Day 160: DIY Laundry Detergent
By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m fairly friggin frugal. 🙂 I came to the decision to start making and remaking my own clothes when I walked by an expensive dress shop and thought, “Hey…I can do that!” Since then, I’ve been looking at other things I think I pay too much for that I could probably make for myself.
One of these things is Laundry Detergent. Fella and I pay just under $10 for a bottle of Tide about every few weeks (we do a LOT of laundry). This is silly! We’re saving for a wedding! We don’t need to be tossing our hard-earned dough out the door!
It’s just not working out. 🙁
As an avid couponer (ah yes…there is no end to my cheap-assedness!), I can tell you, there really aren’t that many great deals on laundry soap out there. :/ Plus, we don’t have space to stockpile the stuff.
What’s a gal to do?!
I started researching different ways to make my own. I opted out of making a liquid detergent. All that soap boiling and slime making didn’t sound that fun. Plus, I’d have to find a place to put FIVE GALLONS of the stuff! I decided to go with the easier powder detergent recipe that could make a smaller batch.
Here’s what you need.
All you need!
You’re looking at:
1 box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 box of Biz Stain Fighting Enzyme Cleaner
1 bar of Dial Soap
If you’re doing this at home, make sure you get washing soda, not baking soda. Washing soda has a higher alkaline content. Make sure you don’t get the Biz detergent, but the stain fighter. Here’s where I deviated from most recipes: I used Biz instead of Borax, because I thought it would be less harsh on my clothes, but still fight any stains. I used a bar of Dial soap instead of Fels Naptha laundry soap because I liked the smell better (Mmmmm! Springtime Fresh!). The only thing you’ll want to remember is if you’re substituting soaps, don’t use the kind with moisturizers in it, as you don’t want to lotion your clothes! 🙂
So now what?
The first step in this process is to grate the bar of soap. I used my awesome food processor, so this took about 5 seconds. Here’s what it will look like when you’re done.
Mmmmm! Looks like shredded Mozzarella!
Next, add 1 cup of Washing Soda and 1 cup of Biz to the shredded soap in your food processor (or blender, if you don’t have a processor) until all the bits of soap have been ground into powder.
It will look like this:
Powder!
That’s it! You now have your own laundry detergent!
You’ll want to use less of this soap than what you’re used to.
Small Loads: 1 Tablespoon
Medium Loads: 2 Tablespoons
Large Loads: 3 Tablespoons
If you’re like me, you’ll want to peer in your machine to see how your new detergent is working. Don’t worry when you don’t see any suds. This detergent is sulfate-free (it’s the sulfate that makes the suds in the store-bought stuff), so you won’t see any. Don’t fret! Your duds don’t need suds to get clean! 🙂
So…How does it work, you ask? Great! I did a big load of darks to test my new soap, and they came out super-clean and smelling great! I wash everything with cold water, and there was absolutely no residue on anything. I would definitely say it works just as well as the expensive stuff.
Fancy Packaging, Eh?
I’m really excited about how well this worked and how easy it was. For $6 in supplies, I have enough detergent to last us for months and months! AND it doesn’t have as many additives as store-bought detergent. 🙂
What fun things have you learned to do for yourself lately?
Rate this:
Share this:
Like this:
7 Responses to Day 160: DIY Laundry Detergent
WIll have to see if I can track down the “ingredients” – I love the idea of this!
Thanks for this..i was having the same problem with not having the place to store or make 5 gallons of the liquid kind.
I’d really like to do this. It gives me a fun rebellious feeling, just like when I started hanging my clothes out to dry instead of using the dryer. It feels like cheating “the man” from taking my money plus it’s, fun, the dogs enjoy me doing it, my clothes smell fresher and don’t shrink although I have to iron some things no big. I’m guessing that this laundry recipe would be safe to use in front loading machines because it is low or no sudsing, huh?
I have been making and using my own dry laundry detergent for about 4 months now and absolutely love it! I was so skeptical at first because of how little you have to use–only 2 Tablespoons instead of a big huge scoop! But not only does it save lots of money it also leaves our clothes just as clean and fresh smelling as the expensive detergents! I personally use both the Fels Naptha and Borax and haven’t had any problems.
And also, I LOVE your refashions!!!
Love this DIY…sharing it on my blog, if you don’t mind!
Pingback: Refashionista FTW! « Soil, Seeds, Needle and Thread
do you know if this would be ok for sensitive skin?
Leave a Reply
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )
Connecting to %s
Join 313 other followers
What did I wear this month?
Search ReFashionista.net
I’m an editor at:
Special Thanks to:
Other Affiliations:
More Fabulous Refashions!