Awhile back I told you that I finally tried making my own dishwasher detergent. It's gone so well that my confidence level is up and I've decided to try homemade laundry detergent too.
Again, dozens of recipes exist out there on the Internet for both liquid and powdered. I must admit that I'm a liquid gal myself, as so that's what I decided to make.
The recipe I chose to use was:
1 grated bar of soap, in my case Wal-Mart carries Fels-Naptha for $0.97
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
1 quart of boiling water
What you do is:
1. Add the grated soap to the boiling water and stir until melted.
2. Add the borax and washing soda to a 2 1/2 gallon bucket and stir together.
3. Pour the melted soap water into the bucket with the borax and washing soda. Mix well until all is dissolved.
4. Add 2 gallons of water to the mix and stir well until completely mixed.
To use, the directions say to use just 1/4 cup per load. I'll admit that I was really all that impressed with the results at that amount - the clothes were clean but dingy. For a full or super sized load I'll use more like 3/4 of a cup, and I feel that everything is just as clean as using the store-bought detergents.
I didn't do such a great job at mixing the melted soap in with the borax/soda mix, and consequently I get some floaty lumps in mine. Those lumps dilute in the wash just fine, but I'm just not happy with it. Next time I'll use a whisk instead of a spoon and see if the results are better.
Also, you may want to keep a spoon near your bucket, or find some empty jugs to put it into for shaking. This keeps the top from gelling up. I give mine a quick mix and then dip it out with an old coffee mug. I rinse both in the wash water and I'm done.
Good luck!
