Friday, January 18, 2013

How to make your own laundry detergent - cheap & easy

This past week I finally purchased the three items needed to make your own powdered laundry detergent. I made it in about 5 minutes and have used it in a dozen loads of laundry. It works great!

Here is what you need: 

-Washing Soda (I used Arm & Hammer)
-Borax 
-A bar of soap (I used Fels Naptha) 



I purchased all of these at Wal-Mart. Check their laundry detergent aisle or the aisle right next to the detergents. I spent $3.38 on the Borax, $3.24 on the washing soap and 97 cents on the Fels Naptha. 

You will also need a grater and something to put the finished product in. 



Step 1: Grate the entire bar of soap. I used the largest grate and it worked okay. I may try a smaller grater next time.     

Step 2: Combine the grated soap with 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda. 

Step 3: Mix together

Step 4: Put it in a fancy container with a scoop. Use 1/2 scoop to 1 scoop per load of laundry. 


I purchased the glass jar & stainless steel coffee scoop at Wal-Mart as well. The glass jar was $3.97 and the scoop was $1.67. 



Note: make sure you grate the soap smaller than I did if you use cold water. I recently made a second batch and it worked better to freeze the bar of soap before grating it. 

All three ingredients cost me under $8 and next time I will just need to purchase a bar of soap. The borax & washing soda came in GIANT boxes and they will make a ton of detergent! 

Want to make your own liquid detergent? Check out this blogger's recipe. 

And another blogger's recipe

 Check out my updated laundry room

19 comments:

  1. very cool!
    Does the grated soap fully break down?
    I guess it must :)
    This must cost only pennies a load! HUH....

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  2. Yup, the soap breaks down just fine. I will try to grate it smaller next time though. I think it is going to cost less than a penny per load.

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  3. I make the liquid laundry soap. It's wonderful to have something that doesn't smell of perfumes. I've been using it for more than two years. Everyone I know that has tried homemade soap loves it.

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  4. http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/04/09/making-your-own-laundry-detergent-a-detailed-visual-guide/

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  5. can you use this on the new front open machines that say GE only?

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  6. I have heard that you can but I don't have a new machine (unfortunately).

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  7. I have a front loader and you can use. Homemade soap doesn't foam up like commercial laundry detergents. I got my recipe from here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

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  8. thank you so much for this info!! I am definately going to try it! :)

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  9. how well does this work on very soiled clothes? I have a 7 month old and usually spray Dreft on any stains, but my hubby works a dirty/greasy job...clothes are never clean! Just curious. Thanks!!

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  10. It works really well on dirty clothes. My husband works with tar, grease, dirt, gas and a ton of other really disgusting items. I tried it on these clothes and it seems to take out most of the stuff.

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  11. My DH is in construction and it works well on his clothes.

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  12. I make this same recipe but add water, it makes 10 gallons of laundry soap and cost is a penny. I cant see how this recipe saves that much? Or is this just a powder version ?

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  13. This is a powdered version. It works just as well as liquid. But without too much work. Ha! I'm lazy when it comes to this kind of stuff.

    I just made my third batch and I just needed to buy a bar of soap since I still have sooooo much of the other two things left.

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  14. I would like to try this recipe for soap out. My only question is, what size scoop are you using?

    Up North and Cold,

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  15. The scoop is small. I would say a tablespoon size. Or a small coffee scoop would work.

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  16. For the liquid soap I'm using 1/3 cup

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Thanks for commenting!