Hey Mom!!!! I Made Detergent!!!

First off, I want to thank all of you for the wonderful comments you gave me on my dress in the last post. You guys are the greatest, and if you ever want honest opinions or are not sure if something is working for you, you all give just the right advice. It helps a lot, especially for someone like me who sometimes second guesses myself. Anyway, not to change the subject, but I am. Let's talk soap.

Never in all my years did I ever think I would make Laundry Detergent, but I took the plunge yesterday and did it. I use to make handmade soap years ago and loved it but stopped about 5 years ago. I've been thinking about doing it again, it's just a matter of space, and time. Anyway, one of the reasons I decided to try making my own laundry detergent was because I have a problem where certain detergents make my skin breakout after I've washed my clothes in them. The liquid detergent I have been using for the last few years is the Arm & Hammer for Sensitive Skin with no perfumes or dyes. I have problems with finding this detergent on the shelves sometimes and usually have to buy it in bulk when I see it on sale.

I came across this recipe and cross referenced it against this other recipe the other day for making your own natural laundry detergent and figured, "hey why not give it a try". It's free of toxins and dyes which is not only good for you, but also good for the environment. Once everything is mixed up, you let it set for 24 hours and you are good to go.

I used a bar of Ivory soap. You grate your soap up with a grater and place it in a large pot with 4 cups of water and melt it on the stove. Once the soap has dissolved into the water. Turn the pot off;

you take 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and pour that into the soap water. Stir until dissolved. Next you add

a 1/2 cup of Borax. Stir until dissolved.

Take a large size bucket and add 6 cups of boiling water hot water to it. Add your soap mixture next very slowly and stir as you go so that they blend nicely. Then take a gallon of warm to hot water and add to your mixture. Once all the water is added and stirred. It will look like this.

(stirring all the ingredients up)

The next and final step is to add the the essential oil. This is my favorite step because I get to scent it with whatever essential oil or oils I like, so basically I decide what I want my clothes to smell like and it's natural.

(What the detergent looks like after the essential oils are added)

For this first batch I decided on lavender and orange. Let's just say, it smells heavenly in the container. This is what it looks like 24 hours later.

(Detergent24 hours later after it sets.)

I saved two loads of laundry so that I could try it out tonight. I have to tell you. I just finished folding the first load. I made sure I had some of Mr. D's clothes in the load because his clothes can be pretty funky sometimes. These clothes came out unscented which is fine but, they are clean. This stuff really works and these are all ingredients that you can purchase at your nearby grocery store. If you can't find all the ingredients there, check out Amazon.