Two and a half months…
No, that’s not how long this project takes but instead how long its been since we’ve blogged. Bad bloggers! We/I needed to be punished for this gross and intolerable oversight. So what did I do? Banished myself to a day of chores and laundry. (oh wait….that kind of sounds like every Sunday…hum) Only problem, I was nearing the bottom of my Sam’s Club sized laundry detergent. What to do? I could just go buy more detergent. That’s what any sane person would do…but no. I remembered a project I’d seen months ago on Pinterest. Homemade detergent!
Now…if there is anything this girl likes…it’s combining things, dumping things out, putting them in other containers. I can’t really explain it. Since youth, I’ve loved sand art…this transitioned into my facination with containers (seriously…almost ever kitchen necessity I own must be put into a different container than what it was purchased in…I’m the proud owner of over 20 canisters). Nothing excites me more than when I run out of flour, b/c that just means I get to open a fresh bag and dump it into my old fashioned cracker canister…oh yeah! I’m getting off topic…
Back to the detergent – this is the original link that I found
http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/
I tweaked this a bit based on what I could find.
Here is what I used:
- Container of Oxi-Clean
- Box of Borax
- Box of Baking Soda
- Box of Super Washing Soda (didn’t even know this existed)
- Two bars of grated Ivory soap (most links say to use Zote but despite popular opinion…it is not easy to find. I found several articles that said Ivory soap was great! Plus side – it smelled just like the resort on my Honeymoon…weird
- Container of Purex Crystals laundry detergent (I originally wasn’t going to add this b/c I normally use Downy…or Snuggle…with a Downy Ball…that somehow magically dispenses the fabric softener on time. This was until a few weeks ago when my husband decided to do a load of laundry…maybe the third load he’s done in the 2 and a half years I’ve lived with him. Turns out he was confused…and used fabric softener…instead of detergent (he didn’t know fabric softener came in liquid form) and then tried to throw out my downy ball b/c it was “stupid.” So I decided to add the fabric softener crystals back in.. just in case some strange phenomenon happens where he needs to do laundry…there is now only one step to the process.
Ingredients
Then I layered all of the parts into a container (I used a small cooler that we never use). The layering helps make stirring/blending everything much easier. I got creative and used a vacuum attachment to stir with.
The Mixture
Last I put some of my detergent back into the fabric softener container since it was so cute. And the top is the perfect measuring cup for the powder!! So it should be a while before I run out of my cooler full of detergent! (PS this stuff smells good too!) My only complaint…I wish the fabric softener came in pink 
so I could have pink crystals in my detergent.
Finished Product
Hi i had read the original link and i wanted to use Ivory as well , i read comments saying to omit the borax and doubled the Washing Soda , what is your take on this ? Also what are your measurements?
Thanks
Hi Jessica!
I used 2 bars of Ivory Soap, 4 lb box of baking soda, 4 lb 12 oz box of Borax, 3 lb 7 oz box of Washing Soda, a big tub of oxy clean, and a container of purex fabric crystals. And I’ve been using the top of the Purex Crystal container to measure the detergent out for each wash. I believe it is around 1/4th a cup.
Also, this is my first attempt at making laundry detergent so I followed the directions exactly. However, Borax is just a laundry booster so I don’t see how there would be any problem with doubling the Washing Soda. Maybe I’ll try that on my next batch, however this stuff lasts for a long time so it might be a while before my next batch
As a side note: this stuff smells really good.
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