Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Homemade Laundry Soap!? C'mon Hannah, Don't You Think That's Going A Bit Too Far?

I would have said the same thing if I hadn't tried it and loved it!

So flippin' easy and so fast....and IT WORKS...like REALLY WELL!

Here's what I did:

Gathered Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, Borax, Fels-Naptha (according to the sites I read and I will list below, you don't need to use Fels-Naptha, you can use any soap of your choice).

Used the fine grater and grated the Fels-Naptha


Mixed 1 1/2 cup of Washing Soda, 1 1/2 cup Borax and 1 Bar of Fels-Naptha


Done and DONE!

I only use 2 Tbsp. per load and our clothes have never been cleaner!

Note: I also put in a little scoop of Oxy Clean in with our laundry just because we have crazy, dirty little toddlers. Also, I still use fabric softener but according to our washer/dryer repairman you only need about half of what the bottle says you need. I kept and old container and poured half of a new one in the old one and added water to the rest. It works great and we basically get double the softener for what we pay.

You can make a liquid or powdered version. Both are low suds which was important for our washer and most newer ones.

Here is where I found the inspiration and what I based my recipe on:

tipnut.com
thesimpledollar.com
theplanetgreen.discovery.com

I'm also working on getting a dishwasher detergent recipe. The one I tried isn't working as well as I'd like...leaving a film on the dishes so I'll let you know when I have that one perfected. If anyone has tried this, let me know if you have any tips!