Household Recipes: Homemade Laundry Detergent
I am a hardcore couponer.* My kids are even in on it. Whenever we go to the grocery store together they both want to know ahead of time “Do we get any coupons?”. I usually pick out a coupon I had planned on using (for a kid friendly item to make it more fun) and give one to each of them. Their job then is to find the item or items in the grocery store and put them in the buggy. They also get to put them on the belt and hand over their coupons when time comes to pay. Then we talk about how much money they saved that day by using them and I’ll usually go through a drive through for some sort of treat and explain to them how we got that “free” with the money we saved.
Consequently, Katy’s favorite thing to do is get my coupons out of the printer whenever I print them off from websites and such. As soon as she hears that printer going she hollers out “Ma! Can I get the coupons out for you?” and here she’ll come a running with pieces of paper, proud as a peacock. Hint: You can print out coupons directly from SouthernPlate.com by using the Coupons widget about middle ways down in the right sidebar!
One of the things that drives me half mad is the price of laundry detergent. This is one item which is absolutely necessary in your household but so seldom goes on sale. To make matters worse, Katy has had some sensitivity issues to detergent in the past (she broke out in hives when I tried out a lavender scented one and on one other occasion when I tried another detergent) so I am limited to which ones I can purchase.
A while back, I came across a Tipnut.com post on homemade laundry detergent. Now my initial thought was not to replace our laundry detergent but rather to simply know how to make my own in a pinch, if I ever had the need. I just love being able to do things like this on my own, must have been all those episodes of MacGyver when I was younger. I was pretty surprised to find that not only did it clean better than the high dollar brands but it also softened our clothes (I no longer use fabric softener) and made everything even smell fresher than the brand I had been using.
It has been requested by all members of my household (including the youngest, who thinks grating soap is just the coolest thing ever) that I only use this detergent from now on. We’ve been using it for a few months now and I’m totally won over. Of course, they love it for the smell and feel of our clothes, I love it for how great it works and the fact that it only costs me about eight cents per load of laundry now!
In my mind, the commercial versions can’t come close to this.
Tipnut has an extensive list of laundry detergent recipes on her site, including several for liquid detergent. She also has a great FAQ section just for laundry detergent questions! I considered the liquid detergent recipes for all of thirty seconds and went straight with the powder because it suits my commitment to keep things as low maintenance and simple as possible.
This is only my second batch that I’ve made up. It seemed to last forever so this last time I actually measured out how many loads were in each batch so I could give you an accurate figure. No wonder it lasted forever, I had made enough for 160 loads!
Today I’m bringing you the recipe I use which I found on Tipnut.com. After viewing this tutorial, hop on over there and check out her other recipes for detergent to find the one that works best for you. This one is the hands down winner at my house!
You’ll need:
- Laundry Soap (Fels Naptha or Zote are the ones I have used. You can also use: Sunlight Bar Soap, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, or even Ivory)
- Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
- Borax
Note: You’re not likely to find all of these things in one store. I usually have to make trips to at least two different stores to get them. One store will have the Borax but put it beside a huge box of Baking Soda instead of washing soda and then another will have the soap. Just have fun shopping around for what you like but be sure you remember where you got everything! I am going to show you a recipe for detergent to make about eighty loads worth but I recommend you get four bars of soap and go ahead and make 160 loads worth because there is enough Borax and Washing Soda in one box to do that much. This will give you the absolute best savings!
The only real work involved is grating your soap. I use a cheese grater for this. I really want to use my food processor but I’m worried about hard soap damaging or dulling my blades so cheese grater it is!
Get your soap, a dishpan or large bowl, and grater and go find something good on TV.
If you have access to one of the first few seasons of Mcleod’s Daughter’s, that’d be my pick.
*I get about three cups of soap shavings from each bar. Measurements will vary according to the size of your bar soap and how finely it is ground.
We’re grating this kind of fine so it melts easier in the water.
If you like, you can run the shavings through the food processor when you are done to make it finer but this works just fine for me.
Measure out your soap grounds in a large mixing bowl. This is where the recipe gets easy.
However many cups of soap shavings you have, half that to know the number of cups of Washing Soda and Borax to put in.
So for six cups of soap shavings, use three cups of borax and three cups of washing soda!
Measure out Washing Soda
And borax..
Stir all of that up!
You’ll have to stir a bit each time you scoop some out to get a good ratio of soap shavings to powder but that’s no big deal.
I store mine in a little flip top container and leave an 1/8th of a cup measuring cup in there to measure it out. Can you believe this only takes two tablespoons per load? Seriously! I put this to the test, too. I’ve figure out that two tablespoons is pretty close to 1/8th of a cup so that is the measurement I use now.
The main difference you will notice between this and store bought detergents is that this detergent doesn’t suds up as commercial ones do. Don’t let that deter you! Once you pull out your first load of clean, fresh smelling, naturally soft and fluffy laundry, that only cost YOU eight cents to clean, you’ll be hooked.
