Homemade Laundry Detergent for High Efficency (HE) Machines

I have grated the tiny bars of soap.  I have mixed giant vats of liquid goop detergent.  I have even used my pans on the stove to cook (yes cook) soap on my stove.   In short readers, I have put in the time and trial and error to test some of the most popular homemade laundry detergent/soap recipes around.  And I present to you what I consider to be the BEST...yes THE BEST homemade laundry soap recipe ever.  I would love if you would try it out and let me know what you think.  

But before I go into all of the details, you may be wondering WHY someone would go to all of the hassle of making their own laundry detergent.

There are many, many reasons...but here are just a few:
1)  Making your own detergent is a very easy way to go green.
Most commercial laundry detergents contain phosphates and other ingredients which are harmful to both you and the environment.   According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, the average family does 416-520 loads of laundry per year!  Think for just a second how much water and energy is used up in this country just through trying to clean our clothes.  Seconldy, think about where all of that water is going after it cleans your clothes.  Simply switching to a more natural detergent could have a huge impact on the environment....and trust me it is an easy change.  (Even I can do it and I am lazy!)
Also, think about how many empty containers you are throwing away each time you run out of laundry detergent.  Even if you recycle those containers, think about the energy that is used in that process. 

2)  Making your own laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies can save you a boat load of money.
We have a high efficiency washer and so every month or so we were spending a TON of money buying Tides HE detergent.   (It really is expensive!) This recipe uses a lot of low foaming ingredients so it is perfect for HE machines.  Also, you are not having to pay for all of the packaging and marketing that goes into a conventional detergent.  And I promise you, the cleaning power of this detergent is fantastic.  I have very young children.  We get really dirty.  (Seriously...look at my blog pictures)  And this detergent has been able to clean just as well if not better than our standard Tide HE detergent.

And even if you don't have a HE washer machine, you have to admit that laundry detergent is not cheap.  At least not compared to how cheap this recipe is.  Using this recipe, you can make an entire years worth of laundry detergent for less than $5.  (Prices vary depending on costs in your area...but I know it will be much cheaper than the pre-packaged stuff you are buying now.)

3)   When you make your own supplies, you don't have to keep running to the store to pick up more detergent (or windex or "scrubbing bubbles" or any of that stuff!)  ---And that is kind of freeing and cool. 
See the thing that hangs most people up about making your own cleaning products is the discipline it takes.  No matter how easy the recipe is,  making something from scratch does take more time than simply opening up a container of commercial product.  So the thing that would always throw me off track would be I would a) run out of detergent and then b) be having "one of those days" where the last thing I wanted to do was MAKE laundry detergent.  So I would always end up running to the store to pick up a commercial product.  However, with this recipe, you only have to spend a couple of minutes one afternoon making it, and then you have a WHOLE years worth of detergent.  (If you have an HE machine, you will actually have much, much more than a whole years worth!)  This is also a powdered detergent.  So, unlike the other homemade liquid forms of laundry detergent (which can sometimes get moldy)--this one will last indefinitely.  

4)   Using recipes like this is an easy way to give your cleaning supplies a makeover--Simplify! Simplify!  Simplify!
Do you open up your cleaning supply cabinet to see a ton of different bottles and boxes?  Do you have a bottle for glass cleaner?  Another bottle of stuff for cleaning the toilet?  Another for the counter tops?  Another for the stove?   In fact, do you have an entire cabinet full of boxes and bottles claiming to be the 'next best thing' when it comes to cleaning.   Chances are that your grandmother (or maybe great grandmother depending on your generation) didn't need to have 50 million bottles and boxes of stuff to get her house clean.  She probably relied on a few basic essentials such as vinegar and baking soda to get her whole house clean.  So if women have been keeping their house clean and tidy for years with those things....why of why do we spend hundreds of dollars buying all of those boxes and bottles of cleaning supplies?  The answer is marketing.  We all fall victim to it.  (At least I do!)  But the truth of the matter is that these simple ingredients used in previous generations still work just as well for cleaning and cost a fraction of the price.  Most of them are also better for the environment.

