So, I'd never heard of- or thought of-
homemade laundry detergent! ? ! ?
Several weeks ago, a friend of mine posted a recipe
on Facebook which looked super-duper easy peasie.
As soon as my bottle of detergent was empty,
I made my own laundry detergent.
(Still now, just saying/typing this sentence makes me
feel like I'm pretending to be someone else...
I'm SO not a DIY-er.)
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But...
It is pretty dang AWESOME!
It took less than an hour,
cost less than $10 dollars,
and will make 40+ gallons of liquid soap.
(5 gallons at a time, or less/more if you like).
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I made my first batch just over 2 months ago, and
still haven't had to make more.
This has saved us a ton of $$$, and it has been totally worth it.
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-Though I will admit, I may consider trying the powder version too-
I've seen that recipe, which is similar, but haven't tried it yet.-
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OK, here it is:
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What you'll need:
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*5 gallon bucket & lid (at ACE this was less than $4
and you won't have to buy one again)
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*2 bars of soap (any kind- your detergent will be the
color and scent of this soap, so choose a scent you like)
(on the online recipe, there's a no-scent soap that you can use,
too, and then add essential oils to have it smell however you want)
-I used the white Dial this time, which is a little bland-
I may use Irish Spring next time cuz I love that smell ;)
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*water
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*1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soap
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*1 box Borax (both of these ingredients I found at the end/bottom
of the laundry aisle, and each was about 3-4 bucks.
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*An empty laundry detergent jug. Or any bowl, jar, etc. you'd like
to keep it in as you use it.
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*You may want a 5-gallon size paint stirring stick to mix-
some stores will give one to you free with the bucket.
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DIRECTIONS:
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1. Shred 2 bars of soap any kind and stir into 4 cups water
over med heat until it melts down (this takes some time- the bigger
your soap pieces, the longer it'll take to melt down. My advice is
to shred/grate as small as you can- some people have even used
their food processors for this.)
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2. Fill a 5 gallon bucket ½ full and add 1 cup Borax
and 1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soap
(I did this while I was stirring my soap/water mixture)
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3. Add bar soap mixture to bucket, stir and fill the rest
of the way full with water
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4. Let sit overnight. In the morning it'll look like there are
gooey blobs floating around- there are. Don't freak,
it's supposed to look like that. Stir it up again.
(You may also use a whisk or even run some through
a strainer to beat up the goo.)
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5. This is concentrate. Mix it ½ and ½ with water
(**I mix it about 2/3 concentrate to 1/3 water, just because I wanted to)
in your container/jug voila- laundry detergent for days weeks!
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Note: it's not as lovely and smooth as store-bought detergent-
it's a bit lumpy and stuff... but that's how it's supposed to look
and it works like a gem! I have totally loved it.
Mostly cuz of the $$$ I'm not spending on soap!
