This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have reported on weeklong trials to make their lives a little greener. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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My family lives in the sticks! We have a well and a septic system and our water is very “rusty”. Even with a super powered water softener, the floor in the shower is slowly turning orange and there are orange rings around every drain.
Add that to the fact that the hubs and both of my girls have sensitive skin that is prone to breakouts and rashes.
These two facts make it very hard to clean our clothes effectively. I’ve been experimenting with different recipes for homemade laundry soap for a while now thinking there has to be a better way than buying the expensive “free” detergents that don’t really work. I think I have my formula down, so I decided to put it to the test.
The hubs and I were going through our closet to purge things we no longer wear. Many (like a dozen or more) of his dress shirts for work looked nice except for these horrible, crusty bits under the armpits, left after repeated washings that didn’t remove all the deodorant (I know, I know, I need to try all natural, but we are sweataholics in this family. We would be known as the “Pits” if we did that!) and then I ironed it in, making it even worse.
Since I’ve been using my new formulation, I have noticed way less residue in his pitage area, so I wondered if it would take out past stains that were really set in. So, here’s where we started:
Then, I washed a whole load of shirts just like this. I didn’t put stain remover stick on the pits, just washed in my normal formula and dried them in the dryer like normal. Here is the result!
The nasty, shirt-destroying stains are gone and a dozen shirts headed for the donation bin are back in the closet. Saving us time to shop for more shirts, money to pay for them, and making us feel better about the amount of use we get from things before getting rid of them.
So, what’s my magic formula you ask? Here it is:
Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap
4 Cups - hot tap water
1/2 Fels-NapthaTM soap bar
1/2 Fels-NapthaTM soap bar
1 - Kirk’s Original Hard Water Castille SoapTM bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing SodaTM
½ Cup BoraxTM
- Grate bars of soap (I actually use my food processor for this!) and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. Stay close to it. If it boils over, it’s very soapy!
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket (I use a paint bucket with a lid) half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. It’ll be almost like the consistency of jello.
-Stir up your mix. Fill some kind of jug (I use old juice or iced tea jugs or old laundry soap jugs) about 1/3 full or water. Then fill the rest of the way with your soap mixture. (If you put the soap in first, then the water, it gets really foamy and hard to fill so put the water in first.) It will separate, so leave a little space at the top and shake well before dispensing
*Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil. I don’t do this because of skin issues in my house, but I might try it next time. The Fels-Naptha has a slightly orangey scent, so it’s enough to make things smell good.
-I have a top loading High Efficiency machine, so this recipe is pretty concentrated. I use ½ cup per load. You might need to adjust the concentration and the amount depending on the kind of machine you use.
-This makes about 7.5 gallons of laundry soap and the total cost to purchase all the ingredients is less than $10. And you still have the washing soda and Borax for the next time!
DON’T FORGET THIS PART! – The other thing that makes this work really, really well is the “fabric softener” I use. In my fabric softener dispenser for each load, I add ½ cup of white vinegar. I get this by the gallon at the bulk store for $1.50 and one jug lasts about a month. I think this is the most important step for getting out the residue normally left in our clothes from all the minerals in our water.
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| Gallon of Vinegar (fabric softener) on the left and the finished laundry soap on the right |
I hope this works as well for you. It’s a very easy thing to do and I figure I save at least $200 a year on laundry soap and fabric softener. Let me know the results you’ve had. Happy washing!
*NOTE: ™ = Trademark. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
- Make your own moisturizer! — Megan at boho mama whips up a winter skin-friendly moisturizer.
- Cold Water Only — Brittany at The Pistachio Project talks about how you do not need hot water to wash laundry.
- Family Cloth... Really?? — After lots of forethought and consideration, Momma Jorje finally decides to take the plunge with family cloth.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle : 5-5-5 Things A Day — Luschka from Diary of a First Child writes about decluttering her home in an attempt to create a gentler living space. She takes on a new project where she sets a goal of reducing, reusing and recycling every day.
- Pros and cons of family cloth — Lauren at Hobo Mama would love to continue replacing paper products with family cloth … if she could only get over how damp she feels.
- Craftily Parenting — Kellie at Our Mindful Life finds that crafting makes her a better parent.
- Changes — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen couldn't choose just one area to experiment with, so she wrote a long post about all the fun changes initiated in her life!
- Life without Internet: Not all it's Cracked up to Be — Adrienne at Mommying My Way tries to go a week without the Internet, only to realize a healthy dose of Internet usage really helps keep this stay-at-home mom connected.
- My Progression to Raw Milk — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares her natural parenting progression all the way to trying raw milk.
- mama's new little friend. — Sarah at Bitty Bird tries a menstrual cup to "green her period," and is pleasantly surprised when she falls in love with the product!
- Before you throw it out, try homemade laundry soap! — Jennifer at Practical OH Mommy shows visual proof that homemade laundry soap is cheaper, easier, and works better than the store-bought chemicals!
- Oil, Oil, No Toil, No Trouble — K from Very Simple Secret talks about her foray into the oil-cleansing method.
- I Need a Hobby — Amanda at Let's Take the Metro couldn't decide which experiment to run, so she did them all.
- 7 days of macrobiotics for a balanced family — The Stones make a [successful] attempt to release the "holiday junking" with 7 days of macrobiotic meals to balance their bodies and souls. Elisabeth at Manic Mrs. Stone includes an explanation of macrobiotics.
- Chemical Free Beauty Challenge — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction turned to natural alternatives for her daily beauty and cleaning routine, with great results.
- Greening my Armpits!? My Green Resolution — Shannon at The Artful Mama talks about how she decided to give up her traditional antiperspirant and make the switch over to crystal deodorants and definitely isn't looking back!
- Going Raw (for a while)<">