Laundry Soap

Well, for the past few months (probably longer than that actually) I've been just buying my laundry detergent from the grocery store. Prior to that, I hadn't bought any for a couple years - I just made my own. So... as we were running out this time, I decided to get back to making my own.

Pros:
-Cheaper
-I know what chemicals are being used
-No dyes or fragrances
-No plastic jug that needs to be recycled
-One batch lasts a LONG time

Cons:
-No "clean laundry" smell (which I could probably remedy if it was really that big of a deal)

Soo.... I headed out to my local Fred Meyer who sells everything I need. I thought I'd share my recipe with you in case you'd like to try it out for yourself.

 My ingredients:
-Borax
-Washing Soda (NOT baking soda!) - approx $4
One of the following:
-2 bars Fels Naptha Soap - grated
-1 smallish container of OxyClean or Clorox OxyMagic

1. Get a container (such as my Versa-Tainer, shown above)
2. Mix half a box of borax, half a box of washing soda and half a container of oxy cleaner (or one bar of grated Fels Naptha Soap) together in the container.
3. Stir well
4. Use 2 Tablespoons of detergent per load of laundry

I used to use the Fels Naptha Soap, but I got tired of grating it (kinda hard) and I have a septic tank and heard that it's not a good thing to put a lot of that soap in my septic, so I switched to an oxy cleaner and haven't had a problem.

Only 2 Tablespoons! Can you believe how long this lasts me?! I was going to include the prices, but I've misplaced my reciept. I think that between those three ingrediants, I only spend about $10 and it lasts for MONTHS! And I only mix up half at a time - you could do it all if you had a larger container or just put your leftovers in a safe, dry place and mix up more when you run out.

I've heard that if you want a nice smell to had a few drops of an essential oil to your load, but I'm just too lazy to try it.

Here's some info on the ingrediants if you want to check them out -
Borax - Natural mineral compound
How borax cleans/risks
20Mule Team Borax

Washing Soda - sodium carbonate
What is it?

Fels Naptha Soap

One of these days I might try a liquid soap, but it's hard to switch when this is so easy to make and cheap!