Homemade Laundry Detergent
*This was based off of Tipnut.com’s recipe #4, I just altered the amounts
- 4 Bars Laundry Soap (to yield 12 cups of soap shavings)
- 6 Cups Borax (this is roughly one box)
- 6 Cups Washing powders (this is roughly one box)
Grate soap using cheese grater. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Place in sealed container and measure out two tablespoons for each load.
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Smaller Batch Recipe
- 2 Cups Laundry Soap Shavings (you can get this easily from one bar)
- 1 Cup Borax
- 1 Cup Washing Soda
*Follow Instructions For Above Recipe
Soaps you can use: Fels Naptha, Zote, Sunlight Bar Soap, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, or Ivory
*For great coupon strategies and advice, visit www.southernsavers.com.
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I am really into making my own washing powders and have been researching some.I like your recipe,but i feel i should warn your readers of my findings on fels naptha.Fels Naptha is toxic and not for body usage or regular use in laundry.One of it’s ingredients is a Stoddard solvent(petroleum based),a skin and eye irritant and studies have shown that prolonged exposure to that solvent have shown health issues with nervous system,respiratory irritation,liver,and kidney problems.Just asking everyone to research it before using it regularly,I suggest using Ivory or another soap with the recipe.
I love this recipe! My washer is cleaner, my clothes are cleaner and softer, I’m not itchy anymore, and heck, I even enjoyed grating the soap…I found it to be therapeutic. 🙂
I made a big batch and even sent some with my son to use at college.
I found all of the ingredients at Harris Teeter (I live near DC in MD). Borax is also available at most places – including K-Mart.
I went to ACE Hardware today looking for the Fels Naptha. For the record, I live in Austin and went to the ACE Hardware up in Cedar Park. Not only did they have ALL three items sitting side by side on the shelf (Borax, Washing Soda, and Fels Naptha!!), but there were cute little complimentary copies of this exact recipe as well as a recipe on how to make the homemade liquid detergent hanging from a hook for the shoppers! SCORE!!
I can’t wait to get grating…and then go dribble something down the front of my shirt.
I went to ACE as well because i saw on the website that they do carry all 3. When i went to the store, they didn’t have the Washing SODA. In fact i went to 5 different stores with no luck. So i went online and ordered the Washing Soda through ACE they will deliver to your nearest ACE location free of charge. Hopefully it arrives soon. I grated my FELS NAPTHA 2 bars gave me approx 4 cups.
I made my first batch of this soap yesterday. I had to use Ivory because nowhere round here sells Fels Naptha. Next time we go to Sam’s Club in Rome I’m going to check the Kroger. I would like to know why I have to drive to Georgia for everything. Seriously, I can assure you that people in this part of Alabama would like Pioneer Baking Mix and Fels Naptha.
Anyway, I’ve done two loads of laundry and I think it may get our clothes cleaner than the store bought soap we’d been using.
There are two kinds of stains I have been unable to remove from our laundry using just about every kind of commercial laundry product. The first is chocolate pudding. I can never get it out of my children’s clothes. The second is my husband sweats while he’s sleeping at night and it leaves a rust colored greasy type stain on the sheets. I have researched this to no end and everything I have tried just doesn’t work. Do you think this will work on those two types of stains? I’ve never tried any of the products you listed to make this laundry detergent. I have been using southernsavers.com since November and actually have been getting good deals on laundry detergent and especially stain removers like shout and spray n wash. However, I wouldn’t describe my clothes’ smell and feel like you have described yours using this homemade soap. I would love to try it, especially if you think it would remove those two stains.
The sheet stains may be a chemical reaction and not a “stain” stain. Home Ec 101 has a post that might be helpful about dealing with it.
You might want to try Fels Naptha. Their claim to fame is getting out chocolate and sweat stains, as well as other stains. Just wet the bar and rub it into the stain, let it sit for a couple of minutes then wash. If your stain is set in, it might take a few treatments to remove. Good luck.
I made my first batch today after neglecting to re-read the recipe and had to go back out for more Fels Naptha. Doing laundry now and laundry smells so clean and is so soft. It cleans very much like Charlie’s Soap that is made here in North Carolina, which also uses 1/8 cup per load. There are no suds with either, at least here at my house, but I’m thrilled to have this recipe. A little truly does go a long way. Thanks Christy.
I forgot to add that Harris Teeter here in Wilmington, at least the newest one, sells all three products. I couldn’t believe that I found all three sitting almost side by side. Wal-Mart carries two of the three (no Fels Naptha, however). I have not looked elsewhere since I found all three at the first place I looked.
Is this supposed to smell good? I tried this recipe and the one from BeckyJ but neither one of them made my clothes smell good! There was no smell at all. They were obviously clean but I want them to smell clean too!