Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Doing Laundry

I am always looking for a more sustainable way to run my home that is affordable for us. Here is one idea that I got from a friend- making your own laundry soap. While many commercial soaps have amazing cleaning powers in any type and temperature of water- think of all the chemicals that must be crammed in those bottles. My friend gave me a recipe to start with, and I tweaked until I came up with something that I felt meets our needs for our type of water. I believe it to be at least more environmentally friendly than your typical commercial laundry soap.

Here is the ingredient line-up:



I found all of those ingredients at Winco for very reasonable prices.



Powder Laundry Soap

1 Fels Naptha Laundry Bar

2/3 Cup Borax

1/2 Cup Washing Soda


Using a food processor, shred the laundry bar. Add borax and washing soda (NOT baking soda,)process to mix. Store in repurposed food jar. Use 2-3 tablespoons per load.

One reason I like to make this soap is that I love having all that cleaning power in such a small, easy to manage jar. It can be changed and adapted to meet your laundry needs. This recipe works well for our hard water. Also, there is less waste.

2 comments:

John and Anna said...

Made some of this yesterday (my second time making laundry detergent). I love how cheap it is and how quickly it comes together!

I hope all is well for you Celeste!

Celeste Jean said...

It's kind of fun, isn't it, Anna? This hard laundry bar also makes a good pre-wash treatment. I keep a bar in a dish on my dryer. I wet it and the stain, and rub the bar in.