If you remember, at the beginning of February I posted this tutorial on how to make homemade laundry detergent. What I love about Pinterest and blogs is that there is TONS of information about how to make all of this stuff...but there is never a follow-up for what happens AFTER the pretty Instagrams are taken. So here are a few of my observations:
I'm. Still. In. LOVE with this stuff.
When I used liquid Gain my washer would always get a weird 'gunk' on the edges, in the middle which produced an interesting smell. It was just musty, gunky, slimy stuff that gave our laundry room (which happens to double as our guest room) a funk. While I enjoyed that our laundry smelled like 'Apple Mango Tango,' I did not enjoy the leftover slime. This homemade detergent doesn't give us the amazing 'fresh laundry scent' but one of the first things I noticed was the lack of turquoise residue.
The batch I made at the beginning of February might last us for the rest of our life...no seriously. I'm wondering if it's EVER going to run out. Like I said in the first blog...we do an INSANE amount of laundry around here for it just being the two of us so I was a little skeptical about how long it would last. I knew if I had to make it more than twice in one year, our savings would start to plummet...making just buying the Gain a better option. However, after noticing that THIS is how much we have left:
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I'd also like to recommend these adorable chalk labels...I snagged 'em at Target (where else?) for $2.97 for a package of 6. I've been using them on everything. I understand the chalkboard thing is probably a phase, but I'm going hard on that trend while it's here. I have chalkboards errywhere.
There are a couple of things I'll mention. 1. I still keep a squirt bottle of Shout on hand for stain removal. The stains I come across in the BLC laundry pile would shock and appall you. So I don't trust the detergent to do an amazing job with those. Like I said in my tutorial, I figured Josh's laundry would require a couple of extra tablespoons, so depending on the size and filthiness of the load, I'll throw in anywhere between three to five tablespoons of the homemade mix. 2. A few weeks ago we sat around one of the stinkiest, smokiest bonfires I've ever experienced. And we sat around it for a solid 4+ hours. I ran all of our smoke clothes through the laundry the next day and used our regular dryer sheets in the dryer...but I'll tell you, that smoke had some serious LINGERING POWER. I threw on the same hoodie a few days later and peeeee-YOU. I'd recommend running loads like that through the washing machine twice. I think that would have taken care of it.
We have a few weddings coming up this summer and (spoilers) I'm planning to make a batch of my detergent, put it in Mason jars, and start giving it as gifts. Plus just give it as gifts for all kinds of occasions. I'll probably avoid giving the detergent to people with HE washers and dryers because I'm on the fence about it being safe to use in those machines (anyone have superior knowledge about this?!). From what I've read in blogland the opinions about this are all over the place. And I've heard it can ruin the warranty, which I probably wouldn't willing to do if I owned an HE washer.
If you can't tell, Monday's are laundry day around here which is why this soap is on ma mind.
Happy Monday!
MmB
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