Laundry Detergent

I've posted my recipe for Cloth Diaper Detergent, but never considered to post the version for laundry detergent. Silly me :)

They are basically the same, except that the regular detergent has soap in it :)


What soaps can you use?

From my understanding, most any bar soap will do. I think most people try to choose something that's easy on the skin.

Fels Naptha (Love this stuff)
Ivory (I think you can even find flakes of this, which would be handy)
Zote
Kirk's Castile
etc.

So what's the recipe?

Basically it's this:
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1/2 cup of oxiclean
1 bar of soap, finely grated

There are tricks to grating it. The best one I've heard is to chop it up (food processor can help here), lay it out on some cookie sheets to dry for a day or so, and then chop it up again (again, food processor, big help!) Be careful not to push your processor too hard (don't rush it!).

Now, I said that the above recipe is basically the recipe. I don't like leftovers and I don't like having to do things over and over again, so I like to make large batches. It's a little more work at the time, but a lot less work over time :D

Here's the full recipe:
3 Boxes Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (55 oz each)
2 Boxes 20 Mule Team Borax (76 oz each)
1 Large Tub OxiClean (96 oz)
24 Bars of Soap, finely grated

Depending on what soap you get and how you buy it (bulk, discount store, etc.) you can make a full batch of this for around $60 and it will last a VERY long time.

I've found that getting large buckets to mix this up makes it SUPER easy! Layer all of your ingredients into one (or more) buckets. Pour from one bucket to the next, and repeat until it's mixed to your satisfaction. That's it!

This recipe has a higher yield than the CD detergent, so yo may need more than 2 buckets to mix back and forth.

How do I use it?

I liked to use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry. My husband has a fairly dirty job and I have messy kids *cough*daughter*cough*

If I'm doing a cold wash, I have a jar that I keep close by that I can put my scoops into, add some hot water and help dissolve it a little before throwing it in the wash. It will work without doing that, but I like to.

**I'd like to make a note about the borax used in this recipe. A recent article by EWG cautions the use of borax for cleaning in the home noting that toddlers and young children face special risks from hand-to-mouth transfer of carpet or crack and crevice, dust or spray borax treatments. I would recommend not using borax as a general home cleaner - any cleaner (aside from pure water) used for these purposes will leave a residue. I feel comfortable using the minuscule amount in the detergent. It is not used on open surfaces and is washed out during the rinse cycle.


You can read a bit more on this debate here - there are some great points of view in the comments  http://www.theecofriendlyfamily.com/2009/08/laundry-detergent.html

Get Stains OUT! of Your Diapers!

 

So, you use cloth, Congrats!

Aaaaand you hate stains. You're in luck!

There is a crazy simple solution :)

The sun!

Wash and dry your diapers as usual. (Need help with that? Try these tips!)

Line dry your diapers. This works in cold weather (I wouldn't do it in freezing weather) and even cloudy days. Sunny days will work best, and warm days will help dry your diapers best of course, but the sun will bleach out the stains! It is truly amazing.

When you're all done (or the day is), bring them indoors. If they aren't dry, toss them in the dryer or let them air dry (I would ONLY do this if they were like the most itty bitty bit of damp.)

Enjoy your stain free diapers!

This is March in Ohio!

Don't have a clothesline? I use a retractable version mounted to our deck and it hooks onto our garage.

No place for even a retractable? No problem!

You can still sun through a window. I've done this before through a side window and it did work, not as fast, but it did work. I would imagine a larger window with more direct sunlight would work great. Try putting your diapers on a rack like this in front of the window.
 This method of "sunning" also works great on clothing stains from foods and other miscellaneous things.

See here about cleaning up stained kids clothes (and anything else for that matter).  http://www.theecofriendlyfamily.com/2009/11/get-stains-out-of-your-diapers.html

Cloth Diaper Detergent

I have been using this since October 2008 with no issues. I've actually received compliments on used diapers that I have sold smelling so good and asking what I used :)

If you're looking for the clothing version of this, look here.

