not concentrated quite so much, but was very much a "glop" as you described. I had to thin it a lot to get it to dispense from the spigots on my jugs, but that helped it to dissolve in the cold water. I will definitely go back to that method if this powder doesn't work out.

I just use the Duggar's recipe for liquid soap. The Borax, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, Zote or Fels Naptha bar soap (grated).

For DS's cheer uniform and clothes, I use Tide Pods. It is very important that his uniform stay beautiful and clean!

The homemade laundry soap recipe works good for us.

The Duggar recipe is pretty much "the" recipe floating around the internet these days. They just dilute theirs a lot more and most folks don't have storage for big 5 gallon buckets of detergent in their laundry rooms.

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Again, thanks to all who contributed!!....................P

 

[rszdtrvl]

I just store it under the kitchen sink. The 5 gallon bucket fits perfectly. And I use a handheld mixer to mix it up really good before I put it in the plastic laundry bottles.

I was at the health food store today to get some "gypsy cold care" tea and saw that they had essential oils. I need to pick up one to add to the laundry soap next time!

 

[stacielee]

maybe a stupid question, but do you do anything special to clean the grater or food processor after working with the soaps, borax, and washing soda so it is okay to use with food later, or do you just wash them really well? or, do you have a separate older grater or processor just for this?

I want to make this in the dry form, and will use it in cold water, so I want to make sure it's ground up really well.

thanks for the original post and any answers to my questions.

Like others, I figure it's soap so other than running it through the dishwasher, I don't do anything special.

Speaking of dishwashers, does anyone have a good homemade detergent for one? The only once I've tried actually etched my cookware so I went back to buying it at the store.

I do the powder recipe, I use 1 bar of Fels Neptha, grated finely with a cheese grater that is used at Olive Garden for Parmesan cheese. LOL Seriously, it works great. I don't have a food processor or I would use that. I mix the FN with 1 cup of washing soda and 1 cup of Borax, I use 1 Tablespoon per load and wash only in cold (and it gets cold here) and I've never had a problem with it not dissolving. I use a grater that is only for grating this soap but if I didn't have a separate one I would simply wash it in the dishwasher before using it for food.

Same recipe as I use, 1 bar fels naptha, 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax. I have a small scoop that I got somewhere that's between 1-2 tablespoons so I use that.

I have the same grater, but it takes a lot of pressure. Glad I have a food processor.

A word of caution on the hotel soap. I travel for work too and had a bunch of it, decided to replace the Fels with the hotel soap. It did not dissolve well, it left a film in my washer and my clothes.
Good Luck with it, I switched back to Fels.
I do use a homenade fabric softner made of vinegar, cream rinse and water. I've been making it for 6 years now and it works great and has saved me a ton on the commercal stuff.

Same thing I use for fabric softener, 3 cups water, 2 cups vinegar, 1 cup hair conditioner. Doesn't leave a smell, and if it's really dry it doesn't take away all of the static cling, but seems to work okay.

We just got a Winco here and they have the FN soap for less than $1/bar. I think they also have the A&H washing soda and borax. I'll have to check next time I'm there.

 

[webprinter]

Instead of grating the Fels Naptha, try putting it in the microwave. It gets all disorted but then you can crumble it down to a powder.

Way easier than grating.

How long did you put it in the microwave?

 

[Marlea98]

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[pixiewings71]

Same recipe as I use, 1 bar fels naptha, 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax. I have a small scoop that I got somewhere that's between 1-2 tablespoons so I use that.

I have the same grater, but it takes a lot of pressure. Glad I have a food processor.

Yes, it does take some pressure but it's easier than grating it by hand. LOL I don't have a food processor to use, I may try that microwave trick though!

 

[ElenaRN]

How long did you put it in the microwave?

I haven't made it in a while, but I think about a minute and a half. It's going to get all big and puffy and kind of look like a yellow loaf of bread. You can cut the bar into peices and it will prob take less time.

Make sure you let it cool a while before trying to crumble it.

 

[pjlla]

I've now done about 6 or 8 loads (probably more) with my latest batch of detergent and so far, so good! I've washed whites, towels, darks, etc. The powder is dissolving totally (thanks SO MUCH for the idea of making it superfine in the food processor) and everything seems as clean and fresh as with any other types of detergent I've tried. I don't seem to have any trouble with any film or such from using the hotel soaps. That being said, I will probably stick with using the Fels Naptha most of the time, but I was going with what I had on hand recently.

I think we have a keeper!! Thanks again!............P