Saturday, October 29, 2011

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have FINALLY used up the bottle of laundry detergent I bought at at beginning of June when we moved in to the hotel for 9 weeks.  Time to make a batch of homemade stuff!  When we lived in IL, I made a very large liquid batch that I had to store in a 5 gallon bucket.  This time, I knew I wanted to try powder. 

There are tons of recipes on the internet, but they all use the same basic ingredients... a bar of castile soap, washing soda, and Borax.

Using a grater (or food processor if you want), shred half the bar of soap (which will give you about a cups worth of shavings).

Mix together with 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of washing soda (NOT baking soda).  Shake it up good.  You want it to be well blended.

Use 1 Tbl per load.  It will NOT suds up, so is safe to use in front-loaders.
Someday, may be I'll get around to covering the Planter's paper with something pretty. May be that will make doing the laundry more enjoyable.  Or may be not.
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4 comments:

  1. AshleyNovember 1, 2011 at 8:46 PM

    So if it will not suds up, is it safe to classify it as HE compatible? We have a top-loader, but it is HE-only. This looks like a wonderfully easy thing to do!

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  2. LanetteNovember 2, 2011 at 4:30 AM

    I can't say for sure, but you could call the company or do additional research on the internet. Everything I've seen says yes, it's safe to use, but you know how the internet is as far as that's concerned. You might call customer service for your machines and see what they have to say?

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  3. UnknownSeptember 6, 2013 at 12:12 PM

    Hi,
    I like the idea, but I am in Holland and I don't know what borax is. And I can't find a place to buy it.
    So if one of the readers knows what it is called in dutch please tell me.
    Toos

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    Replies
    1. TomtommomSeptember 11, 2013 at 1:48 PM

      Hi, from what I can find, it is called Borax in the Netherlands as well. The only place you will find it is a specialty pharmacy (ouderwetste drogist). You may have to call around. I found one address for you in Amsterdam: drogisterij van Gelder, van Woustraat 237 in Amsterdam 020-6752616

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