Today's post is on frugal living! Since many of our followers have small children, or a baby on the way, today's post on frugality is on making your own detergent. There are many perks to creating your own detergent - such as being aware of what chemicals are in your detergent, being able to easily modify it for a small child's sensitive skin, or add essential oils to create a scent for yourself. It is environmentally friendly and it saves a ton of money - store bought detergent costs an arm and a leg!
We have a few recipes for you to check out tonight. The first recipe is unique, in that it is the ONLY recipe I know of that is completely cloth diaper friendly, and it is very baby friendly. It is all natural, and earth friendly.
Recipe: All Natural, Cloth Diaper friendly powder soap
1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup of Oxiclean Free or Oxiclean Baby
1 trial size box of soap nuts, or 1/2 c of soap nuts powder
1/4 cup of Baking Soda
Directions:
1. Grind your soap nuts. you can do this by putting the soap nuts with the baking soda in a food processor and pulse it until it is finely ground. Sometimes, this can cause a bit of dust, so to cut down on that, you can drop a towel over the top of your processor. Wait a bit before opening, because it will be dusty!
2. Dump all ingredients into a gallon Ziploc baggie, seal and shake until finely blended.
To use...the measurements are 2 tbsp. for a standard load, and 1 tbsp. for an HE load. This detergent dissolvrs best in warm water, so if you are doing a load in cold water, it is best to take a cup of hot water, and dissolve your measurement before pouring it in the machine.
Recipe number two is for you folks who WANT to save money, and WANT to make your own soap, but are, um, a little *teeny, tiny* bit lazy! This is a simple method, with no soap grinding.
Recipe: Lazy Bones Detergent
3 Tbsp Borax
3 Tbsp Washing Soda
2 Tbsp Dawn Dish Soap
Directions:
1. Pour all ingredients into a gallon jug (think recycled milk container).
2. Pour 4 cups of boiling water in jug, and swirl it up until the ingredients are well mixed, then fill almost to the top of the jug.
To use...depending on level of soiled clothes, use 1/2 cup to 1 cup of detergent per load.
Recipe number three has some grating, but is still pretty simple.
Recipe: Easy grated detergent
1 bar of Fels-Naptha, or Ivory Soap
2 cups of Arm &Hammer super washing soda
2 cups of Boarx
Directions:
1. Cut the soap into small pieces, that the food processor can handle, and chop them as small as possible.
2. Add the 2 cups of Arm & Hammer super washing soda to the mix.
3. Finally add the 2 cups of Boarx in and mix it well.
4. Look at your mix, if it is finely mixed, you are good to go. If not, transfer it into a processor or blender, and blend again. Put in a bag or jar for storage.
To use...Use 1/8 cup for a normal load, and 1/4 cup for a heavily soiled load. It equals out to about $0.05 a load.
I hope this helps, and you enjoy the recipes - AND - if you try them out, please comment and let me know how it goes!
~Danielle
No comments:
Post a Comment