Comments on: Why Homemade Laundry Detergent Rocks!

By: Lisa Jenkins

Lisa Jenkins — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:08:44 +0000

I have been using the duggar method and am very pleased with the results. First, of all I began doing this when I found that Tide was becoming to harsh and didnt like the way my clothes felt. I am very picky and buy quality clothing that is made with good fabic and constructed well, I do not have gobs of clothes but, what I do have lasts forever and feels good on. Tide was wearing them out so I tried making my own. The results have been fantastic my clothes have that nice feel to them again and my frontloader stays clean. I like it!

By: christy

christy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:56:49 +0000

those who use liquid recipes, why do you dilute the mixture again after making it in the 5 gallon bucket?

I just put a half cup instead of a whole cup- is diluting it further necessary?

this time when I made my batch, I went in and mixed it again when it started getting lumpy (after just few hours or more)& now- it has no huge solid pieces, its kind of like a gel-like oatmeal-like goo and it does not appear to need any mixing now

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:06:57 +0000

I make te powdered version — adding a cup of color safe bleach (Purex or Clorox 2) made a huge difference. The whites are white now!

By: Kim B.

Kim B. — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:16:54 +0000

I also have used the Duggar family recipe. I want so bad for this recipe to work but I find that my whites are very dingy. In fact, you would think I washed my whites with my colors as they look really grey. Sometimes I will wash clothes and very simple stains do not come out. (My 4 girls all play soccer and even sometimes simple dirt won’t come out). I have often taken them over to the sink and just put a little liquid Oxy Clean on them and the stain comes right out. It is so frustrating!!! I have a new HE washing machine and I’ve even tried using the pre-wash, tried doubling the strength of the detergent (by not diluting it with water), and tried washing smaller loads at a time. I do have a water softener so I don’t think it’s because of hard water.

The other things I’ve noticed is that on black athletic pants, the white stripe down the sides is very dingy.

I have 3 other friends and we all made this recipe at the same time back in the Winter. We have all 4 come to the same conclusion. Two of us live in the country will well water and two of us live in the City with City water. None of us like what it does to our whites.

My one friend has said that she knows someone who has added an extra scoop of Borax and an extra scoop of the washing soda. I’ve also read about Zout working well on whites. I used the Felz Napa.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions? Anyone else have the same problem and have a solution? I don’t mind making it, but it seems pointless if it won’t even get out dirt!!

By: Dyane

Dyane — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:43:49 +0000

I have used Lirio and like it. I use it for hand stain removal often. Anyone have problems with residue on washing machine. I heard that in the past and just wonder if it is true? I wash a few loads with All ever once in a while just in case to clean machine. I like Zote for whites. I think Lirio is easier on colored clothes and Fels is great for greasing stains but does fade darks if you use hot water and too much.

By: Karianne R.

Karianne R. — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:17:07 +0000

I also have used the Duggar family recipe, but in this I have found that it does not work well on whites (they always have a yellow tinge) and I find dark blotches on all of my clothes. I am trying to find a better recipe, because I have two children and find it expensive to keep buying laundry soap. Any ideas?

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:46:19 +0000

Same here, Lori….for the poison ivy/poison sumac. I just lather it up on the affected area and leave it. Kills it out quickly!

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:40:31 +0000

Good information. Thanks!!

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:38:03 +0000

I wouldn’t use Irish Spring, personally, as it’s a ‘scum soap’~ in other words, it floats to the top of the water (in the bath). I just made a quadruple batch of the mixture~ using 2 bars of the fels-naptha, 4 cups of Borax, 4 cups of Arm & Hammer Washing Powder and 4 cups of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda. I’ve just done a load of laundry and I also added 1/2 cup white vinegar to the rinse for softening purposes. Excited about saving $$ on laundry items! I figure this mixture will take me thru Christmas season for roughly $8 total investment!
Hint: I grated up the fels before i put it in my ‘magic bullet’ (you can use a food processor), and added some of the borax to blend it finely.

By: robin

robin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 00:42:23 +0000

fels-naptha is 5 1/2 oz. I am going to try the irish spring, which is 4 oz. I bet if you use two 4 oz bars it would be ok, but if you don’t think so, try 1 1/2 bars.

By: Sherri

Sherri — Sun, 22 May 2011 12:33:25 +0000

How many bars of soap do you use? I just made my first batch of laundry soap from the duggar websitebut I was alittle confussed about how big the bar of soap was, is it the regular size you use to shower with or is it bigger. And how many small bars of soap do you use?

By: Redbird

Redbird — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:08:07 +0000

I am 63 and started making my own laundry soap about a year ago. I have used fels naptha, Zote, Irish spring and Ivory. I experiment with each batch I make..The Zote and Irish spring leave the Best Smell to our laundry but they all clean our clothes. I especially noticed that our whites are really whiter than with store bought laundry detergent.
I enjoy making my own and like others have said I do know what it contains. I do not have sensitive skin but my dh does.

I have also been using the vinegar and dawn dish soap for cleaning. Last time the dawn was a green apple scent and it was not only the best cleaner but smells so fresh.

By: Theresa

Theresa — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:05:33 +0000

I looked at Tide’s MSDS, and it uses Borax. My septic has withstood that for over 25 years.

By: Theresa

Theresa — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:16:35 +0000

I thought I was the only one who got bit by the detergent making bug. My husband thinks I’ve ‘gone nuts’. I LIKE making the detergent. I LIKE tweaking the ingredients. I have tried different soap, but like Fels best. I made a batch out of Ivory, English Leather Lavender, Lirio. I still have to try a batch with Zote Pink. A close second was Fels mixed with English Leather Lavender. It just SMELLED GOOD.

So far, they all have cleaned the same. As did a comparison test with Tide. Using white wash cloths, I put ketchup & mustard on 2 wash cloths. Washing one in Tide & one in Homemade detergent, one did not wash better than the other. Neither got out all the stains. Tide did not do any better, as I thought it would. They both left the same amount of stain. The condiments sat longer on the wash cloth, waiting for the Tide cloth to finish washing. That said, I can say a lot of money using the homemade laundry detergent.

By: NLC82

NLC82 — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:24:16 +0000

Borax is not acutely toxic. There is no issue using it to wash clothes or dishes. It does occur naturally in evaporite deposits produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes. The most commercially important deposits are found in Turkey; Boron, California; and Searles Lake, California. Also, it has been found at many other locations in the Southwestern United States, the Atacama desert in Chile, and in Tibet and Romania, therefor it is environmentally friendly. Borax is comprised of 99.5% pure borax, the remaining 0.5% is composed of trace minerals. While Borax is used as a food additive in some countries it is supposed to be banned in the US. Borax IS found in some commercial vitamin supplements, such as Puritan’s Pride Multi-Day, which is made right here in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax