So I have to give a shout out to budget101.com and their fabulous Laundry detergent recipe. This is the one I use and it works great! ****** go to their site and Read the directions thru all the way first before attempting to make it the first time and follow their directions and recipe exactly!!!! or you will make a huge mess lol.
I’m just going to post some photos that go into a bit more expanded detail and how I do it to make things a bit easier if you need some more help… it’s easy…. really! And so worth doing!
When you add ingredients take your pot off the stove to do so, then put it back on the stove top … it prevents things foaming up and bubbling over and making a soapy mess. Keep the heat down, don’t be tempted to turn it up. You don’t want it to boil or you will have a soapy mess lol. Other than that it is super easy to make and I make it about 2-3 times a year. It is much more economical than buying commercial detergents and if you have allergies like I do (sensitive skin and allergic to perfumes) this recipe doesn’t bother my allergies at all! This costs me less than $10 a year to keep us in laundry detergent (All year!!!) and when friends find out I make my own I often end up gifting a jar for them to try.
It works really well on cloth diapers! So I figure if it can handle cloth diapers it can handle just about anything. However to be fair, it doesn’t (nor do many of the commercial brands) do all that great on my diesel mechanic son’s oily grimy work clothes. Strangely tho… it does make an fairly good hand cleaner after working on oily grimy engines lol but be warned it will sting like the dickens if you have any cuts or abrasions on your hands so I don’t recommend using it if that’s the case, but hubby occasionally grabs a dollop to clean his hands with after working on the car. His normal and preferred go to is liquid Castille soap tho because it seems to do better on removing the greasy grimy stuff, and it doesn’t sting if you have a cut!
If you want a little extra “sanitization” add some vinegar to the wash cycle (about a cup works for me). If you want a little extra whitening power for your whites I buy a bottle of concentrated “Shout” brand stain remover (the pour bottle not the spray bottle) and add some to the wash water. “Shout” is the only commercial brand cleaner I buy because it does a nice job and lasts a long time because I use it sparingly and it is economical priced in the large pour bottle size.
I’ve found that this laundry detergent recipe works best (for lack of a better descriptive word: “melts”) when washing in hot water which is fine because I prefer to wash on hot anyway. However, if you have items you want to wash in cold water or you want to hand wash something delicate and you need a “liquid” soap (this recipe makes a creamy almost lotion consistency type detergent) then what I do is take my tablespoon of soap and in a cup of hot tap water I dissolve it some first by whisking it with a spoon. Just to melt it into the water. Then I just use that now liquified mixture as you would liquid laundry soap.
I prefer to line dry my clothes when I can but when I do use the dryer due to inclimate weather I like to use my own dryer sheets and homemade wool dryer balls.
For dryer sheets: I like to use a quart size jar. Add about 1/2 inch worth in the bottom of the jar of either some inexpensive hair conditioner or some scent free or lightly scented (because of my allergies) liquid softener. I get a small bottle of softener (as small as I can find) usually from the Dollar store because that one bottle is gonna last you forever if you use it like I do lol. Then I add about another half inch of vinegar to the pint jar so I have a total of about an inch worth of softener and vinegar. I fill the jar about halfway with hot tap water (put the lid on and give it a shake, use a plastic lid tho because vinegar corrodes metal) and then stuff it with rags one at a time so they are easy to remove. I started with using small baby wash cloths, but they are bulky and take up too much room and soak up too much of the liquid. So I cut up an old cotton shirt and use those as my dryer sheets rags now. I just toss them in the dryer same as you would a commercial dryer sheet.
Occasionally I get a little heavy handed in adding the vinegar to my dryer sheet mixture by accident and the clothes will have a faint vinegar smell if you get up really close and smell them (nose to cloth). Hubby will sometimes laugh and say “I smell like a pickle today” but it really doesn’t bother us because Vinegar is a clean smell to us lol and nobody else can smell it (I’ve asked friends to check to make sure) unless they put their nose on our clothes… and if someone randomly does that they probably will get smacked for invading my personal space and forget all about the vinegar smell anyway lol normally there is no vinegar smell tho unless I have an oopsie when I add the vinegar lol.
So I’m not going to go over the actual recipe because budget101 website does a wonderful job with their recipe instructions. I will however show you some photos of my “equipment”. I purchased all my pots and pans and spoons and blender etc to make this laundry detergent at the thrift store and keep them separate from my regular (food) cooking utensils. I store mine in the laundry room and I have tons of room to store them because I don’t have a huge bottle/box etc of commercial soaps taking up all my space. I just have two quart size canning jars and they last me about 6 month! A bottle of vinegar, a small bottle of softener, another quart jar of dryer sheets, a bag of baking soda (for my other DIY cleaning recipes and occasionally I use some in the laundry), a bottle of “shout” and my spray bottle of homemade all purpose cleaner/air freshener … are the only other things on my laundry room shelf! So plenty of space!
I like to have all my ingredients prepared prior to starting (trust me you want to do this first!) and laid out ready to go. Remember to pre- warm your glass jars in hot tap water before adding any hot liquids so they don’t break from the sudden extreme temperature change. I always hold my breath when pouring out the powdered detergents so I don’t breath in any airborne particles. But that’s just me. You could also cover your mouth and nose with a mask, cloth, or towel if this concerns you.
Bar of laundry soap is shredded using a cheap cheese grater:
Measure out powdered ingredients:
Get my pot, spoons, and mixer out and ready to go:
*******follow the directions in the recipe exactly! especially when she says take the pot off the heat to add your ingredients (or it will foam up and bubble over and make a huge soapy mess)!!!!!
This part requires low heat and gentle non stop stirring. Hence the importance of having everything lined up before you start. It will go from yellow to a creamy color. Adjust the heat down as you go so that it doesn’t boil and foam over. I had to switch over to my wooden spoon to get the dry ingredients mixed in well because they tend to stick to the bottom when you add them in.
Now to sit and let the jars cool (just follow the recipe and all will be fine I promise lol) these two jars should last me about 6 months, so I’m almost done and won’t have to worry about laundry detergent again for quite a while.
I use the long handle of the wooden spoon inserted in the jar like a knife to break up the large (but relatively soft) clump that forms in the jar after cooling… just break it up a little bit (i slowly poke a hole in the center all the way thru and then I slowly cut it into quarters using the spoon handle like a knife. I go slow so soap doesn’t slip out the sides and make a mess) before I put the jar on the blender. You probably don’t have to do this, but that’s what I do. I found with my blender it seems to help it blend easier. Yours may be different tho.
I’ve been using this recipe for a couple years now, and I am totally hooked! I am not going back to buying expensive overpriced commercial stuff again and my wallet has never been happier. I was easily spending between $10-20 a month before I found this recipe … you do the math… what a tremendous annual budget savings! Add line drying (it’s estimated it saves $25 a month in average on the electric bill) and that’s around (give or take) $500 a year you have saved! Wowza! Can we say vacation money?
Might as well make some dryer sheets while I’m waiting on my laundry detergent to finish cooling 🙂 so… that’s how I do my laundry on a budget and save up for a super nice vacation instead.
Conestoga Chuck 