I am going to make my own washing powder.

[ItsAllTLAsToMe]

And I blame MN.

Link

I've just done made my own using this recipe. I just halved the oxygenated/napisan quantity, I've done two loads so far and it seems to work just as well as the shop bought washing powder. I think the real test will be towels which always seem to end up rough using regular powder and softener.

Ah, the recipe looks quite similar scaryg. That's useful, thanks.

I like the idea of playing with the quantities, and using different essential oils etc. I'm not 100% convinced how much cheaper it will be though.

I'm really tempted to try this. I have been making my own cleaners for a few weeks and love that I'm not spraying god knows what everywhere anymore.

Ooh, tell us about your cleaners OneLaundry .

scaryg, I use white vinegar as a fabric softener at the moment - I don't think you're meant to use fabric softener with towels as it reduces how much water they absorb.

My towels are still quite rough though . Although I prefer to think of them as exfoliating.

Well, I made it with mandarin essential oil. It smells fab, and it seems to work as well as shop bought so far .

Thanks ItsAll. We live in an area with horrible hard water, so I started putting soda crystals in with a reduced amout of Persil and it seems fine.

Those are American quantities aren't they? I will have to look up what a cup is.
Has anyone in the UK found Borax as oposed to Borax substitue?

Bobbly, I hadn't realised they were American cups, but as the recipe is only in cups (ignoring the essential oil) it should be fine I think? It did make quite a lot .

I bought borax substitute, which claimed to be the same as borax but not to be used for pest control(?). I want to look into all of the ingredients a bit more so I can vary the relative amounts in a somewhat informed manner.

borax is on eBay

I'm using home-made based on plain soap flakes since noticing how few commercial products are safe for silks and wools, adding soda or borax for stains and white vinegar instead of softener - no scent unless I add it but v.good and v.cheap.

Can I ask which soapflakes you use Showtime?

Ooh, eBay has really cheap essential oils,

I bought some wash berries. They are dried berries and work well. Has anyone else seen them?

I used to buy essential oils from trade places, unless you use rose they are so much cheaper than retail.

Soap flakes are in homebargains for not very much, or you can make your own soap.

It's mostly caustic soda and a hard fat with oil isn't it?

Here are some homemade recipes for cleaning supplies.

She's American, but I think we can get all ingredients listed. She also gives a pdf to print out pretty labels. I'm a sucker for labels

Two brands in use, both about £1 to £1.50, one's DP brand and just called Soap Flakes, the other 's Granny's Soap Flakes (forget manufacturer) both about 450gr. First one has warning about using in washing machine, never caused any problems but I prefer sprinkling inside drum anyway as nothing gets properly "washed through" in my machine, even gels. Both brands are just "100% soap flakes", but have sometimes made up own mixture using ordinary grated soap.

Buy an Eco egg. £19.99, lasts 6 years. No more powers/ money/ faff. After 6 years you just by some more egg refils for £6.99 to last another 6 years