Wednesday, December 14, 2011

WOW, this stuff works

Home-made Laundry Detergent
This recipe is probably on the internet a million times over. However, I was asked to post on the blog with my spin on it. So here goes:

I have tried many "natural" laundry detergents and tho most are ok i was never wedded to one.
Easily 2 years ago I saw this recipe for laundry detergent while I was looking up how to do a particular sewing technique and thought, hhhmmm I wouldn't mind trying that. However, it took me sometime and several more coming across it (on various sites) to finally make a batch of my own. So I did. And i liked it, LIKED the price, but I was not necessarily sold on it enough to scream it from the mountain tops though I had committed us to no longer buying store-bought detergent. That was until I washed sheets and pillow cases that we thought were permanently stained with hair oil aka grease. We had sprayed, soaked, washed and rewashed trying to get the oil stains out. However, they never came out so we just chalked it up and, thought "oh well." The sheets were new so we kept them in the rotation. (They were stained the first night).
So one day Peace was washing sheets. No biggie. While folding her sheets she noticed that the stains were gone. Of course, we were happy. It never crossed my mind that she used the homemade laundry detergent, even though that is all we use now. I thought maybe she did more spraying and soaking this time around and got lucky. Something told me to ask her. She said all she used was the laundry detergent I made. I surprisingly said, "REALLY?" And she simply replied, "Yes." We both looked at each other and agreed, "WOW, this stuff works." I then sent either an email or text to a few folks that know I make our laundry detergent, and who has shown some interest in trying to do the same.They seemed happier than me about the discovery. Hence, here is the recipe should any of you want to try.

Time: About 15 min (i guess)
Amount: 2 gallons (liquid) some exclude water and make a powder detergent
Ingredients:
This is all you need. Borax, Soda Ash, Soap
  • 1/2 cup of Washing Soda (Soda Ash)*
  • 1/3 Fels-Naptha (some say you can use Dr. Bronners, I have yet to try)**
  • Borax **
  • 2  one gallon containers
  • Water
Directions:
In a large pot bring 4 cups water to a boil; add in grated soap and stir.
In separate pot heat up another 4 cups of water until hot.
When melted add the washing soda and borax. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat.
Pour in additional 4 cups of hot water.
In empty containers put 11 cups of water in each. and half of the solution in each.
Let it sit for 24 hours and it will gel together. Stir every couple of hours to mix solid and non-solids together.
(I tend to make late at night so I do not mix every hour. The first time I made it I shook it vigorously before we began to use it. This was the batch that actually got stains out. The following batch I put in a bucket the following day and just whisked it all together once it was cool then poured it into gallon containers. Basically, don't let this step deter you. It can be easily rectified).

*I purchased from Dharma Trading Company in San Rafael. We were over that way one day and I know they carry it. From what I understand Arm and Hammer is another brand and you can find it at random stores.
** I purchased from ACE hardware, I had a coupon.

No comments:

Post a Comment