Yesterday I posted a video from The Simple Dollar about Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent. You can check out that post for a link to a "recipe" to make your own liquid laundry detergent.
While doing some research on the subject, I have found that there are also "recipes" for homemade powdered laundry detergent.
Homemade powdered detergent seems like a more practical option to me. I have an 18 month old, who is just starting to walk and the thought of a large bucket of liquid in the laundry room is terrifying to me! She's just the right size to topple into it. Also, it would just be so much easier to store than the liquid!
I found a good article on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent by Felicia Williams at Suite 101.com.
Here is Felicia's recipe:
Ingredients:
- 2/3 bar Fels Naptha Laundry Soap (equivalent of 1 cup grated)
- ½ Cup 20 Mule Team Borax
- ½ Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.
- Container large enough to hold 2 cups of laundry detergent
Directions:
- Grate the Fels Naptha laundry soap with a grater or use a food processor. Approximately 2/3 of a bar of soap will make 1 cup of grated soap.
- Add the ½ cup of Borax and ½ cup of washing soda to the grated soap.
- Shake and/or mix well
Use:
One tablespoon of detergent is sufficient per load of wash. If you have a high-efficiency machine, you might want to experiment with using a little less detergent for normal loads. If your clothes come out feeling stiff, lower the amount of detergent. For clothes that are heavily soiled, add a teaspoon more of the detergent..
Yield:
The recipe yields 2 cups of laundry detergent. If you use 1 tablespoon per load, you will be able to wash 32 loads of clothes.
You can read Felicia's whole article with her comments here. She also comments on both liquid and powdered laundry detergent (she has made both) here in her blog Blulow.I believe that this is where I will start with my experiment on homemade laundry detergent.
I wonder how it would come out with other soaps? I have seen recipes for liquid laundry detergent using Ivory, Pure and Natural, Zote and Fels-Naptha. Felicia says that she has used Ivory, Lever and Fels-Naptha and prefers the Fels-Naptha.
I read a good tip elsewhere - if you are not using a very hard bar of soap like Fels - Naptha, take the soap out of the wrapper for a few days to let it dry out and it will grate easier.
Here are some other links you might like to check out:
10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes
Homemade Laundry PowderHomemade Laundry Detergent - One Acre Homestead
And another one here from Evening Shade Morning Latte.
If you have made a homemade powdered laundry detergent - I would love to hear from you with your recipe or comments on it's effectiveness! I have a 5 year old who is VERY good at getting dirty, so my laundry detergent has to actually work!
7 comments:
I've made this powdered recipe and I've substituted Ivory for the Fels Natural Soap. It does a pretty good job-but I quit making it. (mainly 'cause I'm lazy) The only complaint was that sometimes little peices of the grated soap stuck to the clothes. Maybe I just didn't grate it fine enough, I don't know..
I will say though, I really liked having Borax and Washing Soda in the house-you can clean all kinds of stuff w/ them or used them as laundry boosters w/ regular store bought detergent. My 2 cents! :)
One more thing-don't expect it to "suds" up like store bought detergent.
Thanks Elizabeth,
I was planning to use the food processor to grate the soap - that way it would get really fine - so maybe that would help.
Also, I was thinking I would try putting 1 T of the powder in a small empty jar and then adding a cup or so of warm water and let it dissolve for a minute or two before adding to the washer.
That's a good idea about letting it dissolve first! I wouldn't have thought of that! Maybe I'll have to make another batch...
Be careful if you use your food processor to grate Fels Naptha because it is a very hard soap and I killed one of my food processors doing that. I actually use a vegetable peeler, but I do use the liquid version.
Where in Indy do you purchase Fels Naptha? I cannot find it anywhere.
I recently bought some at Kroger - I have not seen it anywhere else.
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