Homemade Laundry Detergent/Stain Remover

Here is the last of my installments for the natural cleaning class I went to a few weeks ago. The only other thing we made was an all natural "409" multi-purpose cleaner that I already posted last year. Click here for that link. It works amazingly well on carpets, counters, sinks, stoves, etc. It costs less than $2.00 for 10 gallons of homemade laundry soap. You can't beat that!

OK, back to laundry soap. I had to order Fels-Naptha soap and Super Washing Soda from our local hardware store. Borax was easy to find in the laundry aisle. Fels-Naptha is kind of a mystery as to what is in it, but it does say it contains no Naphthalene. You could also use 2 bars of Ivory soap instead. Grated "Zote" is another option that is cheap and more natural than FelsNaptha. If you really want to go all natural, you can use Dr. Brommer's castille soap (not sure how much to use), but it is much more expensive.

Homemade Laundry Soap:
1 grated bar of Fels-Naptha, Zote or 2 Ivory bars laundry soap (can use a food processor to grate)
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax

Instructions:
Grate bar of soap. Add it to 4 cups of hot water and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until soap is dissolved and melted. Fill a 5 gallon pail halfway with hot tap water, add melted soap, washing soda and borax. Stir until dissolved. Fill bucket the rest of the way with hot tap water. Cover with lid and allow to set overnight. In the morning, stir and fill a clean laundry container (I just use another 5 gallon bucket or milk jugs work, too) half full with soap, then fill the rest of the way with water. Stir or shake well. You can add 10 to 15 drops of essential oils if you want it scented. Shake before using. Use 1 cup with top loader machines.
My laundry came out looking great. If it still isn't getting clothes clean, keep increasing the amount until you're happy with the results. Also for whites, I add 1/8 cup borax to a large load of whites and use hot/warm water. If my whites are really dirty, I let them soak for an hour. Borax is an optical brightener.


Stain Remover:
Oh, do I hate having to buy Spray and Wash. It is so expensive and half the time I have to spray everything down twice because it didn't get it the first time. Mary suggested that instead of using Spray and Wash, we simply rub some of the undiluted laundry soap directly onto the stains. I tried it and it worked great! If my kid's clothes are really bad, I simply dip the whole garment into the bucket of detergent.

I had seen this recipe on someone else's blog and I thought it looked complicated. I watched Mary go through the whole process and I was amazed at how easy it was to make. I've got no excuses now. Boy, does it save money, too. Not only in laundry soap but stain removers, too.

Well, I think I've got all my cleaning basis covered, so this will be my last cleaning post for awhile. Hope you have enjoyed learning about these things as much as I have.

God Bless,
Jackie

UPDATE:
FYI - Just did some research and found that the Felsnaptha bar soap I use in my homemade laundry detergent is made from petro-chemicals. I found a safer alternative that is the same price, called "Zote". It isn't perfect, has some dye, but is sounds a lot safer than Felsnaptha which has toxicity issues when used over a long period of time. Zote is safe enough that you can use it to wash dishes. Zote Soap has non-abrasive ingredients and no salts that could massively deposit in the clothes, it can be used for delicates. Zote Soap contains optical brighteners chemically designed for hand washing. Zote Soap has no chlorine, and thus bleaches without fading color. Ingredients:   Zote Soap is made with coconut oil and tallow. It contains sodium chloride, glycerin, perfume, an optical brightener and dye. Zote Soap is scented with citronella oil, making the soap fragrance long lasting.


If you want to make your own all natural homemade laundry soap, instead of using Felsnaptha or Zote, click here for instructions.