Homemade Laundry Detergent

In September of 2008, I stumbled across this information about homemade laundry detergent (from The Simple Dollar). The idea intrigued me, in large part because I would get to make a goopy mixture! When we moved into our house and got a sweet deal on a high efficiency washer, I wasn't ready to try such a goopy option on the new appliance. More research and I found information on how to make a powdered version on the homemade detergent from Frugal Upstate.

It took me a while to get up the nerve to do it because I didn't want to mess up our washer, and I also was afraid that it wouldn't get our clothes clean. A lot of people have commented on the two different recipes above, many of whom use HE washers and homemade detergent without a problem and say that their clothes are just as clean.

I have been making my own laundry detergent for about 5 months now, and I basically use the second "recipe", the powdered version. The main reason that I started doing this was because of our cloth diapers. There are specific instructions on which detergents NOT to use with cloth, because they can coat the diapers (and coated diapers means not absorbing you-know-what!!). Our washer has held up fine with the homemade detergent and our clothes are clean and smell great!

UPDATE (2/2011): I've been using homemade detergent for 2 years now. I do not use Fels-Naptha soap anymore because I prefer the scent of the Almond Yardley soap. The texture of the bar also allows it to chop into finer pieces in the food processor. I have had NO problems with the functionality of my HE washer because of using this detergent. Additionally, my cloth diapers have held up very well, and show no signs of repelling as a result of being washed in homemade detergent.

The other bonus with my homemade detergent is that it costs about 2-3 cents a load! I've made 4 batches of detergent since March of this year for less than $5. Even using coupons or shopping at Costco, I would have a hard time getting store-bought detergent for close to that price.

Here's a quick run-down on how I make my detergent. This recipe makes about 50 loads using 1 tablespoon of detergent per load. I made some yesterday while I was already in the kitchen cleaning things up, so it really only added 5 minutes or so to what I was doing.

Supplies:

1 box washing soda (Arm & Hammer for $2.29 @ Acme)

1 box Borax (20 Mule for $2.29 @ Acme)

1 bar soap (Fels-Naptha for $1.19 @ Acme) (Yardley for $1 @ Dollar Tree or $0.69 on sale at Walgreens - this is a sale they run every 6-8 weeks)

Food Processor, 1/2 cup measure, and sharp knife

Cut up the bar of soap. Depending on the soap you use, you will have to cut different ways. Back when I was using Fels-Naptha, I had to really chunk and dice the bar. The Yardley ends up being more of a shaved cutting method, which is a lot easier to get nice and small in the food processor:

Put the soap into your food processor

and grind. After the soap is ground up, add 1/2 cup of borax and 1/2 cup of washing soda and mix together. (Update: As mentioned above, using Yardley soap helps to get the bar soap chopped smaller, though it is still not as fine as the Borax or washing soda, naturally)

Here's a look after everything has been mixed together.

And this is what my old Fels-Naptha detergent looked like...much chunkier:

I usually mix up a "double batch" of detergent. Since we use this for our regular laundry as well as cloth diapers, we go through a good bit of it. I've repurposed an old mayo container from Costco for our laundry detergent. I keep a tablespoon measure in with it so all I have to do is add a scoop to each load!

 

Questions or experience with homemade laundry detergent? Let me know in the comments!