Homemade Laundry Detergent

March 19, 1940

The war overseas is still going on strong. The French Prime Minister Daladier has resigned due to his failure to defend Finland in the Winter War. He is replaced by Paul Reynaud.

French Prime Minister Daladier

 Yesterday Mussolini decided to join Hitler in the war against France and Britain.

As war was on the rise in 1940, it's easy to relate it to 2011, as today, in the modern world, the US launched strikes against Qaddafi's Air Defenses in Libya. In both years, the world was at unrest and in turmoil.

On the home front, one can't help but to think of such unrest, listening to the radio to hear the latest news, but life must continue on. Today I've been focusing on my laundry. I know it isn't Monday, but I really had to get a head start on it, as I'd like to begin focusing on getting my laundry room in order.

I made some homemade laundry detergent and am washing the first load of towels in it now. Here is the recipe I used:

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT


4 cups of hot tap water
1- Fels Naptha soap bar
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (must have sodium carbonate)
1/2 cup Borax

• Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over med-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
• Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda, and Borax. Stir until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let it sit overnight to thicken.
• Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and the rest of the way with water. Shake before each use as it will gel.

Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. You can also add the essential oil directly to the individual containers to vary the scent. Number of drops would depend upon the size of the container used.

Yield: Liquid soap makes 10 gallons. 

Front Loader: Use 1/4c. per load

Top Loader: 5/8c. per load

Safe for HE washers.

So far in my experience, as the washer has just finished, the smell is well... just Downy. (That's the fabric softener I used). It doesn't have a strong smell, just a fresh, clean smell. (Which I'm thankful for, as I found while making it, that the Fels-Naptha was a bit on the strong side!) Fast forward and they are out of the dryer. The Downy smell isn't as strong as it was when it came out of the washer. The scent on the towels is very light, and it is a fresh, clean scent. I can't really put my finger on a name for the scent, just perhaps a linen type smell. I did not use any essential oil in this batch since I haven't had a chance to get to the shop that sells it. So far, I'm quite impressed and think that this detergent did an equally good job as my regular detergent. Of course, it's towels so I didn't have any highly dirty or stained items, so I'll further test those types of items and let you know how that works out! 

Few tid-bits about the soap used in this detergent:

• Fels-Naptha is over 100 years old! It's a time tested stain remover and pre-treater.  It's also great for treating poison ivy!
• Arm & Hammer Washing Soda has been around since 1874. It is quoted on the box as saying "Improves Liquid Laundry Detergent performance by up to 40%!" It is also a household cleaner and says it's tough on grease, oils, crayons, etc. It is sudsless. It neutralizes and eliminates odors. Perfume free. Says it removes clay (wonder if that includes Georgia's finest red clay?!). It's all-natural.
• Borax has been around since 1891. Removes stains, neutralizes odors. All natural laundry booster and multi-purpose household cleaner. Harmless to washing machines, plumbing and septic tanks. Removes hard water minerals. Can also be added to your dishwasher to boost cleaner power of dishwasher detergents. Deodorizes.

Since all of these soaps have been around for quite some time, it's funny how advertising over the years has made us think that only commercially made products are capable of cleaning our clothes. Add the fact that the washing soda and Borax are also good household cleaners, your looking at a lot of savings throughout the cleaning aisle! Normally I use Tide to clean my clothes, but Tide didn't come on the market until 1943... For fun, here's an old Tide commercial. Of course advertisers wanted you to believe there was no cleaner clean under the sun!

I'll keep updating you as to how it works! The biggest test I can give it is my son's white baseball pants that just met the red clay.... stay tuned!

Happy Laundering!

~Angela