This coming June will mark my 3 year anniversary of NOT buying laundry detergent. I came upon this recipe in a newsletter by Mary Hunt, author of Debt-Proof Living and Everyday Cheapskate. If you like my blog, you'll love hers, it's full of great ideas.
Here's the recipe:
2 bars Fels Naptha soap
1 cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer, not baking soda)
1 cup Borax (20 Mule-Team is good)
All these items can be purchased at Martin's Food Stores or Walmart.
Grate the soap on a small-holed cheese grater.
Or cut it in cubes and process it in a small food processor.
It looks like this:
Then add the powdered Washing Soda and the Borax and mix. I keep mine in an old plastic container with a tight lid.
Use 1-2 tablespoons per load. Put it into the water before you add the clothes. It dissolves very quickly.
You might think that's not enough because you're used to dumping lots of soap into your machine. Trust me, it's enough. It doesn't make suds, but it will pull out the dirt from your clothes. The water will turn gray-black depending on how much dirt is there.
I've also stopped buying fabric softener. All you need is 1/4-1/2 cup of white vinegar in your rinse load. It will get the soap out of the clothes and eliminate all static cling. Your clothes will NOT smell like vinegar, they will just smell really, truly clean. And clean smells really, truly good!
Can't wait to try this, Maria! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteJill
Let me know how you like it, Jill!
DeleteI'm going to try this out for my mom!!!
ReplyDeleteI can give you some to try if you want to stop by. It's great stuff!
DeleteI love this so much that I got more fels naphtha to make another batch....before the first batch is used up! I don't want to ever run out! I love the vinegar in the rinse cycle, too! I never thought I'd be this excited about laundry! LoL!!?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad, Jill! Doesn't it smell wonderful when the clothes are dried? Anything that makes laundry "fun," right??
DeleteIf you're using a front loader, can you just put the mixture in the detergent compartment, and the vinegar in the fabric softener compartment as you would normally, before you begin the load?
ReplyDeleteScott, I don't have one myself, but I've heard that it works well in front loaders because it makes no suds. And yes, the vinegar works well in the compartment. I add some water to fill it.
DeleteI just ran across this post and just made my first batch. I have a question. How do you thoroughly mix the powder and the shavings. Mine wants to separate. Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for trying this detergent recipe. It is a wonderfully effective and inexpensive laundry soap! The ingredients never completely mix because of the different consistencies. But I just make sure that I mix and scoop when I put the 2 tablespoons in the machine. I have noticed that the Fels Naptha soap will grind into a fine powder in my food processor if it's thoroughly dried out beforehand. Then it seems to blend better. So now I leave 2 bars unwrapped for a month before I make a batch. Try that and see if it gives you a better result! Have a great day:)
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