Finding Contentment

Homemade powdered laundry soap

I recently promised Melissa D SC that I would post my recipe for powdered laundry detergent. With everything going on I completely forgot. Actually, I'm starting to notice a pattern of forgetting things I was supposed to do lately...

Anyway, I have been making powdered laundry detergent for months, and I would never go back to using store-bought laundry detergent again. With five people in the family we have a lot of laundry, and we go through a LOT of laundry detergent. I can't begin to imagine how much money I have spent on laundry detergent over the past years.

When I went searching for a homemade laundry detergent recipe, I found several people that made the liquid (which is actually more of a gel) variety. But I found that it was time consuming to make and required a large bucket that took up a lot of space.

Somewhere I came up with this powdered recipe. I don't remember where, or I would post it. In all actuality, it probably happened more like my food recipes happen. I find a recipe that looks interesting and then keep tweaking it until I have what I really want. Regardless, here you go.

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

5 bars soap (Fels Naptha, Castille or, in a pinch, Ivory)

1 box of Borax

1 box of Arm & Hammer washing soda (not to be confused with baking soda)

Grate soap. Mix outside in small bucket with other ingredients.

That's it. That's the entire, complicated recipe. I use about one tablespoon for normal loads, and I'll often add a scoop of a generic OxyClean. Nothing else is required.

The soaps I listed are some of the more natural ones on the market, without the perfumes and dyes. Homemade bar soap would also work great. Although the Fels Naptha and Castille are probably best, they are hard to find in stores, so I have taken to using Ivory. Ivory is a moist soap, however, so you may have to let it dry out before grating so it doesn't clump. I have actually been using the lavender scented Ivory. They may have added perfumes for that one, but it sure does smell good in my laundry!

Washing soda can also be hard to find. Although the ingredients are easy to find online, I hate to pay shipping charges. Many of have said they found washing soda near the Borax in the laundry section of Wal-Mart. But although my Wal-Mart carried the Borax, it didn't carry washing soda. After calling everywhere around, I finally found it at a Harris Teeter grocery store. Not the one in my town, but one in a neighboring town. Since they are only about $2.50 each, I bought several boxes to last.

I discovered quite by accident that I should mix the ingredients outside. Pouring large amounts of the powders causes a kind of cloud that probably isn't healthy to breathe in.

This batch has lasted me about six months, and I still have plenty left. This natural laundry detergent, that I know exactly what went into, will save me hundreds of dollars over a lifetime. I shudder to think I once paid for this!

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12:43 PM, Thursday, September 13, 2007 .. Posted by HandsNHearts

Wonderful. Thank you for sharing. We still get our Fels from our Amish friends up north, as it's been impossible to find around here. Even the mom & pop stores claim they can't order it.
Washing Soda, I've found, is available at our local Kroger's supermarket. As is the Kirk's Castile.

Do you grate your soap by hand....small grates, I imagine? Can't wait to mix some up. I love the liquid version, but I could certainly enjoy the ease of this one!

Deanna


Deanna,

Yes, I grate by hand. I have heard of people having success with their food processor making this into a really fine powder, but I find the kids enjoy grating the soap by hand!

Barb J.

Edited by findingcontentment on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 03:18 PM

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01:31 PM, Thursday, September 13, 2007 .. Posted by Karen

Thanks for sharing this. I'm assuming that since you use it, your clothes get good and clean. Do you think this would work for people who have really sensitive skin?

Karen
http://thetagblog.blogspot.com/


Karen,
Yes, this works great for sensitive skin. Unless you use a soap with perfumes or dyes, etc., this doesn't have any of that stuff in it. I have been using it to wash all my brother's preemie newborn's clothes in without any problems. I also used to have to put white vinegar in the rinse cycle when washing my son's clothes because his skin was so sensitive. He hasn't had any problem with this detergent and I haven't had to do that. Of course, everyone is different!

Barb J.


Edited by findingcontentment on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 03:19 PM

Thank You...

07:09 PM, Thursday, September 13, 2007 .. Posted by Anonymous

Thank you so much for posting this Barbara. I actually was going to try this last weekend because we were down to only a few dollars in the bank account, I was going to go for the Gel type...but again like you the store I went to did not have the washing soda or the soap....I am going to call around tomorrow....hopefully this will be the last jug of storebought detergent I ever buy again!!!
God Bless,
Melissa D. SC

ooops

07:13 PM, Thursday, September 13, 2007 .. Posted by Anonymous

I forgot to ask...

Have you ever tried mixing essential oils in to the mix itself....

I have, I think some lavender and some lemon....have you heard of any other ladies adding essential oils to theirs?

I noticed that on CoppersWife http://www.xanga.com/copperswife blog on xanga she mixed the baking soda and borax for a house cleaning option and had put essential oils in that....http://www.xanga.com/copperswife/615461586/laying-up-the-firewood-for-winter.html

any thoughts =)
Blessings,
Melissa D. SC


Melissa,

This is probably one area where the gel would be better. I don't think you could mix an essential oil in with a powder, but you could with a gel. I sometimes mix essential oils in with my homemade cleaning products, some of which have had washing soda in them... but they were all mixed with water. By using the lavender Ivory, though, I get the smell anyway.

Barb J.

Edited by findingcontentment on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 09:10 PM

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11:29 PM, Thursday, September 13, 2007 .. Posted by Karen

Barb,
Thanks for letting me know. I might just have to give this a whirl. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

Karen
http://thetagblog.blogspot.com/