Let me just say I was quite surprised that I didn’t get any “Bwahhaa, you hippie nut, you make your own laundry detergent?” comments last night π
Not only do I really feel that it’s better for our skin & actually makes our clothes cleaner, but it is ridiculously cheap.
With commercial detergents, unless you buy the dollar store brand, you’re paying anywhere from $7ish-$20+ a bottle, depending on size, brand, location, etc.
I think I probably spent about $15 to get started, which included the ingredients, a large plastic jar with lid, & a cheese grater.
I make powdered soap. Mostly because I am lazy & don’t feel like taking the time needed to make the liquid/gel soap. If you’re interested in the liquid version, let me know & I’ve got a few recipes saved.
If you don’t like my version of the soap recipe, just Google “make your own laundry detergent” & you’ll get a whole handful of sites.
Here’s the powdered soap recipe that I use:
1 box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (This is not the same as baking soda & they are not interchangeable)
3pk of original Ivory soap (You can use Ivory, Dove, etc. However, the “beauty bars” such as Olay or anything that have added moisturizers will, over time, cause buildup on your clothing)
(If you have incredibly dirty, greasy clothes [ie your husband is a mechanic or your kids are fond of going out to the driveway & rolling around in those nasty oil spill puddles], you may want to consider using a stronger bar soap such as Fels Naptha, Zout, or one of those other peel your skin off soaps that our grandparents were so very fond of.)
Essential oil of your choice. I prefer Clean Linen or Citrus scents. Lavendar would also be a nice choice.
It is ridiculously easy to put this together. I followed a 1:1 ratio with the Borax & Washing Soda.
- In your blender, mix 1 cup Borax with 1 cup Washing Soda. Mix on low speed until they are combined. Repeat until you have used all of the powdered ingredients.
- Add in the essential oils. The original recipe that I found called for only 2-3 drops of oil for the entire batch. I probably ended up using about 15 drops all together & still noticed little to no scent on my clean clothes.
- You will need to grate the soap with the cheese grater. If you have a food processor that can handle the stickiness & thickness of the grated soap, grating with the large holes will work best. However, if you manage to kill yours (like I did) while trying to chop it into smaller pieces, simply use the small holes on the cheese grater & you can mix them right into the powdered ingredients without trying to chop them any smaller.
- Mix the soap with the powdered ingredients. Pour into a container with a lid.
- Wash your clothes.
It really is that simple. You will want to play around with the amount needed for your washing machine, but it should not require much soap at all. For light loads, I use 1 (yes, ONE) Tablespoon of powder. For heavy loads, extremely dirty loads, etc. I use 2 Tablespoons plus a scoop of OxyClean.
This soap will not suds up in the washer, so don’t think that you need to continue to add more soap in an attempt to achieve sudsing. Also, I don’t know how this would work in an HE or front loader. I’m sure you could ask Sir Google & get an answer fairly quickly.
I was able to find all the ingredients minus the Washing Soda at Wal-Mart. If yours carries it, it will be in the laundry aisle, close to the Borax. If not, check your local grocery store & possibly even hardware stores. If all else fails, you can buy it on Amazon. At the grocery store, I know I paid less than $3 for the box, but I can’t remember just how big the box was. The one on Amazon is 55oz but is over $10 before S&H, so check around. The essential oils, I found in the potpourri aisle at Wal-Mart as well. I don’t think they say “essential oil” rather, something along the lines of liquid potpourri. You can order essential oils off of Amazon or if you have a health foods store near you, you can pick them up there, as well.
I made my first batch roughly 5-6 weeks ago, right after we moved into the new house. I have probably 5 loads worth left in the jar. And that’s with doing sometimes as many as 10 loads of laundry a week. So, this stuff lasts quite a while, as opposed to going & buying a new bottle of detergent every 2-3 weeks.
If you want to take it a step further, you can cut out your commercial fabric softeners as well. There are recipes that call for water & plain hair conditioner. Good ‘ol vinegar works the best in my opinion. Simply fill your Downy ball to the line with plain white vineger & toss in the washer. Your clothes do not come out smelling like vinegar. After a few washes with the laundry detergent & vinegar combo, you will notice that your clothes are coming out softer & brighter. You are getting rid of all of the product buildup that has accumulated from the commercial detergents & softeners.
Same goes for your dryer sheets. I’ve read a variety of suggestions for dryer softeners. From “Soak a washcloth in the commercial liquid softener & toss it into the dryer-lasts for approximately 10 loads” to “Soak a washcloth in hair conditioner” to “Don’t use anything at all. Eventually your clothes will cease to be staticky.”
I like to use dryer balls. Occasionally I’ll have something come out of the dryer a little staticky but that’s generally after I’ve tossed in Bear’s “silky” blanket.
There you have it. My laundry recipe. Youc an also tweak this around to make a dishwasher detergent (omit the Ivory soap, keep a 1:1 ratio of Borax & Washing Soda, add in essential oil of your choice) but I was never able to make it work in my dishwasher. No matter how I changed the amount of soap I was putting in, my dishes still came out spotted, streaked & filmy. However, I do use vinegar rather than Jet Dry in the rinse agent dispenser & have had next to no spotting at all on my dishes.
Oh my goodness! I have GOT to try this!!! Could you email me how to try the liquid one as well? We live out in the country, therefore we have septic. I’ve heard liquid is better on the septic, so I would like to try and stick with that?
My email is sheila.222@live.com
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I have NEVER heard of this!
Thanks Cara!! Your the best…now I just have to convince the hubby to let me try it!!
Thanks π I need to write this down, so I can shop for ingredients on my next trip to Wal-Mart! Can’t wait…the citrus oils sounds yummy!
Do you make your own window and counter cleaner? Just curious, I’m looking for recipes that work!
Hi, I have an award for you on my blog
I just read this recipe to Jamie. I think we might try it but we have to ask Sir Google about our front loading high capacity washer. Thanks for the recipe!
I am glad to see that I am not the only crazy person out there that makes my own stuff. I have been doing this for months too. My mom thinks I am silly and so did hubby at first, but he is happy not shelling out the money for detergent! I also make my own kitchen cleaner water, bleach, and lavendar drops! Good luck!
menearfamily.blogspot.com
Great! Thanks for Sharing, will have to try it. I will use some good homemade soap instead of the commercial stuff though.
You damn hippie! π haha! I just started making my own too and have tried both the liquid(gel) kind and the powdered kind. I used fles naptha though. I will try the ivory soap next. The other great plus to homemade detergent is; no phosphates that poison the fishies and ocean animals! I knew you’d like to know that ’cause you’re such a hippie now π
i can’t wait to try this. and i use the dryer balls to and love them. in my dryer.
oh too funny – i just posted my own recipe and price breakdown on my blog yesterday, and then today i was catching up on reading blogs and voila! great minds think alike, i guess! :o)
i have hard water and ivory doesn't work as well for my laundry. I use kirk's or fels naptha, but usually kirks because the store i go to is almsot always out of fels naptha.