Laundry Soap

I am a big fan of things that smell good.  I love candles and room spray and perfume and lotion and soap and lipgloss and laundry soap, but only if they smell good.  

I have seen a lot of people on pinterest posting about making their own laundry soap, my sis-in-law even sent me the recipe that she used and said she thought it worked pretty well.  I asked her about the smell and she said that there really wasn't a smell, but the clothes were clean and the total cost for 6 months worth of detergent was only $20!  Because I'm a lover a clothes that smell good I only use Tide and Downy or those Purex softener crystals and I spend about $20 a month on laundry products.  I also spend about $20 a month on toilet paper but I am not about to make re-usable TP like THIS  lady did! Somethings are always better to buy from the store.  GROSS! 

So back to laundry soap....I finally decided that I was going to give the homemade stuff a try after learning that I could add the Downy or Purex softener crystals to the mix.  I bought all of the stuff and using the recipe that my SIL sent me I mixed it up.  It cost me about $30 to buy all the stuff would have been $25 but I bought the jar and the coffee scoop also, but those are one time purchases. 

A couple of recommendations;  Use a really BIG bowl, and mix it up outside if you can.  Or wear a mask and don't let your little kids help.  The powders get in the air and breathing them in kinda burns.  We were all coughing and needed to leave the room while the dust settled.  Once it's all mixed up and done, scooping it out to use doesn't stir up any dust. 

 I intended to take pictures of the whole process but I was to worried about breathing in the stuff and getting my kids out of the room that I forgot about pictures.  But you can get the idea!  The bowl in the picture was not nearly big enough, it needs to be super size! 

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking isle

1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle (if you use Zote bars use 2 bars instead, Zote can be found at Home Depot) (grate them with a cheese grater)

2 small containers of Oxy Clean or store brand Oxy Clean (try to get about 3.5 lbs total (1.58 kg)) found in the detergent isle.

 1/2 bottle of Purex Crystals,  save the rest for adding more to the wash if you need to.  

You should be able to find all of these items at your grocery store.

**Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load. I know that does not seem like enough but this recipe does not have fillers like the store bought detergent so you only need 1-2 Tablespoons.** 

Plus a two gallon container...

 I used a small jar to put by the washing machine and put the rest in a big tub in my storage room, I will refill as needed.
I have been using it for about a month now and have no complaints.  I do still have to use either a dryer sheet or downy because of the static.

Happy Laundering!  If you give it a try let me know.