Jeremy and I recently made Homemade Laundry Detergent. We weren’t sure it would clean as well as store bought detergent but it does. It only takes a little bit, 1/2 cup, to clean a full load of clothes. Its very inexpensive to make and lasts forever. This laundry soap/detergent isn’t the same thick gel-like consistency you get from store bought detergents but its not watery either. Its more like a thick-ish soup. It also has a nice clean smell to it but you can scent the soap however you want. It does not foam up though. However, no suds doesn’t mean its not cleaning.

Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 bar of fels naptha soap (this was hard to find. The only place we’ve found it is Ace Hardware. I know some walmart stores carry it in the laundry aisle, our does not. )

• 1 Cup of borax (Walmart does carry this, 20 mule brand.)

• 1 Cup of Super washing soda (Arm & Hammer makes this. I think walmart has it but we got ours at Ace Hardware when we bought the soap.)

• A Bucket W/Lid (We soaked a 40 lb (5 gallons) cat litter container in scalding water, then scrubbed and rinsed it good. You need to make sure your bucket has a lid as it will need stored in your laundry room somewhere and you don’t want pets getting into it. Borax is toxic to pets.)
• *Optional: 1 Ounce of Essential oil(s). Any scent(s) you want.

Note:

This has to be made ahead of time as it needs 24 hours to “thicken up”.

Directions:

Gather your ingredients for Making Homemade Laundry Detergent

1. Grate half the bar of soap into a large pot.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Grate 1/2 bar of soap

   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Grate Soap into large pot

2. Add 12 cups of water and turn burner to Med High Heat.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Add water

3. Stir until soap is dissolved.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Stir to Dissolve Soap Flakes

4. Add 1 Cup Borax and stir until dissolved; add 1 cup washing soda and stir to dissolve.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Add 1 Cup Borax & Washing Soda to pot

   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Remove From Heat

5. Turn burner off, remove pan from heat.
6. Add 8 cups of hot tap water to the bucket. Then add soapy mixture to bucket.
7. Stir to combine. Now add 2 gallons & 12 cups of water to the mixture. Stir to combine.
   

   Homemade Laundry Detergent Should Look Like This

8. *Optional Step* Add essential oils. If you like heavy scented laundry soap then use 1 ounce, or if not, use 1/2 ounce or less. Its up to your personal scent preference. Experiment little by little if your not sure. If your are combining scents make sure you don’t go over an ounce together. Example: Use 1/2 ounce lavender and 1/2 patchouli.

Close the lid and let it sit for 1 full day, 24 hours, to thicken.

Use 1/2 cup per load of laundry. We just keep a cheap 1/2 cup measuring cup on top of it. If you need to pre-treat a stain just use the other half of the bar to rub on the stain or use a teaspoon to drop a little soap mixture on it and rub it in good with a toothbrush.

It sounds like a pain in the ass but its actually really easy once your doing it. The ingredients cost about $8 with tax and each batch will last a couple months. Unless you have a lot of kids and do a few full loads of laundry everyday. In that case you may want to double the recipe! Still, it works out cheaper than store bought detergent. Next thing we intend to make is homemade fabric softener and “dryer sheets” which I’ll post whenever we do that.