So anyway, last year in the early spring, I came upon a blog with a recipe for laundry soap that claimed to cost MUCH less and be extra awesome for the environment. Of course I was immediately interested and rushed out to buy the ingrediants. Here's the recipe. (Actually, now that I link to it, I'm pretty sure I talked about it last year.)
1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated small
1/4 cup Oxygen Cleansing Stuff
Well, it's been almost a year now, and things are going great! I can count the times I used more than one tablespoon of detergent on my load of laundry on one hand. I've made two batches so far for myself, and that's cost me a whopping (four, two, one, carry the nine...) seven dollars. And! Most of the ingrediants haven't needed replacing yet. I'd only need to buy a couple more bars of Fels Naptha to get another year's worth of detergent, which would bring my total investment up to nine dollars. And that is ONE HECK OF A DEAL ON LAUNDRY DETERGENT. Ahem.
I've been talking with my Aunt Debbie (who has a fancy front-loader washing machine) and she says it's been leaving some residue on her laundry. I have to say this has NOT happened to me, but I have a regular old wasteful machine, so I can't say for sure if that was the cause of the residue.
I CAN say that for as long as I've been using this detergent, I've also forgone my usual fabric softener for a rinse-cycle add of 1/4 cup of vinegar. (Which, lets face it, I am Lazy and so I put it in my Downy Ball and add it in the beginning.) You can flavor the vinegar with an essential oil, but it's not... (Har har) essential. Your clothes won't smell like vinegar. I promise. Plus, you shouldn't use fabric softener. Because it totally makes Mother Nature want to cry.
(Those pictures, by the way, are of what I gave away this year for Christmas presents to friends and family. The jars make me happy to look at. They are right purdy.)
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