Homemade Laundry Detergent

In my quest to be more healthy, I have also decided to do it externally as well.  A lot of this comes from my having migraines from strong scents.  It used to be just bleach, but sadly now it has expanded to all sorts and detergents and perfumes. 

I found this great recipe for Homemade Laundry Detergent on Pinterest (have I ever told you how much I love Pinterest?)  Anyway I made the detergent and it works great.  I spent about a little more this go around as I got the 2 gallon glass jar ($10 at Wal-Mart) and then another $3 on the 2 Tbs. scoop from Sur La Table.  Now the recipe says that you can use between 1-2 Tbs per load.  I have done a small load using the 1 Tbs and a larger load with the 2 Tbs.  Both seem  to work fine.

Now does it really work you ask?  Here is a picture of my daughter's white leggings.  Yes they are suppose to be white, however the school's blacktop is not so friendly towards her clothing as you can see.

I washed them in a normal load and it helped a little, but then I decided to try and soak them in the detergent.  Here is how they came out.  Not perfect by any means, but about 85% better than they were before!!

The recipe is super easy, the only challenge I had was finding the ingredients.  I had to get most of them at Wal-mart (and I hate shopping there), but they carried all the items.  I did go to 3 other stores and finally gave in and went there.

Check out the author's blog.  She has some real great stuff on there - and I do recommend the detergent.  She made it and said it lasted her about 9 months.
 http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html#comments

Give it a try and let me know if it works for you too!