Thursday, August 07, 2008

So not me, but I am really getting into it.

For those that know me personally you know I am a convenience type of girl not a make things from scratch. Or at least I had been that way. Now that we are having to do gluten free I am getting so into making my own bread, and even been making jams.

However this new thing shocked me that I did. I had read a few blogs about making laundry detergent. I didn't think it was something I would do. But further reading about different ingredients even in stuff I thought was good I thought okay let me price it and try it. You can make liquid or powder. I usually use liquid but the powder recipe looked easier so I did it.

I so love it. It was inexpensive. The ingredients were all found at my local Harp's grocery store all lined up together. It was less than $5 and I have ingredients left for next batch. I made the large batch. It makes the clothes smell so fresh and clean and no need for fabric softener.

Powdered Laundry Detergent
1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup 20 mule team borax
Mix and store in airtight container or bag. For light loads, use 2 tablespoon. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons.
To make a large batch - grate 6 bars of Fels Naptha Soap and then add 3 cups of Washing Soda and 3 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax. Mix well and store in covered container.
TIP: The above recipes will NOT make suds in your washer so don't be alarmed. Fels Naptha Soap is a pure soap and typically makes little or no suds in the water. This makes it perfect for use in the new HE washers as well as traditional washers. You will also notice the need to either reduce your laundry softener or in most cases you can even eliminate the use of softener completely.

You can find the liquid recipes at SoapsGoneBuy

13 comments:

Kim said...

Glad to hear you like it. I may try dry next time, but would need to borrow mom's cuisinart to grind it finely enough. I poured my liquid in my old Tide bottle w/spout and works great!

kel said...

I used the fine side of a cheese grater, it was a pain to grate but it worked fine.

shawk said...

I've never heard of that soap? Do you think Wally-mart would have these ingredients? We don't have the grocery store you mentioned.

kel said...

I haven't checked WalMart the Soaps Gone Buy store sells everything and Amazon has it as well. I would think any kind of natural or healthfood place would. I was suprised how easy the ingredients were to find as I had never heard of them.

Unknown said...

i might have to try it even though i have never heard of the ingredients before lol

kel said...

I had never heard of them before either but they were surprisingly easy to find and wow so much cheaper than regular and takes so much less.

Kim said...

Yeager Hardware has Fels Naptha and Harp's had Washing Soda. Any place has the Borax.

Jody said...

I've only heard of borax LOL. The other stuff have no clue LOL. Glad you like it though!

Mr. Sweet Rocks said...

Ok, Kel....Adria made me go buy the ingredients and we made our first batch. It smells really good! I bought a box of Borax 20 Mule Team and a box of Washing Soda and 6 bars of Fels naptha and it was around $15.00.

kel said...

6 bars will make a LARGE batch I only bought 2 bars and still doubled the original recipe but didn't have quite enough for the large recipe.

Life at the Lake said...

Guess I gotta try this too. I had all the ingredients except the washing soda. I have been using a bar of fels naptha as a stain remover for a while - it lasts a looong time. I got the soda yesterday. My only question is this: how fine do you grate the soap? I have an electric salad shooter that grates but not real fine.

Jody

kel said...

I used the fine side of a hand grater.

Stacey said...

sounds cool!