Homemade Laundry Detergent

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We've been continuing to convert our household chemicals into more natural and economical versions and today I'm sharing another "recipe" with you.

This time it's laundry detergent, which we use for all our clothes (except Gv's cloth diapers - see what we use for those here).  If you like having a scent with your laundry, you could easily add a few drops of essential oil to each load.  We'd rather save our oils (and cash) for other uses, but if it's worth it to you, just put the oil in with the vinegar for your rinse cycle.

What You Need

1 bar castile soap (buy it here)

3 cups washing soda (find it here)

3 cups Borax (pick it up here)

1 cup baking soda (find it here)

What You Do

1.  Stick the bar of castile soap in your handy-dandy food processor (get yours here) and process until powdery.

2.  Dump the soap powder along with the rest of the ingredients into a container (I like to use one for bulk spices or shaker cheese because these all have a wide mouth and they fit easily on my shelves).

3.  Put the lid on the container and shake it up.

4.  Use 2 Tablespoons of soap per load and 1/2 cup white vinegar for your rinse cycle (that's also where you can add your essential oil, if you choose).

Notes:  We love Kirk's Castile Soap and use it for all our soap needs - it's made with coconut oil!  Also, as I mentioned in my homemade dishwasher detergent post, after Googling myself silly, I came up with lots of conflicting information regarding borax and whether it's safe/natural or not. Ultimately, I determined that the amount of borax we use is safe (for us).

Think you'll make the switch to homemade laundry detergent?  Will you add essential oils, or leave it plain, like we do?  I challenge you to give this mixture a try - it's so easy!  Let me know if you do - leave a comment here or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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