Sunday, April 4, 2010

Laundry Soap…

I’ve had a couple people ask about my homemade laundry soap. About a year and a half ago one of my daycare mom’s was talking about homemade laundry soap and how she had heard at work it’s pretty good stuff and was wondering what I knew. I googled a bunch of different ways and at first I made some liquid soap and though it worked good it wasn’t great and it was in a 5 gallon bucket and took up space and in this house space is at a minimum. Anyways I did a bit more research and in the past year have came up with a really good recipe.

So here it is if you’re interested.

1 bar Fels Naphtha – it equals 1 cup

2 cups Washing soda

2 cups Borax

1 cup baking soda  (for my teenage son that…well’s not as fresh as a daisy at times)

1 cup LA Totally Awesome (from the Dollar Store and it works so good as the degreaser)

So you grind up the Fels Naphtha as fine as possible. I use my old food processor and do a bunch of bars at a time. Add in the washing soda and Borax (for some reason the past two boxes of Borax have been either hard as rocks or really lumpy so I’ve put them in the food processor too to make powder) and the rest of the ingredients.

For every day laundry a tablespoon is plenty and for those garage clothes or gardening clothes two tablespoons work great.

You get 7 cups of laundry soap, close to 112 loads at about 4 cents a load.

Now you can put in some scent in it but it adds a bit more to the costs and since I use drier sheets in the winter and sunshine and fresh air in the summer I don’t add anything.

Give it a try, it really is great and easy to make and cheap. Anyway to save a dollar here and there is worth the effort.

 

I found a recipe for a All Purpose Cleaner that I’m going to try. I found it at Holly's  Here’s her recipe that her mother gave to her.

 

All-purpose cleaner

Ingredients:
- 3% Hydrogen peroxide. 97¢
-Water
-Essential oils -  lemon, tea tree, and lavender found at Whole Foods (or any health food store) The oils will last you forever.
-Spray bottle tops
Recipe:
Use one 16 oz. hydrogen peroxide bottle half full, and fill the other half with water.

*Note: Make sure you use the brown bottle for the container. It looses it's strength when exposed to light.

5 drops of lemon (lemon is an antibacterial, deodorizer and disinfectant)
5 drops of tea tree (tea tree is an antiseptic, antibacterial, antiviral and anti-fungal)
2-5 drops lavender (for scent purposes) You can use any scent that you like. I just love lavender. The aromatherapy makes me feel great!

-Shake before use.

She says that she uses this for all kinds of cleaning like - mirrors, bathrooms, kitchen counters, and even toys!

Another great idea to save some money.

So I’m off to bed. I hope that you all had a great Easter and time with family and friends. Take care and have a wonderful and blessed week.

4 comments:

Holly Lefevre said...

I am so excited to try this laundry detergent. My hubby thinks I am nuts, but I don't care. Thank you for sharing!!!
Holly
504 Main

Anonymous said...

I think i first heard of home made laundry detergent on someone's blog i once read and it made my eyes pop out. This time, i feel a little educated :)

Such a great idea to save some money! Thank you Julie- will give it a shot.

Kim said...

Can't wait to get the FYI on the all-purpose cleaner! Love the laundry soap recipe!!

Unknown said...

what do you keep it in and what is that one thing that bar??? where do you get it???? sounds worth a try lol