While we lived in England, a friend made laundry detergent and would give me batches of it. Now that she's in New Mexico and I'm in New Hampshire, I have to make my own.
I got her recipe from her, but also looked up recipes online, and have combined multiple sources into the kind I now make.
Ingredients:
1 bar soap, 4.5 oz
1 1/2 cups baking soda
2 cup washing soda
2 cups borax
Grate your soap with a large grater. I used Ivory Spring soap the first time we did this because we had it in the house, but this time I bought Fels-Naptha, which is an actual soap made for laundry. There's another kind called Zote that you can buy, also in the laundry aisle (where I found the Fels-Naptha), or ivory soap will work well. You can theoretically use any kind of soap, but if you use one with a moisturizer, it will leave a residue on your clothes.
Take your grated soap and put about half of it in the blender with about half your baking soda. Blitz it a bit until it's finely ground (the baking soda keeps it from clumping) then pour it into the container you're mixing your soap in, and repeat with the other half.
Add the Washing Soda and the Borax to your container (either mix this in a large bowl, or a large plastic container that you can store it in afterward.) Mix Well.
Store in an a pretty jar, or in a functional plastic covered container. Use 1-2 Tbsp of soap per load, depending on how big a load and how dirty your clothes are. One batch should work for close to 100 loads, if I do my math right. (Approximately 7 cups of detergent times 16 Tbsp per cup gives 112 Tbsp total.)
So...cost analysis?
1 Bar Fels-Naptha - $1.29
Big Box of Washing Soda - $3.49 (Made 3 batches with one box?)
Big Box of Borax - $4.19 - (have made 3 batches so far but there's still more left.)
Standard box of Baking soda - $0.89 (generic would be even cheaper)
So, approximate price of one batch of detergent is $4.48. A box of Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent (54 loads) is $5.29. So...making your own should cost only about half as much.
I got her recipe from her, but also looked up recipes online, and have combined multiple sources into the kind I now make.
Ingredients:
1 bar soap, 4.5 oz
1 1/2 cups baking soda
2 cup washing soda
2 cups borax
Grate your soap with a large grater. I used Ivory Spring soap the first time we did this because we had it in the house, but this time I bought Fels-Naptha, which is an actual soap made for laundry. There's another kind called Zote that you can buy, also in the laundry aisle (where I found the Fels-Naptha), or ivory soap will work well. You can theoretically use any kind of soap, but if you use one with a moisturizer, it will leave a residue on your clothes.
Take your grated soap and put about half of it in the blender with about half your baking soda. Blitz it a bit until it's finely ground (the baking soda keeps it from clumping) then pour it into the container you're mixing your soap in, and repeat with the other half.
Add the Washing Soda and the Borax to your container (either mix this in a large bowl, or a large plastic container that you can store it in afterward.) Mix Well.
Store in an a pretty jar, or in a functional plastic covered container. Use 1-2 Tbsp of soap per load, depending on how big a load and how dirty your clothes are. One batch should work for close to 100 loads, if I do my math right. (Approximately 7 cups of detergent times 16 Tbsp per cup gives 112 Tbsp total.)
So...cost analysis?
1 Bar Fels-Naptha - $1.29
Big Box of Washing Soda - $3.49 (Made 3 batches with one box?)
Big Box of Borax - $4.19 - (have made 3 batches so far but there's still more left.)
Standard box of Baking soda - $0.89 (generic would be even cheaper)
So, approximate price of one batch of detergent is $4.48. A box of Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent (54 loads) is $5.29. So...making your own should cost only about half as much.
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