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| DIY Dry Laundry Detergent This was filled to the top and has been used for almost two months. I do about 3-4 loads a week, sometimes 5 |
If you spend anytime on Pinterest, you'll see a ton of DIY laundry detergent recipes. Okay, I know you're thinking...why make it myself when I can just buy it at the store? Well my friends, these recipes are supposed to save you some moola and who doesn't like saving money? I know I do. Plus, you can sort of customize it too. But there are so many recipes, some recipes have only three ingredients and some with five. Which one do you choose? Well, I looked at a bunch of these detergent recipes and they pretty much all contain the same basic ingredients; borax, Zote, and super washing baking soda. After looking at what seemed like a gazillion recipes, I finally settled on following the recipe posted on how does she? blog. This one contains the five ingredients, although I think you can do it with only four. I'll explain why later in the this post.
Here are some tips:
1) If you decide to make this recipe, just know that I had the hardest time finding Zote. I live in Southern California and my local Target, Winco, and Albertsons did not carry it. I found it at Kmart, Home Depot, and one of my local dollar stores.
2) The recipe gives you the option to shred or microwave the Zote. DO NOT microwave. Why you ask? Because the Zote will puff up to a ginourmous blob, spill off the plate and stink up your house with overwhelming fragrance. Not to mention, for a short time the food that you warm in the microwave will have a perfume taste. My poor son's burrito was the first victim of the funky smelling microwave.
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| Left, plain shredded Zote. Right, puffed up Zote. This picture is deceptive, but trust me...it's puffed up. Can you imagine the whole block in your microwave? It was a disaster...LOL! |
4) If you are sensitive to dust or have breathing issues, I would highly recommend wearing a mask or mixing this in a well ventilated area. Mainly because of the dry detergent particles that get kicked into the air during the preparation and mixing stage.
5)You really don't need the Purex crystals if you plan on drying your clothes in the dryer with dryer sheets. The Purex crystals are really only adding smelly sweetness to your load, which a dryer sheet will do too. If you plan to line dry, go ahead and add the Purex crystals or whatever fragrance crystals you like.
6) Lots of recipes say to use only 2 tablespoons for a load, but I think that is for a small load. I don't know about you, but I load my washer up. I tend to use 3-4 tablespoons and that seems to work best.
7) I've tried it on some stains and for the most part it takes them out. However, I would not give up your pretreatment stain removers for the really tough stains...like rust. On regular food stains, this works fine.
8) 1/31/2014 I tried grating Fels Naptha and found that it is easier to work with than Zote. I was able to just add the grated soap to my mix.
9) Make sure you store the detergent in a dry place or air tight container because excess moisture will cause the bottom layers to become hardened if you do not constantly stir up the mixture.
Ingredients:
1 box Borax
1 box Super Washing Baking Soda
1 bottle Purex crystals (optional)
2 blocks shredded Zote (can substitute Fels Naptha)
1 container Oxyclean
Have fun making your own detergent. Would love to know how everyone likes it.
Update 10/31/2013
I've been poking around the web to learn more about the ingredients of many of the DIY detergents. Below are links to the info I've found. I think this info can help you decide on what you want to use in your DIY detergent.
Difference between Zote and Fels Naptha.
http://www.budget101.com/do-yourself/fels-naptha-vs-zote-4213.html
How does Borax clean?
http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingsworkfaqs/a/howboraxworks.htm
What is Super Washing Baking Soda? How does it clean?
http://armandhammerlaundry.ca/faq
http://www.livestrong.com/article/270001-what-is-sodium-carbonate/
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