Awhile back a reader wandered onto my blog and asked me in the comments how I made laundry detergent, an adaption of
this recipe. Here is my method of making an inexpensive laundry detergent. You will need:
- Glass small mouth quart canning jars (3) with lids
- Arm and Hammer WASHING SODA (not baking soda)
- Borax - these two items are usually in the laundry detergent isle at the grocery store.
- Fels Naptha, Kirks Castile, Dr. Bonner's or Ivory SOAP - you must use SOAP. Anything other will not work and will leave a horrible residue on your clothes.
- An old wooden spoon that you'll dedicate to this task (don't use it with food after this.)
- A large pot to cook the detergent (you can use this pot again if it's stainless steel)
- Measuring cup
- Ladle
- Cheese grater
- Essential Oil in your favorite scent. I LOVE pink grapefruit. I also use one of the least expensive I can purchase.
- A Oster type blender. The blender base of an Oster blender will fit on a small mouth Mason jar. Blending is the final process for this detergent.
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Here
are my items, I used a bar and a half of the Kirks Castile soap this
time. I've used all the different types of soap that I listed above at
different occasions. I think my favorite type of soap to use would be
either Ivory or Dr. Bonner's. |
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Grate the soap, 1 bar, this takes a while, watch a movie. |
I've used a food processor before and burned it up! It also creates a lot of dust so you have to run it outside, but worse, you don't want to breathe this dust and there isn't anyway to keep from it. (I grated the soap into the pot that I was going to use, but then had to transfer it into another container.
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Measure out 1 cup Washing Soda and 1 cup Borax, mix together well. |
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Add 4 cups of water to the pot and pour in the grated soap. |
Cook this over medium to medium high heat. Stirring constantly. WARNING: Don't let this boil over! Don't take your eyes off the pot. It will make an epic mess. I speak from experience.
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Once the soap is completely dissolved and melted into the water, remove
from the heat and add the Soda/Borax powders. Stir these together until
they are completely dissolved. You CANNOT leave any grains or it will
cause you to have grainy detergent. |
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Still a little grainy.... keep stirring. |
Get your jars ready, I set mine on some cork trivets and I place a large metal spoon or knife in the jar to absorb some of the heat so the jar won't break.
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Fill the jars equally with the soap liquid (goo). I use a filling
funnel for canning because I'm kinda messy and I can't pour straight. (See how smooth the ladle is, no grains) |
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Fill the jars equally with the soap liquid (goo). I use a filling
funnel for canning because I'm kinda messy and I can't pour straight. |
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At this time add your Essential Oil. I've used Lavender before and it's really nice, but my favorite is Pink Grapefruit. Stir well and add water up to the shoulders of the jar. |
The clothes come out of the dryer or off the clothes line smelling so nice when I add EO. To each jar I add about 30 drops. This is why I use a cheaper oil then the more expensive Therapeutic Essential Oils
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Put the lids on the jars and invert them. |
Don't ask me why but this is what she says to do in the original recipe. Let them sit like this for 4 hours. NO LONGER, trust me, it makes the blending process toooo difficult.
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After four hours it looks like this. |
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It's so solid on the bottom that I have to poke it with a skewer to break it up to get the blender attachment on the jar. |
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Blender attachment on the jar. |
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Blend it!!! |
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Here is the first jar blended, but for some reason, it still had a lot of chunks in it. |
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So, I dumped all three jars into my big Kitchen Aid mixer and went to town whipping it into a smooth and creamy goo. |
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I spooned the goo back into the jars and capped them. Ready for the next 9 to 10 months of laundry!!! |
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To use I have a little jar that I put about a 1/2 cup or more of water into, |
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then I just scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the Laundry Goo. |
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Then I whip the water and Goo together with this little whipper, you could just put the lid on the jar and shake it up. |
The reason I do this is because we have hard water. Very Hard water.
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Then just dump it in. |
We also have a washer that doesn't have a fill cycle that I can place
the detergent under the incoming water as is described in original
recipe. (Probably something you'd have to do if you have a front loading washer) By me blending everything in water first, I don't end up with residue
on the clothes. I also only use this detergent when I wash in warm or
hot cycles. Never in cold, which is a total disappointment. Darn that
hard water, I have to use a store bought liquid detergent like Meyers.
My husband once did the price breakdown on the cost per load (he's mathematical like that.) He said this detergent costs...... brace yourself..... $0.06 per load. SIX cents!
That's why I do it. I was using the huge jug (with a spigot) of detergent from SAM's and going through one of those every 3 months.
I've been using this detergent for almost 3 years now. I had tried the dry method for a year(everything in this except the water and cooking) first before switching, and I really like the Goo better.
Let me know if you try it. I know it seems like a long process but the results are worth it.
4 comments:
I am way too lazy to try this!
Girl, I would not have tried it when my kids were little like yours, although I should have because of the cost of it and the fact that I did about 16 loads of clothes a week (a dozen diaper every other day...) Try one of the uncooked methods. Like the dry detergent, especially if you don't have hard water.
Thanks so much Judith, I'm going to try it this weekend...It's a long 3 day weekend, so I should be able to do it. I will definitely let you know how it comes out...anything that saves me money in the long run is worth my time!
Blakat! How was your laundry soap experience?
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