Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: homemade products, Laundry detergent, washing machine

This topic has 6 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 5 months ago by jeaninpa.

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

Author
Posts
September 10, 2012 at 8:11 pm
sara p.
Participant
I know this is off topic of education, but I know a lot of you make your own laundry detergent. We just purchased a HE front loader washer and I was wondering if any of you use your homemade laundry soap in it. I was worried about it causing build up in the washer or even a clog. However after pricing the name brand HE laundry soap I would much rather continue using my homemade and save some $. Thanks!
September 11, 2012 at 1:22 pm
ruth
Participant
I have made and used homemade laundry detergent in our front loader before. I don’t now because of hard water issues. Here are some tips. Use white vinegar in the fabric softner despenser. This is the number one thing to do to help with any kind of build up. Also leave the door open, if able, to help air out and dry. This will help prevent against odor. My door opens against a wall so it is not an issue for me to leave open when I am done using the machine. I have done this with my washer for 7 yrs now and not had an issue. Hopefully when we move next year we wont have hard water and I can go back to homemade soaps. HTH.
September 11, 2012 at 3:58 pm
LindseyD
Participant
I have a front loading machine and use homemade detergent in it. It has always worked great for me. Like ruth, I use white vinegar instead of fabric softener in EVERY load. We have extremely hard water, and the vinegar helps both the clothes and the washing machine, in my opinion. I do keep a bottle of HE detergent in my cabinet for things like towels and dish rags that start to smell funky after a while. I stick all the towels, dish rags, and tea towels in at once and use the “Sanitize” cycle on my washer with the store-bought HE detergent to get rid of this smell. Other than that, it’s the homemade detergent for me all the time.
September 11, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Tecrz1
Participant
I use homemade detergent in my front loader. It works great. I do use a liquid version not powder as the powder seems to not always dissolve well for me. I have a well and our water isn’t too bad so I don’t need to use vinegar. Homemade detergent is low sudsing – which is what HE detergent needs to be.
Good luck,
Tara
September 12, 2012 at 12:11 am
Laura.bora
Participant
We use a homemade powdered in our machine, and it doesn’t cause a problem. We use vinegar as the softener because we have hard well water, and for a bleach alternative, I use Baking Soda and Lemon Juice. Here is my powdered recipe:
3 boxes of washing soda and two boxes of Borax (that should be equal amounts)
2c Baking soda
4 bars of soap, grated or microwaved (We use Ivory because I usually get it for free or close to free. You could use Fels Naptha too, but we found that Ivory got the clothes cleaner. We also microwave our soap because it’s faster and….well, it’s more fun that way! Put it in the microwave for 2 minutes, let it cool and then crumple it up with your hands. It falls apart like powder.)

Mix it all together in a BIG bucket. This lasts us about 3 months.

September 12, 2012 at 4:42 pm
sara p.
Participant
Thanks ladies. I never knew you could use vinegar as a substitute for fabric softner. That saves a little extra too. Have a blessed day!
December 5, 2013 at 12:01 pm
jeaninpa
Participant
I have a front loading washer and use HE detergent in it. I’ve considered making my own, but I’m not sure it’s worth the trouble. I follow the instructions of my friend who owns an appliance store and use at the most a tablespoon of powdered detergent for large loads. This makes my HE detergent last forever (ok, not forever, just really long) Therefore, I don’t see much financial benefit to making my own. Are there other benefits that I’m missing?
I used to use just white vinegar as a fabric softener, but now I use this recipe:
2 cups hair conditioner; 3 cups white vinegar and 6 cups water and I like it better.