Pinterest Exeriment: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Like so many of us I’ve become obsessed with Pinterest. I browse through it at least a few times a day. Sometimes I just take a visual stroll and other times I have the time and interest to follow links and read new blogs. I frequently ask myself where was this when I was a new stay-at-home-mom? I also find myself thinking, “been there, done that” as often as not.

One BTDT idea that kept popping up all over Pinterest and many of the blogs I ended up finding was the notion of making your own laundry detergent. This really isn’t a new idea and not one that is foreign to me. Way back in the days of babies and clothes diapers (mine I mean, I know there are STILL babies and clothe diapers currently in the world!) I didn’t realize I was making my own detergent when I washed diapers in one scoop of washing soda and one scoop of Borax. I just did it because it was safe, natural and got them clean. I also dried them on the line in the sun to sanitize and whiten them. (Just to make sure you realize that I am NOT 90 years old, this was the mid-90s, 1990s.)

But I never tried a recipe or to make it into a liquid detergent. Now that I’ve swept most of the granola out of my life, I don’t spend a lot of time on these kinds of things.  I use a front load washer and I am happy to say, I am not the only laundress in the household anymore. I successfully trained my daughters to do their own wash. So laundry detergent had to be convenient and easy. But all these posts and pins had me intrigued. I like saving money, I like cleaning with natural products and I like an experiment.

I just so happened to be in Jewel yesterday picking up some stuff and decided to see if they still carried Borax and Washing Soda. I couldn’t find and Fels Naptha soap (I think I can get that at Ace Hardware) but I read that the type of soap didn’t matter that much and I like Castile soap because it smells nice and is all natural (vegan too if that matters to you) so I grabbed a package of 3 bars.

After dinner I gathered my supplies. Damn! It was garbage day this morning and I don’t have any empty gallon jugs. But I do have this 2 gallon drink dispenser that we never use in the garage. If this experiment doesn’t work and we want the drink dispenser again it is just soap, I’m just cleaning it right? If it does work I have this nifty container with a spigot, just have to redecorate the laundry area with orange accents!

I put my laptop on the counter and Googled all the recipes and tutorials I had come across to get an idea of where to start. What I learned is there is no ONE way to do this and many people have tweaked the general recipe to meet there needs. So in other words, I kind of “winged it”.

Basic Recipe:

• 1 bar soap – most recommend Fels Naptha, I used Kirk’s Castile. I’ve seen Ivory, Dove, and home made used.
• 1/2 cup Borax
• 1/2 cup Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)

I grated and melted the soap in a pot of water (maybe 6 cups of water) Then I added the borax and soda and stirred. Then I poured the hot mixture into a bucket and added some more water, about a gallon. I then poured it all into the drink dispenser but then after a while I realized that it wasn’t cooling because this was insulated so I poured it back in my big bucket. I never got a gel like consistency so I decided to just let it cool and see what happened.

This morning there were strings of gel floating in the liquid but that’s about it. I put it in the drink dispenser and screwed the lid on tight and gave it a good shake. Once it settled again after the shake there seemed to be more gel-like substance in there. If I had one of those stick type blender things I’d use that and see if it frothed it up more and gave me a more gel consistency. I’ve done more Google-fu and read that even if it doesn’t gel up it still works. Figured that would be the case since the ingredients are the same.

I have some sheets and towels to wash today so I’ll try this out and see how it works. I’ll report back later with my results.

The true test will come when the rest of the family uses it. If it takes anything more than the minimum of effort it may be a loser. I can’t see them taking the time to open the dispenser and stir before using. But I remember reading somewhere when I was in college that modern laundry detergent leaves so much residue on the fibers of our clothing that you can wash most lightly soiled laundry with no detergent and it will still get clean just from the leftover detergent that comes out in the wash water. This was good for a poor college student to hear! So if my family just washes their clothes with “Borax fortified water” they are probably still doing okay.

What other super popular Pinterest Pins are there that you’d like to see tried? I’ve already read that the Mountain Dew and baking soda glow stick doesn’t work. Bummer.