Make your own homemade laundry detergent

A couple of months ago I did some research online to find a natural, homemade laundry detergent that worked as well (and I'm picky) as the Tide Free I was using at the time. I came across this guy's website diy natural and found his recipe to be quite easy and inexpensive...just what I was looking for!

First I went to my local Target, thinking I would easily find the ingredients there and for a good price too. I was only partially right, Target had a 10 pack of Ivory Simply Ivory 4.5 oz bars for a good price so I bought that. I also was able to find the 20 Mule Team Borax and purchased that there as well. Next I went across the street to the 99 cent store and found large bars of Zote for 50 cents and a box of Sun Bleach for a dollar (more on that later). I did not feel like driving all the way to Walmart to see what they had ( big mistake, my friend Darci found most of the ingredients there much cheaper!) so I stopped at my local Albertson's to see what they had, I was pleasantly surprised that they had everything there, so I grabbed up some Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda and a bar of Fels-Naptha.

I got home and plopped my bags down on the kitchen table, and proceeded to excitedly tell Eric that I found all the ingredients and where I found them...poor guy, he did listen and tell me he was happy for me :) Anyway, I made my first batch right away using most of a Zote bar (it's 7 oz instead of 4.5) as the soap of choice. I washed a few loads using the new detergent and it was good, but not great, I did finish the detergent before I made a new batch using a bar of the Ivory Simply Ivory soap...now this one I really like! For some reason, the clothes come out of the dryer feeling softer than when I used Tide and I didn't/don't use fabric softener. I have been using my Zout stain remover as usual the same way I did when I used my Tide detergent, I tried using a bar of Fels-Naptha as a stain remover, but I did not feel it worked very well.

Now that I've made a few batches, I've found that the best way to make it is to put in your borax and washing soda into a food processor and then grate your soap into the food processor bowl. When you are finished grating the soap, process the ingredients together for 30 seconds or so and you will have a well blended, "green", natural laundry detergent ready to go!

Matt Jabs Homemade Laundry Detergent

1  4.5 oz bar of soap
1 Cup of 20 Mule Team Borax
1 Cup of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

Add the borax and washing soda to the bowl of a food processor, then grate with a hand grater, the bar of soap into the bowl. Process for 30 seconds and then pour contents into a container with a lid, add a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon that you can dedicate as a measuring scoop for your detergent. Use 1 Tbsp for small loads and 2 for large loads.

The Sun Bleach I found at the 99 cent store is an oxygen bleach and can be used safely on whites or colors. I use it with my whites to help brighten them a bit.

I highly recommend having your children do the grating of the soap for you...for some reason they think it's fun :)

My handsome, serious Kade

My other handsome boy...Aiden grating as Eilan looks on.




Eilan's turn, she loves helping Mommy...mostly :)

All done with the grating... 

 After being processed for 30 seconds

Ready to be used!

Here is a direct link to Matt Jabs laundry detergent recipe, you will find a lot of useful information in the readers comments! diy natural laundry detergent

If you make this or have made it, please drop a comment on how you liked it!

A new love...

No, I have not fallen out of love with my Hunny (and I never will for that matter), I'm speaking of a new gluten-free product I just tried and am in love with! You may or may not have had it before, it's Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery Cinnamon Raisin bread!

Here are some of the reason's I love this bread...

1. It's got cinnamon and raisins in it...nuff said :)
2. It is soy free...yippee
3. It's gluten-free
4. It's not too sweet at all, in fact most of the sweetness is from the raisins.
5. The crust gets nice and crunchy when toasted.
6. My local health food store carries it!!

My local health food store also carries the regular Rudi's bread and I will be trying that next, I have high hopes that it will be delicious too!

Have you tried any of Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery breads? If so, what did you think?

Aiden's face says it all...yum :)

Sometimes all you can do is laugh!

Have you ever found yourself in this situation, where your at a party and your hearing aid battery decides to go dead? Then you panic when you realize you left your purse at home because you didn't think you would need it and home is a good half hour away, meanwhile hubby and kids are having a great time so you don't want to ask them to leave for something as trivial as that. What do you do? Well this is what I do, tell my friends that I'm deaf, no I'm really deaf, as in I can't hear anything right now (my friends already know I'm deaf and that I can hear when I'm wearing my hearing aid), that my hearing aid battery has died and I'm stuck to lip reading only. They look at each other, then me, then look at each other again, then me again, then we all burst out laughing because what else can you do?

I'm incredibly blessed with kind, wonderful, understanding friends and family, they take the time to make sure they are looking at me when they talk, they patiently repeat what they just said 1, 2, 3, sometimes five times if need be (thankfully I usually get it after a couple of repeats and if I don't after that, I fake it). I even asked one guy with a long mustache to lift his mustache up when he talked and he kindly obliged me. A deaf girl can't ask for better than that!

I hope you are as richly blessed as I am and remember, laughter is the best medicine!