Easy Homemade Fabric Softener Recipe

I've seen this one all over Pinterest and decided to give it a shot. I already had everything needed.


Fabric Softener Recipe:
White Vinegar
Essential Oils of choice (I used sweet orange)
Container


I filled an old fabric softener bottle (I've been saving all sorts of containers in anticipation of such things) with the vinegar and added about 20-25 drops of the sweet orange oil. Shake. Done. I'm going to try adding a 1/4 cup per load.


Have you ever tried a similar recipe?

Homemade Dishwasher Soap and Rinse Aid

The next item on my list of cleaning supplies to tackle was dishwasher detergent. I perused the internet for quite some time and finally came up with a hodge podge of several recipes.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent


1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Baking Soda
1/2 cup Salt (Some recipes said kosher salt, I used what I had)
1/2 cup Citric Acid
Several drops Essential Oil (optional, I used sweet orange)
One of those little absorbent packets that come in vitamins, etc. I read that this helps avoid clumping.
Container

Throw everything together in your container and shake well. The essential oils clumped a bit, not sure if I'll use them next time. Use a fork to break up any clumps. Throw in the absorbent packet on top (and as they all say 'do not eat'). I'm using 1 Tablespoon in the pre-wash spot and 1 Tablespoon in the main wash spot in my dishwasher.


Rinse Aid
Simply fill your rinse aid dispenser with white vinegar. I've been doing this for quite some time already.


Have you ever tried making dishwasher soap? How'd it do?


**Update
The rinse aid works perfectly...the dishwasher soap, not so much. Back to the drawing board. I find it just gets hard and you wind up scraping it out of the container. Also, it didn't clean that great.

How To Make Homemade Laundry Soap

If you would have told me ten years ago that I'd now be making my own laundry detergent on a Saturday afternoon for a good time...well, I'd have thought you were full on crazy. Funny how we change. But that's exactly what Darran and I were doing a couple of Saturdays ago...making homemade laundry soap. Happily.

What I used:
1 bar Fels-Naptha
2 cups washing soda
1 cup Borax
4 cups warm water
3 1/12 gallons warm water to add at the end
1 turkey brining bucket. It's a clean Home Depot bucket with a lid that I had. It's what I use to brine my turkey in at Thanksgiving...come on, everyone has a turkey brining bucket, right? Although, I'm not sure what I will do at Thanksgiving next year...OK, use any container with a lid, but be aware that this will be very thick and needs scooped out, not poured out.
1 scoop. I used an old Oh Yeah! Protein powder scoop I had saved, it's exactly half a cup. An old measuring cup, old laundry soap scoop, anything will work.

Add the 4 cups water to a large pot on medium heat.

Grate the Fels-Naptha into the water. Stir until liquefied. 

Add the washing soda. Stir.

Add the Borax. Stir.

Dump mixture and the 3 1/12 gallons of water into bucket or other container and stir.

Let sit, it will turn to a cool gel consistency.

I use 1/2 to 1 cup (which is 1 to 2 scoops) per load depending on what I'm washing. So far I'm extremely pleased with it, it works great! Comparing the cost of this to normal laundry soap, this is what I'll be sticking with.

Have you ever made your own laundry soap? Do you have a favorite recipe for it? Am I really the only one with a turkey brining bucket?