How to make laundry detergent (and other homemade recipes)

March 27, 2012 Mere1dcrr Living eco-friendly

Why buy laundry soaps when you can make your own homemade detergent!  With some simple ingredients from around the house, you can have clean clothing the safe and inexpensive way!

Laundry detergent:

-1 ounce liquid Castile soap

-1 cup washing soda

-1 cup baking soda

-1 cup white vinegar

Add each of the above ingredients in the given order into washer, then run as usual.

If you are washing darker colors, adding ¼ cup of salt to the wash will help restore faded colors.

(Do not add bleach to any vinegar solution as it produces toxic fumes)

 

Fabric Softener:

Recipe 1:

Mix together 4 cup of water, 2 cups of baking soda and 2 cups of white vinegar.  For each laundry load, use ¼ cup of this solution in the rinse cycle .

 

Recipe 2:

Add 20 drops of lavender essential oil to 1 gallon on white vinegar.  Shake this solution well before each use.  For larger loads, use about 1 cup in the rinse cycle.  For smaller loads, ½ cup.

 

Dryer Sheets:

For dryer sheets, you need to cut out several swatches of cotton cloth, about 4×4 inches.  Old clothing, sheets or rags work great for this.  For each of the recipes below, you will use these scraps of cloth as the ‘dryer sheet’, and can re-use them as often as you like.  Be sure to store them in an air-tight container so the scent does not disperse.

A dropper bottle for each recipe is also recommended.

 

Recipe 1:

Combine ½ part lavender essential oil and ½ part benzoic essential oil (also called absolute resin) into a dropper bottle.  Shake well and LABEL the bottle!  Place 4-5 drops of this oil onto a cotton scrap you cut out.  Then place in dryer like a normal dryer sheet.

You can  make several dryer sheets this way, then store in air-tight container for future use.

 

Recipe 2:

Place 12 drops of lavender essential oil and 15 drops of spearmint on a cloth.  Fold several times, then wrap the folded cloth with another clean cloth.  Place in dryer.

 

If you don’t have the time to make your own natural laundry soaps, check out some commercially made eco friendly detergents at What is in laundry detergent (and the natural kinds of laundry soaps).

For green cleaning around the house, check out my Environmentally friendly cleaners post.

 

Next Topic: How to vermicompost

 

Resources:

“The Green Clean Book” (2009-2012).

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