Alright this is where me being cheapskate chimes in. I always love to save money and always will. I tried the homemade dry laundry detergent that you can find everywhere on pinterest. It worked but it only lasted me 2 months even thou the recipe swears it would last up to a year. Then I came across the Duggers (19kids and counting) Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent. So I thought if works and lasts for a family of 21 then why not try it myself. So I took their original recipe and put my own little twist to it. I made a little booboo making it, but it was a good mistake. Dugger's recipe is concentrated, my mistake made mine ultra-concentrated (if that's even a phrase).
Mine is as follows:
5 gallon bucket
2 Fels-Naptha laundry soup bars
2 cups Super Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1-1/2 cups Liquid Fabric Softener
Fels-Naptha, Borax and washing soda you can find in the laundry aisle close to one another. DO NOT substitute Baking Soda for the washing soda, it's not the same chemical makeup.
Using a peeler make thin slivers of the 2 bars of soap. And place in a stainless steal pot with 8 cups of hot tap water and heat on med low heat till soap is fully dissolved, stirring constantly. Meanwhile throw washing soda and borax in the bucket. Once the soap is dissolved place it in the bucket and stir so that the dry mix can dissolve.
Next, keeping the bucket on the floor and using the spray nozzle from your kitchen faucet fill your bucket with HOT tap water, stopping every once in awhile to give a good mix. If you don't have one of the kitchen faucet sprayers, you can do it with the shower head, you just want a sprayer to help you mix it up.Fill to about 3 inches from the top.
Now it's time for you to cover it and let it sit and work it's magic for 6 hours.
After 6 hours when you take off the cover you will notice a big mass of soft gooey soap floating in small amount of liquid. Now this is when you're going to get a little soaped up yourself. So roll up your sleeves because you are going to put hands in and break up the big mass of gooey soap. No matter which recipe you use, mine or the Duggers, it's still going to be lumpy, you just need to break up the big lump. Learn from my mistake and wear short sleeves and take your rings off. I had to go fishing for my wedding ring at one point. At this time is when I added in the fabric softener. Then stick your hands in and mix well. After that you let it sit for another 6 hours
Remember patience is a virtue
Now it's been a total of 12 hours and you're almost there!!!!!
Now take a clean used container, like a gallon milk jug or cleaned out detergent bottle, and fill halfway with Hot tap water and fill the rest with your homemade detergent. Shake well and let it cool....and there you did it
In a top loading machine, use 5/8 cup per load, a total of 180 loads.
In a front loading machine, use 1/4 cup per load, a total of 640 loads!
this should last you for about 3 to 4 months
***I forgot to mention, You need to shake the laundry bottle you use to store your diluted mixture, even diluted it still gets lumpy****
Thanks for stopping by, Become a Fan and follow My blog for more fun ideas~ Thank you, Carleen
Follow Carleen's Crafty Kitchen on Pinterest
*** UPDATE*** You can find my recipe for my homemade Fabric softener here
****UPDATED #2**** I just made my second batch and I didn't have liquid fabric softener on hand, so I made it without and I personally think it smells WONDERFUL from the Fels-Naptha so this time around I'm going to leave the fabric softener out. and stick with the cheap non scented dryer fabric softener sheets so I can enjoy that wonderful smell. Thought I should share :)
Mine is as follows:5 gallon bucket
2 Fels-Naptha laundry soup bars
2 cups Super Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1-1/2 cups Liquid Fabric Softener
Fels-Naptha, Borax and washing soda you can find in the laundry aisle close to one another. DO NOT substitute Baking Soda for the washing soda, it's not the same chemical makeup.
Using a peeler make thin slivers of the 2 bars of soap. And place in a stainless steal pot with 8 cups of hot tap water and heat on med low heat till soap is fully dissolved, stirring constantly. Meanwhile throw washing soda and borax in the bucket. Once the soap is dissolved place it in the bucket and stir so that the dry mix can dissolve.
