Homemade Cleaning Supplies - Powdered Laundry Detergent

Since many of you at the Savvy Saving Class asked for this tonight - here it is!!!

























A month ago I wrote a few articles regarding homemade laundry detergent. I have to admit a few years ago I really thought people that made their own laundry detergent needed to get a life! Why would you want to do this? Well, more recently I have realized that laundry detergent can be a BIG expense! So why not give it a try?

The first post that I wrote included a video by Trent at The Simple Dollar showing how to make your own liquid laundry detergent. It didn't look too hard, but the thought of a large bucket of liquid in my house with a new and not so steady walker did not seem safe (and possibly very messy) to me.

I decided to research the possibility of homemade powdered laundry detergent. The second post included a recipe for powdered laundry detergent from Felicia at Blulow. This seemed like a more reasonable approach for our lifestyle - so I decided to give it a try.

Okay, so I'm a month into my experiment. I spent about $7.00 on supplies and that will probably be enough for a very long time - I'll let you know! So far, I have been very pleased with the cleanliness of my laundry, I have had no trouble washing my whites with bleach and actually they look better than ever.


Here is what I used:

4 Bars - soap - (I hate to admit I actually used Irish Springs bar soap because I had some in the closet that would never get used otherwise - I'm not necessarily recommending this - but it seemed to work fine for me. However, the scent was a bit strong at first!)

3 Cups - 20 Mule Team Borax

3 Cups - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.

First I grated each bar of soap in the food processor one at a time. After the bar was grated I switched out the blade to the chopper blade and ran it through again with that to make a fine powder. Then I added around 1 cup of the Borax and 1 cup Soda and pulsed to mix. I put in a large bowl and repeated the process. At the end I did the extra soap and worked it into the rest.

This made a nice amount - about what you would get in a box of laundry detergent. I have found that 1 Coffee Scoop (about 1 TBS) is just the right amount for my washer. I have a regular top loader that runs a very large load. I think this will last me for many, many months. I put it in a plastic container and it is keeping very nicely.

What will I do differently next time?

1. I will do this outside on the back patio with one of those funny doctor looking paper respirator things over my nose! The soap makes a fine dust and I could not get the smell out of my head for about 3 days!

2. I still want to use up that Irish Spring soap! - but I think I will only use 1 bar of that and 3 bars of either Ivory or Pure and Natural (which is sold in a 3 pack for only $1 at the Dollar Tree) This should cut down on the strong scent - although I do not smell a strong scent on the clothes after they are washed. If I smell like Irish Spring - someone please tell me!


What did I do right?

1. I tried something new - and it worked!

2. The food processor is definitely the way to go! Made a nice fine powder - I have not had any trouble with residue on my clothing!

3. I made a BIG batch. I figured while I have the food processor out - why not keep going? It didn't really take very long to make a quadruple batch - about 45 minutes max.


My recommendations

1. If you have sensitive skin- use a fragrance free soap!

2. DO NOT use a food processor if you decide to use Fels Naptha laundry soap. I have heard many people say they ruined their food processor that way! That soap MUST be grated by hand.

3. Add the laundry soap first in the bottom of the washer with a bit of warm or hot water to let it dissolve and then you can turn the water to cold or whatever temperature you want - (doing this has worked very well for me!) Add the clothes after you have dissolved the soap powder - literally just takes about 30 seconds or so!

4. Don't be afraid to try something new! - It was really easy to do. And I am actually pleasantly surprised with the results. (I was not expecting nice white whites!)

5. MAKE SURE to tell your husband to only use 1 SCOOP!!! Thankfully I caught him after only 1 load! He had put in 4 scoops! He said 1 didn't seem like much - (and it doesn't seem like much) but my laundry is just as clean as before so I'm sticking with 1 scoop! By the way - this soap will not make bubbles like you might be used to - that's fine it will still work.


I will let you know the next time I make laundry soap and how long this batch lasted. I would love to hear from you if you give this a try. Next time I will take pictures and show you how I did it!

Homemade Cleaning Supplies - Window Cleaner

One of my son's favorite jobs is to clean the window on the sliding glass door and he also helps clean the bathroom mirror and sink. I have found that he tends to get a bit over zealous on the use of cleaner!

This concerned me because I figured that he was breathing in the fumes from the ammonia in the cleaner which would not be good for him. So I decided I did not want him to use the "Windex" any more and had to come up with something else.

I could have bought a "natural" cleaner - but they tend to be pricey! So, I found that there are may recipes online for making your own window cleaner so I experimented and like this one very much!

I double the recipe and it fills my old Windex bottle nicely - I don't even think my son knows the difference!

Here is the recipe!

Window Cleaner

2 Cups - Water
1/4 Cup - Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon - Liquid dish soap
2-3 drops - Blue food coloring (optional)

Homemade Cleaning Supplies - Powdered Laundry Detergent

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:

1. 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.
2. Add the ½ cup of Borax and ½ cup of washing soda to the grated soap.
3. 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 Powder

Homemade 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!

Tuesday Tip - Reader's Questions - Homemade Cleaning Supplies

Last week, I asked for a few questions from you. Stefano asked about homemade cleaning supplies - ones that actually work.

I have seen posts here and there on making your cleaning supplies, but since I usually find items like Windex and toilet bowl cleaner for free, I have not yet explored this as a way to save money.










One of the household cleaning items that it seems I cannot ever - EVER, get for free is laundry detergent. Laundry detergent is a big expense - even though I try to find it on sale and use coupons. It is an area that I would love to reduce my spending on!

I do a lot of laundry. There are only 4 of us - but my 5 year old seems to make as much laundry as the rest of us combined!

Now, I have to admit that making homemade supplies has not been on my frugal list of things to do - until I saw a video last week from Trent at The Simple Dollar. It gave me hope that I can both make laundry soap easily and save myself a lot of $ while I do it!

Here is the video:

You can go to Trent's video and post here. You can read an older post he did about making laundry detergent here - this one includes the ingredient list.

So what do you think? Has anyone made their own detergent and what type of results have you had? Also, have you made other homemade cleaners? What have the results been?