[UrbanHouseMouse]

In my efforts to get our bills down and have more financial freedom to live as we please, I am going back to making my own laundry soap. What are your favorite recipes? What gets out auto grease? Food stains? Bathroom stains? What leaves a clean scent without perfumes or oils, and doesn't leave a residue in the fabric? Enlighten me please?:happy2:

 

[happycat47111]

I like the simple recipe of two boxes of borax and one of washing soda (or is it the other way around?), two grated bars of Fels Naptha, and one small container of your choice of whatever OxyClean type stuff you want to use. It works, it gets things clean (not sure about auto grease), and it's super simple. I use an old Tidy Cat pail to mix mine in.

I'm getting ready to make some dryer balls to use in place of softener. As soon as I can remember to do it.

 

[TraciInTexas]

One borax, one washing soda, one Fels Naptha. One scoopie for our super hard water & all comes clean. I add a scoop of OxyClean to the whites, if they need a pick-me-up, after the water fills and it has scrubbed for a minute, then let them soak for an hour before the rest of the scrubbing.

Towels get a dollop of vinegar in the rinse water for softener.

 

[Mrs. Jo]

I made a laundry soap just recently. I'm also trying to reduce the amount of money we spend on cleaners, and use more natural cleaners so this is kind of fascinating for me. I have a big house, lots of little kids and this place is always dirty. Always lots of laundry piling up, cloth diapers, dishes and cleaning up to do so I get to make and try things out.
The laundry soap I am making uses borax, washing soda, Zote and tea tree oil/lavender. Lots of recipes out there but it's basically 1 bar of grated soap, melted in a pot of hot water, 1 cup borax and washing soda, 4 gallons hot water. Allow to sit over night in a pail and then mix together and add essential oils. About 20 of each. A cup of oxygen cleaner can be used in this as well but I prefer to add that separately. I think it's important to note that this is a "soap" recipe and in some water conditions may leave a residue in clothes, so extra rinsing and maybe some vinegar might need to be used once and a while. I do not use this on towels or cloth diapers.
This is what I use on them. 1 part borax, 1 part washing soda, 1/4 cup epsom salt or kosher salt, 1 part oxiclean and 20 drops tea tree oil, and (optional) 1 T blue dawn dish soap. This is for cutting grease. Mix all the powders together in a bowl and make sure there are no lumps. Add the tea tree oil and the dawn and a couple drops of Mrs Stewarts Laundry bluing. Mix this all very thoroughly together and store in a container. Use up to a 1/4 cup on a load depending on size.

I made some dryer balls recently too and am using them for the first time today. But when I was researching stripping cloth diapers someone made a note that the dryer will have residue from dryer sheets so I had to wash out the dryer today with dawn and try and make sure that the residue was out of there. I wanted to make sure that that was done before we started using the dryer balls. Glad I did that actually because it was filthy. So gross.
Tomorrow we are getting a new washer because my old one is so much trouble. The drum liner started rubbing funny and scraping and has rubbed all away at the top, and then it stated leaking and no longer spins out all the way. Wish I could have gotten a new dryer as well but it is so expensive! Anyway a new washer will speed things up so much and get the clothes cleaner so I'm happy.
I'm still looking for a good all purpose cleaner I can put in a spray bottle.

 

[TraciInTexas]

I'm still looking for a good all purpose cleaner I can put in a spray bottle.

Half water, half vinegar. Works on most things.
Half water, half vinegar, with a few drops of dish soap. Works on the rest.

Toss down a smidge of washing soda, sprinkle lightly with water, and scrub. Works on lots of tougher clean ups.

One cup alcohol (70-100%, its not picky), one cup vinegar, 1 tablespoon Simple Green, remainder of the gallon jug in water - cleans windows, glass, mirrors, etc. I fill my pickup's windshield squishy reservoir with this. Have for 15 years. Works great!

 

[mzgarden]

We prefer a liquid laundry soap. I make it as follows: 2 Tablespoons Dawn liquid dish soap, 1 Tablespoon Borax, 1 Tablespoon Washing Soda in a 1 gallon bottle. Fill with hot water slowly and swirl slightly at about half full to mix thoroughly. We've been using this for almost a year now and we're happy. We tried a few other dry and gel recipes but found our clothes got grey over time. This one seems to be holding colors up nicely so far. Sometimes I add drops of essential oil for fragrance.

 

[happycat47111]

What I find amazing about all this is once you learn about making your own soaps and cleaners, it's startling how little "soap" you need to actually get things clean. Totally not what the household chemicals industry would have us believe.

I love Dr. Bronner's soaps. Sal Suds are wonderful - they'll clean just about anything. You can't beat the vinegar/water/tiny amt of dish soap combo for a general cleaner, and we're starting to go down the no 'poo shampooing method road. We're lucky here because this new place has amazing water compared to the other places we've lived, so it just might work for me this time!

 

[Janis R]

I make a concentrated laundry soap, 1 bar ivory grated, 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup washing soda, 1 tbsp. per load.

All purpose cleanser, I take a gallon of orange peels ( I save them in the freezer). I put the peels in 2 half gallon jars, fill with white vinegar, let steep for 1-2 weeks, strain. I use 1 part orange concentrate to 3 parts vinegar in a spray bottle. You can add tea tree oil, orange E.O. or lemon E.O., If you need REALLY need to cut grease you can use in a 1 to 1 ratio.

 

[Osiris]

I was using Fels naphta, but I found the 'yellow' color in the bar was leaving a yellow residue on my clothes. I switched to Zote because it's white. I like Fels and the smell, but I don't like the yellowness.

 

[Janis R]

My girlfriends and I made laundry soap with Zote today. The soap didn't grate up like ivory or Fels-Naptha does and it felt greasy and didn't melt well. Has anyone else have this problem?

 

[Osiris]

You gotta let it dry! Then it'll grate up nice. Open the package and set it out in the open. Put it in the oven on pilot or over the heater. It'll dry out in a few days. Open them as soon as you get it home and put 'em in the closet til you're ready to grind them up.

 

[mzgarden]

Edited: Oops, I just realized I already responded to this thread previously. Sorry, not trying to 'push' my solution on anybody by posting it twice.

 

[light rain]

I made liquid laundry soap a couple of days ago with the fels naptha, washing soda, borax and water. I only made a qt. in case of it not working out well. I really like it and the savings in cost is impressive. So far skin reaction has not happened. It really did clean the clothes!

I have blood orange essential oil for cleaning but I won't add that to the soap because it has an orange color. I put that in a sprayer with water and a little dawn as a cleaner where color would not be an issue. I will order another type of essential oil that is colorless for the homemade laundry soap. I'm wondering if I use an aromatic like cedar if that will help repel moths in my hand washed woolen clothes... :shrug: