homemade dishwasher powder and laundry soap.

O.K I have finnally been able to find 2 good recipes to make my own dishwashing soap and also the laundry detergent. I have tried both and they work really good, plus I will save $ which is what I am trying to do.

Recipe for laundry soap.
2 cups of Borax
2 cups of washing soda.
1 bar of soap grated ( I use Ivory soap)

Mix it all and place it in a container.

I have an energy efficient front loading washer and I use about 1 TB of detergent, I keep a plastic spoon in the detergent compartment.
For regular washers you only need 1/4 cup.

Recipe for Dishwashing powder.
Equal amounts of borax and washing soda mixed, I add about 2 plastics spoons of this mixture into the compartment and then I place a drop of dish soap on the compartmet as well. I have heard some people placing white vinegar for the spot treatment instead of the Jet dry but I really have not tried it yet since I bought a huge container at Sams club and I am still using it. I have tried this twice and my dishes come out clean with no residue, just as if I was to use the regular dishwasher powder.

Hope you find these useful, let me know how it goes for you when you try them.

I would love to learn of other recipes that you use in your household that saves you $.

One last one, since I have carpet and I have kids, dogs etc... I have been using white vinegar for my carpet shampoer instead of the expensive carpet cleaner and it really cleans well, plus the vinegar smell just goes away as soon as the carpets dry.