OK, here is how I made my detergent. I made the recipe for powdered detergent because other people said the liquid version tends to gel up and be hard to use. Also note that I made a HUGE batch. Why? Um, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time...until I saw how much I ended up with!
2 32 oz. boxes Borax
3 20 oz boxes Washing Soda (not baking soda)
2 cups baking Soda
8 Bars Fels Naptha soap grated
Essential oils to scent, if desired (I didn't use any, I like the clean scent it has naturally)
Mix well, use 1/8 cup per load
This sounded easier than it turned out to be. I bought a plastic tub to make and store it in for about $5. The powdered ingredients were easy but the bars of soap were harder. The notes said that you could use a Salad Shooter (darn, I have one but it is still in a box from our move and I don't know which one) ((OK, make fun of me for having a salad shooter but I could have used it now and you don't have one!!!)) or a blender. So the Salad shooter is out and I go to get the blender. Only I can't find the glass container for it. Base - check. Lid - check. Blades - check. Glass container- NOWHERE. Well that's not going to work. I started out with a grater but that got old about 1/3 of the way through the first bar. So I bit the bullet and we headed to Tar:Get and invested in a new blender. I rough cut the bars (they are crumbly) and threw them in the blender. Let me just say - OMG! The soap dust was awful! Do this step in a well ventilated spot. Or get a Salad Shooter!!!!! Or possibly find some convicts who are in need of a work release program.....
So there you have it. Cheap home-made detergent and it only cost me a few bucks and one lobe of my lung! (Hey, lungs are entirely over rated!)
Tomorrow I will write about my run in with the 'policia' at my company, all over knitting. Who knew knitting was so dangerous! (OK, well, I might have been knitting a bomb. Or a baby blanket. You decide)
5 comments:
I vote is was a bomb indeed!! LOL!
I might have to try out that detergent! Sounds a little too easy to be true!
FYI.. for active little boys you can make your own shout.. egual parts ammonia,water,dawn dish soap. put it in a spray bottle.. cheap and works GREAT..
Anonymous - Do I spray it on the boys or the stains? hah!
I can't wait to read about the company problem with knitting :)
Your detergent sounds great. Did you know that Fels Naptha is great for removing PoinsonIvy and Poison Oak resin? It is also used in tanning hides...deer skins, not little boy behinds..HA!!
Next I will expect you to use it to make your own skins for hand made moccasins... You are quite the gal!!
Love you!
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