5)  Making your own cleaning supplies allows you to customize your scents and blends.
One of the unexpected benefits to making my own cleaning supplies is that I have enjoyed experimenting with essential oils.  I can choose exactly what "smells" I want my own special blend of cleaning supplies to have.  And to be honest, it makes cleaning a whole lot more enjoyable!  Instead of breathing in those toxic fumes like I was before, I am now smelling a faint and lovely "lemon verbena" smell as I wipe down my counter tops.  Or--perhaps I might have "lavender vanilla" sheets to sleep on at night.  I can even change my scents with the seasons.  Last autumn, I made a lovely general purpose cleaner and scented it with Sweet Orange, Cinnamon, Clover, and Ginger essential oils.  It made deep cleaning in the fall an almost enjoyable experience.  Almost. :)   At least it was better than the noxious, over powering smell most commercial cleaners have!

So those are just a FEW of the reasons you may want to consider making your own laundry soap and cleansers.

Making your own Laundry Detergent:
Now, when you start experimenting with making your own laundry soap, you will basically have two different choices:  liquid or powder form soap.   I typically bought commercial liquid detergent when I went to the store...so the first recipe I tried was for a homemade liquid detergent.  The liquid detergent cleaned just fine...but it sort of had a strange consistency which kind of freaked me out.  (Its difficult to describe in words, but if you have ever made it yourself, you will know what I am talking about.)   I have also read reviews online of mold even growing on liquid detergent if it was stored for long periods of time.  That wasn't going to work for me.  I wanted a recipe that was easy to make and store...one that would last indefinitely so I didn't have to keep making it over and over again.  So I ruled the liquid version out.

The next several versions I tried were for powdered laundry soap.  All of the powdered laundry soap recipes out there basically involve some ratio of the following ingredients:
1)  Borax
2)  Soap Flakes or Grated Soap
3)  Baking Soda
4)  Washing Soada
5)  Oxi Clean

I test several of these recipes out.  But the BEST recipe by far was in the book Clean Naturally by Sandy Maine.   Ms. Mains book is a great read.  She is an authority in soap making, so it didn't surprise me that her cleaning supplies worked so well.  However, the thing I enjoyed most about her book is her overall philosophy about cleaning and life in general.

This recipe seems to work fantastically in both hard and soft water.  This recipe also doesn't have any of the more expensive or hard to find ingredients (such as washing soda and oxi clean).  It smells great.  It is low foaming.  It is gentle enough for our clothes, yet tough on stains.   So the recipe that I use today is a sort of modified version of Ms. Sandy Maine's.
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So---Now...without further ado.....here is my FAVORITE laundry soap recipe.  (Perfect for regular or High Efficiency Machines).

Simple Washing Powder Recipe
16 cups of baking soda
12 cups of borax*
8 cupts of grated soap**
3 tbsp of your favorite essential oils (optional)



* BORAX Note:  You will typically find borax in the laundry detergent aisle of most any grocery store of home goods store.  (I know that Meijer's, Walmart, Kroger's, and Giant Eagle all carry it.  If you are from another part of the country, please feel free to use the store locator on their website to find it.)

**SOAP Note:
--IF you are making your own laundry soap for environmental reasons, it is best to use a grated castile or glycerine soap.  You can buy these soaps at locally at a health food store or online.
--IF you are making your own laundry soap as a means of saving money, I have found that a regular bar of grated soap works just as fine.  HOWEVER (and this is important) you want to buy the most plain and simple bar of soap that you can find.  Anything that looks like it would be good for your skin will be bad or your laundry.  You want to avoid anything with added moisturizers or aloe as they often leave a film on your clothes or laundry machine.  I have found that the brands Ivory and Feliz Napa works best.

Directions:
1)  Grind or grate your soap.  Yes...you can grate the soap using a cheese grater.  But I have found that  Ivory soap grates VERY will in a food processor.  Cut the soap up into small 1" cubes.  (Ivory soap is very soft and easy to cut.)  Then place it in your food processor one bar at a time and grind it up.  Wash your food processor well after doing this.  ;)
2)  Mix the grated soap, baking soda, and borax into a large air tight container.  (A wire whisk makes mixing very easy.)
3)  Add the Essential Oils if desired.  (If you are making this for purely budget reasons, you may want to skip the essential oils.  It smells great without them.  They are just a fun bonus.)
4)  To make more of less of this soap, just mix ingredients sticking to the same general ratio of 4 parts baking soda, 3 parts borax, 2 parts grated soap.   This recipe yields enough to do aprox 144 loads in an HE machine and 35 loads in a regular machine.  I suggest that you make a small batch at first to try it.  THEN, later, when you see how much you love it, make enough to last a year.  

