Homemade laundry and dish detergent recipes?

[RainbowSprinkles]

If you make your own laundry and dish detergents, would you please share your recipes? :bigear:

[RainbowSprinkles]

Pretty please. :)

[amyco]

Here is how I make my laundry detergent:

 

1 c. Borax

1 c. washing soda (NOT baking soda, this is in the laundry aisle)

1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (also in laundry aisle), finely grated

 

Mix all together. Use 1-2 Tbsp per load.

 

If you don't have a fine grater, you can use a regular size grater (grating the soap is the hardest part) and whirl the mixture in the food processor or blender to get it more powdery.

 

I don't make dishwasher detergent.

[Susan in TN]

Here is how I make my laundry detergent:

 

1 c. Borax

1 c. washing soda (NOT baking soda, this is in the laundry aisle)

1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (also in laundry aisle), finely grated

 

Mix all together. Use 1-2 Tbsp per load.

 

If you don't have a fine grater, you can use a regular size grater (grating the soap is the hardest part) and whirl the mixture in the food processor or blender to get it more powdery.

 

I don't make dishwasher detergent.

 

This is essentially what I make, although I also add 1C "walmart brand" oxyclean. I always add vinegar to the softener dispenser as a rinse aid.

 

I've tried different dishwasher recipes and none of them worked well. Dishes didn't get clean and were all filmy, even when using a vinegar rinse. I've gone back to regular detergent, although we are trying to handwash more dishes.

[melissel]

Nothing I've made for my dishwasher has ever worked, so I went back to the store stuff. For my laundry, because I'm lazy, I mix equal parts Borax and washing soda in a container. I use a tablespoon of that mix and a tablespoon of Dr. Bronner's liquid (for lights) or slightly less than a tablespoon of natural dish detergent (for darks). It works fine. Occasionally I need to do something else (some bleach or oxygen bleach) to whites or DH's undershirts, but that's every other month or so.

 

I tried grating Fels Naphtha into the powder mix, but the flying residue from grating and then from using the powder each time burned my nose and eyes so badly, I had to stop. If you're looking for natural, it turns out that Fels Naphtha isn't. If you're not, then it's supposed to be a very good soap. Just hold your breath!

[hmvaughan4]

I really like this dishwasher recipe:

 

 

 

 

 

Home Made Dishwasher Detergent

 

 

• 2 c borax
  
• 2 c Arm & Hammer washing soda
  
• 2 c lemi shine*
  
• 1 c kosher salt
  

 

[runmiarun]

Here's my recipe for homemade laundry detergent. It's a slight variation of pp's.

 

1 box Borax

1 box A&H Washing Soda

3 bars Kirk's Castile, grated

 

I mix them all together in a big plastic bowl then put into a big plastic bucket with a closeable lid. I use 4 tbs per load because I have an extra-capacity front loader. I also use 1/4 white vinegar for my fabric softener. I've been making and using it for 3 years. It works great. I still keep a small bottle of Tide around for stubborn stains.

[Quill]

I use the laundry detergent recipe at feliciaawilliams.suite101.com.

 

It uses Ivory bar soap, which is easy to shave with a vegetable peeler.

1 Cup Borax

1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

Water

 

Love it. Works great.

 

I haven't done the dishwashing recipe yet, but she just uses something like 1 Tbs Borax and 1 Tbs Washing Soda per load. I plan to try that, but I need to get a couple of containers to keep it handy so I haven't tried it yet.

[Tarreymere]

I don't grate the soap, I put it in a heavy glass bowl in the microwave and nuke it for one minute (one bar at a time). I let it cool and crumble the part that frothed up, then I nuke it again for a minute and repeat until the bar is completely crumbled. It takes longer but it is a LOT easier than grating it.

 

 

I use ivory soap, two bars to one cup each borax and washing soda. I'm going to add oxiclean next time!

[trlt]

I make liquid soap for laundry.

 

 

3/4 c. Borax

1 c. Arm and Hammer washing soda

1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap

 

Grate the bar of soap and mix it with 4 cups water. Melt over low heat until completely dissolved. In a five-gallon bucket mix the washing soda, borax and fels-naptha mixture and half bucket of hot water. Mix thoroughly and then fill bucket the rest of the way with warm water (I mix again). Let set overnight. The next day it should be somewhat gel-type consistency. Then you just mix it in a container with 1/2 of the gel-mixture and half water. You actually might want to change the ratio of soap to water depending on if you have hard or soft water.

[RainbowSprinkles]

Awesome, thank you! :)