Home Made Laundry Detergent & More

camprn wrote:

CarolinaGirl wrote:Do these soaps work in an HE washer? We had issues once when we accidentally bought non-HE soap.. we had soap suds coming up out of the vent on the back of the washer. We now make sure that we get the HE kind. I wouldn't mind trying homemade detergent, but fear having a repeat of the suds out the back (and onto the wall and down the wall to the floor.. we just put down new flooring and don't want water damage already lol).

I use mine in the HE washer, works just fine, low suds.

We have been using homemade laundry soap for several years. It hardly makes any suds at all - I had to work HARD to convince Hubby that the clothes were getting clean. The brown water convinced him!

GG

Homemade stain stick.... have no idea if it works.
http://frugallysustainable.com/2012/04/homemade-laundry-stain-stick/

I know make my own laundry soap thanks to the thread....though I have deviated vastly from the original recipe....any time I see a "laundry booster" on sale for a great price I buy it and add a cup of it to the recipe.

I also replaced the Fel Naptha with a small cheap bottle of liquid laundry detergent because grating the soap and cooking it was such a chore and a huge mess.

My current recipe.....

1 33 load bottle of Purex I bought on sale for 1.99
1 cup Sun Oxygen Clean (cheap Oxyclean knockoff)
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 cup White King Ultra Water Softener and Detergent Booster
1 cup Zout
1 cup Clorox2 powder

I put all the powders and the Zout in a the bottom of a five gallon bucket and dissolve them with stock pot of boiling water and mix till combined

I fill the rest of the bucket with cold water and carefully add the liquid laundry detergent and so it does not foam then I carefully stir.

I don't know how thrifty it is now that I went all mad scientist and added a bunch of extra stuff to the original recipe but the stuff I am making has so far has out performed the regular laundry detergent I was using.

Thanks Kim, for this heads up! Homemade dishwasher cubes.
http://www.louises-country-closet.com/2013/03/homemade-dishwasher-detergent-cubes.html

Might have to give the dish tabs a whirl.
We are getting ready to whip up another batch of the laundry detergent as well. Stuff works great!

Hi all, I just made a long-winded post about making my own Soap Nuts detergent in another thread:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t14548-soapnut-tree-saponida-mukorossi#154545

The problem with soap nuts as I see it, is that there are only a few people selling the products in the US at ridiculous prices... They are dirt cheap here in China, and they work great!

I noticed all the people talking about allergies and sensitive skin, etc... Soap nuts are a great solution!

Hi all!  I know this is an old topic, but I had to share this because I really love it.  It's my #1 cleaner in my house. 

Dishsoap and vinegar cleaner

It's literally dishsoap and vinegar.  Equal parts.  You can use concentrated dishsoap for a thicker cleaner if you want it to stick to walls better, but unconcentrated works fine for me.  I use it to clean my tub and shower, my bathroom and kitchen sinks, even my toilet.  It's the only thing I've been able to find, aside from harsh chemicals, that gets rid of the nasty mineral deposits left by our very hard water.  Just put it in a spray bottle, spray onto whatever you're cleaning, use a sponge to make sure it covers the whole surface, let it set a few minutes, and then rinse off.  And I like that I always have the materials on hand to make it.

littlesapphire wrote:Hi all!  I know this is an old topic, but I had to share this because I really love it.  It's my #1 cleaner in my house. 

Dishsoap and vinegar cleaner

It's literally dishsoap and vinegar.  Equal parts.  You can use concentrated dishsoap for a thicker cleaner if you want it to stick to walls better, but unconcentrated works fine for me.  I use it to clean my tub and shower, my bathroom and kitchen sinks, even my toilet.  It's the only thing I've been able to find, aside from harsh chemicals, that gets rid of the nasty mineral deposits left by our very hard water.  Just put it in a spray bottle, spray onto whatever you're cleaning, use a sponge to make sure it covers the whole surface, let it set a few minutes, and then rinse off.  And I like that I always have the materials on hand to make it.

Ooohhhh...good one.  I use equal vinegar and water with a couple drops of Simple Green or such in a spray bottle for kitchen and veggie clean ups.  But I need your recipe for the bathroom.  I don't know what brain fart came over me yesterday but I bought some scrubbing bubbles, sprayed it on the tub and have been croaking out from the fumes through out my house ever since.  AND it didn't clean the tub.  

I'll try this now.  Thanks so much.

oh, and here's my contribution:

Windshield Washer Fluid
in a gallon jug mix:
10 cups water
3 cups rubbing alcohol
1 squirt dishwashing liquid
Seal the jug and label

Glass Cleaner
In a spray bottle (like an empty commercial glass cleaner bottle):
fill to 1/3 with the above Windshield Washer fluid
fill the rest with water
cap and label

CC, I don't use store bought cleaner anymore exactly for that reason.  I hate the smell of  most of it!  Simple green is ok, but I'd still rather make my own cleaner (because I'm frugal!). 

