Monday, May 23, 2011

Our Dirty Laundry

So I've been experimenting with homemade laundry detergent. I'm not exactly sure why...cost, effectiveness, just because. It could be any of those reasons really. The cost is about 6 cents per load. Not bad. I haven't really done a price comparison though. Any of you have any idea? It's supposed to be better for eczema than store bought detergents. I'm not sure if it is, but I guess it couldn't hurt to try. One thing I do know is that it makes my clothes so incredibly SOFT. That's enough for me!

I use the recipe found here,  but there are many variations on this theme.
Here are the ingredients...
2 bars Fels-Naptha
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is different than baking soda...just to be clear!)



My mom and I think we have our system down to a science. We grate the Fels-Naptha with a cheese grater and then she pulverizes it in her VitaMetaVegaMin Mixer. OK, it might just be called a VitaMix or is a VegaMite, anyway... we sort of felt like Lucy grating up laundry soap. Then you just add in a cup of each of the other ingredients and you're good to go. 1 Tbsp for a regular load, 2 Tbsp for heavily soiled loads. I have a high efficiency machine and it works really well.
Any other homemade detergent fans out there? What's your recipe?

2 comments:

scrappin5kids said...

I was just introduced to Fels-Naptha!!! My son took a little dive across the parking lot during a scouting activity and his Scout uniform was totally black!! I scrubbed with Fels-Naptha and it totally came out!!! I might have to try your recipe!

Emilee said...

I do this and love it! And it is so cheap--I also agree w/shredded the soap and then putting it in the blender. Sometimes I had some Oxy-Clean as well.

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