Comments on: Tightwad Tuesday: Homemade Laundry Detergent

By: bronislawa blumschaefter

bronislawa blumschaefter — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:33:01 +0000

The whitening agents are very overrated – they work in the short term, but since they don’t rise out as easily as the home-made brews, they leave deposits on the fabrics that actually attract dulling dirt/grime. I use white vinegar, which strips out all the deposits, and throw in a scoop of oxyclean every few loads as needed – my clothes are as bright as they’ve ever been.

By: bronislawa blumschaefter

bronislawa blumschaefter — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:27:52 +0000

why do you grind up bar soap, instead of just pouring in liquid? I use liquid castile soap, which is phosphate-free, comes in a number of nice fragrances (or unscented) and works great – it’s not cheap, but I need so little (a tablespoon or two per load, along w/baking soda, borax, and white vinegar) that it goes a long way.

By: Nique Beer

Nique Beer — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:50:06 +0000

I’ve been making my own laundry soap for about 2 years now. I use milled goat soap as my soap, baking soda & borax. White vinegar as my fabric softener. I work in a very nasty environment, grease & such. AND my clothes come clean! With my work clothes I do put it on the pre soak cycle for 15 m inutes and add a little extra borax and it works every time :) I strated using white vinegar as a fabric softener when I found out that regular fabric softeners are flammable. My clothes caught on fire at work as I was welding! Not any more :) And you control static by just drying enough. Over drying is what causes the static. It’s trial and error but we now know where to set the dryer for dryness :)

By: Watch List | College for 10k

Watch List | College for 10k — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:03:07 +0000

[...] Tuesday that provides great information on how to live on a tight budget. She has shown us how to make your own laundry detergent and how to make a homemade oven cleaner. You can follow Lynnae on twitter as well: [...]

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:13:39 +0000

Just made some last night with 2 bars Fels Naptha, 2 cups Washing Soda, and 2 cups Borax. Maybe next time we’ll try adding 2 cups Baking Soda as well, like your formula. Our costs for the Washing Soda and Borax were quite a bit higher than yours. At least we were able to get it at a local hardware store. I’ve also read that we only need 1 Tbsp. So it’s a fair bit less expensive that way that what we were using, but using the Baking Soda might make it even less expensive.

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:05:55 +0000

Publix and some Ace Hardware stores have washing soda. :-)

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:31:14 +0000

Laundry soda is made by Arm and Hammer. Look for their traditional trademark same as what is used on baking soda boxes.

By: Amy Schmidt

Amy Schmidt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:05:02 +0000

I live in Florida and have not seeing “washing soda”. Could it be under any other name, or brand name? I love the recipe and am eager to try it. By the way, Fels Naptha is a good skin soap to treat poison ivy. Thanks!

By: Cuppie

Cuppie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:21:29 +0000

I plan to try this very soon. I have been using Dawn as a spot treatment for those oily type stains (think olive oil or mayo or dressing on a shirt) for awhile now and it’s all I use for those. It works extremely well. I don’t use anything else.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:49:11 +0000

I use essentially the same recipe - skipping the baking soda and adding a generic oxy powder and using Sunlight laundry (bar) soap instead since I can't find Fels Naptha up here. I also use only one tablespoon per load (since that is what was indicated on the recipe I used) and find that the clothes get just as clean as with commercial detergent. I love my homemade detergent! Peggy’s last blog post..getting there