Fels Naphta, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and 20 Mule Team Borax, the ingredients in Homemade Laundry detergent, work wonderfully together to clean laundry. Since more and more people are making their own laundry detergent, these three items can now be found at Wal-Mart, all grouped together on the same shelf. The cost per load is one-fourth to one-third cheaper than commercial laundry detergent. Does anyone else make their own?
I would suggest that anyone who makes their own be very wary. When I tried making my own and after washing and drying put the clothes on my daughter, the solution literally gave her blisters that looked like acid burns. Be very careful before you use this solution on your children. Especially if they have sensitive skin, or even Eczema.
I am glad for both of these posts. One I never thought to make my own laundry detergent, so I am extremely curious. Though the warning about home made laundry for sensitive skin is greatly appreciated. My youngest daughter and myself both have Eczema, so this cold end up being a bad idea for us. But I am definitely going to look into this more. Thanks for the idea!
Laundry detergent is so expensive that I have been thinking about trying my own for awhile. I have most of the ingredients here in my apartment so I might just go ahead and give it a try today. Thanks for the encouragement!
My grandmother made her own soap which she used for laundry. It is the old lye soap. I still have a chunk of it that we found when we were clearing out the house. Once they retired into town, though, she switched over to commercial soap.
My sister made her own detergent. I helped her and have used some of it and must say it's not too shabby. I had to get used to the smell of it but it cleans well and doesn't give the clothes a funny after smell. A few of my friends also make it too and love it. Also, my sister's son has severe Eczema and his skin hasn't had any reactions to it thankfully. Definately be weary though if you do have sensitive skin or any kind of skin condition. If you can though, make your own because it saves tons of money.
Well, folks, I have sensitive skin and eczema and I know several others that do too, and none of us have been affected by the home made laundry detergent. I also make lye soap and it is great too for the laundry, bath (and is recommended for several skin ailments) and washing your hair with as long as you rinse your hair in a solution of white vinegar and water.
I've heard more than once about making laundry detergent, but I've never been able to find the ingredients. I didn't know they were so readily available at Walmart, but then again, I don't live near a Walmart. The last person who told me the recipe said that she had to buy some of the ingredients online... that seems like the shipping cost would almost defeat the purpose.
I did buy my first kit online from Lehman's over a year ago because I couldn't find one of the ingredients. Since then they have decided to make available all of them at Wal-Mart. I had enough stuff to make laundry detergent for several months without buying anything and still have some of it. The kit has the 3 ingredients, a container to put it in, a grater, a big wooden spoon, a one cup measuring cup and you can download the instructions from their site. To ship it to the UK would be quite expensive, I would think. You can still download the instructions free from their site,Log In Scroll down to the "Download" tab.
I never knew about this detergent recipe. And I'm all about saving money so I WILL be trying this. Thank you VERY much for this tip you shared.
Interesting! I would have never even thought about trying to make my own laundry soap before. It sure sounds like you could save a lot of money doing this! Laundry soap has just gotten to be so expensive anymore. I have been buying the cheaper brands but they just don't always clean as well. I will have to give making my own a try! Thanks!
As a cloth diapering mom, this is very interesting. But I would be a little afraid from the reviews that say you have to be careful. I think I'll stick to Charlie's Soap.
This is very interesting, I never thought about making my own detergent before. But as was said, you need to be very careful if you have sensitive skin, which I do. I have only been able to use ivory liguid over the years and it works fine for my skin. Although, I would like to find a detergent that I could make that will not bother my skin and make me itchy. Do anyone have any suggestions.
Older, I've seen the other 2 ingredients, but what is Fels Naphta exactly? I have not made my own detergent before, but I'm willing to try to save extra money. I have also heard of making bar soap also, but haven't tried that either. I appreciate the info.
I would be terrified to do this - I am pretty sure I would mess up the % of each ingredient and end up making an explosive or something teehee. Is there a certain ratio?
I've heard of this and I know quite a few people who use it. I would really miss the nice smell that Gain gives my clothes, though. Also, as with many other things, people might have a reaction to it with no other skin problems. You really never know how you might react to different ingredients or a combination of ingredients in detergent, soaps, cleansers, shampoo, etc. Still, you never know until you try. It could be a huge money saver since it seems like detergents are just getting more and more expensive.
I have made my own laundry soap many times with these ingredients. They wash well and in fact it was the only soap I used on my cloth diapers. They got clean and I didn't have to strip them all the time like with Tide. I have no more babies in diapers, so I switched back to Tide. Plus I also have a HE front loading washer now and am unsure about using the homemade soap in it, I think it should be okay because its not really sudsy, but I still want to be cautious.
I don't live in the UK though... Thanks for the link. According to this site (link is in the previous quote) it's safe for HE washers.
I have used this before and it does a better job of fighting the stains as well! Not only does it do a better job for me, but it also has less chemicals which I am allergic to! So I do not have to be worried about it damaging my skin at any period of time.
I've thought about it but have never actually made my own laundry detergent. If it really saves money, I may actually try it. Thank you for the recipe!
