Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Homemade Laundry Soap


As a stay at home Mom (SAHM) I try to take care of my family in the healthiest and cheapest way possible. If I can avoid unnecessary chemicals and fragrances and pinch a penny at the same time, I am a happy woman.
When the twins came along, I was faced with doing laundry for 5 people instead of 3, 2 of them being infants in cloth diapers.
I started looking for the right detergent to wash cloth diapers with. I was not interested in wasting the time or money (especially the money) or experimenting on my babies to find the right thing. After joining the cloth diapering forums on diaperswappers.com I learned quite a bit about the different ways parents wash their cloth diapers. I also earned that the wrong detergent can leave buildup on cloth diapers. Detergent buildup can lead to repelling of moisture, stinky diapers and worst of all, diaper rash.
So following the advice of other "Crunchy" Moms I decided to make my own detergent for our cloth diapers. As long as I was at it, I may as well make laundry soap for our clothes too. I needed to find something natural, non-irritating, effective and cheap.
There are lots of recipes out there and lots of different options. The primary difference in choice is whether you want to go liquid or powder. The liquid is much more cost effective. But it kind of seems like a PITA to make. So I stuck with powdered formulas.
People have very different results with these recipes depending on their water quality and the type of machine they have. I have a top loading machine and a water softener. The water softener allows me to use much less soap per load.


Powdered Laundry Soap
Use 1-2 Tbs for a small load 3-4Tbs for a large load.
1 batch lasts me about a month. I do 3 loads of laundry a day. (not including diapers)

Ingredients
2 Cups 20 Mule Team Borax
2 Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
2 Bars of Ivory Soap

Put the ivory bars in a food processor and run for about a min. As the soap starts to break down I add 1 cup of either one of the powders. When the soap is completely broken down add the rest of your powders and process for another 30 seconds. Viola! Now add your laundry soap into an airtight container. I use plastic shoe boxes.

Cloth Diaper Detergent
2 cups of Oxygen Bleach product such as OxyClean
2 Cups 20 Mule Team Borax
2 Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)

I pour all the ingredients directly into a plastic shoe box. Snap the lid on tight and shake, shake, shake. After it is all mixed I sometimes sprinkle a yummy smelling essential oil on top then mix with a fork.
I use 2Tbs for 1 load of diapers. My pail is pretty small and I have soft water. So your experience may be different.

To soften our fabrics and help fight bacteria I add about 1/3 of a cup of plain white vinegar to the rinse cycle. Works like a charm and leaves no smell.

2 comments:

  1. Just wanted to say that I use the cloth diaper formula you have posted. I love it! When my diapers are super stained I add 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide and do a soak cycle with the detergent and peroxide. The diapers come out clean and stain free as new! Plus, no harsh chemicals such as bleach. Yay!

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