Next, keeping the bucket on the floor and using the spray nozzle from your kitchen faucet fill your bucket with HOT tap water, stopping every once in awhile to give a good mix. If you don't have one of the kitchen faucet sprayers, you can do it with the shower head, you just want a sprayer to help you mix it up.Fill to about 3 inches from the top.Now it's time for you to cover it and let it sit and work it's magic for 6 hours.
After 6 hours when you take off the cover you will notice a big mass of soft gooey soap floating in small amount of liquid. Now this is when you're going to get a little soaped up yourself. So roll up your sleeves because you are going to put hands in and break up the big mass of gooey soap. No matter which recipe you use, mine or the Duggers, it's still going to be lumpy, you just need to break up the big lump. Learn from my mistake and wear short sleeves and take your rings off. I had to go fishing for my wedding ring at one point. At this time is when I added in the fabric softener. Then stick your hands in and mix well. After that you let it sit for another 6 hours
Remember patience is a virtue
Now it's been a total of 12 hours and you're almost there!!!!!
Now take a clean used container, like a gallon milk jug or cleaned out detergent bottle, and fill halfway with Hot tap water and fill the rest with your homemade detergent. Shake well and let it cool....and there you did it
In a top loading machine, use 5/8 cup per load, a total of 180 loads.
In a front loading machine, use 1/4 cup per load, a total of 640 loads!
this should last you for about 3 to 4 months
***I forgot to mention, You need to shake the laundry bottle you use to store your diluted mixture, even diluted it still gets lumpy****
Thanks for stopping by, Become a Fan and follow My blog for more fun ideas~ Thank you, Carleen
Follow Carleen's Crafty Kitchen on Pinterest
*** UPDATE*** You can find my recipe for my homemade Fabric softener here
****UPDATED #2**** I just made my second batch and I didn't have liquid fabric softener on hand, so I made it without and I personally think it smells WONDERFUL from the Fels-Naptha so this time around I'm going to leave the fabric softener out. and stick with the cheap non scented dryer fabric softener sheets so I can enjoy that wonderful smell. Thought I should share :)
How has this been working for you? I am going to make this recipe next week after our weekend trip.
ReplyDeleteIt works terrifically, I like it more then the homemade Dry detergent that I tried. I've gotten lazy the past few times during laundry and instead of grabbing the measuring cup I've used the cap to the laundry bottle that I used to store it in, which equals out to about 3/4 cup if you used a measuring cup. The clothes come out terrific. So you know soon I'm planning to try homemade fabric softener within the next 2 weeks, so check back if you're interested. Thanks, Carleen :)
DeleteDoes this condense down (prior to putting it into the gallon jug that's already 1/2 filled with water)? Just trying to figure out how many containers are needed. Can this be halved easily?
ReplyDeleteWhen I made mine I used the 5 gallon bucket and filled it to the top, it stayed at that level, it just became a gel. I got my recipe from the Duggers but doubled the soaps not the water (my family can get a little messy) and added fabric softener. So if I can double it then you can certainly halve it. You can buy gallon buckets from 1 to 6 gallons. So you can pick up a 2 or 3 gallon bucket (I would suggest 3 gallon) and use half of the amount of soap I listed above and follow the rest of the directions as listed. If you decide to go with the 2 gallon bucket, it's going to be more concentrated then mine, so when you plan to put in jugs use 1/3 detergent and 2/3 water.Hopefully that helps you,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping By....Carleen :)
I would just like to say thank you. If it wasnt for people like yourself to run tests like this. Some of us - mainly myself needing help with saving on money and staying clean. I cant wait to get the stuff and mix my on batch up. God Bless Angela
ReplyDeleteYou're totally welcome. Only reason I test and try things like this is to save money just like yourself. My husband raves about this to everyone, he tells everyone that he's so proud that he saves so much money just by me making homemade laundry detergent alone. Thanks for stopping by. :)
DeleteThank you for this recipe! I've made it 3 times and I just love it. I also like
ReplyDeletethe scent that the Fels Naptha gives my laundry. This last time I made it, it didn't condense down and get gooey. I guess I will still dilute it when I put it in the empty jugs.