We have started making our own laundry soap and would love to see how many of you all do it and to hear what recipe you follow. Are you happy with the results of the washings? We use washing soda, fels natha, and borax. I threw in some ivory for the smell.
I just made my first batch this week! I use the same ingredients as you, and add some lavender essential oil. I love it!
We've been using the same recipe (makes appx. 10 gallons). We LOVE it! God one of my SIL's using it, too. A friend got me started on it. She ended up not using it because she has a baby on formula and she didn't think it worked well enough on the smell. I'm completely unfamiliar with formula smell, so maybe she just needed to scent the detergent with something????
I use it too! We love it, works great on all my sensitive skin boys and gets our clothes clean for just pennies a load. I also use it on my baby's diapers and it works well there too I just add a little oxy clean to boost it a little. I add TTO to mine for scent and for the antibacterial properties (especially on those dipes)
I used that for years. Recently my hubby bought me a new washer and I'm not sure if it will work with it. It is one of those machines that uses the he detergent. Anyone know if that will make a difference or not? I know it can only take liquid detergent and my homemade stuff is a gel. Will it still work?
I have been making mine in the powder form instead of the liquid. I found this info for you about HE washers: There is a good reason for using detergent that is specially formulated for these newer front-load washers. HE detergents are concentrated laundry detergents that are low-sudsing especially for use with low water high-efficiency washers. If regular detergents were to be used in front-loading and high-efficiency washers, the presence of too many suds could 'confuse' washing cycles, cause delays and make proper rinsing of clothes difficult. I don't see why the homemade soap wouldn't be ok since it is lowsudsing but you could always call a dealer to ask more questions about it!
I make powder using the same ingredients as Mattsmama, but I add about a cup of Oxyclean to each batch. Homemade laundry soaps ROCKS!
We make ours too. I don't like the smell of fels naptha though. I've looked for zote but haven't found it yet. I wonder if that smells any better. I used ivory instead once and that was ok. Does anyone have a recipe that doesn't use borax?
The Duggar's website says you can use the diluted version in high efficiency washers. Here is a link for the recipe: http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html My recipe is also a gel before the final dilution.
I have used the homemade sutff in my HE machine with no problem, mine is a sort of half gel half liquid by the time I'm done..and when I shake it up it's quite liquidy so I just just 1/4 cup per load and that's that.
I want to sooo bad but I CANNOT find super washing soda around here ANYWHERE...lol I am gonna have to order it and the shipping will basically put the ixnay on much of a savings I would think, but I am gonna try to find me someone who will do "free" shipping
I like the smell of Zote better than Fels. The washing powder is VERY hard to find sometimes!! I'm on my last box (I bought several the last time I found it), and I'm not looking forward to the search again. I should probably start now...
I am currently on gallon 30 and still have half a box of the washing soda left, I think. It should still be worth it to have it shipped, I'd think. You can also inquire of a store to see if they can order you some. Often they have products that they could order from a distributor even if they don't normally keep a large quantity on their shelf. It would be worth asking your local grocery store.
All of our Walmart's carry the washing soda here so we are lucky. I have never found the zote but I did find the fels natha in a little town hardware store!
I make it and LOVE it.. We use zote,superwashing soda,and borax. Walmart carries the zote soap. Found the borax at HEB (grocery chain) and stocked up on it. We have a few boxes left so I'm good for now, but will be getting some this weekend when we go out of town since no HEB here in town. We have a front load washer too and since this is a low sudsing detergent and LOTS cheaper than the ones made for HE washers, I use it. I've never had a problem. The clothes get clean and smell fine. I do miss the laundry soap scent but I'm going to purchase some essential oils this weekend to place in my next batch.
