How to Make Your Own Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent

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By themissiah
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This article will teach you how to make your own environmentally friendly laundry detergent. It is a fun process for the whole family and helps cut down on packaging and chemicals.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

5 ounces of pure soap (can be deodorant soap)- preferably cruelty-free soap. I use pure glycerin soap. If you can find Zote Soap, that's great.
Water (faucet is fine)
grater
large pot (3-4 quart size)
Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) - a.k.a Washing Soda - can be found at grocery, photography, and pool supply stores.

Step 1

The size of pot you can use.

Grate the 5 ounces of soap into the pot and just cover with water.
Step 2

Heat until soap is dissolved. Heat on low to medium heat, stirring continually.
Step 3

Soda Ash/Washing Soda = Sodium Carbonate

After heating and dissolving, fill pot the rest of the way with more water. Stir in ONE cup full of soda ash/washing soda.
Step 4

Stir mixture until soda ash is dissolved. I usually heat mine on low and stir to dissolve the soda ash completely. Let mixture cool.
Step 5

Use recycled containers, if possible.

Funnel into a large recycled container, such as a recycled juice bottle, a cola bottle, or anything else you can find. Use 1/4 cup per full load of laundry.

Tips & Warnings

I made a nifty funnel just for this project by cutting the top of a cola bottle, about a 1/3 of the way down, and removing the top. Just turn upside down, et voila, a funnel.
You can use liquid castile soap, if you so please. It creates a different consistency, though.
Different types of soap are going to create different consistencies of detergent. I have used liquid castile soap before. It turned out watery with white cloudy chunks. It still cleaned great, though.
Glycerin soap creates a gloopy mixture, which is what I personally prefer.

Comments

lynnp said

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on 7/7/2009 This sounds like a great way to save on laundry detergent, and to stay away from the chemicals at the same time. Thanks, I will try this. I'm not sure what "washing soda" is, though. I will look for it when I am in the store the next time.