apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Found the following off of Make's blog a few months ago:

http://www.instructables.com/id/E4EH7NBVFZEYF7J31L/?ALLSTEPS

Instead of bleach or fabric softener use vinegar. It whitens and brightens clothes and acts as a natural fabric softener.

We use the powdered version of these recipes in our house. Vinegar is a great fabric softener!

My favorite recipe is...
1 bar of shredded natural soap
1 cup borax
1 cup Arm and Hammer washing soda (not baking soda)
1/4 cup of oxyclean

Put it together in a tub and add 1 TABLESPOON per load. I've given the recipe to a bunch of folks already and haven't had any negative reactions so far...just happy moms saving money! Honestly...it's like 5 cents a load!!

I was going so say Shredded natural soap. My mom used to do that in the old days washing the clothes. She had the whites sheets in the neighbourhood. Beth's recipe sounds interesting - i"d like to try it. But isn't oxyclean full of chemicals - just asking - I haven't read the label...

oxyclean isnt biodegradeable last I checked. Method makes a biodegradeable laundry detergent that currently use. It works nicely.

This isn't DYI, but I highly recommend Charlie Soap.
http://www.charliesoap.com/products/laundry-powder.aspx
Their laundry powder is either $0.18/load or $0.11/load depending on the size you order.

Also if you don't want to DIY... etsy.com has many D.I.Y-ers making all natural products such as detergent.
For starters...check out:http://www.slingsandsacks.etsy.com

Beth H thank you! I'm so trying that - the only other green thing I can find is £-tastic ecover liquid, which is great but nearly £5 a bottle! What's oxyclean?

Well, I didn't think of it but Oxyclean might not be the best. Surprisingly enough though...they sell Oxyclean at Wild Oats and that's supposed to be a place that sells all natural stuff. The original recipe only had the oxyclean as an option. I'm sure you could omit it or just find another oxygen bleaching agent that's natural...or use the sun for bleaching.

Vinegar is a natural disinfectant.

FWIW I had items to bleach last week but had no bleach... So I put about 1/2 cup Lemon juice in the load and about that of vinegar (with Ecos laundry detergent)--- Worked great! I used it on underarm stains, yucky socks, etc., all the stuff that doesn't quite get out normally, and didn't pretreat anything.

I use lemon juice as often as I can (or remember) in the whites load, makes a world of difference.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am terribly allergic to the chemicals in the standard cleaning supplies and laundry detergents so you comments and ideas are greatly appreciated. I'm going to try several of the DYI recipes and also look into method. I have method's other cleaning products but haven't tried their laundry detergent.

Thanks again!

Not DIY, but I have heard Charlie's Soap is great

www.charliesoap.com

I plan to buy some as soon as I run out of my extra large method bottle.

I have a friend who swear's by the stuff. She has 3 kids, and does everything green/organic, from food to gardening to cleaning. So I trust her judgement.

But if your hell bent on making your own, there is this link I plan to try if I don't like charlie's.

http://sewgreen.blogspot.com/2007/05/laundry-soap-diy.html

I mix up a bar of soap with baking soda and borax. I don't measure but I do about 1 bar of soap to half of a box of borax and half a large box of baking soda. To make it faster, I chop the bar of soap into chunks and put it into the food processor with a bit of the borax. I used to grate it on my cheese grater but that took too long. Now I make several batches at a time (I store it in clean unused paint cans and label it with a label maker-it looks nice all stacked up) I use bars of Dr. Bronner's soap-found at the health food store. I've heard about Charlie's soap and I think it's pretty much the same thing, but I like mine because I can scent it by using a different flavor of Dr. Bronners.

Oh yes, one last thing. I use two tablespoons per load. Recently my daughter had a bloody nose and I wasn't sure it would come out of her sweatshirt with this soap, but it worked perfectly.

Do these DIY detergents work on HE washers, too?

These soaps are actually more like what HE washers need, because they have very little foam. My homemade stuff (which is most similar to the Instructables recipe) is awesome. I also love adding a drop or two of essential oil (peppermint is lovely) for nice smells.

Washing soda is sodium carbonate and is available at pool supply stores and dye suppliers and is cheap. Often the grocery store washing soda has bleach in it. Hold your breath when you measure it because the dust is irritating. Safety glasses would not be out of order either.

Carol in Denver

I am rather hell bent on making my own- I'm a nerd that way! I like the idea of making and tweeking my own detergent for my needs and also packaging it up cute (I'm a sucker for reusing old jars/bottles/cans in fun ways). I am also very allergic to detergent (even the green ones) and I'm hoping making my own will cut down on the rashes.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I bought the stuff I needed last night and I'm going to try making up a bunch this evening.

For those who don't have time yet to make their own detergent. The Safe Shopper's Bible by David Steinman and Samuel Epstein recommends All Free and Clear as a green and safe alternative.

Has anyone used soap nuts? I've heard a lot of good things about them.

Yeah, I'd like to know if people on here have used soap nuts.

Ball up some foil and throw it in the dryer w/ your clothes and they will be static free. No need for fabric softener (if you use it for anti-static purposes) in the wash. The foil ball lasts for many, many loads.

Yes! Soap nuts! they are fantastic. I've been using them about a year now and find they work beautifully for all my washing. You put them in a little calico bag and I add a few drops of lavendar essential oil onto the bag so the clothes all come out smelling nice too.

I bought them at soapinanutshell and there's advice on that site too about adding vinegar/borax/lemon juice to whites to keep them whiter, as the soapnuts obviously don't have any optical brighteners in them.

Now I sound like a total soap-nut salesperson, but I really can't speak highly enough of them - they last for ages and w

From this recipe

1 bar fels naptha
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda (actually, I use sodium carbonate because until recently I couldn't find washing soda in my area)

Grate the soap finely; mix with the powders. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons per load.

Also, I use plain white vinegar in a Downy ball for softening and making sure the soap rinses well from the clothes.

I use a recipe similar to Beth H:

1 bar of grated soap
1 c. of borax
1 c. of washing soda

use 1 TABLESPOON per load. It works great. I also fill a Downy ball with vinegar. It works great. My husband absolutely HATES the smell of vinegar and he can't smell it on his clothes. :D He tolerates my obsession with vinegar and baking soda cleaning products. But he did HATE it when I tried the no-'poo hair treatment. I smelled like vinegar.

I have an HE washing machine and I make my own powdered laundry detergent. I Like to use oxygen bleach (it's green. It's made with hydrogen perioxide) which means I have to use a powdered detergent because I have to put them in the same dispenser. Here's my recipe:

1 bar of graded soap (can be a laundry bar like Fels Naptha or Zote or a bar of regular bath soap. I've used both with good results)
1/2 cup of borax
1/2 cup of washing soda

I use one scoop (from an old box of detergent) per load. I wrote more details about it here http://condo-blues.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-make-powdered-high-efficiency.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al4EK59ta9A

this is not my video but it is the way I do it.

Frugal Dreamer did a 3 part tutorial on making your own cleaners - it's fabulous.

Here's Part 1, laundry detergent!

http://www.frugaldreamer.com/?p=379

Icanmakeit, the youtube video you mentioned was removed by the user. Will you please list your recipe/method?