Laundry Detergent Experiment: The Verdict

I've always hated spending money on products and really dislike the clutter that comes with multiple bottles of expensive crap that doesn't do what it says it will.  I didn't even own a bottle of stain remover until two weeks ago. Oops, my bad. Anyways, during the summer I tried out two homemade laundry detergents to compare them to brand name detergents. The verdict is in. Here are the deets.

Liquid Detergent Pros:

• Super easy to make  (took about 2 minutes)
• Ridiculously cheap
• Smells great
• Easy to use
• Only a few ingredients
• Easy to use for spot cleaning

Liquid Detergent Cons:

• Only 16 loads per bottle so you need to make a big old batch
• didn't get QUITE as clean as a brand name

Powder Detergent Pros:

• Smells great
• makes a ton! (enough for 150+ loads)

Powder Detergent Cons:

• Much more expensive to make
• not as easy to use
• Takes a while to make
• A lot of ingredients
• Not easy to use for spot cleaning
• hardens after about two months
• doesn't have a lasting scent
• didn't get QUITE as clean as the liquid detergent

The verdict; if I were to make homemade detergent again I'd go for the liquid recipe. I think the key to using homemade detergents is that you have to pre-treat stains because they don't have as much super power as the brand name ones.

I've heard wonderful things about Nellie's All- Natural detergents and think I'll try out that line once the homemade stuff runs out. My Mother gave me soap nuts (here).  I've used them about 15 times and am indifferent about their cleaning power compared to my two homemade detergents.  They are pretty darn expensive to purchase and I don't like the fact that there is zero suds and scent. Alright, enough with this. I've got a blueberry pie to eat. Bye.