Home Made Laundry Detergent

[drhall762]

I am passing this along for any and all that want to use it. I have been making it for almost a year now and infact, many of my neighbors make it and use it. Not only does it do the job as well as the commercial stuff, Tide, Gain, etc; but it costs about $0.70 per gallon. Big savings.

You will need 3 basic ingredients; a soap of some sort, washing soda and borax.

The Soap: The most typical type of soap to use is Fels Naptha.

Washing Soda: This is not to be confused with baking soda. They are not the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate or soda ash (baking soda is sodium bicarbonate). It is a white powder. Its purpose is to help remove dirt and orders. The brand to look for is Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. I find it in the laundry section of my grocery store.

Borax: Borax is a naturally occurring mineral: Sodium Borate. It is a white powder. It’s purpose is as a laundry whitener and deodorizer. The brand to look for is 20 Mule Team. It comes in a 76 oz. box. You should be able to locate this in the laundry detergent aisle.

The Recipe
Now that you have assembled all the needed ingredients here is the recipe:
Homemade Laundry Soap
1/3 bar Fels Naptha
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. Mix the soap thoroughly to mix up the gel. I put mine in an old liquid soap container so that I don’t have to mess with a 2 gallon bucket. Shake before using. You use 1/3 to ½ cup per load.

**A few things to note about the soap**
~The finished soap will not be a solid gel. It will be more of a watery gel that has been accurately described as an "egg noodle soup" look.
~The soap is a low sudsing soap. So if you don’t see suds, that is ok. Suds are not what does the cleaning, it is the ingredients in the soap.

Optional: If you want your soap to have some sort of scent you can scent this with ½ to 1 oz. of essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice.

Hope this post is in keeping with the spirit of Helping Hands.

[s1mp13m4n]

I think this is a great idea. I have looked into this sort of thing before, but then I forget about doing it. Right now I am washing what that large tub of powder from the Sam's Club that costs about $13 and lasts us at least 6 months.

[NewbieDave007]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the information.

[S&W-629]

Thanks for the info I will have to look for that stuff

[sparkz]

I found and have everything but the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.,, I am still lookin for that
Il let ya know how its working when i find the last stuff

Thanks for the heads up on this one
I have two teen agers and am a single dad so I wear lots of hats and make due with little money so great find

Thanks again

Patrick

[trooperdan]

Patrick, your local walmart should have the washing soda, right near the regular detergent.

[sparkz]

Thanks TD, We buy Borax there so Il have to take a look for it,
Doing Landury today,,, want a drag..... hahaha

Thanks
Patrick

[drhall762]

Our Wal-Mart is kinda' hit and miss on the Washing Soda. We have a store called Harris Teeter. Has everything grocery related in it and they are a constant source for it. A box will last you a while though.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Very cool! I think this is a perfect post for the helping hands section! Can't wait to try it!

[LocoFixersbetterhalf]

This is great stuff. made it in my MOPS group last year. I noticed Ben's nasty work clothes looking a lot better after using it.

[BrassMagnet]

As soon as I saw this thread, I copied the recipe to a notepad document! More money to spend on Brass!

[Redd508]

We've started using this same recipe. It works great and costs alot less than regular detergent. It has a very clean smell but rinses completely out of the clothes

[drhall762]

Very true on both count. I am very pleased with it.

[waksupi]

I priced out the materials in the grocery today. The Sun detergent beats it on price.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

How much was the sun detergent and how many loads do they claim you get out of it??

At 70 cents per gallon of the DIY detergent and using 1/2 cup per load (32 loads per gallon), that is right at 2 cents per load. Seems pretty hard to beat.

Maybe the OP found the components at a much lower price than you did.

[drhall762]

Sounds Like A Math Error To Me. Haven't Found Any Commercial Product At That Price.

[waksupi]

Probably so, my math skills do suck!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I buy a pail (says 32 lbs, looks about like 5 gallon size) of "wind fresh" powder laundry detergent for around $15. The bucket says 200 loads...The calculator says that's 7.5¢ per load. It works for this old bachelor...a bucket lasts about 2 years.

[Shiloh]

The ingredients are relatively cheap. There used to be books and papers that gave this type of info on making your own equivilents of everyday stuff.

Shiloh

[drhall762]

Shiloh,

I have collected a couple over the years. The book Fortunes in Formulas is a very good one. They change some over the years. I have them from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. They can often be fount on Amazon. I have a duplicate from the late 40's around somewhere. PM me if you can't find one.