Homemade Laundry Detergent

I had the day off today and decided that today was laundry day (Our apartment doesn't have a washer and dryer in it so I'm generally not very motivated to do laundry on a more regular basis). I got all the piles sorted and was ready to grab my laundry detergent when I realized it was gone (later found out that my husband had it in the back of his car while at work). I was pretty annoyed at first but decided to see if there were any home made detergent recipes online. Most of the recipes needed borax (which I did not have on hand) so I kept searching until I found one that only needed hot water, a bar of soap and some baking soda.

Here are the instructions I found on this website

2 gallons Water (hot)
1 bar Soap (grated)
2 cups Baking soda

• Melt grated soap in a saucepan with enough hot water to cover. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring frequently until soap is melted.
• In a large pail, pour 2 gallons hot water. Add melted soap, stir well.
• Then add the baking soda, stir well again.
• Use 1/2 cup per full load, 1 cup per very soiled load.

(Because I was trying this out for the first time, I cut the recipe in thirds using 1/3 of the bar soap, 8 cups of water, and 1/2 cup of baking soda, which actually made a full pot of detergent!)

After starting my load of laundry with my new detergent I also found that my husband had the dyer sheets as well (dang it!) so I looked up some homemade dryer sheets as well. Through my investigation I actually learned that most dryer sheets contain toxic chemicals.

"...the laundry room is also highly toxic, containing the same chemical perfumes in both the laundry detergent and especially the dryer sheets. Dryer sheets coat all your clothes with a layer of toxic chemicals. When you wear those clothes, your body moisture causes those chemicals to come into contact with your skin and be absorbed directly into your bloodstream. It's an easy way to poison your system with cancer-causing chemicals" (taken from this article)

I was amazed that I had never heard that there were toxic chemicals in the sheets (I remember now that the organic dryer sheets we do purchase say "non-toxic" right on the label but it didn't click until now!) so I found a recipe for homemade dryer sheets here.

All you need is a washcloth (I saw another site that used cut up t-shirt material) and any essential oil!

Just take a dampened washcloth and put 10 drops of lavender, lemon, Tea Tree or any other essential oil. Put damp in with the wet clothes.

I guess I was forced to start my journey trying to be simple and organic and I'm glad I was! I should have taken pictures step by step but I didn't know it would work so wonderfully with so little preparation and ingredients! My clothes are clean and have a light rose petal smell. (NOTE: I read that adding vinegar during the rinse cycle will help soften the clothes. I didn't have any on hand at the time so my clothes did come out a bit stiff) If I try any other recipes for laundry detergent I will document more carefully and post for you all to enjoy! :)

Have you ever tried any home made concoctions? Tell me how they worked for you!