Homemade Laundry Detergant

I love Rhonda's blog "Down to Earth" http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/.

So many wonderful tips on simple living, saving money, green cleaners, vegetables, life skills and cooking from scratch. I recently met her when I purchased her book and both Rhonda and her husband Hanno are wonderful people. I decided to try the homemade laundry liquid recipe from her book. It works a treat and I was so impressed that I made a batch for Skye and Alison they love it as well. Below is the recipe from Rhonda's blog. 

We live in the country on a farm and recycle our grey and black water which goes on trees in the paddock once treated. I decided not to use Borax opting for Napisan instead.

LAUNDRY LIQUID
Makes 10 litres

• 1½ litres water
• 1 bar Sunlight or generic laundry soap or any similar pure laundry soap, grated on a cheese grater OR 1 cup of Lux flakes
• ½ cup washing soda – NOT baking or bicarb soda
• ½ cup borax - I replaced Borax with Napisan

Please note that washing soda is different to baking soda. Sometimes there are two types of washing soda on sale - washing soda crystals and washing soda powder, buy the powder, it's easier to dissolve.

You may add any essential oil of your choice to these homemade cleaners. Oils like tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender or rose are ideal but are not an essential ingredient. They are not necessary to the recipe but do not detract from the effectiveness by adding them.



Tools

• Saucepan
• 10 litre bucket
• Slotted spoon or wooden spoon for mixing

Above you can see the process.

In a saucepan containing one litre/quart of water add one cup of soap flakes.  Turn on the heat and stir. Bring the mix to the boil and when the soap flakes are dissolved add half a cup of borax/Napisan and half a cup of washing soda. The mixture will foam up as the washing soda and the borax/Napisan dissolve. Place the mixture in a 10 litre bucket and fill with water. Stir well. Keep stirring the liquid every 1/2 hour or so until the mixture is cool. The liquid will thicken as it cools. You can leave the liquid in the bucket if it has a lid or pour into containers. The mixture may look a little lumpy don't worry all the lumps dissolve during the wash and never leave any residue.

A basket of very clean washing

Add 1/2 cup to each load of washing. I have made four 10 litre batches from the original ingredients and still have enough to make a few more batches - very economical at about $2 for 10 litres of detergent.

I recycled a water 10 liter container for the laundry detergant. It has a tap very useful.