Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

After the wonderful success of making my own laundry soap I attempted to make my own dishwasher detergent as well and I found a recipe I liked from The Eco Friendly Family blog and so I gave it a shot. I really like it so far, I have done 3 cycles with the recipe and I use the white vinegar as the rinsing agent (this goes where Jet Dry usually goes). I have noticed some of my dishwasher safe plastics don't get as clean so I have been hand washing those, but everything else is so clean and no filmy residue, my glasses are clearer than they were with my store bought detergent and I live where the water is very hard.

Ingredients:
-White Vinegar as a Rinsing Agent
-1 1/2 cups Lemi-Shine (I know both Target & Wal-Mart carried this, you can find it next to the other detergent supplies.)
-1 1/2 cups Washing Soda (Wal-Mart carries this, but not Target) located with laundry detergents
-1/2 cup Baking Soda (Baking Aisle)
Directions: Mix all the dry ingredients together and your done!! I just mixed them in my storage dispenser I purchased.
*This recipe only makes a small amount, but its a perfect amount to try and if you like it you can double or triple it! Also, the Lemi-Shine makes it become hard and you have to shake the box to break it up, but I haven't had any major problems.

Cost Breakdown:

1 Lemi-Shine- $3.66

1 Large Box of Baking Soda-$2.12

1 Box of Super Washing Soda-$3.24

1 Container of Sea Salt (Also comes in box form)-I bought this awhile ago for kitchen purpose so I don't remember how much I paid, but I don't think more than a couple of dollars.

1 Storage Dispenser-$3.47 (I could only find this style at Wal-Mart) I liked that it would be easy to pour , Ikea has some but I use those for food and I don't want to mistake (even though labeled) the container of detergent for food, even though under sink that has a door lock on it (never can be too safe with kids in the house).

-For this recipe only cup measurements are used so I'm not totally sure of the complete cost breakdown since I purchased boxes of each ingredient (except for Lemi-Shine), but its not very much at all and you only use 1-2 Tablespoons per cycle. Hope you like it!!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I'm so excited to say I made my very first batch of laundry soap!!! I thought I was never going to be one of those moms that made their own detergent, but since my whole lets reorganize the whole house and down size to more natural cleaners mindset occurred a few weeks ago, I look at all the things in my home now and ask myself is this good to have around or how can I save money on this item? Can I eliminate it all together or if not how can I make it better? I had been talking with my sister-in-law a few weeks ago about possibly making my own detergent since she was thinking about doing it as well and then yesterday morning on Facebook I saw my friend Rachael's status said that she had successfully made dishwasher detergent and I asked her what recipe she used, thinking it was probably a Pinterest recipe and sure enough it was so I went onto Pinterest and searched for my favorite homemade laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent recipes. I know you can save huge amounts of $ making your own detergents and since I was running low on both I thought I would try it out. Plus more and more I have found out how bad store bought laundry detergents can be in concerns to their carcinogen (cancer causing) ingredient 1,4 dioxane. I read a great article on NaturalNews.com about the different levels of this ingredient in the commonly store bought detergents, you can read it here. So this knowledge and the money saving factor put me in full gear to change my ways!!

After all the recipes out there I compiled one that I liked:
Ingredients:
1-4 lb 12 oz box of Borax (I got mine at Target)
1-3lb 7 oz box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Target did not have this, I got it at my local natural foods grocery store, I'm sure Wal-Mart carries it too).
1-4 lb box of Baking Soda
2 Bars of Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Soap in Almond and Tea Tree (I found these at my local natural food grocery store, I know if you can't find it locally you can get in online), also the recipe I closely followed called for 3, but I only bought 2 and it seemed to be well distributed. You can also choose whatever scent you wish.
*I did end up getting one more bar of soap to add, to make it a total of 3, I picked the same brand, but just chose the Eucalyptus scent.

Break down of costs:

I purchased the glass jar at Target for $13.79
1 box of 20 Mule Team Borax- $3.49
1 box of Baking Soda- $2.19
1 box of Washing Soda- $3.99
2 bars of Dr. Bronner's Soap- $4.49 each (I know this is a little expensive for a bar of soap, but I liked that it was Fair Trade and Organic and since I won't be buying them a lot it is worth the little extra).
Total Cost of Laundry Soap (not including jar)- $18.65 
*With the added bar of soap it brings the new cost up to $23.14 for a 9 month-1 year supply its still a great deal!
On the Being Creative to Keep My Sanity blog she mentioned it lasted her 9 months and she did at least 8 loads a week (Her recipe is the recipe I most closely followed, but mine might last even longer because I don't even do 8 loads a week so we will see!)

I mixed all the dry powders and grated the soaps over the powders and thoroughly mixed them all and that's it, so easy!! I got out my wonderful label maker and printed out a label and placed a scoop inside I had found at a garage sale awhile back and all done!! You only use 1 to 2 Tablespoons per load. I have read that if you are washing cloth diapers, to not use a recipe with baking soda, so you can alter this recipe if you wish to use it on cloth diapers. I know some recipes were as simple as Borax, Super Washing Soda and the bar of soap, research it and see what you like best! I will let you know how I like it, so excited to be saving so much money and also having a safer product washing my clothes!

*If you prefer the liquid laundry soap, I know there were several recipes out there for it!

I am also making homemade dishwasher detergent so hope to blog about it soon!