Laundry-Blogger Therapy

I have to start this post off by thanking Jillee over at One Good Thing by Jillee. My family recently suffered the loss of a loved one and I have just been in a funk over it. I am still emotional and sad at times. Around the time that all of that happened I discovered Pinterest and from there Jillee's website. It was there that I learned you can make your own laundry detergent....wait, what? You can make detergent? Yes, and a whole lot of other stuff too. So, since I was bored and depressed and we are really strapped for cash right now, I decided to try out some of her recipes. I will be posting some of them in articles to come, along with my results and experiences. But today, I am going to post about my all new laundry lineup. I also have to say that Jillee inspired me to start blogging again, which is why I have actually been posting pretty regularly the last few weeks. I feel like I did when I discovered Jesus all over again and I just want everyone to know how awesome this is!!!! I have a dream that everyone will learn the benefits of homemade laundry detergent, cleaning goods, etc. and stick it to the big corporations selling us expensive crap! Okay, I'll get down off of my recycled soap box now. Seriously, I did the math, my favorite recipe for laundry detergent comes out to about 25 cents a gallon and one gallon washes 16 large loads at the least. That's just over a penny a load!!!! Not only am I saving money, but the eczema that both my son and daughter have been experiencing is starting to clear up and our laundry is brighter and smells better than it did with my really expensive name brand detergent. I can't say enough how excited I am about this. So my new homemade laundry regimen consists of Detergent, fabric softener (yeah, that's right) and stain remover.

 You will notice the downy unstopables (yes, it's spelled with one P. you grammar nazi!) pictured as well. I go ahead and splurge on the scent booster since I am saving SO MUCH on the other stuff. You really only need a Tablespoon to get a fantastic scent, as a matter of fact the whole house smells like it on laundry day. It makes me smile. So, the purple bottle is my fabric softener, I also have some in a gallon jug. The milk jug is detergent (I know it looks like water, but it's powerful).  The green spray bottle and mason jar are my homemade stain remover. It's works really well, I have 3 kids who don't stain their clothes as much as I stain my own and it is fantastic for mine. It has even removed a few old stains that I thought would never come out! So without further ado, here we go (with pictures!)

For Laundry Detergent you will need:

3 TBS Borax

3 TBS Washing Soda (not to be confused with baking soda)

2 TBS Dawn dish detergent

You will find the borax and washing soda in the laundry aisle at you're local grocery store. It was on the bottom shelf at my local Kroger and I really had to look for it.  Put all of your ingredients in whatever gallon jug is appropriate. I make it up in this milk jug and then transfer it to the name brand detergent container that I already have that is equipped with a handy dandy dispenser.

Run about a cup or so of hot tap water and pour that into your jug and swirl it around to dissolve everything. Don't shake it because you will get a lot of foam.  

When everything is dissolved put the jug in your sink and fill it with tap water. I pour it rather than let the faucet fill it to avoid foam. Some bubbles will spill over, but that's okay, you're soap will still be AWESOME!

That's it, you're done!!!! You will need to use about a cup of detergent for a large load. 

For Fabric Softener you will need:

15 - 16 oz bottle of cheap hair conditioner, whatever scent you like is fine.

6 cups water

3 cups white vinegar

Dump the conditioner in a really big bowl.

I am SUPER cheap, so I poured my water into the empty bottle and shook it to make sure I got every stinking last drop all of the conditioner out of the bottle.

Add Vinegar and whisk together. You will want to stir this instead of pouring it all in the jug and shaking so it will not foam up.

Then pour it into your containers. I know, it's unbelievably easy! I like to do a double whammy with my fabric softener. I use the jug just like I would use downy. I pour the same amount as I would with commercial softener into my downy ball and drop it into the washer. Then, when I put the clothes into the dryer I add a few squirts from the spray bottle and start it. The laundry comes out so soft and it smells like whatever scent conditioner you chose. Mine is the V05 Shea butter and vanilla.

Lastly, I didn't take pictures when I made my stain remover, but I will give you the recipe to try out.

You will need:

2/3 cup dawn dish soap (It's great stuff!)

2/3 cup ammonia

6 TBS baking soda

2 cups warm water

Mix all the ingredients and pour it into a spray bottle. Just spritz it on the stains, rub it in and toss the garment in the washer. Easy as pie! Hope this helps someone out and let me know what you think! I welcome comments below.