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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Homemade laundry detergent?
Does anyone make their own laundry detergent? I ran across a post about it last night, so I was thinking about trying it sometime. My H is skeptical about it though. If you've tried this, can you share any problems or advice?
Here's the blog post I went to:
http://moregreenforlessgreen.blogspot.com/search/label/Laundry Soap
Re: Homemade laundry detergent?
I haven't but a friend of mine has a booming business of homemade laundry soaps and other natual cleaning stuff..PM me if you are interested in buying it from someone else rather than making it yourself..
I like the idea of making the detergent myself, but I'm also interested to see what your friend has available. I sent you a PM!
We make ours. It takes me about an hour and I make 4 gallons of it at a time. Here is the recipe (I have altered the recipes out there to make something that I really like)
In a large pot add 8 cups of water and 4 cups of white vinegar. Bring to a boil.
Finely grate 2 bars of Fels Naptha soap. GRADUALLY add this to the boiling water/vinegar. I do a handful every couple of minutes. Once it is all in I simmer it for 30-40 minutes stirring periodically.
While this is happening I fill each gallon container about 2/3's full with hot water. Put 1/2 a cup of washing soda and 1/2 a cup of borax in each container and shake well. I also add Lavender essential oils in mine for smell, you can get them in the health food section at Hy-Vee.
Once the simmering soap mixture is well mixed (the water will be a bright yellow) add equal amounts of this to each container.
To mix the containers we bought a paint stirrer that can be attached to a drill. We use that to stir it as it cools, typically once an hour. This will prevent it from separating it. We also mix the container with this when we open it for the first time for use.
Its not a bad process when we only make it once every 3-4 months. Plus it saves a ton of money for us. DH didn't believe it would work but he is sold now. In fact typically I get him to grate the soap for me. We also have replaced our fabric softeners with white vinegar.
Good luck!
Does anyone know if there are homemade detergents that you can use in a HE machine?
I've been lucky to snag deals on Tide for about $8 but we use a LOT of detergent each month between messy kids, cloth diapers, and DH's clothes that he uses to work on cars at his Dad's. Oh and his gym clothes each night. ick.
I'm curious to know about this too. We don't need it, but I'd love to make some for my mom who has an HE washer.
Thanks for sharing your method! I'm glad to hear it isn't too bad of a process and that it saves a lot of money. I told my H what you wrote and he said, "I'm not grating any soap." LOL
I don't have a HE machine but everything I have read says its fine. Homemade soap is low sudsing. Also we learned with work out clothes that stink is to put white vinegar in with the water and it neutralizes all of the odors. And no it doesn't come out smelling like vinegar. We do this on all of the dog stuff and it loses the dog stank
DH said that when he was doubtful and now making soap is a joint effort as he knows it is good stuff and saves a ton of money! But I am also lucky in the fact that DH is a HUGE helper around the house and in the kitchen!
That's really helpful - thanks! We have dogs and it's nice to know a trick to get their smell off their bedding, etc.
I use the recipe from the Eco Friendly Family website. The homemade laundry detergent works very well for us. We use the powder version with Ivory soap and it works on all our clothes, including our 5 month old daughter. We also use the cloth diaper detergent on our CD's.
ETA: We have an HE front loader and we use about 1/4 cup detergent per load of laundry.
I use the Cloth Diaper laundry detergent from the Eco Friendly Family website. It's really easy to make and lasts forever.
1/2 c. Oxy Clean
1c. Borax
1c. Washing Soda
We have an HE washer and it works awesome. Like PP said, homemade soad is low sudsing, so it cleans really effectively in an HE machine.
I used this detergent for about a year on all of our clothes but found it to be a little harsh on my delicates and sweaters so we switched to Costco brand for those items.
We also use white vinegar as a natural fabric softener for our diapers.