Monday, May 20, 2013

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Want to enjoy using home made, economical detergent? It's quick and easy!

You'll need:
1/2 bar of Fels-Naptha soap
1/2 cup of Arm & Hammer washing soda
1/2 cup of 20 Mule Team borax
3 gallon bucket with lid or old detergent jugs 







Grate soap, add into 10 cups of water in a large pot.
 
Heat and stir until dissolved. Add washing soda and stir until dissolved. 
Then add borax ( I use 1 cup of each, do not dump them in at the same time) 




In bucket or jugs put 22 cups (1 gallon+6 cups) If you are using jugs you may need to divide the liquid between them. I use a cut-off water bottle for a funnel. Pour in soap mixture, (be careful if using funnel to hold towards the top. The plastic will get very hot when you pour the soap!) Stir (or shake if using jugs) before it sets up until well mixed or you'll have lumps (sometimes I get lumps anyway, just don't overload your washing machine and it should all rinse out). Let set up for 24 hours. Use 1/2 cup per load. Recipe yields 64 loads for pennies of what you'd normally spend on detergent! Don't be worried if it doesn't make suds in your washing machine, it's not supposed to:)


This recipe can also be used for cloth diapers, you just may want to leave the Borax out as it can be hard on the plastic fabric. (I like to make a dry mix of washing soda and whatever leftover soap nubs I have, grated up)

If you have tough grease or food stains, spray with or soak in a diluted Lestoil solution before washing.

To remove milk smell and other odors from baby clothes, soak in vinegar and baking soda solution.


This blog post was brought to you by Trish at ReDream Jean

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