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!

1 comment:

RootsAndWingsCo said...

I LOVE Fels Naptha! It is the best stain remover there is. Crayon, marker, grease, baby messes (of all kinds) you name it, it can remove it. Seriously crayons got washed with a load of clothes and wasn't noticed until after the dryer. I was able to save almost all of the clothes with putting a chunk of fels naptha in the washer. Some of the items took a little extra elbow grease but wow how it worked. Under shirts and underwear were just about the only items I couldn't get the crayon out of.

I am going to have to try out some of your ideas. Thanks!

Katrina