Laundry liquid - the results

Well to say that I am thrilled is an understatement  It is not every 39 year old man that get's excited that home made laundry liquid actually works, but this one really does! Makes me a bit odd but who cares.
So I have tried it with first rate results. It makes the clothes come out fresh and clean and I have even tried it on a cold wash with excellent results of fresh clean clothes, no residue.
I used about an American cup size of liquid for a wash, maybe I could use less, I will experiment  but so far so good. I also used a small amount of white vinegar with it in the fabric conditioner section.
No more shop bought washing powder/liquid for me, and I can't really say why it has taken me so long to discover this in the first place!

Frugal laundry care

Hi folks, I thought I would get back to basics with a few more frugal tips.
Today I made laundry liquid for the first time. I have been meaning to do this for ages, but it has taken me a while to locate the ingredients.
I basically used the recipe at Sarina's Allsorts and I trust her judgement implicitly, not least, because she works for a dry cleaners and knows her clean clothes!
There are just three ingredients:

A bar of castille soap
1/2 a cup of soda crystals
1/2 a cup of borax.

Now borax was rather difficult for me to get, for the simple reason, that it is not supposed to be on sale in this country. So I made do with Borax substitute, which is supposed to do exactly the same thing.

So here is the method.

Grate the soap into a pan and add a litre of water. Heat gently stirring while the soap is dissolved. When it is fully dissolved add half a cup of soda crystals and half a cup of borax or borax substitute and stir it all up until fully dissolved.

 Pour into a bucket and add 4 litres of water.

Whisk it up thoroughly together (or use a stick blender if you have one) and then decant into suitable containers. Leave a good bit of the space in the top of the containers so you can shake it up before use as it has a tendency to ‘settle’.

This whole process took me no time at all and made 5 litres of laundry liquid. It will last a very long time and has cost me so little money, probably about 60p. I have plenty left of all the ingredients to make more time and time again, so this is one of the most frugal recipes I have come across.

Sarina reckons to use about one American cup load in a full wash so I will experiment a bit with it over the next few washes and let you know how I get on.

As I say, I trust Sarina’s judgement on cleaning clothes and I know that it will be kinder to clothes, kinder to skin and kinder to the environment. Good stuff all around.

I already use white vinegar as a conditioner in the wash and may just add some drops of essential oil for a nice scent too.