Home Made Laundry Soap and Dishwasher Soap?

[kasin]

Anyone make their own laundry or dishwasher soap and willing to share experiences and recipes? I'm looking at switching to all food grade cleaning products but would love to share notes with others and maybe save myself trouble if anyone knows tricks

My laundry machine is HE and front load BTW. So that limits what I can put in it.

[kaoskat]

I don't but it sounds intriguing. I'll give this a bump for you.

[sunshine29102]

I tried this once. I saw the recipe for homemade laundry soap on Pinterest.com and thought I'd try it.  It required grating laundry soap (found in laundry aisle) by hand, which was tedious.  You then mixed it with Borax washing powder and baking soda (I think --I'll try to find exact recipe and post).

It was rather labor intensive, and honestly I didn't feel like my clothes got as clean as with laundry detergents purchased from the grocery/superstore.  Also, the homemade version lacked a scent -- but I suppose you could add some essential oils and that would fix it. 

All in all, I made two giant batches of it, and used them up.  I never tried again after that.  Maybe because laziness on my part. Just wasn't for me.

Wo Der if others have had better results...

[melodys_angel]

I don't know any myself, but im curious^^

[Violet]

I've always wanted to try to make my own laundry soap but I'm worried it won't get my clothes clean enough. I have had good luck with homemade dishwasher soap. I've used a tablespoon or so of baking soda in the little door and a bit of vinegar where the jet dry would normally go. Sometimes I add a tiny bit of dish soap with the baking soda but not always. I might just have a good dishwasher but this has always worked really well for me.  I've also made my own multi purpose cleaner from soaking some orange peel in a large mason jar of vinegar for a couple of weeks, straining it, and putting it in a spray bottle. It works really well and the citrus helps cut through the harsh vinegar smell!

[kasin]

Ooh! Thank you for input! I agree that anything requiring grating, cooking or anything chemical like was not worth it, so I'm trying to avoid borax and washing soda for the laundry recipe. I found the one I want to try, just waiting for my laundry to pile up enough for a test load now

For dishes I love the recommendation to use vinegar! Are you putting it in instead of jet dry or mixed with it? I read several people were adding kosher salt with the baking soda too? I can't wait to try this one, thank you!

Recipe for laundry soap if any one is interested (I will update when I have had a chance to try this!)

2 cups hot water
1 cup baking soda
1/3 cup salt
1 cup castile soap (like Dr. Brenner for example)
10 drops essential oil (optional)

Combine and shake first 3 ingredients then add last two. Lightly shake to mix before each use, 1/4 cup per regular sized load. HE safe.

As a note, I add vinegar to my color and dark loads to help set the colors and prevent transfer. It also works to soften, just be careful with things that are stained because the vinegar can set the stain. I put it in the bleach compartment and fill to the max line.

[cuddlebuggy]

I got some from a family member as a christmas gift and decided to try it with soaps I collect from hotels and Fels Naptha that I got for vintage fabrics, I added lemon and lavender oils to one and cedarwood and rose to the other for the dog stuff! It's not quite as good as store bought but works ok when I'm broke!