Background

Saturday 23 March 2013

DIY Laundry Detergent

I have been making my own laundry detergent for about a year and a half now and am SO in love with the results!

I googled a bunch of recipes, but ended up using this one here as a base.

She has lots of great recipies, but I choose to do a powdered one. I had to change the recipie around a bit but this is what I ended up with:


• 1/2 bar of grated Pure Sunlight bar soap

• 1/2 cup of Washing Soda

• 1/2 cup of Borax



I actually had a really hard time finding washing soda in Ontario. In fact, we had to ask my grandmother-in-law to pick up a box when they went to the States - which she did and I am SO grateful for! (I have recently made a visit to the US myself and stocked up!)

The original recipe also required fel's naptha bar soap which I also had a hard time finding. I had thought I'd seen in in a grocery store a long time ago, but do you think I could remember which store? Of course not! So I ended up buying a bar of pure sunlight soap instead which actually works great and smells fantastic!

Making the soap could not get any simpler!

Steps:

1 - Finely grate 1/2 the bar of soap (makes approximately 1 cup of soap).



2 - Add the grated 1/2 bar of soap in a medium sized bowl. Mix in 1/2 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax. Mix well.




3 - Use 1/2 tbsp for normal loads, and 1 tbsp for heavier soiled loads.


And there you have it! A perfectly simple powdered laundry soap that is very easy to use and cleans great!

Yes - you can use this in front loading washing machines! Just use a little less soap (maybe 1/3 tbsp to 1/2 tbsp per load).

I had this cute wooden container that I bought at a yard sale and used to store my tea in - I cleaned it out and now store my laundry detergent in it! It's the perfect size! 



(I also printed some a label with the recipe and added it to the back of the box as well as a cute label for the front!)

I keep a half-tablespoon measuring spoon in the container to ensure we have the correct amount each time. Even the hubby can't mess this one up!

Why do I make my own soap, do you ask? For me, it's the pure cost savings of it. 

Here is the break down:

Sunlight bar x 2 = $2.00 (use half bar per recipe) = $0.50 per batch
Box of Borax $5.00 (approx. 9 cups. Use 1/2 cup per recipe) = $0.28 per batch
Washing Soda $3.00 (approx. 7 cups. Use 1/2 cup per recipe) = $0.21 per batch

Total to make this recipe (32 loads of laundry)= $0.99

32 loads of laundry = $0.03 per load load

It's the simple things in life that keep me going :)

I have recently tried a liquid soap that I am also IN LOVE with! Plus, there is no soap grating involved so it is much quicker to make. More on that recipe in a future post. :)

Have you ever made your own detergent? Willing to try? What are your thoughts?

2 comments:

  1. I've been thinking about trying homemade laundry detergent for a while and just haven't jumped on that bandwagon yet, but seeing you break the cost down like that...wow!! That's ridiculously cheaper than store bought detergent! We have lots of store bought left, but as soon as we're getting low I'm going to whip up a batch of homemade!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really do love the price difference when it comes to making your own. There are so many great recipes online, too! I hope to post soon about the liquid version I found as it is very easy to whip up a batch and it works amazingly!

    ReplyDelete