A laundry tutorial.....

Easter is over for another year..........always a lovely time of year and I hope you had a brilliant long weekend filled with lots of yummy chocs!

A little while ago, I posted about making your own laundry liquid.  A week or so ago, I had ran out of my usual box of eco laundry powder.....actually I was eagerly awaiting the finish of it,  as I wanted to return to making my own homemade laundry liquid.  It has been too long since I made a batch, so I took myself off to the supermarket for a couple of ingredients I was getting low on.

And I have made a tutorial with some of my step-by-step photos....just for you!!  I hope it makes sense.....ok here goes!

Homemade Laundry Liquid
(This recipe makes 5 litres)


Ingredients:


750 mls of water
5 Litres of hot water
1/2 cup of Lux soap flakes
1/4 cup of Lectric washing soda flakes (not crystals)
1/4 cup of borax

Equipment:


Large saucepan
Measuring cup/jug
Wooden spoon or paint stirrer
10 litre plastic bucket

Method:
Measure the 750mls of water and empty into saucepan.  Add the Lux flakes to the water.  Over a medium heat, stir the soap until dissolved completely and the mixture is clear. Ensure the soap is dissolved, to prevent the mixture separating once cooled. Now add the washing soda and borax to soap mixture.  Stir until thickened and then remove from heat.  The mixture will resemble thick milky glue.

Add 5 litres of hot tap water to the 10 litre plastic bucket. Now pour your thickened mixture from the saucepan into the hot water.
Stir well to combine the water and soap mixture. 

As the mixture cools, it will thicken.  I like to give it a stir every 10 or 15 minutes, to ensure a smooth combined liquid. Once the mixture is completely cool, you can add your essential oil for fragrance.  I used pure Lemongrass essential oil, which gives a great fresh aroma.  Lavender oil is another favourite of mine.

For storage, I poured most of mine into a 5 litre water storage container (with a wide opening for easy pouring). The rest of it I poured into a recycled coffee jar and added some jute twine for decoration. Give the plastic container a good shake to mix liquid, before topping up your jar.  I use 1/4 cup of this laundry liquid per load in my front loader.  

N.B. As this recipe contains Borax, it may not be suitable for Grey Water use on gardens.


I have been using this for a over a week now and it is really doing a great job.  For only 2 or 3 dollars, it makes just over 5 litres of laundry liquid which will last ages!  Plus there are no nasty chemical fillers like commercial laundry detergent.  I hope my tutorial has inspired you to make your own batch.  I would love to hear how it turned out!!  


Cheers,


Jodie
MPH xx