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| I found this sticker on a blog years ago, if it is your design please let me know so I can give credit...I can't seem to find the link anymore. |
For the past couple of years I have been making my own homemade laundry detergent. It is much more cost effective and I actually enjoy making my own. Through trial and error I have found a couple things that make a difference. First, I make powdered detergent not liquid. The liquid is way more time and labor intensive to make. While I did get many more loads out of the liquid version, for the amount of effort it took, I have prefer the powder. Second, I use a food processor to make the whole job much easier and faster. While I am sure this is probably a big no-no, I can't begin to tell you how much faster the job is and my arm doesn't nearly fall off grating the soap. So, if you would like to try your hand at creating your own laundry detergent here is what I do. **There are many recipes on line for detergent so if you can't find these ingredients you may have better luck with another recipe.**
What you will need:
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 grated bar of Zote soap (I used to use Fels-Naptha Soap and it is still the only soap I can find locally. My sister lives in Colorado Springs and has been able to find Zote. She recommended it and I now prefer it to the Fels-Naptha.)
Food Processor
Container for your detergent
First, take your bar of soap and cut it into smaller blocks. Add a few pieces to your food processor and pulse until the pieces are the size of fine pebbles.
Continue adding your soap chunks until the whole bar is grated finely. Then, to further save time, I dump in my Borax and Washing Soda, give it a few pulses and viola- the detergent is mixed up and ready to use.
The whole process takes under 10 minutes and is worth the effort. I use 1 to 2 tablespoons of detergent per load. My family all has sensitive skin and my husband breaks out to almost all laundry detergents, his skin is fine with this recipe and it gets the clothes clean. The only downside is there is no scent. I like the smell of clean laundry so I think I am going to experiment with essential oils to see what I can come up with. If you have tried essential oils I would love to hear feedback or any other tips you have for making the detergent even better. I have also been tempted to try my own dishwasher detergent...anyone recommend it? Shannon
I'm your newest follower, would love if you would check out my blog also and maybe even follow along. Keep up the good work!!
ReplyDeletesewloveit.blogspot.com
Thanks Christy- We are now following you as well. Thanks for checking our new blog out. I am jealous of your vintage pattern find- what a deal! I totally would have bought that too...guess I need to find out what this gumtree thing is??? Never heard of it before- Shannon
DeleteThanks for sharing this! I have a bunch of different homemade detergent recipes, but I have yet to try any.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by our new blog and for the comment- we appreciate it! Good luck with your detergent :)
DeleteI've been usig this same recipe for over a year now & love it. I have a wonderful dishwasher detergent that I've been using for 6 month now & wont go back to commercial brand, both my daughters use it too & love it. here isthe recipe: 1Cup Borax, 1 cup Washing Soda, 1/2 cup Lemi-shine, 1/2 cup salt. Use 1 Tbsp per load. I also use distelled vinegar in my Jet dry dispenser now & its amazing. If you dont have a dispenser just put 2 Tbsp in the botton of dishwasher tub with every load. The lemi-shine is where the Jet Dry is & ther is a new brand by Finish I think its the same stuff just read the directions. There is a Pool product that is citric acid like the Lemi-shine & it woks oo. The lady I got this recipe from said her husband has a pool company & knows his chemicals & they get it instead of the Lemi-shine & its much cheaper because you get a gallon of it. if your interested in that I'll get the name. we are going to try it with the next batch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe Lori- I have been wanting to try this for awhile now, just haven't done it yet. Glad to hear you are pleased with how it works- Shannon
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