Homemade Laundry Detergent

So tonight Jon and I made laundry detergent for the first time, and it's dang easy! It can be used for any kind of washer (top/front load, regular/HE) from what I understand, so we're trying it out. The total cost comes to about $.01 per load.

Directions: (I found all the ingredients at Fry's)

Boil 6 Cups Water in a pot
Add 1/3 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (grated)
Stir until the soap is melted
Add 1/2 cup Borax and 1/2 cup washing soda (not baking soda) and stir
Remove from heat

Pour 4 cups HOT water into a 2 gallon bucket
Add soap mixture from above and stir
Then add 22 cups water to bucket
Stir
Close lid and let sit for 24 hours

Before use: Stir
Add 1/2 cup to wash load (for HE washer I'm going to try 1/4 cup and see how that works)

This recipe was from Cindy Brown who loves this! It doesn't really get stains out, and if your clothes are extra dirty you may want to add a little more than 1/2 cup. She uses dish soap for grease stains and stain remover for normal ones. You can also add Oxi Clean if you want on the really dirty loads. I don't know how long these can be stored in buckets before they gel up yet, but I'll keep looking. There are other recipes online if you want to try a different one. Some people also add essential oils to add scents to the soap...but that adds to the cost.

Storing Water...

So I found some information online about how to store water. You can of course use big drums, or 3 or 5 gallon buckets. When using used bottles, the best way to go is to use 2 Liter bottles, so if you drink pop, use those bottles. I found 2 links that I'm posting in here; basically the best are 2 Liters; plastic milk jugs become brittle over time, and juice bottles contain a sugar that promote bacteria and growth. If you use used bottles, be sure to wash the bottles thoroughly with soap and hot water, then sanitize with 1 tsp of bleach, swish it around, dump, and then rinse it out. Then fill the bottle, seal tightly, store in a dark place (away from sunlight) and rotate every 6 months.

From EHOW, it says: The Red Cross, FEMA, and other disaster relief agencies recommend storing a 3 day supply of water for everyone in your household. I am more comfortable with 2 weeks worth. They estimate 1 gallon per person per day. That is 2 quarts for drinking and 2 quarts for cooking and other limited use. A family of 4 needs 4 gallons a day or 28 gallons for a week. This may vary with the climate your in. If you are in a hot climate store a bit more and rotate it more often.

Another link to check out is this PDF file.

So as for us, we will probably be using juice bottles, since we don't drink pop...I'm just going to make sure that I wash them super well, and every 6 months rotate, and redo the whole process. Hope this information helps; please let me know if you have more questions related to do this.

First Meeting!

Thanks for those that came to the first meeting! (We really missed you Dave and Michelle!) It was great having you guys there and we're excited to do this with you. I have the list of questions to find answers to and will post them on a blog as soon as I have them!

Don't forget...next week I'll check in with you all to see what we want to do about the cannery this month...

Have a great time getting started as a family!