Home Made Laundry Detergent One Year Later
It’s been a little over a year that I’ve been using homemade laundry detergent. I’ve got to say that overall I found it to be a positive experiment. There are a few tweaks here and there and a little bit of intervention required but all in all I will continue to use the homemade laundry detergent. Here are my general observations:
This is the more economical of the two options (here’s the recipe). It makes a much larger batch and can go a lot further than the powdered option. However, I found that modifying the ingredients a little bit gave me varying results.
Variation 1: Ivory soap.
I believe the best batches of homemade laundry detergent were those made with Ivory soap. For a little extra cleaning power I tried a combination of Ivory and Fels Naptha
Variation 2: Lever Soap
One day while making homemade laundry detergent I realized that I and didn’t have Ivory soap and I was
in a pinch so I used Lever instead. Although I liked the smell of Lever, I found that it didn’t quite get rid of some of the odors.
When the clothes came out of the washer and dryer, they smelled good and fresh, but once the clothes came into contact with human sweat, they generated an unpleasant smell. The smell was not overpowering but just enough to realize that your clothes shouldn’t smell like that. I found that the neckline of the t-shirts seemed to smell the worst, probably because it’s closer to the nose than other areas.
Let’s face it, no one smells like a daisy after a workout, but this smell was a different smell and one that I’d rather not have in my clothes.
Powdered laundry detergent
I found the powdered laundry detergent to work best. It’s not only quicker and easier to make, but it seemed to get rid of odors and clean the clothes very well. It costs slightly more than the homemade liquid laundry detergent, but it’s worth the extra couple of cents per load. It’s still much less expensive than store bought laundry detergent.
Downside:
I did find one downside is that there seems to be in accumulating dinginess that occurs with white clothes. It took me a little while to realize the change, but after looking at the white clothes over a period of time, they seemed to lose their brightness. When I first noticed it, I added additional bleach to the wash, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I noticed this more with the liquid than the powdered detergent.
Conclusion:
I will continue to use the homemade laundry detergent using the powdered version more so than the liquid. The liquid one I found to be a great pre-treatment for hard to get rid of stains. I poured the liquid detergent directly on the stain, rubbed it in a little and laundered as usual.
Homemade laundry detergent has gotten us through a year of ground in grass, dirt, mud and geese poop stains on white football uniforms. It also got us through various and assorted construction projects, cheer leading uniforms, gym workout clothes and normal every day wear and tear (not to mention Fido’s bedding).
So far, the homemade laundry detergent has been able to handle 98 to 99% of all the stains. I would recommend purchasing one box of your favorite store-bought detergent to periodically use on white clothes to maintain their bright whiteness.
As far as the cost savings…
I average about 2 – 3 loads of laundry a day six days a week. At two per day, over a period of a year that equals 624 loads for the year (an underestimation).
If half of the loads were washed with homemade liquid detergent and the other half with homemade powdered detergent, the calculations would be as follows:
624 divided by 2 = 312 liquid and 312 powdered
312 times 1 cent per liquid load = $3.12
312 times 3.5 cents per powdered load = $10.92
Total cost to wash 624 loads = $14.04
Do you think the store-bought detergent will get you 624 loads of laundry for $14.04?
I think once you watch the video on why and how to...
Felicia – love your site!
Deoderant: baking soda, corn starch, coconut oil, and tea tree oil. I found the recipe online, stuff it into an old deo container. I keep mine in the fridge, but it’s awesome and even my husband will wear it.
Liquid Laundry Detergent: I have a 9mo old and try to avoid fragrance at all costs. Is Ivory mild enough to use on his clothes? Also, where is the best place to find Castile soap and glycerin soap bars? I’ve had to turn the world upside down to find basic A&H washing soda. Going to try and make this today!
Darlene, Ivory should be mild enough for your little one, but the only way to truly know is to try it out and keep a close eye for any reactions.
As far as finding Castile and glycerin soap, try your local health store. In my area I can find it in the grocery store, but I’m not sure if all stores carry it.
As a last resort, try Amazon. They sell just about everything.
Thanks for the deodorant recipe.
Love your site! My son-in-law is allergic to most laundry detergents. I’m going to make this and give my daughter some to try. Also going to use the dishwasher detergent recipe.
Question about the deoderant, is this for personal use??? I used tea tree oil on a fungal infection I had on my foot, it worked pretty good, but it burned like the dickens! Does it not bother your underarms???
Judy – http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2009/03/quick-stick-deodorant.html is where I got the recipe. The 10-15 drops of TTEO is just for the anti-microbial properties. I’ve also heard SAGE EO is effective in reducing sweat by up to 50%.
I’ve converted my hubby – we’ll never go back to commercial deo! On a side note – I do keep mine in the fridge b/c the coconut oil will liquify at 76-77 degrees.
Thanks for the link Darlene. I’ll check it out.
Your whites are getting dingier because you are using a soap that contains glycerin. Glycerin is sticky and eventually builds up on your clothing fibers, actually attracting dirt. Read soap ingredients carefully, and avoid all that include glycerin.
Thanks for the tip. That makes sense.