Making your own natural powdered laundry detergent may seem pointless when you have tons of commercial alternatives available. However, homemade detergents have clear ecological advantages over commercial ones. Homemade detergents reduce waste, prevent harmful phosphates from contaminating local water supplies and allow you to avoid using the petroleum-based ingredients typically found in industrial detergents. They also allow you to save money, since the basic recipe uses only 3 ingredients that cost very little. Start from step 1 to find more information.
Steps
Step 1. Find a large bucket that can hold the ingredients and place it outdoors or in a well-ventilated room
The cleaning ingredients in your homemade detergent are non-toxic but the powders can irritate the sinuses.
Step 2. Measure 230g of laundry soda and pour it into the bucket
Soda is a very alkaline cleaner made from sodium carbonate that acts similar to baking soda, and allows you to dissolve grease, absorb oil stains, and clean stubborn dirt.
Step 3. Measure 230g of borax additive and pour them into the same bucket
Borax is a cleaning powder that kills bacteria, stabilizes the alkalinity of soda and cleans the laundry by releasing hydrogen peroxide upon contact with water.
Step 4. Grate a bar of soap into the powder
You can choose a regular household bar of soap or a laundry-specific bar of soap.
Grate the soap by hand for several minutes. If you are in a hurry, you can save time by cutting the bar of soap into pieces and then chopping them in the mixer
Step 5. Mix the ingredients together using a large spoon or gloved hand
Pour them into a recycled detergent container.
Step 6. Test the new soap by washing a load of laundry
Add 80ml of solution to a full load of laundry. To make sure the solution is well distributed in the water, wait until the washing machine is half full of water before adding your clothes.
