If you know me, you know I adore a good deal.
So when my friend Jenn started making her own laundry detergent and shared the recipe on facebook, I couldn’t resist giving it a whirl.
Considering the cost of store-bought detergent, and the fact that the supplies for 10 gallons of this homemade stuff are only around $15…spending the time to grate a bar of soap is totally worth it in my book.
You’ll need:
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1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap
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1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
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1/2 cup of Borax
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5 gallon bucket {preferably in a sassy lime green color}
You can find these items at most any store {I picked the 3 ingredients up at Kroger and Meijer for around $12 in all, and the bucket was $4 at Walmart}.
Directions:
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Grate the bar of soap into about 4 cups of hot tap water, in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir continually until fully dissolved {don’t try and cut corners here…I got lazy and chopped mine into small cubes…and it took forever to dissolve. Grating is well worth the effort}
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Fill your bucket up half way with hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved.
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Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir. Cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
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While the Fels-Naptha has a distinctly “clean” smell, you can optionally add 10 – 15 drops of pure essential oil per 2 gallons {add once soap has cooled}. Suggested scents: lavender, rosemary, peppermint, tea tree oil, etc.
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Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispense half full with soap mixture and then fill the rest of the way with water. Shake before each use {will become gelatinous}.
Yields 10 gallons:
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Top Load Machine: 5/8 cup per load {approx. 180 loads}
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Front Load Machine: 1/4 cup per load (approx. 640 loads}
With all the money I’m going to save using this fabulous homemade cleaning-jello-rific-stuff, this happy little laundry room of mine can be an even happier place {I can hear the towels singing now…}
“the hills are alive…with the scent of fels-naptha…la la la la…”
