Monday, September 13, 2010

Home made laundry detergent

For the last several months, I've been making my own laundry detergent. I had read about others doing it, so I decided to give it a try. I found it online, but I don't remember where I found the recipe to this powder detergent. We really like it a lot for a few reasons: it's very affordable; it smells nice (but the scent isn't too strong) and it gets the stains out! I use a wet toothbrush dipped in the detergent to treat stains. I let it set for a few minutes before throwing the garment into the wash.

You just need three ingredients: a box of Borax, a box of washing soda and a bar of Fels-Naptha soap. The only place where I can find all three is at our local grocery store, King Soopers. The bar soap will be used up for one batch, but the other two things will last for several batches. The boxes cost several dollars each, while the bar soap is just a little over a dollar. All in all, it is a great savings compared to store-bought detergent.

Here's the recipe:

2 cups Fels-Naptha soap, finely grated (1 bar)
1 cup washing soda
1 cup Borax

Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container. Use 2 tablespoons per full load.

1 comment:

Tania said...

I used to use this and liked it too! Now I do the liquid version. It works well and is so much cheaper. I love not having to buy detergent and throw the containers away all the time.