Let's make Homemade Powder Laundry Detergent

So, it's a way of life...we must do laundry!  If you're like me you do a lot of laundry!  I saw a suggestion from a friend the other day who recently put a chandelier in her laundry room.  I think this is a wonderful idea!  I haven't done this yet but considering the amount of time I spend in that room alone, it should be pretty and feel special.  

Anyway, I love to save money.  I love a deal and I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I save a big chunk of cash.  So, with that in mind let's do just that.  You may have many of these ingredients in your home now.  I did! 

Ingredients

(Bear with me, the measurements are in ounces)

25 oz. Borax

21 oz. Baking Soda

18 oz. of Washing Soda

16 oz. of Oxy Clean

Most recipes call for a bar of Ivory Soap, Fels Naptha or Zote.  I had none of those but I did have a laundry bar (Zorro) that I picked up in Argentina so, that's what this recipe got.

20 drops of Young Living Essential Oils Purification

20 drops of Young Living Essential Oils Thieves

Lots of sites call for you to grate the Laundry Bar/Soap.  That sounded horrible to me (I heard horror stories about grated knuckles & bloody fingers) so I put it in my little food processor & chopped it until it was a nice smooth powder.  

I added a little at a time.  The bar pieces did get hung up on the blade occasionally so I just worked with it until it was all smooth.  

Next I added all of the powder ingredients.  As you pour them in the powder will become airborne.  You might want to wear a mask or pour carefully to not ingest the powder.  Stir carefully with a large spoon. Once you get the powder all mixed up you can add your Young Living Essential Oils and give it another good mixing. 

 I chose Thieves because of its 99.96 Percent Kill Rate against Bacteria.  It was proven to be highly anti-infectious, antiviral, antibacterial, and antiseptic. *Research shows that Young Livings Thieves Oil effectively interrupts the life cycle of bacteria and also interferes with the ability of viruses to replicate. Studies also confirmed that most viruses and bacteria cannot live in the presence of many essential oils, including two of the oils found in the Thieves Essential Oil Blend, cinnamon and clove.

Purification is a great deodorizer and neutralizer, it's also a great antiseptic. 

Many recipes were very large but I broke it down to a manageable size and one that I could mix & store in my chosen glass jar.  I also dressed it up with a cute chalkboard label that I cut with my Silhouette.  

This was quite a simple project and very cost effective.  I'm guesstimating that I'll get about 100 loads out of this jar.   I've gotten a dry eraser marker and I'm making small tallies on the side of my washer with each load, just to see exactly how many loads I'll get.  I know that a box of Tide (102 loads) is about $.18/load.  A box of Tide is about $18.  I have about $22 dollars in the ingredients for this detergent but I have lots of the ingredients left to use in other items.  I used them previously in my recipe for Homemade Dishwasher Tabs. (which I'll be making again soon) I also intend to use several of these ingredients for Homemade Toilet Bombs!  I hope to make those this week, I'll keep you posted. 

If you make this please post and let us know how it turned out and what your thoughts are.

If you're interested in giving the products a try I'm happy to add to my personal order or you're welcome to got to Young Living's site. (click on the words just before, "Young Living")  On that page you'll decide if you'd like to sign up as a "Retail Customer" or as a "Wholesale Member".  One of the great perks as a Wholesale Member is reduced shipping on all orders and a 24% discount off of Retail pricing.