Two years ago I started making my laundry detergent. I can't believe it's been that long! I had to go back and look at pictures to confirm. My, how time flies when you're making detergent!
Anyway, I started making a dry detergent that I had seen floating around on facebook. It looked like this:
- 1- 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (76 oz) - detergent aisle
- 1 - 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda - cooking aisle
- 1 - 3 lb 7 oz box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55 oz) - detergent aisle
- 3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap - detergent aisle
When I was close to running out I made a second batch...this time for $20.55 - darn inflation!...with a slightly different technique. I heated up the Fels-Naptha in the microwave before sending it through the food processor. It ended up looking this:
I was much happier with how the soap was more of a powder and incorporated into the other ingredients better.
However, our washing machine wasn't doing a great job at always dissolving the soap. I never had a problem before, so I have to assume it is because of drying it in the microwave first. We also don't use hot water in our laundry. Not really by choice. There are two pipes coming out of our washer, one for hot and one for cold, but they end up joining the same cold-water pipe. Seriously! I'm not sure who the wise guy was who did that but I certainly hope he isn't making that mistake anymore. Funny side note - my husband lived here a year and a half before we were married and never realized he wasn't getting hot water. :-) It is fairly annoying that I don't have the option of hot water, but, after 9.5 years without it, I am not sure I'll ever wash with hot water again. I've had no problems with how our laundry comes out of the wash, we're saving on our energy bills and, consequently, living a little more green. Well...when we move I actually might do hot water for seriously soiled items. Anyway - back on topic! I think if we had hot water perhaps the soap would have dissolved. But it didn't.
So when I began to run low on batch #2, I went in search of a DIY liquid detergent. A friend suggested a recipe that looked intriguing.
That white pasty stuff on the bottom right is the final result. Not really a liquid if you ask me! I call it my "icing" laundry detergent.
I never figured how much this batch cost me, but it's cheap! You only use a portion of the ingredients instead of the entire box and I just had no desire to do the math.
- 1 bar Fels-Naptha
- 1 cup of Borax
- 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda!)
- 4 cups of hot water
I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure I just made my third batch of this. Which means each batch lasted me about 6 months. This third batch I doubled. Now that I'm actually blogging again, I should be able to easily look back and see exactly how long it lasts.
I plan on sticking with this detergent. I haven't had a problem with it not dissolving into the cold water I use. I also feel like my laundry smells better when it comes out. The dry detergent smelled FABULOUS every time I opened the container!! However, I never noticed the smell lingering on the clothes. With my "icing" I feel my laundry has a hint of the smell left after being washed.
If you would like to know how to make this yourself, you can find the recipe here. It is more labor intensive than the dry detergent (which is simply pouring the ingredients into a container and mixing them together), but I find the results to be better. It's also cheaper. Yay! For 2 years of detergent, I have spent about $50. Actually, if my doubled batch lasts me twice as long then we're talking 3 years of detergent for about $50. Woohoo!! And if we're only going to look at the 2 years of this "icing" detergent, then I'm going to guesstimate about $12-$15. WOWZERS!!
If you end up making the liquid/icing detergent, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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