Little Miss Homemaker

So, I have been on this kick for the last six months or so where I am making more and more things homemade. I am definitely not alone with this trend of saving money where possible and reusing, recycling, up cycling, and making things from scratch. It's actually really fun and challenging to find ways to make things I typically buy at the store. I have been using homemade laundry detergent for close to a year now and it has been great. I have saved a lot of money not having to buy detergent and other products each month at the grocery store.

One Saturday afternoon in February my best friend, April and I spent a couple of hours making laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, dish soap and fabric softener. We spent about $25 each and ended up with months worth of each product. Another plus besides saving money...IT. WAS. EASY. Seriously, there was minimal effort involved and we were able to enjoy each other's company while "working" :) .

I googled recipes for each of these products and found them on multiple sites. Lucky for me, there are other women out there who are super smart and figured out these recipes so everyone else can take advantage. Below are the photos of the products we used/made.

Here is the dish soap made with

Here is all-purpose cleaner that I am ADDICTED TO! It is citrus rinds with white vinegar in a jar for two weeks. Then put into a spray bottle and TA-DA!!! 

Below is dish soap and fabric softener while they are melting:

This is dishwasher detergent in a pickle jar (For some reason this got hard as a rock so I had to throw it away because I couldn't get it out of the jar! Will keep experimenting to see what went wrong.) DO NOT MIX CITRIC ACID WITH OTHER INGREDIENTS WITHOUT STIRRING MIXTURE DAILY FOR A FEW DAYS TO PREVENT HARDENING: 

Here are 5 gallon buckets we used to put laundry detergent in:

Below are finished products for fabric softener and dishwasher detergent:

And these are all the products we used to make our homemade products: 

Another great thing about these products is that every one of them serves at least one other purpose so there is no waste or wasteful spending. 

The recipes for the cleaning products are:

Laundry Detergent (we doubled our batch) (original site for Laundry Detergent Recipe) :

 1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking isle

1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle (if you use Zote bars use 2 bars instead, Zote can be found at Home Depot)

-Grate the bar soap and then dump/mix all ingredients together. Use 1-2 tablespoons per load of laundry. Safe for HE washers, which is what I have.

Fabric Softener (double batch):

12 C hot water
6 C white vinegar
4 C hair conditioner (crazy! I know!)

Mix all together until conditioner is dissolved. Use 2 tablespoons per laundry load. Here is the original site: Fabric Softener

Dishwasher Detergent (double batch):

2 C Washing Soda
2 C Borax
1 C salt
1 C citric acid

Mix ingredients well and use one tablespoon per load. Original site for Dishwasher Detergent

Dish Soap (times 8 so it was a big batch):

2 C Fels Naptha
16 C water
1 C vinegar

Pour soap and water into pot, slowly heat and stir until soap dissolves. DO NOT BOIL. Allow to cool some then add vinegar. Allow to cool completely before transferring. I can not for the life of me find the original site for this recipe or I WOULD GIVE CREDIT where credit is due.

I am in no way saying these recipes are mine. I only borrowed them from other super-smart women who pioneered the homemade home goods before me.

Anyway, I strongly suggest trying these recipes. They will save you time and money and it is a great feeling knowing what exactly is being used in your home!

Hope you enjoyed!

-J.D.