Homemade Laundry Soap

If you aren't one of those people that just LOVES to make everything themselves, then you might not be thinking this post is relevant for you. Let me just tempt you with this - I am going to tell you how to spend only $22 for 6 months of laundry detergent! Are you interested now? Keep reading!

If you have ever looked into Homemade Laundry Detergent, you know there are literally HUNDREDS of “recipes” for making your own! I first started experimenting with my own laundry detergent about a year ago after wanting to save money for my oil addiction. I asked my friend Kim what she used and this is her recipe that I have tweaked it a bit by adding essential oils too! Not only does it working amazing, but this Homemade Laundry Detergent recipe will save you hundreds of dollars each year!  I’m a tide girl and I think this stuff may be better and the price is amazing!

Most basic laundry detergents have 3 core ingredients: Borax, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and laundry bar soap (like Fels-Naptha or Zote). I have incorporated a few more ingredients because we need something that is great at getting stains out AND leaves clothes smelling clean and fresh.

Homemade Laundry Detergent Ingredients

Here are the products you’ll need to make this: 

·         (3) Fels-Naptha Bars – $0.97 each

·         20 Mule Team Borax, 4 lbs 12 oz – $3.97

·         Oxi-Clean Versatile Stain Remover, 3 lb – $6.98

·         Essential oils very in price and I use YL so they are purest and I usually put in lemon because it smells fresh and 15ml is around $11. And 40 drops is roughly around $2.40

·         Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda, 4 lb – $2.24

·         Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, 55 oz – $3.97

There are simpler recipes out there, but this homemade laundry detergent will get the dirtiest of barn clothes clean and leave them smelling oh so fresh! After a year of testing and trying and really dirty clothes that come clean I wouldn't steer you wrong!

If the ingredients are making you nervous…. don’t worry, you can find it all on the Laundry Detergent aisle at your local store or on Amazon.

This Homemade Laundry Detergent is HE Safe!

The first thing many of you may be asking is, “But is it safe for my HE washer?” With absolute certainty I can say yes! Why is it safe? Well, HE washing machines are High Efficiency because they use less water (and energy) to wash your clothes. Since they use less water to wash (and then rinse) the clothes, it needs a detergent that doesn't suds up like a typical laundry detergent. This homemade laundry detergent is VERY low suds! Don’t let that fool you though, this cleans very well; just don’t expect the bubbly soap suds that a typical detergent gives you. So for those of you with HE washers, you will save even more money by making your own laundry detergent.

The Process

You will need a great big container to mix everything in. If your husband has a clean 5 gallon bucket, that would work perfectly. There are only 3 things you need to do to make everything – grate the soap, dump everything in the bucket and mix.

Grate the soap? You heard right. The Fels-Naptha laundry soap is a bar and in order for you to get a little bit in every load, you need to grate it. Simple enough, right? Well, let me give you a few words

of advice.

1.       Don’t use your food processor. It creates a mass of mush and clumps and is really not worth all of the clean up. Trust me!

2.      Speaking of clean up – do NOT put your grater (or food processor blades) into the dish washer to clean up! Warm soap and water and a little time will work just fine. In the dishwasher the film from the grated soap spreads to every single dish in your dishwasher and will take several loads to make them clean again. Again trust me!!!!

3.      That’s it! Once you are done mixing it up, put it into your pretty container and you are good to go.

4.      When you are looking for a container, be sure to select one that is air tight. If too much moisture in the air gets into your detergent, you will have to chisel it a bit because it will harden. Again, just trust me on this one.  I bought my pretty glass jar (it’s about 2 gallon size) at Target for around $10! 

Is it Worth It?

Another question you’re probably asking is, “Is it really worth my time to make my own detergent?” Again, I say yes, it took me about a half hour to grate the soap and mix all the powders together, This will last me about 6 months too! It only takes 1-2 tablespoons per loads to get your clothes nice and clean.