Recipe: Laundry Detergent

I haven't done a recipe post in awhile and I figured this is a big one that I've been meaning to share with you!  So welcome to my post on what I use to clean my dirty clothes with!  I know you're excited for this.

It's hard to give my recipe, really.  It's not that it's a secret, it's just that I really don't know what it is.  I'm sort of a 10 year old when it comes to creating things.  I tend to throw stuff in as I feel I need it without really giving much through to measurements.  I always start off with a recipe in mind and then tweak it to my needs.  So when creating your own unique laundry recipe it's important to understand what each ingrediant does for you and to make your own recipe as you see fit.

WASHING SODA:
Washing soda works in laundry as a stain remover.  Similar to bleach, but unlike bleach it won't remove the coloration from your clothing and leave bleach spots.  It's also great if you have hard water because it clings itself to the minerals found in hard water and allows detergents to foam properly which leaves your clothes cleaner with less residue.

However, the downside to Washing Soda is it's hard to find.  I've looked for it at my three locals stores with no luck.  Therefor, I do not use washing soda in my recipes.


BAKING SODA:
Baking soda neutralizes odors in your wash and it also can help keep your whites white, your colors colorful, and everything in between everything in between.  Baking soda also works as a fabric softener!

Similar to washing soda, it also helps if you have hard water.  However, it cannot compete with washing soda in this category.  But due to the fact that it is readily available in both the cooking and laundry sections of most stores, it is what I use in my homemade detergent.  However, you CAN combine the two, if you really want to.



BORAX:
Similar to Washing and Baking Soda, Borax is great for keeping your clothes the color they are supposed to be.  It also works in neutralizing hard water and allowing all the other ingredients to do their job.  But I like to think of Borax as Washing Soda's sidekick.  Without it, he's not much.  But together, they make a great team.  Though if Washing Soda really wanted to, he could do just fine without Borax.

Be careful when using borax as it can be poisonous to children and pets!




OXYGEN CLEANER:
Oxygen cleaner's (like the EcoStoreUSA brand seen here, or more commonly OxyClean)  main job is to remove stains.  Add this in with Baking or Washing Soda and Borax and you have a mean Green stain removing... uh... detergent.

I also like to keep plenty of this around the house for carpet spot treatment!  Also sprinkle a bit on stubborn stains before adding clothes to the wash for an extra cleaning boost.




SOAP:
Most people will recommend that you get some bar soap, grind it up, let it dry, and use that in your wash.  That's great.  Probably better than what I do, actually.  But I'm like a 10 year old in more ways than one.  I do not have the patience for that.  Plain and simple.

This is why I use Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap in my wash.  No need to grind anything up!  Just throw in a few tablespoons of your favorite scent of Dr. B's (I prefer a Lavender Peppermint Combo myslef) and mix it in. 

Dr. Bronner's is soap.  Soap cleans.  It also is what "bubbles up" and gets into those stains and makes all of the other ingredients that much more potent.  If you are trying to make a baby-safe detergent, it's recommended that you skip this step.  But for you, an adult, I recommend using it!  It'll not only clean your clothing, but add a pleasant scent!

Yes, using liquid soap will mean your detergent will be a bit more chunky.  But this doesn't really bother me.  I like to sit there and break up the big chunks during mixing.  And the little chunks are fine, they'll break down in the water anyway!


So now, to the best of my knowledge, my recipe.

2 Parts Baking Soda (or Washing Soda if you can find it)
1 Part Borax
1 Part Oxygen Cleaner
1 Tablespoon Per Cup of Powder Ingredients (does that make sense?)

In other words, I used...

2 Cups of Baking Soda
1 Cup of Borax
1 Cup of Oxygen Cleaner
4 Tablespoons of Dr. Bronners (2 of Peppermint, 2 of Lavender)

(I also toss 1/4 cup of Vinegar in the rinse cycle for added softness!)

This makes a powdered detergent with a couple of small chunks in it.   Want liquid?  This is actually very, very easy.  Just take 1 gallon (when using the recipe above, if you double it or do half of it, use the appropriate amount of water) of hot, hot water and mix it in with the ingredients.  Want a gel detergent?  Use 1/2 gallon (when using the recipe above... so on and so forth) of hot, hot water and mix it in with the ingredients.  Simple as that!  Oh, don't forget to stir!

I have both a powder and a gel detergent since my husband prefers the gel when washing his darker colored tee-shirts.  So what do I store them in?  This one is rather simple.  Laundry detergent containers!  :)  When it came time to make my own I'd just used up the last bottle of our liquid detergent.  I had the foresight to save another older container, so I just used those.  The liquid went into one (this makes it SO much easier to shake the bottle and re-mix the ingredients before use) and the powder went into another.  I use the same lids and that came with those containers to measure out my detergent for each load, though I only fill this super-detergent to level "1" (or the lowest level) on the measuring cups.  Simple AND I'm re-using my old containers!

Don't have old containers?  Any bucket, container, bottle, or bin with a lid will work.  Just make sure it can be covered securely since, as I said before, Borax is poisonous to child and animals.  Better safe than sorry!




So now let's talk about cost!  Do you save any money making your own detergent?  Where most of my homemade items save a few pennies on the dollar, homemade detergent, in my experience, REALLY adds up so huge savings!

Before we made our own we were spending about $7 on a bottle of detegent which would last about 2-3 months.

Now, let's assume you are all just like me!  Uh... nevermind, that's kind of a scary thought.  Let's assume, instead, that you've read my blog from the beginning and value my opinions so much you already have plenty of Baking Soda, Dr. Bronner's, and Oxygen cleaner on hand for everyday use!  That means you just have to get is the Borax.  Which is only $4 for a large box at my local store!  And you can get many, many, many months (and recipes) worth of detergent from one box/jar of each of these.

OK, want to pretend for a bit that you don't have all that stuff in your house?  OK, fine, but you really should consider having all of these on hand for other things!

Baking Soda or Washing Soda: $3.50 for a large box
Borax: $4 for a large box
Oxygen Cleaner: $9.99 for a medium container
Dr. Bronners: $8.99 for a medium bottle

Total: $26.48

If you use the follow ingredients ONLY for laundry and you do 3 loads per week using the recommended amount you will have enough supplies to make my recipe 6 times.   Now we'll just pretend that you get the same number of loads for regular detergent that you do with the homemade stuff.  For 6 bottles of detergent I would spend $42.  That's already a savings of $15.52!  But, honestly, I use about 1/3 the amount of detergent I used to use.  Which means the savings are actually closer to $45!  That is a really big savings over time!!

So do your clothes and your wallet a favor.  Take a stab at making your own laundry detergent!