DIY laundry detergent recipes-please
 

Do you make your own liquid detergent. I would like to make some, but I prefer a T&T recipe that is great for all things washed.
I have a top load washer and use soft water and hard well water. I always wash in warm, rinse in cold and use vinegar in the rinse in place of fabric softener.

I use equal amounts of Zote flakes, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda and 20 Mule
Team Borax. I use dryer balls instead of softener and use lavender on them in the dryer. I mix it up in an ice cream container and use about a tablespoon in each load. For stained work clothes you can add more.

Homespun, do you need to add it to the empty tub and have the water dissolve it before adding items.
Also, I would have to grate a bar of Zote as we don't have flakes available, just found out about it being flakes.

When I'm out of detergent for washer or dishwasher I use Dawn original liquid and baking soda.

For washer I use 1 teaspoon of liquid dish detergent ( I like Dawn original). two teaspoons of baking soda. Baking soda stops the sudsing. Dissolve in warm water. For a full load. Using warm or hot water.
For dishwasher I use 1/4 teaspoon liquid dish detergent and 1/2 teaspoon baking
soda dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water put in the detergent cup.

Onebyone, that is a very simple recipe, but can it be used for all laundry loads, every day.

I love this family & follow her channel. Just recently she showed how to make your own laundry detergent. We have a septic system & I've done some research on this & get conflicting answers about using it in the septic system but it sure is a lot cheaper than using store bought, ready made detergent. I'm not making my own until I know for sure it's safe for my HE washing machine & my aerobic septic system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkFsxP6OaXI&t=136s

when I was a kid, my mom used to save all those slivers of bar soap and when we ran out of laundry detergent, one of us kids would be assigned to pare the soap bar slivers into the washing machine with a potato peeler. It was an old wringer washing machine. Sure, don't know how it would work in a modern machine. My grandmother regularly used Fels naphtha laundry bar soap and would shave that into the washer, I don't remember if she added anything else.

osewme, thank you for the link and love the stoves behind her. I had a 30's green--wood burning-- version of her white one.

One Good Thing by Jillee also has a laundry soap recipe & quite a few other home remedies/recipes.

My grandma--momma's mom--used vinegar, hot water and brown paper bags to clean everything else but never did hear about the wash. She swore by her vinega and brown paper bags for everything so I'm almost positive she would have used vineagr in the wash in some way. In her day they used real things. Not any of these man made things.
I still use the vinegar, hot water and brown paper bags for cleaning my windows - stops the streaking on the windows - and inside needs. Called my brother and he said she used vinegar but could not remember what, if anything she used with it.

Also use cinnamon for killing roaches. I never allow the bug people to enter my apartment as I have 1 cat that is deathly allergic to that poison. He never has even tasted my cinnamon. Guess the smell turns him off. I just drop a 1/4 teaspoon in out of the way places and the roaches find it. I never see a roach until they spray the other apartments in my building. After eating the cinnamon in my apartment spells their death. I just buy the pur ground cinnamon.

I make my own laundry detergent using 20 mule team borax, washing soda and fels naptha. I grate the soap, then add it to the borax and mix in a food processor for finer soap granules. I place the needed quantity in my he machine, then ass the clothes.

@osewme we also have a septic system. I’ve been making my own soap for quite a few years and when we had our system pumped last year we were told whatever we were doing, we should keep it up. One thing I never use is bleach.

ctrysass2012, her recipe is just a little different than others, but I would not be using any of the scent crystals.
Thank you for the info to her site.

MaryKay, that is interesting to know how to have things cleaned with plain old vinegar and paper bags. The very old 'recipes' are so good to know about. Thank you

i used this for years and finally got tired of making it. I used it with cold water and never had an issue. Now I buy wash sheets that dissolve. Not dryer sheets. Don't use them. Dryer balls do the same
for me

Purex had the dissolving detergent sheets a few decades ago. I used them all the time. I had teens at home and no mess of spilled detergent. All of a sudden they were not made any longer. Now it seems to be the new next thing. Also Purex had color catching detergent too. It worked like adding a color catcher sheet to the wash. It stopped being made too. Purex has always been ahead of the others in innovations of laundry. They had the first pods called tabs. I wonder why they stop manufacturing all the new stuff, sell the idea to others? Purex brands are always cheaper then most others too.

I don't have the recipe in front of me right now, but I did make some at one point. I found, after using it for several months, that all our clothes looked much greyer than they had been. Nothing looked bright and clean anymore. I went with a natural cleaner from Norwex. It's much better.

I just use cold water Tide. Works well. Bleach dish towels when they get stains. Usually just add oxyclean to tide. Usually everything thing come out using white setting with soak.

thanks for the link. She’s got great tips however I like my Mom & Grandma’s solution to stacking containers in the refrigerator better than using chopsticks like she does. They didn’t use foil or plastic wrap when covering a bowl in the refrigerator. Instead, they covered it with a plate & another bowl stacked securely on top.

The dissolving sheets were wonderful when we lived and traveled in our camper for a year. I miss them.

[QUOTE=marsharini;8573180]I make my own laundry detergent using 20 mule team borax, washing soda and fels naptha. I grate the soap, then add it to the borax and mix in a food processor for finer soap granules. I place the needed quantity in my he machine, then ass the clothes.

This is my first post here so please forgive me if I make a mistake. Would you mind sharing the measurements for the products you use? Thanks, Kitty

(MaryKay,I still use the vinegar, hot water and brown paper bags for cleaning my windows - stops the streaking on the windows - and inside needs.)

I got a bag of dog food from Chewy and it contained a long length of their brown packing paper*Ü*. I tore/cut it into smaller pieces and just used some with the vinegar to do a couple windows. WOW-that combination really does work and now I can get rid of the bottles of window cleaner and just use your method.
Thank you so much for letting us know about this.

So glad you liked it. Grandma would also be glad you enjoyed having a great 'new' and safe product. Costs less as well.