Homemade Laundry Detergent

A friend of mine was inquiring about the recipe I use to make our own laundry detergent. First off I must give credit where credit is due. My friend (find her at her blog Walking With Dancers ) originally shared it with me. I know she didn't recreate the wheel, and probably got it from a friend of hers or somewhere off the internet, but I want to give her credit cause she let me in on this amazing little secret. You see, I still don't think I am the best person in the world to ask about how to do laundry in general. You probably won't ever find me writing a blog post on a Laundry How To either. If any of you have some great tips on making whites whiter and ironing more efficiently...please let me know. I'd love some! I do however enjoy a good deal, and without further ado I present to you Homemade Laundry Detergent.

I have no doubt in my mind that this helps me save a couple hundred dollars a year. In fact I am pretty sure that with all the ingredients combined it costs less than a penny per load. Penny? Yup. A penny. I have been making my own laundry now pretty much ever since we lived in our house...so about 2 1/2 years. It's easy. Hardly takes anytime at all, and saves me hundreds? Yes please!

In fact I purchased all the ingredients for this over 2 years ago, and just recently started having to buy refills.

Here's your list of ingredients:

Borax 1/2 cup per batch (This costs about $5-6 per box)

Washing Soda 1/2cup per batch (This costs between $3-4 per box)

Fels Naptha 1/3 of a bar per batch (this is really cheap like 0.50-1.00 per bar??)

In the last 2 1/2 years I have had to buy some more fels naptha but maybe only 2-3 times, and I just ran out of washing soda when I made a batch the other day. I still have more borax left...after 2 1/2 years!!!

I think it is pretty safe to say in the last 2 1/2 years I have spent less than $15 on laundry detergent.

Now this laundry detergent isn't compatible with cloth diapers which you can read about here. Regardless I am just now nearing the end of my laundry detergent for my diapers which costs about $10 but I have been using it for almost 6 months now because you need so little detergent to wash cloth diapers.

A few other things that I think are helpful to have when making this"

• A long spoon (something you already use for cooking is fine just make sure its a long one and not a spoon you would use for table service.
• A 5 gallon bucket
• Large pot (something you would cook soup or chili in)
• Containers to store your soap in ( I use a gallon pitcher for everyday use so its easy to measure and pour it into the washer, and you'll also want some larger containers to store the soap in so you can refill your pitcher. Develop a system that works for you, but this has worked well for me. I have even used old laundry detergent bottles for storing...you just have to use a funnel to pour the new soap in

Instructions:

Grate 1/3 bar of fels naptha and put it into large pot on stove. Add 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap melts. Add 1/2 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. Stir well in your bucket before pouring into storage containers. Use 1/2 cup per load (I always shake my container before use).

See? Easy! I recommended using a 5 gallon bucket because I make a double batch so I don't have to make it as often. I think doing this I probably make a batch every 3 months?? I am not really sure but it isn't very often and thus not annoying at all. Also...whip out your math skills ladies (don't worry its easy math I promise!). You can tailor this recipe to your needs...want it to be more concentrated...then decrease it down and only use 1/4 cup per load. Also be careful if you have a high efficiency washer. They are meant to use less soap. I just use less per load and it works well. Measuring out each individual cup of water especially when doing a double batch and you have to measure out 12 cups can get kind of annoying. So do the math...

There are 128oz in a gallon and 1 cup has 8 oz.

6cups x 8oz = 48oz x 2 (cause its a double batch) = 96oz divided by 128oz = 0.75 gallons...so just use a gallon pitcher and fill it up 3/4 of the way instead of measuring out 12 cups. This recipe is already easy and I made it even easier on myself.

I didn't take pictures of the actual process cause I didn't think about writing this post until after I had actually made my batch, but I did take a picture of some of my supplies for you: stock pot, long spoon, 5 gallon bucket, old detergent container for storage, and a pitcher for easy every day use to pour out of into your washing machine. I also use a second pitcher identical to the one shown for measuring out my water for actually making the detergent.

Give a try! I know you won't be disappointed and if you get daring enough and want to spice things up again you can even add 1/2 oz of essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice.