DIY Laundry Soap - And Testing It Out!

Part of my New Year's Goals, which I talked about here, I wanted to be a bit more frugal, get back to basics a bit more, and DIY a lot more!

What a better way to start than gathering up some easy things I already have around the house, and making something I use every day, and can be freakin' expensive too.

Laundry Soap!

The recipe is so easy, and you probably have in your cabinets right now:

Ingredients

4 Cups Hot Water

1 Cup Regular Washing Liquid

1 Dishwasher Detergent Pod

1/2 Cup Baking Soda

1/2 Cup Washer Whiffs (for Scent)

1 Empty Detergent bottle

I didn't really want to go 100% natural. And I know there is still regular laundry detergent in there. My reasoning behind an edited, super-boosted formula is my husband is a Transport Truck driver, who the majority time is driving around on the muddy roads of the woods. He often times comes home covered in mud, smelling like diesel fuel, and usually has some sort of grease on him somewhere. I've never really had much luck with stain-blasting power of all natural remedies I've tried, but I'm not really happy with going through bottle after bottle of store bought detergent either. I always wished I could have a happy medium, and amp up certain aspects of the detergent to really target my needs, instead of just dumping in an extra cap-full and hoping for the best.

The recipe was kind of born by my own experiments in stain removal, and put together for my own stain fighting, super powered, cost-effective super detergent. The dishwasher pods are targeted to fight stuck on food and grease, so why wouldn't they be helpful in removing stuck on vehicle grease? The brand I bought for that purpose is a natural brand and super gentile, and baking soda is also kind of famous for stain removal, and freshening fabrics. Need I say more?

Directions:

1. First, brew 4 cups of hot water. I used my Keurig, but any method of heating works, just make sure it's super hot. Set aside 1 Cup in a separate bowl.

1. Dissolve the Washer Whiffs in the Cup of hot water. They take a while to dissolve, so make sure to stir often. I used Scentsy Washer Whiffs in Black Raspberry Vanilla, which are to die for. Just sniffing them makes my mouth water. I have the whole Scentsy line of laundry products, and I hoard them for special occasions. Using the whiffs in this detergent recipe helps me extend the amazing smell without wasting my precious Scentsy laundry liquid on my husband's smelly socks. He-he.

1. Rinse out the bottle, and dump in the washing liquid. Snip off the corner of the dishwasher pod, and dump the powder in. 

1. Add in 2 Cups of water, and give the bottle a good shake to mix up the soaps. Measure out the baking soda, and add that in afterwards. You can finish up with the remaining 2 Cups of water.

1. Make sure to shake the bottle really well to mix everything together. Allow to cool for a few hours before allowing the cap to remain on tight.

That's it! But I couldn't just leave it here, of course I had to put it to the ultimate test for this post too!

I grabbed a hoodie my husband had worn to work the day prior, and a dish towel that had taken some abuse in the kitchen. It was a bit crusty from a sticky coffee spill, and had chocolate on it from making some whoopie pies,and I squirted ketchup on it for good measure.

Mess.

I threw it in, added the detergent to the dispenser, and set it to my usual wash cycle.

My first impressions were it smelled super nice. The consistency was slightly runny, and you could really smell the washer whiffs. It was slightly cloudy from the baking soda, but all in all looked like your average detergent.

The cycle ran through normally. I checked on it a few times, because I was paranoid. I have an HE washer and anything that produces too much suds will really slow down the wash cycle (it wants to rinse way more) and will eventually give the washer drum a musty smell. This one gave virtually no excessive suds. A few to make me feel like it was actually doing something, but not enough to ruin my machine.

Once finished, I opened the lid. I didn't smell much, but fresh, if you can describe a smell. There were  no overwhelming perfumes, but everything in there smelled clean.

Now was the true test, towel inspection.

Stains totally gone! And maybe it's just me, but I feel like its brighter! I smelled it, and there's a nice lingering touch of the Washer Whiffs, and it smelled totally fresh. The sticky texture from the coffee was totally gone as well.

As for the hoodie, let me preface by saying nothing will truly get the smell of a diesel spill out of fabrics. You're pretty much screwed with that. However, this hoodie just had a diesel fume smell from being inside and around a working truck all day, and after the wash it had the same smell as the towel.

Amazing! 

I popped them both in the dryer, and they're tumbling away now as I type.

Not only does this formula have stain-blasting power, but it freshens, brightens, and stretches a dollar. By custom boosting my own detergent, I can really tweak where I need the most strength, and what I look for most in a detergent.

Give this a whirl! Make your own adjustments, and enjoy the savings!

xoxo - Court