I have a front loading HE washer, and this detergent worked splendidly. I never had any issues with spotting or the soap not dissolving (and I use cold water).
Lets look again at what most powdered laundry detergents have in their ingredient list:
1. Borax
2. Baking Soda
3. Washing Soda
4. Fels Naptha soap
Also, you can check out the original recipe that I created this with here.
The first year of doing this I really felt was trial and error, and I feel like I have the recipe down now! I am very excited to share with you the differences in this batch! One of the main problems I had last year was grating my soap. What a pain in my you-know-what. I was bound and determined to find a better solution this year. And I did! Let me introduce to you: Zote Laundry Soap Flakes!
Gone are the days of trying to grate 6 bars of soap! Or if you were like me....trying to throw it all in the food processor! That would have been fine, but I figured for easy clean up, why not throw the food processor parts in the dishwasher!! Umm.....do you know what happens when you put regular [not dishwasher specific] soap in to the dishwasher?! Because now I do....and though my kitchen tiles probably needed scrubbing anyway, the massive amounts of foam pouring from my dishwasher was less than ideal. SO, long story short, I was very happy to find these at my local Walmart!
And, this year I didn't even need to purchase the 5 gallon bucket since I already had it! Check out my grocery list for this batch:
1. Two boxes of 2lb Baking Soda (or you can buy a 4lb box, which my store didn't have today) $1.24 each
2. One box of 4lb Borax $3.38
3. One box of 3lb Super Washing Soda $3.24
4. Two boxes of Zote Laundry Soap Flakes $2.64 each
5. One box of 3lb Oxy-clean powder $7.52
6. One jug of 55oz Purex Laundry Crystals $8.96
Total cost: $30.86
So, like last year, this number is pre-tax, and where you buy may be different than my local store. But I'm pretty sure for ten months of laundry, $30.86 rocks!!!
Also, the most expensive thing is those dang Purex Laundry Crystals. Come to find out, they aren't even fabric softener. They are just smell good-yumminess to add to your laundry pleasure. So, if I wasn't so in to smelly things, I would totally leave that out. But I'm a sucker for Lavender, and definitely think it makes the laundry experience better. So I will suck it up and spend the nine dollars!! If you have allergies in your household, you can absolutely leave them out. The Zote laundry flakes have a pretty pleasant smell themselves.
{The number seems very close to last years, and without the bucket, but obviously the economy changes and prices of items are always seeming to go up. So, I think this is pretty reasonable!}
Please, PLEASE go do this! It is the easiest thing in the world and will save you so much! Not to mention, you will save a little bit of the world by not having the waste of the big plastic detergent bottles!
The other tip I was going to mention was how I mixed it all together. Don't try to throw all the ingredients in all at the same time. You want to do it in layers. I did about five all together that included all of the ingredients, properly stirred up before adding to the next layer. This will ensure that your detergent is mixed up thoroughly and you aren't missing any ingredients when you scoop a tablespoon or two out! Also, your spaghetti scoop kitchen spoon works VERY well for this task!!
Cheers to another 10 months of laundry soap!!
-Suzanne
0 comments:
Post a Comment