Homemade Cleaning Products

Laundry Soap

I recently found this recipe for making your own laundry soap in a book I read. It's called The Duggars: 20 and Counting! Raising One of America's Largest Families--How They Do It by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar. You can buy all the ingredients for less the $7 dollars but you only use about $2.00 worth which fills a 10 pound bucket. It's a watery gel that produces low suds. All the ingredients are located in most laundry detergent aisles in the grocery store. If not, you can always buy them online. They say it lasts their large family of 20 two to three months. So, it would probably last an average size family 6 months or longer. This recipe is also good for people who have eczema or allergies to soaps.

Here is what you need:

• One clean 5-gallon bucket with lid
• One clean and empty laundry detergent container
• One Fels Naptha bar, grated (It's a laundry bar soap for pretreating stains.)
• 1 cup of washing soda (This comes in a box and is made by Arm and Hammer. Do not use baking soda instead. Washing soda will only work.)
• ½ cup borax

Grate the Fels Naptha bar into a sauce pan. Fill the rest of the sauce pan with water. Cook over medium-low heat stirring constantly until the soap dissolves.

Put the dry washing soda and borax in a 5-gallon bucket. Pour in hot, melted soap mix. Stir until the washing soda and borax dissolve. Fill the bucket to the top with hot tap water. Stir and place lid on bucket. Let sit overnight. The next morning it will be a thick gel. Stir it to loosen the gel. Fill empty laundry container half way full. Then fill to the top with hot tap water. Place cap on laundry detergent container and shake to mix. For top loading washing machines use 1 cup of the soap mixture out of laundry detergent container. For front loading machines us 1/3 cup per load.

Fabric Softener

• 3-4 cheap sponges cut in half
• 1 bottle of liquid store bought fabric softener, brand of your choice
• 1 small bucket with lid

Pour liquid fabric softener in bucket. Fill empty softener container twice with water and pour into bucket. Cut sponges in half and place in bucket. Each time you do a load of laundry throw a wet sponge in dryer with clothes.

Dishwasher Soap

• 2 C Borax
• 2 C Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 2 C Lemi Shine*
• 1 C Kosher Salt

Mix all in a large bowl. Leave the bowl out for a few days with no lid. Stir every once in a while. Then after a few days you can put in a container with lid. (I use a Mason Jar.) The reason you have to leave it out for a few days is because if you just put it in the jar right away, it will get really hard and make it difficult to get out. But, somehow leaving it out for a few days with no lid and stirring it makes it less hard later on.

*Depending on how hard your water is you may need more or less Lemi Shine. If you wash your dishes and they are still cloudy, use more.

Use one TBS per load.

For a great rinse aid, put a small container filled with white vinegar in the top rack of your dish washer. DO NOT FILL rinse aid compartment with vinegar. For some reason vinegar doesn't sit well in rubber.

Return from Homemade Cleaning Products to
Money Saving Expert

Return from Homemade Cleaning Products to
Homeschool Rewards Home Page