Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Homemade Laundry Detergent

One of the first posts I ever did on this blog was about making my own laundry detergent. And while I still use my homemade stuff, the post was dated for a number of reasons, most notably that I use Yardley soap instead of Fels-Naptha now. And the original pictures were pretty horrible. I've recently updated the original homemade laundry detergent post to reflect those changes, but I also wanted start fresh with a new post.

Homemade Laundry Detergent?
I started making my own laundry detergent in the Spring of 2009, and our family uses it exclusively for all our clothing, sheets and towels, and even our cloth diapers! I was initially very nervous about putting a homemade "concoction" into our relatively new high efficiency washer. Since the homemade detergent does not suds up like commercial detergent, I've found that we do not have any build up in the washer or on our clothing.

We also use this detergent for our bum Genius cloth diapers and have not had any issues with the diapers getting coated and repelling, stinking, or having a nasty detergent build-up.
The Recipe
I have looked at tons of homemade laundry detergent recipes through the years, and consider this to be my own now, though it was heavily influenced by Frugal Upstate.

  • 1 bar of soap, chopped (I use Yardley Oatmeal &Almond)
  • 1/2 cup Borax
  • 1/2 cup Washing Soda
Chop up the bar of soap and grind in your food processor until the soap is in fine pieces. Add borax and washing soda to the soap and grind again until everything is well blended. That's it! I use a large mayo for my detergent, and keep a tablespoon measure in with the powder. Unless you are washing really dirty things, you only need a tablespoon of this detergent for each load. Even though I wash cloth diapers, I only use a tablespoon per load!

Save Money
This homemade laundry detergent is a huge money saver for us! We wash all of our clothes and our cloth diapers for about 2 cents a load of detergent. The Borax and washing soda can be found in most grocery stores in the cleaning and detergent section, and cost $2-3. Since you are only using 1/2 cup per batch, these boxes last a long time! Yardley soap is priced at $1 at my Dollar Tree and 97 cents at Walmart. I usually wait and stock up on Yardley at Walgreens. About every 6-8 weeks they run a sale where Yardley is 69 cents a bar!


Making it Work for You

We've had a ton of success with homemade detergent, but its not for everyone. In fact, I would not still be using the homemade stuff if I had not switched bar soaps because I did not like the way it turned out with Fels-Naptha. The type of soap you use might make all the difference for your family.

Have you ever tried homemade laundry detergent and not liked it? Or have you tried it and loved it? Maybe now is the time to take the plunge and make a batch. I'd love to hear what you think!

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for the recipe last year! I so enjoy it for my cloth diapers as well. I haven't used it for my regular laundry, but I have used it in a bind, and haven't had any problems....I still like the smells of regular detergents for my other laundry. It is so easy to make. i just made some yesterday so this was a very timely post. I missed the last Walgreens sale for Yardley (love the almond smell), so hopefully I can stock up next time. It is working just fine in our 1 month old, brand new HE washer.

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  2. I love the almond smell too! And it is a much more mild scent than the store detergent, something I haven't minded too much since I use a nice smelling dryer sheet. Glad it's working so well for diapers!

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  3. I love the idea of this and have been pondering it for some time now. My only question: is there another way to get the soap all chopped up nicely? We don't have a food processor.

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    1. Get one! :) I have an attachment which goes w/my blender. ;) thank u Krups!

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    2. I used the food processor attachment on my Krups blender. :) Perfect for a small batch!

      In the foto above I have the same measuring spoons. :) LOL.!

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  4. I have not tried it this way, but I have read that you can use a cheese grater to "shave" the bar of soap. You would probably need to use one that has very small holes and maybe even chop with a knife through it a few times too. There are also liquid detergent recipes, but I don't have any personal experience with those.

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  5. I made this exact recipe with the Fels-Naptha soap as well, but switched to the Yardley Soap after that first batch. I always use two tablespoons (my husband works outside in the dirt!) and I still find that my clothes have a "old" smell. I started adding about a cup of vingear to the rinse cycle and that seems to be helping. Any advice? Double the soap, maybe?

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  6. Hi Tenessa...I probably would not double the detergent if you are already using 2 tablespoons, at least for my washer. Since this soap is so concentrated (no fillers) you can use a lot less than commercial soap. But you also want to make sure you don't over load the washer or the clothes with soap because of a buildup of soap. I have done vinegar to help with smells on my diapers before, and that is effective too. Do you prewash the really dirty stuff? I always run a prewash for my cloth diapers, and they are usually the dirtiest thing I wash. My other thought is that if the clothes are clean, but just do not smell "fresh" you could use a drier sheet that gives off a fragrance to help with that. The Yardley soap has a nice, subtle smell, but not like commercial soap that is made to suds up and leave a strong smell. I hope that helps!

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  7. Sounds like a wonderful smelling soap to use daily on laundry, deodorizer and clean clothes, two for one.

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  8. I reuse the plastic bag from cereal boxes. Rinse it out and store veggies or anything that fits. They are strong and I have saved on plastic bags you buy in the store. We recycle almost everything that comes into our house.

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  9. I save money by borrowing books from the lending library in the community where my sister lives, which enables me to order fewer books from my great love, Amazon. Now, if I could just wean myself from their gourmet foods department...

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  10. Do you think you could make this recipe into a liquid formula? Just wondering! Thank you!

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    1. I have never made it into a liquid, but I know there are liquid recipes out there. The powder has always worked great for me :)

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What do you think? I love hearing from readers!

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