To use:
Use 1/2 cup for Regular Machines for regular soiled loads.  For heavy soiled loads, you can up this to 1 cup. 
Use 1 Tbsp for HE Machines for regular soiled loads.  For heavy soiled loads, you can up this to 1/4 cup.

For a printable version of these ingredients and directions, click here.

My New Favorite Play Dough Recipe

This morning I made a batch of homemade playdough for Marcus and Sophia.  I colored it red and scented it with real ground cinamon.  If I do say so myself, it smells, looks, and feels divine.

So by request from some of my facebook friends,  here is my NEW favorite play dough recipe.  My old favorite play dough recipe was from MaryAnn Kohl.  That recipe is a great one too.  However, this recipe surpasses it in both texture and logevity.  (If seals in an airtight container, this dough will last a very long time.)

This dough also has a texture that is out of this world.  I can't do it justice by describing it in words.  It is very, very soft and just feels so much better than the canned play dough you can buy.  It comes off the stove hot and sweet smelling.  And the kids and I love playing with it while it is still warm.  It is a total sensory experience and perfect for young, curious toddlers. 

This recipe only takes a second to whip up and is very economical to make.  Very young kids can help too with the pouring, measuring and mixing.  Which means you are not only making play dough, you are making memories.  (Home made things are always filled with lots of love.) 

This recipe comes from My Montessori Journey.  And if you haven't checked out that blog, you are missing out!  It is filled with so many great ideas.

My Montessori Play dough Recipe
1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, essential oils, etc.)

Stir ingredients together well.  Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan.  Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.  (NOTE:  When it starts to pull away from the sides somewhat and clump together and most of the "wet-looking" parts look dry, it's ready to remove from the pan.)  Turn dough onto a board (or the countertop) and knead until very smooth.  (NOTE:  It will be pretty warm to the touch, but try to knead it until it becomes a nice, smooth ball.  If it feels sticky, you can work a little more flour into it and it will be fine.)  Cool.  Store in a covered plastic container OR in a sealed ziploc bag. (ANOTHER NOTE:  This dough does seem to always stick in the saucepan somewhat.  I have tried spraying the pan first, but I still have a crusty residue on the pan when I'm finished.  I am used to this now and just plan on soaking the pan after I make a batch.  I just wanted you to know about that though so you wouldn't think you had goofed something up if that happens.)


As for how much spice, extract or food coloring to add in.  I usually never measure this.  I just slowly stir it in until I get the desired color and scent.  I probably add approximately 1 Tbsp of spice if I were to guess.   I also recomend the food coloring from wilton.   We usually have some left over from the kids birthday cakes that I make.  I have so much better luck getting the exact color I am aiming for when I use wilton brand food coloring.

I have also had luck adding in Essential Oils to this.  I made a lovely lavender colored and scented play dough this spring.   Like I said, this dough lends itself to many creative options.



Have fun and make the recipe your own.   My Montessori Journey also gives many ideas for making seasonal play dough.
January--white dough with white glitter OR "snow dough" and a snowman or snowflake cutter; February--pink dough with red glitter and a heart cutter;
March--green dough with gold glitter and a shamrock cutter;
April--purple dough scented with lavendar oil and an egg cutter;  
May--yellow dough with lemon extract and a flower cutter;  
June--blue dough with a boat cutter;  
July--small balls of red, white and blue dough with a star cutter;  
August--yellow dough with gold glitter and a sun cutter;
September--plain dough (no coloring) with apple pie spices and an apple cutter (or red dough with apple pie spices);  
October--orange dough with pumpkin pie spices and a pumpkin cutter;
November--orange or brown dough with pumpkin pie spices and a turkey cutter;
December--gingerbread dough (use lots of cinnamon, allspice, ground cloves) with a gingerbread cutter OR green dough with peppermint extract and gold glitter and a tree cutter OR red dough with peppermint extract and gold glitter and a candy cane cutter.

For other fun "home made" dough themes check out Counting Coconuts.  She makes a weekly sensory tub and play dough each month.

