Home made washing powder

Just placed a bulk order of soap 1 kg

And bulk of washing soda and borax substitute 3kg

Won't have to buy soap, washing powder or dishwasher powder for at least a year pmsl

[clothmama]

We just did a big load, we got the food processor out so I nearly have a full tin . I'm glad I read back as I forgot I'd added extra washing soda so will do that too.

[MrC]

Almost a year on and I've just made the umpteenth batch of this fabby home made washing powder. Its worked so well for us I thought I'd update the thread to let you know.

The recipe has changed little but I am making it in much bigger batches:

3 bars of Woolies soap (or other plain soap) grated very finely in the food processor
1kg Borax
1kg washing soda

I now add 1 cup of Earth Choice laundry soaker and in wash booster originally because I had it hanging about. I think it woks a bit better on whites but then it was pretty decent to start with.

Has anyone else had the same level of success with this? Let us know how you got on and your recipe.

@MrC and @clothmama do you need to use a food processor for the grating. Can I use the old fashioned steel grater as I don't own a food processor……. Also, can you use a fragrant soap or does it have to be plain. With Patrick finally outgrown his eczema we can now have lovely smelly products again.

Would love to try this as washing powder is so expensive here.

[MrC]

I originally grated it by hand until I discovered the food processor could handle it a lot quicker. It's good for toning up your biceps but that won't be a problem after all that gardening eh?

I used lavender essential oil in it a few times. A tablespoon seemed to work OK and made it smell nice but not over the top. TBH I quite like the smell of the laundry soap so often leave the smelly out.

Thankyou @MrC

Next question, how much do you put in each wash?

Love the container by the way! My laundry will be the first room inside the house to be re-done which hopefully will be next year!

I find I prefer more soap than powders so I don't measure I just guess how much and put more soap in than powder xx

[clothmama]

We have a little scoop that came with our laundry powder tin that I'd guess is a couple of tablespoons worth. It is about the same as the little blue scoop you get in the OMO concentrate boxes here @Bernadette

Love the container by the way!

Cute isn't it!

[MrC]

@Bernadette I just did a load and measured the tablespoons for you. Our measurer looks smaller than it is. It actually take 5 tablespoons to fill it rather than two. We use 1 whole scoop.