DIY: laundry detergent, cloth diaper detergent & baby wipes

Friday, December 16, 2011

I am always looking for ways to cut costs around the house.  A few months ago, I found some recipes for homemade laundry detergent, which was rather intriguing and led me to research DIY detergents, soaps and household cleaning supplies.  Then I started to see tutorials pop up on blogs I read (Erika @ Chambanachik), which gave me just the motivation I needed to actually get off my behind and make these products!  

I found tutorials online for each thing I made, got the ingredients, and off I went!  It was really easy to make all of these things, and I have already saved money, which is awesome!  I have been using the laundry detergent for over a month, and our clothes don't seem any different than when I used store-bought detergent.  Also, I have a front-loading HE washer, so I did just a bit more research to make sure the recipes I have used are ok to use in it.  

DIY Laundry Detergent
{used tutorial from here}
I used one bar of Fels-Naptha soap, borax, and Arm & Hammer super washing soda. 
To make the detergent, I grated the bar of soap (I actually used my food processor, because I was feeling lazy...), and mixed it with 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of super washing soda.  I put the entire mixture into an empty ice cream bucket, and shook it up to mix it really well.  
I use about 1 tablespoon per load of laundry, unless it's a really big load, then I use a bit more. 
I store it in the ice cream bucket in the laundry room.  Easy!

DIY Cloth Diaper Detergent
{used tutorial from here}
I decided that I didn't want to use borax in my cloth diaper detergent (and even think about switching all my clothes to this detergent, in an effort to keep borax away), which led me to this mixture.  
I used 1 cup of each product: Arm & Hammer super washing soda, Arm & Hammer pure baking soda, and Sun Oxygen. Once again, I put the mixture in an empty ice cream bucket and shook it well to mix it.  
I use 2 tablespoons per diaper load, unless it's a much smaller load and then I use a bit less.  Our diapers have been coming out very clean - actually, they seem to be getting cleaner and whiter now than when I used natural diaper detergent.  Score!

 DIY Baby Wipes
{tutorial found here}
We typically use re-usable wipes at home, and just throw them in the diaper pail with our cloth diapers, to be washed.  But sometimes it's easier to grab a few regular wipes, or if we are out and about, it is much more convenient to take throwaway wipes with us.  Although we like to have wipes around, it is easy to go through them quickly, and along with the use, the cost of buying wipes can go up as well.  So, I thought it could be easy to make our own and help save a few dollars.  
Making homemade wipes was really easy and simple.  I took a paper towel roll, and cut it in half with a  knife.  I then pulled all the papers off and folded them in an empty wipes container (although in the tutorial I used showed using a round container and putting the entire paper towel half into it...).  
I took a very small piece of the Real.Simple.Soap (good stuff, yo!) in Oh Honey, Honey and immersed it in about a half cup of hot water, to make a basic soapy water mixture.  Once the piece of soap was dissolved (it took a few minutes...), I added an additional half cup of water and about a tablespoon of olive oil.  I then poured that mixture over/into the paper towels, let it sit for a few minutes, and they are ready to go!
  That's it!  Super easy and saves us some money!  And they do just as good of a job as store bought, plus I know exactly what is going on my babies bums.  

So, there you have it - my DIY laundry detergent, cloth diaper detergent and baby wipes!  
And while I have y'alls attention, I thought I'd show off the cute Christmas placemats adorning our table (thanks Mama D!):
 And the sweet outdoor decor I came up with:
$2 pine garland from Wal-Mart, $1 twirly gold sticks from the Re-Store and red berry sticks from our wedding decorations!  It puts a smile on my face every time I look out our front windows, and makes our house much more festive!

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6 comments

  1. Awesome!!! I am glad you are still being pro active =)

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  2. I use same laundry detergent recipe...except I sometimes at Oxiclean to the kids clothes. I love the red berry decorations! So festive!

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  3. Very cool Kaylee-Boo, you're very creative & a great money-saving momma! Hey, nice placemats too!!

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  4. Very awesome. :) Are you liking the wipes? I have thought about making them, but haven't tried them yet.

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  5. if you were to use the cloth diaper detergent for your regular cloths how would you do it? Like how much would you use for a large load of laundry?

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  6. Do you have hard or soft water? Also, how has your baby's bottom done since you've been using this detergent? I'm wanting to start making my own but wanted someone to share how they did it and if baby has done okay with no rash. :)

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