Homemade Laundry Detergent

Hello All,

I'm very into natural products, the complete elimination of chemicals from my life entirely and in this quest I make my own body products, except shampoo, but now using the baking soda method ....but this is about laundry detergent. I don't remember what made me look it up last week, but in the midst of one project I got on line for something about ''laundry'' and found a post to homemade laundry detergent and could not resist. LOL :D .....A couple hours later, I have my own made and ready to go.
Again, one of the things I guide my self by is that I must have the products on hand already, or that they are easily and extremely cheaply accessed. In this case I had all 3 on hand and I'm sure most women do.
I googled homemade detergent in ''images'' and found so many that were connected to blogspots and I went through alot of them reading the women's stories of how they make it, their proportions and their results. Most if not all of these women have husbands and kids too so their tests are rigorous. But the common ingredients are Fels Naptha lanudry bar soap, super washing soda, and borax . All available at grocers or Wal-mart. Below are my pictures but there are better ones on google images.
I was elated and began right away. At least THIS project would be finished in half an hour and I could take a break from the one I was working on. I was planning on adding essential oils to the mixture, but I found it didn't need it at all because the Fels Naptha smells wonderful on its own. Indeed, I so enjoyed grating it and the smell in my room, I wanted to keep it there. The clothes do retain a bit of this ''clean'' smell, there is no other word to describe it. Many recipes gave a cooked version of this on the stove with water etc. But when I found this simply powdered one, and how many also use it with great success, I decided it was the way to go for me.
I got very excited hearing about these women's results with the homemade version and that so many were doing this, getting away from chemicals, dies, perfumes, etc found in unnecessarily very expensive detergents also using heavy plastics that get thrown away. I'm very fussy about the amount of garbage I produce and try to minimize it in any way I can. I do not buy anything in heavy plastics, period. But these women made me happy, to see so many using these natural ingredients and having great results for so little money, I hope it continues and grows and spreads across the country.  I chose one of the most popular combination proportions which is one bar of Fels Naptha, 1 cup of super washing soda, and 1 cup of borax...easy.
In this picture below I had already grated the bar of Fels Naptha and it did turn out to be powdery so it was a fine grate. It only took about 5 minutes to grate the bar. I also sifted the borax and washing soda to get all the clumps out and have a final powdery blend.

This is one whole bar of Fels Naptha. This stuff smells wonderful!.....and needed no essential oils which I use in almost everything.

After I mixed the grated bar of Fels Naptha with one sifted cup of super washing soda and one sifted cup of borax, I put it into a mason jar and added a small scoop.  See how fine and powdery it is?

I wanted an old fashioned label so I got online to see if I could find and print one and I did.

Another label I found that the creator invited to use freely. :D

I couldn't wait the next day to try it and see how it worked. I've NEVER been ''excited'' to do laundry before! LOL

Some women had said it doesn't suds up, but I found that it did. Seeeeeeee?? I used two scoops, approx. 2 tablespoons.

And now for the real test to see if it worked as a powerful cleaner as they say. I have these pants I use to garden and they are long and drag when I walk so they are always on the soil. The edges I've never been able to get clean for the past year. I used this challenge as my test. It is difficult to see, but I'm posting the picture anyway.

This is after they were washed and dried. THEY WERE CLEANER THAN BEFORE ! Eureka !

So there is my very happy experience with homemade laundry detergent and I will never go back. My roommate also will not have to buy any because I told him this one works better and is much cheaper. I'm happy to make it. I hope you try it too and spread the good cheer!
blessings.


I am sharing this post with Chic on a Shoestring

 and

The Charm of Home; Home Sweet Home