Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Homemade laundry detergent

I've been meaning to try this out for ages. Bob was reluctant when originally I told him about it - said he liked the smell of our normal detergent. But I've been using this homemade stuff for several weeks now and he hasn't even noticed! Shhh!! ;)

Super simple recipe*: 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax, 1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap (grated)

Sauvignon blanc and canine helper optional...
 

Mix. Use 1 tbsp per load of laundry.
 

As I said, I've been using this for a few weeks and it is working great. Clothes smell fresh, instead of scented. It removes dirt/stains just as well as our previous detergent and is much much cheaper.

* I got this recipe from another blog but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. I'll add the link later when I inevitably find it stalking home/diy blogs... from the Yellow Brick House blog!

3 comments:

  1. what is your cost per load of laundry? Mom R.

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  2. I think I spent about $20 on the borax and washing soda, which should make about 5 batches. And then each bar of soap is about $1. One batch is about 40 loads. So if you do the math, it works out to 12 cents per load - half the cost per load of using liquid detergent!

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  3. Correction! I actually only spent $6 (!) on the washing soda and borax (I couldn't find my receipts and relied on online prices which were WAY high) so the price per load is only 5 or 6 cents per load!

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