DIY Soaps!

This has to be the most exciting blog post ever. In the history of blogs. That's right, I'm going to tell you how I made my own Dishwashing Soap and Laundry Detergent! Gasp! Oh, the excitement! I can't remember how I got started on doing this, other than every time I buy Tide, I practically choke when I see how much it costs. And some how we go through sooooo much detergent. I was spending $20-$40 a month on freakin detergent. The only purchase that hurts more is those stupid razor refills. Why does it all have to cost so dang much?! So, anyways, I started researching online on how to make my own Laundry Detergent and found tons of recipes, that all had the same basic ingredients, so I took one and tried it. I also noticed that you could make your own dishwashing soap with almost the same ingredients, so I took a stab at that too. Below are the recipes I used and my tips/lessons learned....

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not Baking Soda)
½ cup Kosher Salt
10 packets of unsweetened lemonade mix

Mix together well in a large bowl, funnel into an airtight container. Substitutions for the lemonade mix: 1/2 cup Lemishine or ½ cup Citric Acid. Add more lemonade mix/lemishine/citric acid for hard water. Use 1 teaspoon of detergent per load and use vinegar as a rinse aid. This recipe yields about 19 ounces. During the first week after mixing, the citric acid in the lemonade mix may harden the soap mixture a little, so shake it up a little each day to prevent chunks.

I calculated the cost of the Cascade I've been using at 11 cents per load, my homemade version costs 7 cents per load. So not a huge savings but I love it, it works great and is non-toxic and good for the environment!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

4 cups hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

½ cup Borax

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. Stir and fill a clean container with soap mixture. Detergent will gel so shake up before each use. Use ¼ cup per load for a front load machine and 5/8 cup per load for a top loading machine.

For a front loading machine, this recipe yields about 300 loads! I calculated the cost of the Tide HE I buy at Sam's Club to cost 18 cents per load, my homemade recipe costs 1/2 of 1 cent per load! Huge savings!! I find the clothes come out very clean and smell like clean clothes, not soapy or anything. Our clothes cleaned in Tide smell a little more fragrant but I find the real way to add fragrance is to use scented dryer sheets. Once again, this works great and is non-toxic and good for the environment! Take that Tide!