Diane, I found the following recipe on the internet a couple years ago and have been using it ever since in my front loading washing machine. My wife thought I was crazy when I told her I was going to make this, now she thinks it's great, no more lugging those bottles of liquid detergent home from the store, not to mention the cost and environmental benefits. Hope you can make use of it: I use homemade laundry detergent as an inexpensive alternative. Take a bar of soap and grate it. Then cover it in water in a small saucepan and heat until it's melted. In a five-gallon bucket, add the soap, one cup of washing soda, and a half-cup of borax. Then fill the bucket with hot water and stir until everything has dissolved. After sitting for 24 hours, it will gel up and work just like store-bought detergent. It produces very few suds, and I've used it in both a regular washer and a high-efficiency washer with good results. Just use about 1/2 cup per load. Sometimes the mixture will separate, but it mixes back together with a quick stir or shake. Borax can be found in the laundry aisle of the grocery store. Washing soda is a little harder to find. If you can't find washing soda, baking soda will work, too. However, the mixture won't gel. It costs about $1 to make a five-gallon bucket of detergent, and the bucket will last for 160 loads, making this a frugal alternative at less than a penny per load. It's really easy, too. I get it done in about 10-15 minutes. I leave mine unscented, but if you like fragrance, you can add a few drops of essential oil as well.

0 Comments

Respond

You can use this comment form to enter your personal experiences, or additional information and resources that you'd like to share with Mother Earth News readers. Your helpful advice will be posted on this page.