The Importance of Family Rituals-New Year's Eve Themed

The Importance of Creating Family Rituals:
Deep inside my crawl space, packed inside a dusty box, is a thirty year old artificial Christmas tree. The tree is very pathetic: Most of the bright green, plastic leaves have fallen off and have been lost; the "trunk" is permanently bent at an awkward angle; and perhaps most pathetic of all, it is missing so many parts I am most certain that it can no longer be assembled. On top of the dusty cardboard box holding the Christmas tree is an equally pathetic box of broken ornaments stained yellow with time. Most of these are also broken and to no use to most people. Yet I hold onto to these "things" because they bring back the strongest memories of my childhood.

Every year growing up, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we did the same thing. The day would start as I would put on the Chipmunks Christmas Album. (I would play that album over and over again on this day.) And then my dad would go into the basement and pull out that same artificial tree that is now stored in my basement. Next we would hang all of those same ornaments on it. We did this year after year. The same music. The same tree. The same ornaments.

Even in its younger days the tree was never that great looking. It looked like a bright green, crooked, plastic tree. (We would jokingly refer to it as the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.) And I can just imagine my poor parents listening to my chipmunk album over and over again while we decorated. But the fact remains that it was our family's little ritual to signal the start of the Christmas season. And it is comfortable rituals like that that make for many happy family memories.

Now, every Friday after Thanksgiving, Doug and I load the kids into our front wheel drive car and hike out into the woods to find our Christmas tree for the year. We walk the entire 50 acre tree farm until we find the perfect tree. We do this every year. We did it when we were engaged. We did it the first year we were married. I even did this when I was nine month pregnant with Marcus and it nearly sent me into labor! I even did this when Sophia was just a tiny infant and Marcus was toddler! We do this every year. Then we take the tree home and put on the chipmunk album and decorate it as a family. This is our families tradition to signal the start of the Christmas season. This is our little ritual that we have created which I hope will bring some happy memories to our children some day.

One of the most important jobs we have as Attached Mamas is helping to build our own family's culture through various family rituals. These comfortable rituals are what help build memories. Lifelong memories that are so strong that someday our children will probably want their own children to experience them. Rituals are a way to love one another. They are incredibly important to children and adults alike. They serve as touchstones that remind us of the places, people, and times that we hold dear in our life.

New Year's Eve
I had a couple of mama friends ask me how I was planning on bringing the New Year in with my family. And I have to admit that the way I celebrate New Year's with my children nearly exactly mimics the way I spent it growing up. (Again, the power of rituals and those childhood memories!)

So how do we celebrate it?
New Year's Eve starts with a new family rule: No one is aloud to say the word bedtime. There is no such thing as "bedtime" on New Year's Eve. Everyone, no matter how little, no matter how young, is aloud to stay up as late as they want (or can!) on New Year's Eve. We eat a late dinner, and then spend the night cuddling on the couch reading or watching movies.

As midnight approaches we all count down from 10 to 1 until the ball drops and the New Year is here. (Doug and I usually then sneak in a kiss as our way to welcome in the New Year.) Then our entire family marches single file banging pots and pans and yelling "Happy New Year" as loud as we can. We do this until we have been in every single room of the house.

New Year's Day has its own special rituals. Doug is usually happy watching football game after football game on TV while I make our traditional New Year's Day meal of pork and saurkraut. As legend has it, eating pork and saurkraut will give you good luck all year. And I have to say that I have been pretty lucky every year I have eaten this.

Our Traditional New Year's Day Meal:

Ingredients:
1 rack of pork ribs
2 packs of refrigerated sauerkraut (NOT the stuff in the can!)
2 large cans of whole tomatoes
2-3 bay leaves

Directions:
Put ingredients in a large stock pot and simmer on low for 6-8 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Valentine's Day Cider Recipe

I am always kind of sad when Christmas is over. It is kind of depressing to take down all of the decorations and still be left with a few more months of winter.

SO...I am replacing my Christmas addiction with another holiday and getting ready for Valentine's day. It may be early...but hey, it helps to pass those winter months.

We made this delicious and kid friendly Valentine's Day Cider Recipe that we found in Martha Stewart Kids.



Ingredients:
1 Quart Apple Cider
1/4 Cup Hard Cinnamon Candies

Directions:
Stir 1 quart apple cider and 1/4 cup hard cinnamon candies in a medium saucepan over low heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, until heated through and candies have melted completely, about 8 minutes. Serve warm.