This is the one I used about 15 years ago except I would not bother with the 8 litres of cold water but kept the mixture more as a gel because it was easier to store.
WASHING SOAP (LAUNDRY/KITCHEN), HAND CLEANER, GENERAL PURPOSE CLEANER RECIPE:
20 litre recipe
What you need:
• 100 grams pure soap = 1 cake purest soap (Coles or Wollies own brand pure soap are fine)
• 1 cup washing soda
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 3 teaspoons eucalypt or tea tree oil
• A few drops of lemon or lavender essential oil for perfume
• 10 litres of cold water
• 9 litres of hot water.
What to do:
Grate the soap or slice strips off with a vegie peeler and place into a large saucepan and cover with two litres of cold water.
Bring to boil & add washing soda crystals, and stir until melted.
Stir in eucalyptus oil, vinegar and essential oil.
Pour into a bucket and add 9 litres of hot water and then stir in 8 litres of cold water.
Leave to cool and when cool transfer to smaller containers and label.
Good when used for:
• Laundry detergent for front and top loading machines and hand washing. 2-3 cups depending on load size
• Pre-soaker for heavily soiled items
• Washing-up liquid 10-20 ml/10 litres of water.
Store it in 1 and 2 litre plastic fruit juice containers.
A forum member recommended them so I ordered some from Amazon. I’ve just had a rummage in a kitchen draw and there they were. Might be worth lobbing a couple of soap nuts into the mix!
I only have orange essential oil at the moment, it’s used in diffusers. I have patchouli but that’s going to smell too earthy!
Ironically I’ve just finished all the washing this morning
I’ll get grating tomorrow.
Oh that book really is quite accessible Annie!
I started to teach myself hieroglyphic text many years ago, thought I’d have another bash. I need to sit down and work through the exercises in a structured manner. I’ve had a thing about Ancient Egypt since the age of ten.
This makes enough washing powder to fit a1ltr ice cream tub perfectly, just. No hassle snapping the lid on. I washed some lightweight polo neck jumpers at 30 degrees. So, added the required amount amount of white vinegar and about six or seven drops of orange essential oil to the fabric conditioner tray.
The results seem to be very satisfactory. The jumpers do have a nice gentle orangy smell to them, they’re drying on the line at the moment… fingers crossed
So, thanks Azz!
You’re Idea is much appreciated. I guess the beauty of it is that you can choose from the wide range of essential oils available. I know that some people are real enthusiasts. Much nicer and less intense than those chemically overwhelming commercial fabric softeners!
This all looks very impressive. But why would you go to all this trouble when you can buy some washing powder ready made? I use ecover which doesn’t seem to be toxic. At least since I started using it years ago I stopped having skin irritation which the big brands caused.
A very good question Annie!
I do enjoy experimenting and making things, probably too much Blue Peter as a kid. Also I have to confess to being a fragrance head. I’m forever burning joss sticks, cones, bakhoor etc.
It really wasn’t that much trouble, no doubt because I enjoyed doing it As for the merits of ecover I’d have to do some reading up and inform myself on that one. I can remember when it was first launched. Around the same time as The Body Shop was in full swing. Their products had a very eco friendly marketing strategy as I remember. Different colour soaps in the form of endangered species for example. Quite an interesting subject really!
I bought one of those laundry eggs a few years ago, no detergent needed, still to be convinced that it works though. I wonder how much of the cleaning is really just the water? But it’s nice to have that freshly washed smell that comes with soap suds.
Nice one Chilli! Glad it was a huge success for you - I’m going to try it with some essential oils with the vinegar next time - the only thing is I always use the dryer, so I wonder if that might impede the oils in some way - I’ll let you know! I actually bought about £200’s worth of essential oils a couple of weeks ago just because it makes sense buying them in 1ltr cans, so have got plenty to use up
I don’t want that on my skin 24/7!! None of that in our home-made version.
I actually have 6 or 7 large bottles of Ecover fabric softener here (I always add them to basket when Waitrose put them on sale) and I think it was actually a massive part of why my bed sheets had such a strong smell afterwards.
The thing is, it never used to be like that - when I first started buying them many years ago the smell was pleasant and didn’t smell/feel very ‘toxic’ at all. Is it surprising that it does now? Nope! They were bought by Johnson & Son in 2017!!
Funnily enough this was published earlier this year:
I don’t use that one. I always use Apple blossom and almond (the pink one). Is that the gardenia one? They used to have a daffodil one for a while that I didn’t like as it was too strong. I’m really fussy about the smell. I cannot even stand being a room with someone who has used strongly scented persil or ariel etc. They seem to contain benzoates.
I have had no problems with sensitivity.
I find the most important variable for sensitive skin is to use a non bio detergent. I was using their non bio powder but shops stopped selling it in favour of these capsules. I haven’t found any sensitive reactions to the capsules and they seem pretty effective at all washing cycles, probably better than the powder.
I think the laundry liquid they do is too strongly scented. I only use this if the dog has an accident or similar non personal type washes.
Sounds like homemade would sure you Annie. I think if we can avoid all these nasty chemicals and fragrances it’s worth it. It took about 15 minutes to mix all the ingredients together, @Chilliboot’s step by step is exactly how I did mine too
What I like about yours is that it is dry, the one I used to make was a liquid (or how I did it a gel) but I always wash clothes in cold water so a liquid might be better suited to that.
As for the merits of ecover I’d have to do some reading up and inform myself on that one. I can remember when it was first launched. Around the same time as The Body Shop was in full swing. Their products had a very eco friendly marketing strategy as I remember. Different colour soaps in the form of endangered species for example. Quite an interesting subject really!
