Making Our Own Laundry Detergent
After way too long of “meaning to get around to it”, we finally made our own laundry detergent! We used this recipe:
Laundry Detergent
1-bar soap grated (I use castile soap. I’d never tried these but had seen them recommended. You could also use Fels naptha, Ivory or Zote. If you use Fels naptha you only need 1/3 of the bar.)
1/2-cup washing soda- (not to be confused with baking soda)
1/2-cup borax
2-gal. bucket (I make a double batch right away in a 5-gal. bucket)
Grate soap into 6 cups water, heat until it melts. Add soda and borax and stir until dissolved. Pour 4 cups hot water into bucket. Now add soap mix and stir. Add 1-gal. plus 6 cups water; stir. You can add essential oil if you like - I use orange essential oil. Let stand for 24 hours and it will gel. It will not be a solid gel, but will have an egg noodle soup look.
Use 1/2 cup per load..
You can transfer the detergent into one of your old detergent containers for easier use.
If you have a hard time finding the washing soda, call Church & Dwight (they put out Arm & Hammer). When I called they offered to send it free of shipping if I ordered more than 2 boxes, because no one in my area carried it. 1-800-524-1328
We had so much fun doing this as a family project! Here are the pics of our adventure:
First grate the soap:
Then melt the soap: 
Next, add soda and Borax:
Put hot water in a bucket. I used a 5 gallon bucket because I made a double batch right away.
Add soap mix to hot water in bucket, then add more water. Let sit overnight to “gel” and WALA!!!
SO easy and SO cheap!!!
fulltime mama
September 5th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I've been using that recipe for a couple years now. It works great & it's so cheap. After just a few months I noticed I can't stand the way clothes washed with commercial detergents smell now. The chemicals & perfumes are really strong once you stop smelling them daily.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Im sorry I was so slow getting back to this!
We have been using the detergent for over a month now and we find it to be working very well! The clothes come out smelling fresh and clean and looking clean as well. My sensitive-skinned ds has not had any bad reaction to it, as he does to most detergents, and it has been working well on my cloth diapers as well!
August 10th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Does the laundry detergent work well?
Let us know and perhaps just maybe we can try too.
Thanks for sharing
Sheila