Good Clean Fun

Guess what we tried out?!  We made our own liquid laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent!  Why?  Because it's fun to learn something new, supposedly gentler on our son's skin, and inexpensive!

For the laundry detergent we followed the recipe from I Can Teach My Child.  Neal and I love doing this kind of stuff!  After it sat overnight, we tried stirring the sludge with a mop handle but ended up getting up to my elbow and squishing the congealed clumps in my hand for a couple of minutes.  I felt like a 4th grader playing with slime!

We think we may have a year's worth of detergent but we'll see.  The laundry is clean, feels fine, and has no particular scent (because we did not add any essential oils for fragrance).  We got all of our ingredients (and the bucket) at Walmart.  We are spending less than a penny per load using this method!  We are using white vinegar as our fabric softener and no the clothes don't stink of it.

We usually buy dishwasher detergent tabs in bulk at Sam's Club but since we were on this DIY kick we decided to make our own powder dishwasher detergent.  We got the recipe from DIY Natural. 

The kids, grandma, and I actually got to visit a brewery supply store, Homebrew Headquarters, to get the citric acid in a one pound bag.  Met an episcopal priest with a very fine beard and learned a little about making root beer too.  Great customer service--made a Mormon feel right at home!

This was just dumping dry ingredients into a container and giving it a shake to mix it.  In less than 5 minutes I had enough detergent for 96 loads of dishes for approximately 5 cents a pop.  We did have to let it sit out and break it up until the citric acid reduced it's clumping abilities.  However, Neal mentioned it was quite fun and relaxing forking around in his almost zen sand garden. 

When we went to Sam's club we found a great deal on Finish Powerball Detergent for 11.5 cents a load.  Still doesn't beat the homemade price.  Hope it performs well.

 

UPDATE (11/23/2012): The laundry detergent does great but the dishwashing detergent clouded all the dishes.  Going back to store bought dishwashing detergent.