For those of you who make your own laundry detergent, do you find that it is gentler on your clothes and keeps then looking newer for longer? I have been working in a daycare for 6 weeks and I definately have to was my clothes after every wearing, but name brand laundry detergent is expensive! Thanks!

I didn't care for it, found that my clothes weren't as clean but other ladies here find it works well for them. I think it may be hard water, when I used it here, but other ladies in hard water areas say it is ok, and others don't.

I also didn't like the bother of making it for the minimal savings.

I went back to my usual system which is using Costco's Kirkland powdered detergent, and I just don't use as much as the scooper they give you with it.

Detergent scoopers measure too much, so you use more than necessary, and then the detergent doesn't all rinse out, which wears the clothes out faster, and is hard on the skin.

So try cutting your powder in half, and see if it still does the job, and run the clothes on a shorter, gentler cycle. Laundering daily you don't need the kind of time or cycle that heavy duty mechanic's overalls need so maybe that might work.

Try finding a cheaper detergent, I like the Costco housebrand, Kirkland, but other ladies like Arm and Hammer for cheaper detergents.

Powder is usually cheaper than liquid, and in my opinion does a better job.

Washing soda boosts detergents grease cutting ability so adding a tbsp or two of washing soda to the smaller amount of detergent to stretch it IF you can find washing soda for cheap.

(NOT BAKING SODA-- two different sodas, this one is sold as Arm and Hammer Washing soda, usually over by the bleaches and the borax).

Not sure about that, but here's a collection of recipes and tips that I received the other day from ThriftyFun.com's newsletter.

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Homemade Fabric Freshener

Make your own fabric freshener by pouring 4 fluid ounces of concentrated fabric softener into a spray bottle and dilute it with warm water. Wait for the solution to cool and then spray curtain, cloths, sofas and many other things to make them smell nice and fresh.

By Miranda C.

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Homemade Wrinkle Remover

My recipe for clothing wrinkle remover is amazing! It saves energy, time (less ironing or using the sprinkle-with-water-then-throw-in-the-dryer method), money and embarrassment! When I bought aerosol wrinkle remover, it worked great, well worth the price, I thought. I noticed an alcohol smell. When my name-brand product ran out, I tried mixing rubbing alcohol 50/50 with water in a fine-mist spray bottle. It works really well on most wrinkles. (Not the ironed-in kind--sorry!).

Spray the wrinkles, smooth out the fabric, let dry. It dries quickly. It works better if you're NOT wearing the garment, but you can carry a tiny spray bottle with you for emergencies. Great for travel! Of course, always test an inconspicuous area first.

By Elizabeth Cardell

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Laundry Stain Remover Recipe

1 part dishwashing liquid (I like Dawn)
1 part ammonia
1 part water

Mix all together and fill spray bottle for all types of laundry stains.

By Tori

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Warning About Recipes With Vinegar and Bleach

Do you have a recipe for a cleaning solution consisting of vinegar and bleach?

Thanks,
Sue from Elkhart, IN

Editor's Note: Bleach and vinegar should not be mixed, especially
in quantity, because it creates a toxic gas that could be deadly.
So feel free to respond with homemade cleaning recipes but please do not mix bleach and vinegar (or bleach and ammonia).

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Another Laundry Stain Remover Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup liquid laundry detergent
1/2 cup ammonia
1/2 cup vinegar

Directions:

Mix well and pour in a spray bottle for all kinds of laundry stains.
By truerblue


One More Laundry Stain Remover Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 rubbing alcohol
1/3 hydrogen peroxide
1/6 Dawn dishwashing liquid
1/6 water

Directions:

Mix above ingredients in a spray bottle and squirt on laundry stains before washing.

By truerblue

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Using Bleach With Homemade Laundry Soap?

I use this homemade liquid laundry soap recipe #1. This recipe
is very well known.

1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated;
1/2 C. Borax;
1/2 C. Washing Soda (not baking soda);
5 gallon bucket

My question; has anyone ever used Clorox bleach in the wash along with the above recipe? Sometimes my clothes don't seem clean or white and was wondering if it's safe to add bleach if I need to?
>
> G from AZ
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Homemade Fabric Softener Sheets

Take an old wash cloth and cut into four pieces or reuse the purchased fabric softener sheets. Combine 1/2 ounce of liquid fabric softener with a pint of water. Put the cloth pieces or used sheets into mixture and squeeze excess liquid out and let dry and store. Repeat the process and you will have a ready supply on hand.

By Syd

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Making Homemade Laundry Soap Viscous and Foamy

May I ask what should I add to my homemade liquid detergent to
make it viscous? And what should I add to make it form bubbles? I
have used the borax/washing soda homemade recipe and it doesn't make any foam when I do my laundry

Lilabytes from Philippines

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Homemade Laundry Detergent

I make my own laundry detergent using Fels Naptha bar soap, Borax and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. I was able to find the
ingredients at my local market. If you can't find them there,
they are available online, through www.soapsgonebuy.com but the shipping cost will eat up any savings. What I can buy locally
for $11.35 would cost more than $30.00 if I bought it online.
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Hydrogen Peroxide Stain Remover

Keep a bottle of hydrogen peroxide by your washer and spray it on stains before washing. It works great on baby formula stains and underarm stains. Some sprayers will fit on in place of the
peroxide cap so you do not even need to change bottles.