Thanks for the glass cleaner.  Once I finish up my supply of windex, I want to make some of that!

Thank you for bringing this topic back to the forefront!  I copied and pasted all these "recipes" into a document that I can access later and print it out for myself and to share.  I am anxious to use products that are better for us and the environment and to save money!

The cleaner recipe calls for equal parts of blue Dawn and vinegar. The post I read said to heat the vinegar first then do you put the soap into it and let cool? Is that all? do you cut it with water or anything else? Kind of a dummy with this kind of stuff.

This article was on my internet "ticker" yesterday.  Thought you might like to look at it.  There's some other links at the bottom for other cleaners.

NOTE:  I have NOT tried this recipe yet...!

https://homes.yahoo.com/news/easy-diy-sweet-scented-homemade-dish-soap-120000872.html

littlesapphire wrote:Hi all!  I know this is an old topic, but I had to share this because I really love it.  It's my #1 cleaner in my house. 

Dishsoap and vinegar cleaner

It's literally dishsoap and vinegar.  Equal parts.  You can use concentrated dishsoap for a thicker cleaner if you want it to stick to walls better, but unconcentrated works fine for me.  I use it to clean my tub and shower, my bathroom and kitchen sinks, even my toilet.  It's the only thing I've been able to find, aside from harsh chemicals, that gets rid of the nasty mineral deposits left by our very hard water.  Just put it in a spray bottle, spray onto whatever you're cleaning, use a sponge to make sure it covers the whole surface, let it set a few minutes, and then rinse off.  And I like that I always have the materials on hand to make it.

This is my 'go to' shower and toilet cleaner as well. Spray on and walk away for a little bit. Come back and wipe off the nasty soap scum and hard water deposits easily - no scrubbing, just wipe and rinse. Unfortunately Hubby HATES the smell of vinegar (I know, should have asked about that BEFORE the wedding! ) so I have to time its usage carefully.

Can this be used on glass and tile shower walls, and the plastic floor pan? What about the aluminum frame? Thanks

sanderson wrote:Can this be used on glass and tile shower walls, and the plastic floor pan?  What about the aluminum frame?  Thanks

So far it has worked on everything I have tried it on. Ceramic toilet bowl, fiberglass shower, stainless steel sink, metal fixtures, etc. For heavy soap scum/hard water deposits I spray it on and let it sit for 30 minutes or so, then wipe and rinse. First time I made the mistake of leaving the bathroom door open and my cats climbed into the tub (they love to play there) and it got all over their paws and they licked it off and then had the 'squirts' for 2 days - beware of pets that lick soap!!! Thankfully, the Hubster is in charge of litter box detail.

Oh my gosh, GG, you have some crazy cats!  Mine smell vinegar and go running. 

Sanderson, this cleaner has been perfect for everything I've tried it on, including the aluminum shower door frame (no discoloration or anything). 

JohnP, yes, that's all you do.  Actually, I don't even heat the vinegar anymore; I just mix it equal parts with soap in a squirt bottle and shake it up.  You can cut it with water if you want something less thick, but the extra thick stuff works great for shower walls or other places that you don't want it to drip off of.

I have another recipe for everyone!  Don't know how useful this might be, but I thought it was really cool. 

DIY Hair Gel

Hubby keeps his hair slicked back because it literally stands straight up if he doesn't.  We went to buy some more hair gel today because he's almost out, and they stopped making his favorite brand, and everything else in the store is at least $10 for a tiny tiny bottle.  So we went right home and looked up a recipe, and here is what I found:

1/2 cup warm water
1/4 - 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin

Mix together until dissolved.  I had to microwave it to get it to dissolve right.  Stick it in the fridge until gelled, and use as you would normally.  It stays good for 1-2 weeks in the fridge.

It worked great for him, really good hold, looks just the same as the store bought stuff, only it cost us maybe 25 cents!

Question: the Dawn and vinegar is thin enough to spray on? Has anyone tried in on the range hood or aluminum filters? I'm sorry for all the questions but I really want to try it. What about white floor tile grout? I use white vinegar and a tooth brush, but wondering if this would work better.

Sanderson, yes, it is thin enough to spray on, though it's thick enough to stick to a wall without dripping.  I sometimes like to thin it out to make it stretch a little longer when I can't make any more, and it works just as well as the thick stuff.  I've also made it with regular concentrated dish soap (instead of the ultra concentrated stuff), and that works well too.

I have used it on range hood filters, and that works great.  Just spray it on really thickly, let it sit for about 10 minutes, then spray it clean with hot water.  Works like a charm.  I don't have any tile in my house, but if you're using vinegar to clean your grout already, I can't see why this wouldn't also work.  Of course, you would have to do a lot more rinsing afterward than you would if you were using vinegar alone.