Friday, January 27, 2012

Laundry Detergent, Baby Update

I first made my own detergent in August 2009. In December, I did a cost analysis, and decided that I would continue using it.  I've made my own detergent since then, and by last July I had my final recipe down.  I used it successfully for two months on the diapers, with no smells and no stains.

However, my recipe uses Borax, and Thirsties recommends that you not use Borax on your diapers (in fact, having done so, I have voided their warranty).  So I tried it without Borax, and it's just not the same.

I just whipped up a new batch of my old recipe.  Perhaps it will cause my diapers to disintegrate and I'll have to buy new ones.  Or perhaps Thirsties is just erring on the side of caution in the great "Borax on cloth diapers?" debate.  I'll let you know.

The next test: real food.  I'll give you an update (it will only be two or three months, as they are three months old now!)

3 comments:

  1. that's great! i have made liquid soap but never laundry detergent. i'll definitely give your recipe a try. thanks for sharing!

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  2. Was there a reason why they said no borax? Not sure what that is but I assume it'll probably break down the fibers faster than not using borax would... Let us know how you make out!

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  3. wow..cloth diapers with twins. Now that's dedication to the frugal lifestyle. For what it's worth, I've had cloth diapers for 7 years and have used them nonstop in the kitchen..not as diapers but as dish and burp cloths and they still are fine. I've bleached them and used oxyclean which I think are both tougher on fibers than boraxo.

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