Homemade Laundry Detergent...I was skeptical

I had seen on pinterest about homemade laundry detergent but I was a little skeptical that it would actually work as good as some of the big name brands. A friend on facebook posted a status about that she was making liquid laundry detergent. I began to look more into it and I found a powder recipe that was a lot easier, requires less storage space, and no heating materials. Soooo it didn't take much money to invest so why not give it a try. When I saw people talking about 1 cent a load... it was worth a shot!

What you need

1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 Cup Borax

Fels Naptha Soap ($0.97 at Walmart on Detergent aisle)

Grater

I couldn't find my receipt but other than the grater, it was less than 10 dollars...may have been about 7-8 dollars but I really can't remember for sure! The A&H and Borax will make a LOT of batches so if you make another batch all you have to buy is a bar of soap. YES CHEAP!

Step 1

Grate the soap.

I tried all the sides of the grater, the soap would get stuck in the grate and on the outside. So I used the bigger side that you can't hardly see in this picture.

 



 

What it looks like after your done...cheese lol

I'm sure if you had a blender or food processor you could get it much finer and it would blend better but I have neither so I left it as it is.

 

Step 2

Add borax and washing soda to soap. Stir for a few minutes, really mix it together well. I tried to break up some of the pieces of soap to make them a little smaller but I mainly left them large.

 

A great use for those empty formula containers!

 

Great activity for my niece! Mess up some shirts with ketchup, mustard and soy sauce! It was like fingerpainting lol.

 

BEFORE

Use 2 Tbsp of laundry detergent per load

 

AFTER

 

So what do you think? Pretty good huh?

 

So based on looking at the shirts the homemade laundry detergent did just as well as Tide! I was in shock when I saw how well it performed. I thought it actually did slightly better than tide on the soy sauce stain! And most of the time your clothes are not going to look like those shirts did!

My opinion...it's worth making. I've done several loads since then and it's worked great. The clothes smell fine but it doesn't leave a strong smell so if you like more scent to your clothes just add a sheet or two of dryer sheets when you dry them.

I will be making more! This is the cheapest way to clean your clothes!! I don't know when I'm going to be able to bring myself to buy $10 Tide again!