Liquid Detergent

[sufficientforme]

Liquid Bluing is available on amazon or Lehmans (cheaper)
I have a recipe that I copied years ago from the Tightwad Gazette series if you want to try it for soaking your whites.

1 Cup of powdered Cascade dish washing detergent
1 Cup of Clorox II

Add to 5 gallons of hottest water out of tap and soak colorfast items overnight and launder as usual.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

We've made our own detergent for at least the past year. Or maybe 2 years now? I like it ok, but I notice sometimes I get "oily" stains on my clean clothes and that REALLY ticks me off. Has anyone else gotten them? I really try to make sure to add the soap to the water before adding clothes, to try to make sure the soap doesn't directly land on the clothes. We use the Duggar family recipe on this page (for liquid soap). We use Fels.

 

[glenolam]

Tightwad Gazette series

Way off topic (sorry!) but that is an awesome name for a news paper!!

 

[savingdogs]

Hi Glenolam thanks for ressurecting this thread. I love my laundry soap.
I second everything Mackay said!
My recipe is just a tad different. Mine is 1 bar soap, 1 cup borax and 1 cup Arm & Hammer and 5 gallons total water, but prepared the same exact way Mackay described here.

I have been using it for over a year and find my washer works better (HE Samsung) and my clothes get really clean, and we get our clothes and bedding really dirty with all our animals. We are hard on washers and hard on our clothes and this does the job for us.

I sometimes add baking soda or bleach directly to a load, and have added baking soda to the recipe, and I think this helps with removing odors.

I use a pre-spray from the store and would like to find a way to make it at home. I've tried rubbing the fels naptha bars into stains and it just seems like a pain, I prefer a spray-on product and still have not developed one, but putting the laundry detergent directly onto stains does seem to help.

I also use this laundry soap for other things such as cleaning carpet and in the dishwasher. Although I found that for the dishwasher, using 50/50 borax with the arm and hammer does a better job.

We have saved tons of money washing with that instead of buying all the laundry products we used to purchase. I do still buy laundry dryer sheets.

 

[glenolam]

So....Arm and Hammer the laundry detergent?

I wonder if that's why you don't have a problem with whites not getting white....

ETA pssssttt.....SD....your inbox is full!

 

[savingdogs]

Arm and Hammer Washing powder, it is intended as a laundry booster. It is real cheap and you find it on the laundry aisle of the market. The hardest thing to find is usually the Fels Naptha, but you could always use your own soap, just nothing superfatted. You need some sort of detergent type bar.

I tried the Zote and preferred the Fels Naptha.

 

[JRmom]

We've made our own detergent for at least the past year. Or maybe 2 years now? I like it ok, but I notice sometimes I get "oily" stains on my clean clothes and that REALLY ticks me off. Has anyone else gotten them? I really try to make sure to add the soap to the water before adding clothes, to try to make sure the soap doesn't directly land on the clothes. We use the Duggar family recipe on this page (for liquid soap). We use Fels.

Regarding oily stains... I have had this happen to me, my girlfriend complains about it all the time... well, I read on a blog somewhere (can't remember where) that it's due to the use of liquid laundry soap. Don't know how true this is, but I started making powdered detergent and I haven't had this happen since (it's been about 2.5 years now). My friend won't switch to powdered and she's still getting the oily stains.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I heard it is from using fabric softener.

 

[Boogity]

We make ours just a little different. Similar recipe - different procedure. We have been using this for about 4 years and we both love it.

1/2 bar grated Fels-naptha detergent
1/2 C Washing soda
1/2 C Borax
2 gal water

Put all ingredients into a 2 1/2 gal. galv. steel bucket. Place bucket on propane turkey fryer burner (outdoors of course) and bring to a low boil. Boil for about 10 minutes. Stir frequently (I use a sawed off shovel handle that I keep in the barn just for this purpose). I traditionally make 4 batches (8 gal.) a year in the fall while raking leaves. There are only two of us old farts here but I DO get very dirty on a regular basis .

I think this is much simpler than a few cups here and a few cups there. Also we find that by bringing the solution to a low boil it seems to be better homogenized and becomes a smooth creamy consistency. I always make 2 gal. at a time and pour into 1 gal. plastic milk bottles. DW uses 1/2 C per load (old top loader).

We do use 1/2 tsp. Mrs. Stewart's bluing per load of whites. And rarely she will use Clorox bleach on special cases. I have never used any essential oil but would like to try it once. But fragrance oil is soooo expensive.

Try it.

Edited to correct spelling - Aghhhhhh!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I heard it is from using fabric softener.

I get them because I never wear an apron ( or a bib )