RECIPE: Dame Washalot

.

Today it was time to whip up another batch of Laundry Liquid, although we still have about 4L left from the last batch, but we’re getting a bit sick of the empty containers cluttering up the kitchen bench, so rather than throw them out (GAH!) we’ll fill them back up, so that they aren’t taking up ‘wasted’ space somewhere.

AND – as we’d said that we would post our ‘recipe’ for this at some point, we thought we’d kill two birds with one stone, and take some photos of the process as we went, so that they’d be ready for a blog-post!
Clever eh..!?!

The general rule of thumb for the dry ingredients part for Laundry Liquid is 2 parts grated soap to 1 part washing soda.
So basically, double the amount of soap to washing soda.
The use of the word ‘liquid’ is used with a lil licence here – as its more of a ‘glug’ or ‘gel’ – but a good shake-up before pouring it out makes the world of difference – and the gluginess is absolutely normal – so don’t worry!

We don’t use borax for a couple of reasons.
a) our clothes come out clean enough without it (its not like we are grease monkeys after all!) and
b) borax is really crap for the plants and soil, and grey-water is a great source of ‘free’ water for the garden, so we don’t want any ‘nasties’ in it.

One final thing of note:
We use twice the amount of water in our home-recipe than is listed here, as we prefer a runnier consistency and apart from our yard clothes, we dont get our clothes full-on dirty most of the time – so don’t wish to use such a concentrated liquid.
We also make the whole thing in a 25L pot, so we just slowly add the cold water directly into the cooking pot once the grated soap and washing soda have dissolved properly.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

2 cup of grated soap
1 cup of washing soda
1 1/2 litres of water
extra water to make up 10 litres
pure essential oils for fragrance (optional)

WHAT YOU GOTTA DO:

In a large pot – we use a deep pasta-pot – add 3L of water (at least), grated soap and washing soda.
Stir continuously, over medium heat, until all the soap has dissolved.
Once dissolved, pour mixture slowly into the (pre-prepared) bucket containing about 8-8½L of water, stirring as you go.
If you want to add in those essential oils for fragrance, do so now, and stir well.

Once liquid has cooled and settled, give it a good stir.
Using a jug [and funnel if you don’t have a steady hand!] pour liquid into empty bottles, making sure you leave some head-space at the top, so that you have room to give it a good shake prior to pouring it into the wash-machine.
Stir liquid in bucket each time, prior to filling next bottle, or it will ‘settle’.

Make sure you label the bottles properly, and wipe down the exterior of the bottles after filling, or they’re gonna be sticky!

Shake bottle well each time before use.
Use approx ½ – ¾ cup for each wash.
Adjust to size of load, and how dirty the clothes are – as well as (of course) personal preference.
More bubbles does not equal cleaner clothes folks!

Oh – and it works out at less than 30c a litre! AND only take about 30mins.
#HappyCheapskate #FrugalFamily lol

So – are you going to give this a try?
Or do you already make your own laundry detergent?
Let us know in the comments below – we’d love to hear your thoughts! 🙂