Homemade Laundry Powder and Liquid

Homemade Laundry Powder and Liquid



If you want to make your own homemade laundry powder and liquid, then here's some recipes to try! There seems to be hundreds of versions of this on the net - but...
If you want to make your own homemade laundry powder and liquid, then here’s some recipes to try! There seems to be hundreds of versions of this on the net - but the consensus is this one!

Laundry Powder

• 4 cups of grated soap (vegetable soap, homemade soap, Sunlight/homebrand laundry soap or Lux flakes)
  
• 2 cups of washing soda
  
• 1 cups of borax
  
• 1 cup of nappy soaker
  

These items are available in the laundry aisle of your supermarket. They are often on the bottom or top shelf, so you may need to have a hunt around for them.
Combine all the ingredients. Use about 2 tablespoons or up to a quarter of a cup of powder per wash.
You can leave out the nappy soaker, it just gives the powder some extra grunt, an eco soaker without optical brightening is best.
If you are using your washing water as grey water on the garden, leave out the borax.
The role of the borax is to brighten laundry, soften hard water, remove soap residue, neutralise laundry odours, disinfect, remove stains, you can substitute with bicarbonate soda, which does the same things. It’s not going to be exactly the same, but bicarb is a cheaper.
This is the recipe I usually use to do my washing. I wash in cold water and I don’t use any softeners. I usually add a few drops of essential oil like lavender or tea tree oil to the final rinse, especially to towels, for a little extra fresh smell.

Laundry Liquid
In a saucepan, combine the water (2 cups) and the soap and stir over a medium heat until the soap is dissolved.
Add the washing soda and borax and stir until thickened.
Pour the mixture into a 10 litre bucket and then fill with hot tap water. Stir to combine.
At this point, you could add a few drops of your favourite essential oil for fragrance.
When cool, store in a plastic container.
Use approximately 1/4 cup per load
Add a few drops of essential oil for a fresh scent.

Fabric Softener

• 1 and a 1/2 litres of water
  
• 1 bar of soap, grated (vegetable soap, homemade soap, laundry soap or lux flakes)
  
• 1/2 cup washing soda
  
• 1/2 cup of borax
  

For a fabric softener, add about 1/2 cup of white vinegar (the really cheap stuff) to the final rinse of washing. Once the washing is dry, you don’t smell the vinegar.
For homemade laundry detergent, you need to be a little organised. It’s a bit of a pain trying to put on a load of washing at 6am before work, only to remember you have to grate a bar of soap first!



Written by Jody Allen
Jody is the Owner and Founder of Stay at Home Mum. Being a self-confessed nerdy girl, she enjoys a good book or two (including Twilight and Jackie Collins) and is an avid collector of teapots and hair products. Obsessed with 'The Tudors' (and Henry Cavill) she would someday love to take a year off work and go to visit all the historic sites in England.


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