Move over OxiClean®...there's a MUCH CHEAPER stain remover in town!

OK...I promised I would share my experience with the homemade OxiClean recipes I found....and I am now sufficiently prepared to do so. :-)

I couldn't bring myself to post about it until I had given it a thorough test.

I made my first batch on Saturday.  It was kind of a mess.  The most common recipe you will find when you Google "Homemade OxiClean" is this one:

• 1 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide [3]
• 1/2 cup baking soda [4]

Of course, me in my infinite wisdom thought that didn't seem like very much. So I decided to quadruple the batch!  My personality type tends to think....if ONE of something is good...then TEN of something must be much better! :-)  Hmmm...might have played a part in my stint in rehab...ya think? lol.  Well...that's another story....for another day.

So I quadrupled the "recipe" and put it in a big mason jar.  It immediately separated into what looked like a layer of baking soda on the bottom of the bottle...topped with water.  I shook it up REAL good and poured it in a load of laundry.  Seemed to work ok.  But nothing to write home about.

I wasn't ready to give up on it though...so, I decided to do a little more research on the subject.  While I was waiting for my son's prescription to be filled at the pharmacy....my Droid and I found some interesting things about "faux" OxiClean:

[5]Most of the recipes out there call for BAKING Soda...but what the ingredient SHOULD be listed as is WASHING Soda [6].  Baking soda will work...but it's a lot less effective.  Washing soda has a pH of 11 (with 7 being neutral), while Baking soda has a pH of around 8.1.  That being said....if you are laundering baby diapers...I might stick with the Baking soda...but for normal dirty clothes...I would recommend the WASHING soda.

Another thing I learned is that once mixed together....the hydrogen peroxide and washing soda only remain effective for up to 6 hours.  If it sits around, it will loose it's efficacy because the oxygen boils off.   I guess that explains why the original recipe was for such a small amount. :-/ So I basically wasted my "quadruple" batch.

Finally, for maximum effectiveness you need to let the clothes SOAK in the solution for awhile, preferably overnight...but at least for a couple of hours.

[7]Soooooooooo.......all that having been said.  I had a MUCH better experience with the homemade OxiClean recipe today! In fact, it isn't really a "recipe" at all.  This morning before work I tossed in 1/2 cup of Washing Soda [6] (already had a box from my detergent-making) and 1/2 cup of Hydrogen Peroxide [3] (I bought a 32 oz bottle for $1) to the load of whites I was washing, along with the homemade laundry detergent I made, and after letting it agitate for awhile...I left the load to soak until lunch time.  When I came home for lunch I finished washing the load, threw it in the dryer and tonight when I got home from work I was extremely happy with the results!!!!

The whites I washed were NOTICEABLY whiter and brighter!  I thought about posting a picture....but since they were my "delicates", you're just going to have to take my word for it! :-)    Or better yet......TRY IT YOURSELF!  I can't wait to hear what your results are!

 

I found this blog on pinterest!  Oh how i love this site.  Check it out here! [8]