I make my laundry detergent myself for several reasons:
- I'm sensitive to artificial fragrance. I wouldn't go as far to say I'm allergic. They do make me cough and sneeze, and most of them I don't care for the way they smell.
- When I buy liquid detergent, I pay for them to add water to it. I already put water into my washing machine, so it doesn't make sense to pay for someone else to add more for me.
- As always with making cleaning supplies, this way you know what's going into it. This has four ingredients as opposed to the list on the back of your laundry detergent.
- It saves money.
- It's easy and fun, and I have all the supplies in my house already. Plus I have a hard time staying away from a DIY.
Ready to try it? Here's how:
Gather your ingredients. You need washing soda (this can be found in your grocery store with the laundry detergent), borax, baking soda, a bar of castille soap, a fine grater, a measuring cup, and a container to store it in.
Here I'm using Dr. Bronner's Lavender Soap, but I alternate with the castille soap that I get at my farmer's market. You can choose any fragrance you like. None of them will be strong on your clothing once they have dried, but they will emit a lot of fragrance as you make them and as you use them.
Using a fine grater, grate your bar of soap. I never finish the bar because I find I get a pretty even two cups out of a little over 3/4 of a bar, and I'm not dedicated enough to risk grating my finger tips to finish one. I throw the extras into a tray next to my bathroom sink for hand soap.
Measure the amount of soap you grated into a large, sealable container. I use an old tupperware that I inherited after a dinner party, but a large mason jar would work as well. You want to measure your soap because the rest of your ingredients will be based on a ratio. Like I mentioned, a little over 3/4 of a bar should give you about 2 cups. I normally keep grating until I have that much.
Once you measure your soap, add the rest of your ingredients at a 2:1 ratio. If you have 2 cups of soap, add 1 cup of baking soda, 1 cup of washing soda, and 1 cup of borax.
Once all your ingredients are in, seal the lid and shake, shake, shake, senora. You've just made your own laundry detergent!
I use about 3 tablespoons to a full load of laundry. Experiment to see what works for you.
Gather your ingredients. You need washing soda (this can be found in your grocery store with the laundry detergent), borax, baking soda, a bar of castille soap, a fine grater, a measuring cup, and a container to store it in.
Here I'm using Dr. Bronner's Lavender Soap, but I alternate with the castille soap that I get at my farmer's market. You can choose any fragrance you like. None of them will be strong on your clothing once they have dried, but they will emit a lot of fragrance as you make them and as you use them.
Using a fine grater, grate your bar of soap. I never finish the bar because I find I get a pretty even two cups out of a little over 3/4 of a bar, and I'm not dedicated enough to risk grating my finger tips to finish one. I throw the extras into a tray next to my bathroom sink for hand soap.
Measure the amount of soap you grated into a large, sealable container. I use an old tupperware that I inherited after a dinner party, but a large mason jar would work as well. You want to measure your soap because the rest of your ingredients will be based on a ratio. Like I mentioned, a little over 3/4 of a bar should give you about 2 cups. I normally keep grating until I have that much.
Once you measure your soap, add the rest of your ingredients at a 2:1 ratio. If you have 2 cups of soap, add 1 cup of baking soda, 1 cup of washing soda, and 1 cup of borax.
Once all your ingredients are in, seal the lid and shake, shake, shake, senora. You've just made your own laundry detergent!
I use about 3 tablespoons to a full load of laundry. Experiment to see what works for you.
I just bought Borax this weekend and I was wondering how to use it! Would you believe I found your blog via How bout Orange and your DIY tote tute. Thank you!
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