Here's what I do. It's cheap and I love it :)

More or less, It's: (this is not exact, since I use the larger recipe below)
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1/2 cup of oxiclean

BUT.... I don't like having misc. leftovers, so I make up a batch... like this :)
It should cost $30, max.

3 Boxes Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (55 oz each)
2 Boxes 20 Mule Team Borax (76 oz each)
1 Large Tub OxiClean (96 oz)

Yes, it's a lot, but it's super cheap to make, so no biggie :) It just lasts forever. Or you can share :)

**I'd like to make a note about the borax used in this recipe. A recent article by EWG cautions the use of borax for cleaning in the home noting that toddlers and young children face special risks from hand-to-mouth transfer of carpet or crack and crevice, dust or spray borax treatments. I would recommend not using borax as a general home cleaner - any cleaner (aside from pure water) used for these purposes will leave a residue. I feel comfortable using the minuscule amount in the detergent. It is not used on open surfaces and is washed out during the rinse cycle.

You can read a bit more on this debate here - there are some great points of view in the comments.

**I see a lot of people asking where to purchase these supplies. If you are unable to find them locally (I've had great luck at our grocery store and others at hardware stores.) you can purchase everything to make this on Alice.com at reasonable prices and that includes free shipping. They currently do not carry the 96 oz Oxiclean, so you would want to purchase two of the 56 oz that they offer.

This is my current wash routine:
I love this routine. My diapers have no smell and are so fresh. I have also been using an open pail (pail w/ no lid) and that seems to make such a huge difference when it comes to ammonia lingering.


Warm wash with cold rinse w/ 1 tablespoon of detergent
Hot (or warm) wash with cold rinse w/ 1 tablespoon of detergent

I have also done this in the past with good results:
Cold wash/rinse w/ 1 tablespoon of detergent
Hot wash/rinse w/ 1 tablespoon of detergent

If you are dealing with ammonia you can also add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vinegar to your hot wash  http://www.theecofriendlyfamily.com/2009/08/cloth-diaper-detergent.html 

Cleaning Up Stained Kids' Clothes

Each time I grab clothes for our youngest from storage I am faced with stains. I put clothes away washed and clean, but they come out with these awful, yellowed stains. They are protein stains that develop from proteins left in the fibers from drool and other things. I use to think that there was no saving them. I tried washing every which way and nothing worked. So when our youngest was due and I was faced with a tub of stained newborn clothes, I put my cloth diaper knowledge to work. I used the sun!

It worked beautifully! All of our baby clothes were saved and it was easy. I have since used this on just about any, and all, natural stains with great success. Here's what I do:

I have a wash tub in my laundry area, so I fill it about half full of hot water and added 2 or 3 massive scoops of Oxiclean. I mean the big green scoop that it comes with. I put on my rubber gloves and dissolve the Oxiclean in the water. I then add every piece of stained clothing, being sure to get each saturated. My objective is not to have it be a big pool of water, but just enough to get everything sopping and just a little left over (I want that Oxiclean super concentrated!).

You could do this in your tub or even in the washing machine - which would be ideal.

I let it all soak overnight. If I did this in the wash tub, I would transfer the laundry to the washing machine with the help of a bucket. I fill the machine as usual - using warm water and then add a normal amount of detergent. Do a normal wash cycle, but do not dry in the dryer!

Then, here comes the rest of the magic. I hung them all out to dry in the sunshine.

Voila! Every stain was gone. They all looked like new! I couldn't believe it. Some of the stains were awful too. I had a couple of outfits that were headed for the trash, but I thought I'd toss them in and give them a chance. They look like new too. Wow, just wow.

Thank you oxygen action and sunshine, you have saved me, yet again :)

This is great for getting clothes ready for donating or yard sales, for salvaging stained family favorites and more.  http://www.theecofriendlyfamily.com/2009/08/cleaning-up-stained-kids-clothes.html