homemade laundry detergent ?

[jee'smom]

hi. i bought a box of borax, a box of washing soda, and a bar of fels naptha. i keep finding different ratios on the internet. what ratios do you use (what's your recipe) AND should i use ivory soap instead, b/c fels naptha has deoderants and colorants in it. was also thinking about doing the powder version, but now thinking about trying the liquid version. TIA!!!

[thriftyqueen]

This is the recipe that seems to work best for me! Sometimes I use more soap, but most of the time this works perfectly!


Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 cup Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castile Soap (I use peppermint, but you could use any kind)

½ cup washing soda

½ cup borax powder

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~


Put soap and 6 cups water in large pot and heat it. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

[jee'smom]

ok, so it didn't gel!!! HELP!!! it's watery, with white soap sunk to the bottom of bucket. i guess i didn't dissolve the powder good enough. how do you know when it's completely dissoved? it looked dissolved in the pot, before i put it into the bucket. i was going to stir it up and use it anyway. then put the rest into an old detergent container, and give it a good shake before using. what do you think?

[thriftyqueen]

That happens sometimes to me too. Just stir it up and use it. When you use the liquid soap, it is runnier than the bar of soap. You can try the Dr. Bonner's bars of soap if you want it thicker. It works just fine even when it is liquidy. HTH!!

[jee'smom]

i put the whole thing in my old tide bottle. last night, i just shook it up really well, and used it. the diapers seemed to get clean! thanks!

[mgilleran@earth-co]

Mine used to never gel either. I would just put it in the jug & shake before each use like you mentioned. It worked just the same. I have a stick blender that I use for soap making. I started whipping my detergent up with that after it had sat a while. That made it stay in a uniform consistency. It still worked the same though. It just looked "prettier."
I have decided that I like powder just as well, & it is so much easier.

[jee'smom]

what do you mean? what powder recipe do you use? i heard that you shouldn't use powder if you have a septic system, b/c it could clump in the septic? (which makes no sense to me) tia!

[mgilleran@earth-co]

Powdered Laundry Detergent
1 Cup Grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax
For light load, use 1 tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons.

[mama2jackie]

I use the recipe above, super simple and it works SO well, I'm always amazed. I have gone through many a detergent brands, natural and not, and always find that pesky stains on kids clothes need a second, or even third, wash to come totally clean. I have yet to have to rewash anything with that concoction!

Edited to add that I prefer using Ivory soap because I like the smell a little better than the Fels Naptha. It doesn't leave a scent after washing, but I like the soapy smell as I'm doing the load. (crazy, I guess, but it makes me just a bit happier about doing laundry).

[jee'smom]

ok, when i'm done using up the one with dr. bronners, i'll try the powder one. btw, i'm really liking the dr. bronners one! i used almond scented, which smells nice when washing, but leaves NO smell on the clothes. adn i like that i put the whole batch into my big empty tide container, and just dispense it out as needed.

[thriftyqueen]

I am glad you are liking it. I can't use the recipes with Fels Naptha as my DS is ultra sensitive to scents. We have to be very carefully with anything with deodorants or colorants of any kind. You could probably make the powder kind by grating up a bar of Dr. Bronner's, though. I may try that myself sometime.

[O's mommy]

Can you use Dr. Bronner's with cloth diapers? I thought I read som ewhere that castile soap is a no no with cloth diapers.

[violetjb]

I have heard that you also have to be careful using this homemade recipe if you have hard water....do y'all have soft water? Mine is super hard, so I have been afraid to try a homemade "soap" based laundry detergent.

Thanks

[jee'smom]

i don't think it's hard or soft water.

[sedalbj]

subbing

[sanguine_speed]

I don't think cloth diapers should be washed with Dr. Bronner's.

I used a similar recipe to a PPs, the homestead one. But I used grated Dr. Bronner's and melt that in the pot as you'd melt the Fels Naptha. I like lemon.

[anamama]

I've used Dr Bronners bar in the dry recipe, and it works great! I've also used Kirk's Castille Soap (they carry it at "my" Kroger). That's really nice, too, and really inexpensive.
I'm glad I bumped into this thread! I've been trying to cut back our grocery bill, and I had forgotten about homemade detergent. I usually use it in the summer, and hang my laundry out. It's lovely .

For CD, I just used 2T baking soda and 10 or so drops of TTO in the main hot wash, and 1/2C vinegar in the first rinse. No buildup, no problems! We don't use any pockets or fleece of any kind, though, so I don't know how those dipes would fare.

Now I'm daydreaming about my outdoor laundry line....

[jee'smom]

i did use the liquid recipe with my cd. i didn't know you should not. i bought a bar of ivory soap today to try the dry recipe. i want my dh to put up a clothes line so bad!!! we had one at our old place... i miss it so much!

[I-Love-Alaska]

Can you use store-bought bar soap like Dial for instead of the Fels Naptha?? I got a great deal on a BOGO... I have all the other ingredients and want to try this as soon as my Arm N Hammer is gone. TIA!!

[jee'smom]

i'm not sure. do some soaps suds too much? i have alot of dial that i got on sale too. it'd be nice to use it up.