I've been wanting to make my own laundry soap for awhile (partly to save money and packaging and partly because it's fun to feel like a mad scientist). I was a little worried about trying it because we have an LG HE washer and dryer that we just bought last year and I wasn't sure about using something other than store-bought HE detergent in the washer. But I read through the comments here and there were some from people with HE machines so I decided to give it a shot.
The Recipe
I basically used recipe #4 from tipnut.com.
1 bar Fels Naptha
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
I made two batches. The first time I grated the Fels Naptha bar finely and then mixed it with the borax and washing soda. Even though the soap bar was grated finely I decided to throw it in the food processor for a few seconds. It made a nice, fine powder.
On the second batch I decided to just chop the soap bar and put it in the food processor with the other ingredients. Didn't work so well...there were semi-large chunks left over so I had to keep sifting those out and reprocessing them. Grating the soap bar first is definitely the way to go.
I mixed the two batches together and have them in a glass crock with a lid. I've been using one to two tablespoons per load along with filling the fabric softener compartment with vinegar (another tip from the comments section).
The Results
So far it seems to be working well although I have had a couple of shirts that have still had stains on them out of the wash, but I'm not positive they would have came out with the HE detergent either.
I didn't actually take the time to do the math to see how much money we're saving per load, but I might do that after this batch is gone to see if I want to keep making it or go back to store-bought.
8 comments:
When I made this, I used the food processer too. It really came out fine without grating, so maybe it depends on the model? I didn't expect it to turn into a powder as easily as it did.
One thing I really liked about this recipe was how my clothes smelled fresh and clean, not overly-scented.
Hi Rachel...that could totally be the case (I have a food processor that is on the smallish side).
I have been using this for at least a year-love the smell and it cleans well. Try wetting the bar of felsnaptha and rubbing directly on tough stains-works great
Oh it is so funny that you would post this today. Dh and I were just talking about making laundry soap over the weekend. Have you SEEN the price of Tide lately??? I used to make our own all the time, and just got out of the habit. But i'm definately going back to it.
The only thing I didn't like about it, was that in our hard, well water whites didn't get really white, they'd kind of "grey". SO I started using bleach with my white washes.
i've never even thought of making my own!
Let us know about the cost comparison. I'd like to give it a go.
Lalycairn...thanks for the info!
Jenny...if/when I do a cost comparison I'll post it. I did see a comment on tipnut that the homemade recipe is around 4 cents a load. If you pay $9 or $10 for a bottle of Tide HE that does 32 loads that is around 30 cents a load. But, of course, there are less expensive detergents than Tide HE.
Melissa...I noticed on the Fels Naptha bar that it says you can use it for stain removal but I haven't tried it yet. I'll definitely try it!
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