Thursday, September 30, 2010

Homemade detergent! (kinda)

Well, technically I'm making it. But really all that amounts to is mixing it. Cause.... Yea.

So, as nice as it would be to wash my clothing in nothing but vinegar and Ivory soap, I just don't trust that it would cut it. I simply don't. And after my lousy experience with Charlie's, well, I'm not taking chances just yet.

So, I came across a recipe that claims to be like Tide. Well, we'll see about that, but it does seem reasonable.
The recipe calls for an equal ratio of:
-Sun detergent with bleach alternative
-Sun oxygen cleaner
-Borax
-Super washing soda
Each load uses one tablespoon of the mixed detergent.

I procured the items.
Ansel was very excited, and wanted to be in the picture.

Now, here's where I got VERY scientific. Or, not. The products ranged from 55oz. to 77oz. Ehhhh... close enough. I dumped all the containers into my big bucket container.

We mixed. And mixed. And then sealed the container and rolled it and tipped it upside down, and back, and so on. All the products are white powders, so it's not easy to know when it's mixed. This is why it would have been better to make a smaller batch. Oh well. Once it was mixed, I filled a smaller container to keep on the shelf above my washing machine.

I'll start using this tomorrow. I finished off my standard detergent today. I'm going to keep using real Tide on diapers because I just don't play around when it comes to that.

Ah! And there's the awesome news..... I did all the fancy advanced math. And when this is all said and done, this detergent costs........ 2.5 cents per load!

2 comments:

  1. Interesting! So for all that you probably spent the same as one med (64 load) bottle of tide you think? Oh, if I'm remembering you don't have a front loader right?

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  2. Right, not a front loader. Just a plain old, boring, top loader.
    All told I spent.... $12.79, plus tax. And it'll get me...... 520 loads. Sheesh.

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