Nov 9, 2010

Why am I going GREEN?

Because it's the cool thing to do these days.

NOT!

I'm going green because I am broke!

Totally uncool. right?

Well It's the truth. I've dealt with it, so can you.

grin.


There are of course other reasons; This just being the number one!

The beginning of my "going green" series : Laundry detergent. With a family of four ,including an infant and a seven year old boy, detergent gets expensive real quick.
I've been going back and forth on the idea of using homemade laundry detergent for quite a while. Is it really worth it? Will it get our clothes clean? Will it leave a fresh yummy smell?

Upon searching for laundry detergent recipes I ended up finding them right here. On my bloglist.

Not knowing which ingredients are readily available nearby I wrote down multiple recipes from :


All ingredients were found at Wal-mart except for the Felsnapth soap and the Washing soda. Both of these were found at Kroger. Starting with Gramkinpaperstudios  suggested recipe :

'BORAX LAUNDRY SOAP: (can be stored in a tight container)

INGREDIENTS:
•12 cups Borax
•8 cups Baking Soda
•8 cups Washing Soda
•8 cups Bar soap (grated)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.Mix all ingredients well and store in a sealed tub
2.Use 1/8 cup of powder per full load'

For me this was a HUGE batch. I only used 1/3 of this recipe and stored it in a container I found at the Dollar Tree (I told you I love this store)

Does it work?
Let me tell ya', My husband rebuilds wrecked vehicles for insuance companies and to sell . That means he comes home from head to toe in grease,putty,paint and primer (you name it, he's covered in it) 
sigh.
This laundry detergent . gets. his. clothes.clean. seriously. It .works.
IS it gentle?
Me and my two boys break out in rash if you look at us the wrong way. Very sensitive skin. After a month of use, I see no reason not to say it's gentle.

2 thumbs up from momma!

I just ran out today. I'm going to go whip up a new batch now!
What do you think? Have you tried any of these recipes? Do you like them? What were your pro's and con's?

I found this "Super Mom" : Creating a house of Grace
She has some amazing cleaning ideas and is super motivating.
I'll be joining her in Fall cleaning :



FALLCLEANING





5 comments:

  1. I have been wondering about using homemade laundry soap as well. I haven't taken the notion to do it since there are so many recipes! However if this one works for you and you have an infant in the home along with a boy I will have to try it. I have four children and two of them are boys who love to get dirty along with a 9 month old who is a messy messy eater. Thanks for the review!
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've used this type of detergent for years. I make my own handmade soap, so I just shred that instead of the fels.

    One thing...depending on how hard your water it, your whites might start looking dingy after a while. That's usually soap scum that over time builds up. I usually just used a cup of good old bleach every few months or so.

    Also, a downey ball filled with white vinegar will help diffuse that scum, as well as act as a natural fabric softner. Just throw it in your washer at the start of the cycle. I used cloth diapers with my last two, and their dipes were soft as a baby's bum out of the dryer...no pun intended.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good for you! I have been making our laundry detergent for quite some time now. I do like it, but sometimes it seems to not take spots out real real well. Just make sure to watch that and I think you will stay pleased. Right now, I am still using fabric softener from the store (with coupons, of course) because my homemade softener just didn't seem to work quite like I like. I'll keep working on it though.

    I did a post one time on the recipe I use. Mine is a liquid.

    We are going to try to save some money this year by making our own Christmas cards. We'll see...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad the reciepe worked for you...I realized after I made it how much it yields :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow i would have never thought of making my own detergent my solution was to cut coupons and try to use them when the item is on sale you have definately given me something to think about

    ReplyDelete

I read all of your comments and love hearing from you!