homemade detergent

abby8279

Does homemade detergent work just as good as commercial detergent?  I am looking at the recipe that uses washing soda, borax, and oxiclean (maybe epsom salt).  We have a HE FL w/ hard water.  We are looking for something that works as good as Tide but without the scent.

mrshudson618

I use that, but I don't really trust it so I alternate washings with tide. We haven't had any problems that way, so maybe it is fine, but I haven't used it on its own long enough to know for sure.

Mandmeesh

I know @Nana_Osaki06‌ uses homemade detergent.

nanabanana06

I used the recipe thats 2 parts borax and washing soda, 1 part oxyclean free. Worked fairly well for me too. I stopped since I thought maybe Cade was allergic to borax, but I'm thinking that may not be the case anymore. I'm also itching to try a recipe that uses ground soap nuts that has no borax.

abby8279

Nana_Osaki06 You said it worked fairly well before you stopped using it.  Do you find that other detergents work even better?  Are you a Tide fan as well?  Did you use homemade det. for your regular laundry too?

freezorburn

A lot of people get good results with Country Save or Tiny Bubbles. I don't believe either is scented. You may need to play with the detergent amount and/or include a water softener such as Calgon, depending on how hard your water is.

countrycotton

What you listed above is what I use for diaper detergent. 1-2 tablespoons depending on how many days of diapers. For regular laundry I add a grated bar of zote to the mix. 1-2 tablespoons is all I use. I just recently added a cup of tide to the mix as DH has gotten especially dirty in the garden recently. One batch for regular laundry last me at least two months. That is for two adults and a six month old.

Amores0121

@countrycotton Does this work just as well for dipes? I find that our towels sometimes smell with the homemade detergent, especially after they are wet. I'm contemplating whether to make the CD safe stuff, or just buy it.

countrycotton

I wouldn't use the zote on diapers, but you could add tide to it if you feel you need a little extra kick. As for towels, I use the zote (some places don't have zote, so use fels naphtha) version on everything and haven't had any problems that I didn't have before I started the homemade detergent. For years I have stipped my towels with hot water about every three months regardless of my detergent. Like I mentioned above add some tide to either mix, a small box of tide will last a long time if your only useing one scoop every month or two, and it give a good kick to home made detergent. I've never bought a specific diaper cloth disper detergentt, so I smile no help there.

Also it's such a small amount of tide it dosent really have much smell.

abby8279

countrycotton Would you suggest epsom salt for hard water?

countrycotton

I've never tried it. You could go a little heavy on the washing soda if you need to. I know some on this board who have hard water use calgon with good results.

bumpuser9353653

countrycotton said:

What you listed above is what I use for diaper detergent. 1-2 tablespoons depending on how many days of diapers. For regular laundry I add a grated bar of zote to the mix. 1-2 tablespoons is all I use. I just recently added a cup of tide to the mix as DH has gotten especially dirty in the garden recently. One batch for regular laundry last me at least two months. That is for two adults and a six month old.

@countrycotton - you said you add a cup of tide to your mix... does that mean 1c. Borax, 1c. Washing Soda, 1/2c. OxiClean + 1c. Tide?  

I just bought some Tide and was thinking of adding it to my recipe for a little extra "kick".

countrycotton

That is exactly what I did. @RugbyMamma‌. I have always liked my homemade detergent but I really like this "kicked up" version. And over all think I'm actually useing less of my detergent than normal, so I think one batch will last even longer than I expected.

Edited. Wanted to clarify. Borox, washing soda, oxi clean, tide for diapers

Borox, washing soda, oxi, tide, plus grated bar of zote for regular laundry. 

bumpuser9353653

Thanks @countrycotton‌! :-)