Homemade Laundry Soap

Now, you may be asking how does a blog about the lack of a Dish Fairy have anything to do with laundry?  Well, let me tell you.

See here is how the equation works. 

If I save money, that leaves extra money in the "Eating Out" category of the budget. 

If I eat out, there are no dishes to wash.

If there are no dishes to wash, I am happy, happy, happy.

Isn't that brilliant????  Such simple math

So, last week I had posted about a laundry soap that I had made and had been using about a month and loved everything about it, especially the PRICE!



About 2 weeks ago, I had made a new batch and I did not add the lemon and lavender essential oils.  I just didn't think they made a difference in how our clothes smelled.  That didn't work so well. 

Both of our children are very athletic and we live in Houston, so that means they produce a lot of sweat.  And suddenly my son (who had been VERY for homemade laundry soap cause he's a broke college student) was not happy.  His workout clothes still smelled.  (Just trust me on this one and be glad there is no such thing as the scratch and sniff on your computer). 

So, I started doing some research and that reminded me about the research I did for homemade deodorant which said that the smell comes from bacteria and so to kill the smell, you kill the bacteria.  This meant I needed to find a laundry soap that had some antibacterial properties.  That is when I remembered that I hadn't added the essential oils.  Lemon and lavender have some antibacterial properties.  I did go back and add the oils to the liquid laundry soap and it seems to be doing the trick.

But, about this time, my family was complaining about adding vinegar to their wash as a fabric softener. 

I began looking for a laundry soap that included vinegar and would kill bacteria.  This is what I came up with.  I am happy to report that it was still cheap AND the smells are gone.  :)  Now, we are back to happy!

So, now you have two options for cheap laundry soap.  The liquid one which I posted a link to last week by "One Good Thing by Jillee."  I would recommend adding the essential oils.   OR  this powder version which I made up to solve the smell problem.

Powdered Laundry Soap

1/4 cup of Dawn Antibacterial Dish Soap (orange scent)
1 cup of Borax
3/4 cup of Washing Soda
1/4 cup Baking Soda
1 cup white vinegar
20 drops of lavender essential oil

Pour the liquid soap into a large bowl.  (One of the similar recipes I found at modernbaby.com said that she used an empty plastic ice cream bucket for her detergent and she mixed it right in the bucket.)

 

Stir in the Borax, washing soda and baking soda.

 

 

Next, you need to add the vinegar about a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well between each time.  This will create quite a fizz.  That's fine, just stir it up. 

 

Lastly, add the essential oil.  I prefer lavender, but you can choose which scent you'd like.

 

At this point the the detergent looks like a thick paste, but it will turn into a powder as it dries. Since I live in a humid area, I was afraid to put it in an ice cream bucket and put the lid on.  So, I poured it into a foil lined cookie sheet and let it sit on the counter to dry.  It took a few days and I did stir it about twice a day.

 

 

After it became a powder, I poured it in a container.  We use 1/4 cup per load.

 

Laundry smells good again.  Problem solved.

 

*Both of these seem to be safe in HE washers.