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FeedFrugal Living: Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent
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We have posted before about how to make Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent then, The Peaceful Housewife posted all about making your own fabric softener. I wanted to take the time today to post a recipe for dry Homemade Laundry Detergent. This is not only easy to make but it's also much easier to keep on hand than the liquid form. I make this by the ton not just for myself but my other family members at all. I promise, it works!
Homemade Powder Laundry Detergent:
1 Bar Shaved Soap (Fels Naptha or Ivory. Ivory is much easier to find, my detergent below though is yellow because I used Fels Naptha).
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
Directions:
Stir the ingredients together (after shaving the soap) and use 2 TBS per load of laundry. This method should work well in HE front loader washers as well since it is a low-suds formula.
I always keep some of this on hand, I primarily use detergent that I've been able to pick up for next to nothing with coupons but when I run out, I grab my homemade detergent. It's great if you have any skin sensitivities too!
How much are you really saving? Well, I'm glad you asked! I checked out the Tide prices at Walmart and compared them to my homemade detergent recipe. Check out the breakdown:
Tide per load cost .23
Homemade Detergent cost per load .07
OR
40 loads of Tide $9.24 at Walmart
40 loads of Homemade Detergent $2.80
We are talking MAJOR savings just by making your own detergent! It takes about 5 minutes to make and can be easily stored in a Mason jar on the shelf or put it into your old detergent box.
Here is the video featured this morning on News on 6, News 9 , KMOV and Kens5:
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Thats amazing!! It works well I love it!!
WHERE did you find the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda? I've looked at Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot & Buy For Less. Anyone had any luck finding it in NW OKC?
Thanks!
I found the Arm and Hammer wash soda at Reasor's and at Warehouse Market here in Broken Arrow. I have been making my own laundry detergent for quite some time now and I love it. I use Zote soap in mine instead of Ivory or Fels Naptha. Zote is such a large bar of soap that it only takes 1/3 of a bar for each batch. I do use the Fels Naptha as my spot treatment instead of wasting money on shout or those other spot treatments. A bar of that cost me less than a dollar and it lasts forever! I also have an HE washer and all it takes is 1 tablespoon of homemade detergent per load. I will increase that to 1 and 1/2 tablespoons for large, heavily soiled loads. I've tried using 2 tablespoons but that was too much. I even broke down the cost of homemade detergent and it only costs me 2.5 cents per load! I love it!!
Can you make it scented?
I am on my second batch of homemade liquid laundry detergent. The first time I used kirk's hardwater castile. This time I used pink zote. The pink zote smells nice where as the kirk's didn't have any smell. Storage is definitely a problem, though. I used 8 empty laundry bottles full of the concentrated soap and one where I filled it with half soap and then half water like the instructions said. I'll just keep filling this bottle up like that. Otherwise we'd have more bottles than we could handle!!
Also, all 3 items (borax, arm & hammer washing soda, and fels naptha or zote) can be found in the laundry aisle at Reasor's. By the oxyclean.
I found the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda at Homeland on 33rd and Bdway in Edmond. I'd called to check to see if they had it first, and Wahoooo! they did!
I found the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda at Homeland on 33rd and Bdway in Edmond. I'd called to check to see if they had it first, and Wahoooo! they did!
My husband puts together our homemade laundry detergent. It's great. We have three dogs and three cats, and the detergent takes out all the pet odors from their beds and the sheets they sleep on. It really is a cost saver and worth the effort ... especially since my husband does all the hard work!
I can't help but be a skeptic, but does this really get your laundry clean? Does it leave any soup rings or residue on your clothes? What about using this with good work clothes / dress clothes? Any issues with that? Any help is greatly appreciated.
What's the easiest way to shave the soap?