Going Granola...according to my Mom

Mom: (On the phone while I'm at work) "I'm at your house and I was going to throw a load of clothes in for you but I can't find your detergent."
Me: "It's in the cabinet over the washer & dryer in the glass jar."
Mom: "This powder with the yellow waxy things in it?"
Me: "Yes. I make it myself. It's much less expensive and is helpful for the environment (less plastic containers)."
Mom: "What are you doing? Are you going all granola on me?"

There are only 4 of us in my family. But with my husband being a big guy, not to mention working a dirty job, and having an 8 year old son, I do a LOT of laundry. I have been a Tide girl for a long time, particularly the liquid version, but about a year ago I came upon homemade laundry soap on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. I'm just getting down to my final glass jar of my second batch and thought I would pass my experience along because it really does work and it really is inexpensive!

I could hardly believe the claims - lasting for months upon months of laundry loads - but even still, I wanted to check it out. While I'm not the most frugal girl, and I'm not the most environmental nut, I do like to save money and keep plastic out of the environment as much as possible.

And so last April I tried the recipe I found on Pinterest. I would link to the original recipe I used but there are TONS of them and they are all about the same.

Here are the things I used in the first batch:



This picture is the property of simplelifeandhome.com

 

It took me 5 months to use it all! At 2 tablespoons per load it really goes a long way. The initial cost of the products listed above when I purchased them was $20.19! I don't know about you but I have never gotten away with $4/month for laundry detergent. And it works!

 

When I went to make the second batch I decided I really missed my fresh Tide smell. Since Tide doesn't make a powdered fabric softener, I went with Purex Crystals Fabric Softener and, because soccer season was upon us, I also added a box of Ultra Clorox 2 for Colors.

 

So, here is the complete list of the ingredients for the kind I like the best:

 

1 - 4lb 12oz box of Borax (You can find Borax in the laundry aisle. It is also good for your carpets)

1 - 3lb 7oz box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (found in the laundry soap aisle)

1 - 3lb container of OxiClean (found in the laundry soap aisle)

1 - 4lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (You'll have to get this in the baking aisle)

1 - 55 oz container Purex Crystals Fabric Softener (found in the laundry soap aisle)

1 - 49.2oz box Ultra Clorox 2 for Colors (found in the laundry soap aisle)

2 bars of Fels Naptha soap (found in the laundry soap aisle. You could also use Zote)

 

Here's what you'll need to do:

 

First you'll need at least a 5 pound bucket to mix all of the ingredients together in. Ideally you'll probably end up using this bucket as storage so make sure it has a lid. I keep the detergent in a smaller glass container in the cabinet and then refill from the bucket as necessary.

 

Next, you will want to shred the Fels Naptha. There are different suggestions floating around the internet on the best way to shred the Fels Naptha. In my experience and opinion the fastest, easiest way is to put it through your food processor. The first time I had Brandon shred it with a cheese shredder and while he's much faster than me, it was still hard work and took a little while. The second time I ran it through the food processor and was done in less than a minute.

 

Now, mix it all together and stir! Be careful where you are doing your pouring and mixing. When the borax, washing soda, baking soda, etc. come rushing out of the box it can create quite a cloud of soap dust (which doesn't taste very good either I might add).

 

Use the detergent just as you would any other powder detergent. For everyday loads you only need about 2 Tablespoons per load. I add an extra if I'm washing soccer uniforms, or other really dirty stuff.

 

Call it granola if you like, but I am quite happy with this method. And I'm totally down with anything that saves me money!