**NEVER use peroxide on wool, silk or dry-clean only clothing. If
you are worried about color fastness, test on a little spot inside the hem of the garment where it won't show.

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Hope these help! :)
Nada

Keep in mind that SOAP and DETERGENT are very different chemically.

the HM laundry "detergent" is made from soap, and has the usual problems with soaps, which is that they are milder, and tend to form soap scum with hard water minerals. (which is why the woman in Nada's post was asking about using bleach)

That soap scum settles into the clothing fibers and makes a permanent grayish sort of cast, and wears the fibers down faster.

If you have soft water, soap is fine for most gentle laundry tasks, but for removing grease it may not have the strength.

Detergent is a bit different. It is a stronger grease cutter than soap, and it doesn't form a scum with minerals so it's stronger acting and doesn't leave a residue in the cloth in a hard water area.

Detergent was invented as an improvement for most laundry tasks, getting away from hard water problems with soap and doing the job better with less extras like Borax or Washing soda.

You can use less detergent than the package calls for and still do fine, because of it's stronger chemical action as a grease and soil cutter. And because it rinses better it leaves cloth cleaner and softer than using a soap.

There is no way to make a home made detergent -- just home made soap that you can use as a laundry product instead of a detergent.

If you have soft water, soap is fine, and you can boost it's grease cutting by adding washing soda or even baking soda (not as strong as washing soda).

(You will notice most of the recipes call for one or the other or both in addition to grated soap or jellied soap that is diluted in boiling water)

OR you can soften your water by using BORAX which is an acidic mineral substance that will keep hard water minerals from forming soap scum.

Either way you can help the laundry soap along a bit, but you may find it simpler just to use a cheap detergent.

Be careful using peroxide. I have eaten holes into cotton tshirts, using ordinary peroxide. It will work, but if you want to use that as a stain remover be aware that it may chew up fabric as badly as bleach.

If you want the cleaning of peroxide (nothing else cleans blood or protein stains better) then try using OXYCLEAN powder, after rinsing the stain in cold water. OXI needs HOT water to activate it, as hot as possible and it will take a lot of stains out.

Be aware of Ammonia and vinegar together. Chemically speaking they cancel each other out. Which is why cloth diapers are often soaked in vinegar. It destroys ammonia, cutting it apart at a molecular level actually, but it's also hard on the bacteria that create the ammonia by breaking down and feeding off urea which of course is in diapers.

But that said, vinegar can be helpful in getting rid of a certain amount of soap scum that has settled into cloth fiber, and will brighten up the clothing of someone who has used a lot of soap in the laundry.

It's just that putting ammonia and vinegar together in a bottle as a home made stain remover may not be as good as using either one separately.

Ammonia can be used to remove grease stains, but it's not quite as effective as washing soda in the laundry. I've used both, and for the money washing soda is best on greasy stains, WITH VERY HOT WATER.

HTH

I know there are a lot of ladies here who use and like it though, so in case I scared them off, here is a link to a good recent thread with lots of answers.:toothy:

http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66628

I tried homemade for a while, but went back to grocery store brands. It was too much of a bother, and I didnt' really think they did as good a job as the store brands. I do find that the cheap generic brands do just as good a job as the name brands. I also found that if you use the fabric softener sheets, 1/2 a sheet does exactly the same job as a whole sheet. I hate static cling, and I didn't find the add-to-wash softeners did anything to stop that, so I use Bounce Free. One day, I must have been low on them, so I tore one in half to cover two loads (and I wash full loads and sometimes stick two loads in the dryer at a time). No static, and the clothes were just as soft as ever.

i started making my own several months ago because i was using so much tide. i like mine. i use the powdered version, im not messing with cooking soap. but it seems to get our clothes just as clean and clean smelling as the storebought stuff. not to mention its lasting me forever.

Another thing you can do to cut down on cost is cut down on the amount of detergent you use. I typically use about 1/8 to 1/4 of the recomended amount, and my clothes come out perfectly clean. And I also second the 1/2 dryer sheet- works just as well!

I have found that for me Dawn dishwashing liquid will remove oily or greasy stains and everything else can be removed with plain old bar soap--any kind I have on hand. I simply wet the soap with water and rub it into the stain. So far, it has removed everything I have tried it on. By the way, I use cheap detergent from my local Sav-a-lot or Wal-Mart. Hope that helps someone.:smball:

Thanks everyone especially canadian gardener!

I used homemade for about 6 months to a year. I found my clothes getting grayer, and ring-around-the-collar wasn't coming out. We have really hard water and I added water softener to my soap. I switched back to detergent. I only use half the scoop of detergent.

I would still like to spell off the detergent with the soap, because I do feel the clothes lasted longer with the hm soap. However, I might have to make some adjustments for stain removal. In the end I was using Shout Gel on ring-around-the-collar and otherwise washing as normal.

I'll have to try the vinegar idea Margery mentioned.

Jean

You are welcome melissa sue

If using vinegar to brighten, you need to add a cup or more to a wash load without soap, and let it soak into the fibres.

So set the timer to soak, then agitate the wash for a few minutes, soak another 10 to 15 and repeat over an hour.

Then add detergent and wash as usual.