Heather - posted on 02/12/2009 ( 2 moms have responded )
5
2
Make homemade laundry detergent. I have been doing this for a while, and it is so cheap. It costs me only $15 a year for all the ingrediants.
1/3 bar ivory soap
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup borax (found in the laundry detergent section at the store. It is a laundry booster)
Grate soap with a cheese grater (I used a carrot peeler) into a saucepan. Add 6 cups water and heat until soap disolves (don't let it get so hot that it starts foaming or making bubbles because it will stick to the pan)
Add baking soda and borax and stir till dissolved.Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into a 2 gallon bucket( I did not have a bucket, so I used a medium sized rubbermaid container) Now add soap/ baking soda and borax mixture into the bucket and stir.
Now add 1 gallon of water, plus 6 cups of water and stir again.
Let it sit in that bucket for 24 hours (where kids cannot get into it)
After 24 hours it will be a little thicker than it started out. But it will still be very liquidy, and a cloudy white color.
You then can choose to either leave the detergent in that bucket and use from it, or put the mixture into two gallon jugs (what I did) or you could even put it into a cleaned out and empty laundry detergent container if it is big enough to hold two gallons. (the laundry detergents that come in a container that lays on its side with a spout, should be big enough.
Use 1/2 per load.
( I use 2/3 cup for large loads, just because.
After your detergent has set for 24 hours, you can add a few drops of essential oil to it. Don't add a lot. Just add one drop at a time and stir, and keep doing that one drop at a time till it smells strong enough to what you like.
This recipe is amazing!!! I love it. It cleans so much better than any other detergent I have ever bought. It smells great too (even if you do not have essential oil) It is actually very much like buying free and clear detergent from the store. It is great for those with sensitive skin.
My kids have excema, and this keeps them from breaking out so much.
2 Comments
View replies by