Just call me “Betty Homemaker”. Okay, so I’m not that good but I can learn to do things when I need to. Lately, I’ve had a fascination for homemade laundry soap. I researched the different recipes for laundry soap and finally found one I thought I’d try. Most recipes were very similar. I got my recipe from the Tip Junkie Blog. She even has the cute tags attached to the mason jar below.
Homemade Laundry Detergent
6 cups Borax
4 cups Baking Soda
4 cups Washing Soda
4 cups Fels-Naptha bar soap, grated (almost 2 bars)
Begin by grating the bar soap. In a very large container, mix all the ingredients. Be careful when mixing because the powdery stuff goes everywhere. The site I got the recipe from warned the powdery stuff would go up the nose and in the mouth if I wasn’t careful. Even with the warning, I still got some up my nose and in my mouth. So, BE CAREFUL. lol
Each load of laundry will need 1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons of mixture.
*This recipe is suppose to be good for HE washing machines.
**This recipe makes a lot (approx. 13 lbs. of product). You’ll need a large container to store it. I used a 2 gallon container and had some room left for a scoop.
**This recipe makes a lot (approx. 13 lbs. of product). You’ll need a large container to store it. I used a 2 gallon container and had some room left for a scoop.
The hardest part was finding a local store that carried some of the more unusual ingredients. I bought the Borax from Wal-Mart. I bought the Washing Soda and Baking Soda from United Supermarkets. The Fels-Naptha I had to order online. I’m sure I could have gotten it in Oklahoma City but to be honest I didn’t want to search around any more. I was ready to make this stuff. If I love this homemade laundry detergent, then I may ask a local store to carry it for me so I can have all ingredients readily available. Since I had to order this online, the cost was just about the same as a cheap detergent (not even close to Tide). If I can order it locally, it will be cheaper than the cheapest detergents on the shelf. However, I’m wondering how it will stand up to my husband’s dirty work jeans and my kids’ stinky gym clothes.
