Update: DIY Laundry Detergent

Back in October 2013, I made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent.

Well, it's now April 2015, and I am running low and have had to make a new batch!

Yup, this stuff lasted me a year and a half- doing about 1 to 3 loads a week! I think this stuff works very well in getting our laundry clean and smelling fresh, hence why I wanted to make it again.

I am using all the same ingredients as last time, except this time I'm using a bigger tub of Oxi-Clean and a bigger bottle of the Purex Crystals. So this batch has cost me a little more than the last batch.

Here is the breakdown of the ingredients and prices:

Pure Baking Soda - 1 (4 lbs. box)                        $2.24
Super Washing Soda - 1 (3 lbs.7oz. box)             $3.97
Borax - 1 (4lbs. box)                                            $3.97
Oxi-Clean - 1 (5 lbs. tub)                                     $9.47
Purex Crystals - 1 (48oz bottle)                           $8.96
Fels Naptha laundry bar - (2 bars)                       $1.94 ($.97 each)

                                                               
                                                                Total:    $30.55


All you need to do is grate the Fels Naptha bars and mix everything in a big bucket and that's it! (More details can be found on my first batch post.)



This batch costs about $7 more than the first, but I found that using a smaller container of Oxi-Clean and a smaller bottle of Purex Crystals like last time works absolutely fine. The reason I got a bigger tub and a bigger bottle was because I had a little extra cash. But either way, it'll work out great!

Please let me know if you have any questions/comments/suggestions/etc!

Other DIY posts on Latitude Adjustment:
Laundry Detergent (1st batch)
Homemade Deodorant
Self-Watering Seed Starter Pots
Recipes
 

DIY: Homemade Laundry Detergent

I became a Pinterestaholic early last year when we were living in South Korea. I saw one pin for homemade laundry detergent and I got excited. I thought it was a really cool idea. I wanted to try it so bad, but never got to doing it. Then we moved to the Philippines and I knew I wouldn't be able to make it for a while longer. During all this time, I would see pin after pin for homemade detergent, each one slightly different from the next. Now I have quite a few different pins on my Pinterest for homemade laundry detergent. If you're a fellow pinner, I'm sure you have one, or maybe even a few pins for some DIY detergent too, right? Well- after almost a year and a half from seeing my first DIY laundry detergent pin on Pinterest, I finally got around to making it last weekend.

There are tons of recipes for homemade detergent. I took 3 recipes and made a chart to layout what each recipe had so I could figure out what I wanted to do.

Please excuse the horrid handwriting. I made this quickly.

Here is what I decided to use (I took a few things from each of the 3 recipes) for my recipe:

1 box Borax (4 lbs.)
1 box Super Washing Soda (3 lbs. 7 oz)
1 box Pure Baking Soda (4 lbs.)
2 bars Fels-Naptha laundry bars
1 container Oxi-Clean (1.3 lbs.)
1 bottle Purex Crystals

For a couple of the recipes, they said the Oxi-Clean is optional. It just gives the wash some extra stain-fighting power. The small container of Oxi-Clean was about $4, so I just threw it in. The Purex Crystals are definitely optional- they're just for scent. I like some extra scent-  so I decided to get them.

First order of business for me though was to set everything up and make it look pretty so I could post a picture on Instagram, because I was that excited about this.


Then I got to it:

First, grate the Fels-Naptha bars:

Then put all the ingredients in a large bucket, mix it all up, but the lid on the bucket and give it some good shakes:

And that's it! You can store the extra detergent in a different container, or do what I did- keep it in the bucket! I just put some in the empty Oxi-Clean container to take with me when I go do laundry. You only need to use 2 Tablespoons per load (and just f.y.i- the scoop that comes in the Oxi-Clean is 2 Tablespoons, so I just use that for measuring!).

I used it today for the first time and it worked really well. Our clothes were clean and smelled great!

Here is a cost breakdown of what I paid for everything:

Quantity        Size                       Item                                                Price
    1             5 Gallon                 Bucket + Lid                                   $3.88
    1             4 Lbs. box             Borax                                              $3.38
    1             3lbs.7oz. box         Super Washing Soda                       $3.24
    1             4 lbs. box              Pure Baking Soda                            $2.24
    2              bars                     Fels-Naptha Laundry bars                $1.94 (.97/each)
    1             1.3 lbs. container   Oxi-Clean                                        $3.86
    1             container               Purex Crystals                                  $4.76
                                                                                            Total:  $23.30



This bucket-full of detergent I'm sure will last us a year, probably even longer. One blogger I came across said it lasted her a year with her family of four. So this will definitely be more cost-effective and economical-- always a good thing!

{**Update 11-3-13: I pinned this on Pinterest and a pinner commented the following: "Totally made this last September and am just now having to make it again! $30 for a years worth of detergent is AMAZING!"**}

These laundry detergent recipes are really forgiving and you can customize them any way you want to. You can choose whatever soaps and scent crystals you want and/or need. For example, some recipes use Zote or Ivory soap instead of Fels-Naptha. Some recipes use the Downy Unstopables Laundry Scent Boosters instead of the Purex Crystals. This is what I made and works really well!

Homemade Laundry Detergent
{printable recipe}

Ingredients:
- 1    large bucket with lid (5 gallons)
- 1   4 lbs. box Borax
- 1   3 lbs. 7 oz. box Super Washing Soda
- 1   4 lbs. box Pure Baking Soda
- 2   bars Fels-Naptha laundry bars
- 1   1.3 lbs. container Oxi-Clean (optional)
- 1   bottle Purex Crystals (optional)

Instructions:
- Grate the bars of Fels-Naptha
- Put all ingredients into bucket
- Mix/shake ingredients together well.
- Use 2 Tablespoons per load


Let me know if you have made or plan on making some laundry detergent-- I'd love to hear from you. Any more tips or recommendations?

Other DIY-ness from Latitude Adjustment:
- DIY Self-Watering Seed Starter Pots (made from plastic bottles)
- Homemade Deoderant
- Recipes

DIY: Homemade Deodorant

I'm all about saving money {so that I have more money to spend on travel!}. Not only does this mean not spending money, it also means trying to cut costs where I can-- including small things that may not seem like a big deal at the time, but in the long run can add up-- i.e. antiperspirant/deodorant.

I came across this recipe for homemade deodorant and I tried it right away and I have to say- I'm in love with this stuff!

But before I get into why I love it and the recipe, let's discuss antiperspirants for a moment. Our bodies are these complicated machines, each part doing its job to keep us functioning. Part of our natural bodily function is to perspire. Antiperspirants are designed to help fight body odor by reducing sweat by clogging up our sweat glands... they stop something that's supposed to occur naturally in our bodies. Um, that doesn't sound too healthy for us, right? Health risks have been found with using antiperspirants (duh!) {click here, here, here & here for more information about the risks of using antiperspirants}.

DIY: Self-Watering Seed Starter Pots

Jason has been planting a lot of crops lately and he has a lot of seedlings. We also have quite a few plastic bottles. They don't have the easiest or most convenient waste management system in this town, so we try to not make a lot of waste. When I came across these self-watering seed starters that use plastic soda bottles, I thought it was a perfect idea- we'd be helping the garden AND reusing materials that would otherwise just be thrown away.

And so far- they really work!

DIY Projects from Too Much To See

"Too Much To See, The World Keeps Turnin'" is the name of my old blog that I don't really use anymore. BUT, I have done some DIY projects there that I would like to share here on Latitude Adjustment.

Click on the links to see more:

Infinity Scarf from a t-shirt

From shirt to skirt!

How to remove glitter nailpolish easily

Holder for charging cell phone