Household Recipes: Homemade Laundry Detergent

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Measure out Washing Soda

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And borax..

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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.

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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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183 Comments

  1. My 3 month old son is highly sensitive to soaps. I have been trying out different ones… The one that causes the least amount of break outs is Tide- with no scents… I was just wondering if its likely that this would be more sensitive to his skin? We are trying to get an appointment at the Allergy specialist, it seems like he is sensitive to quite a bit…
    Thanks! Kristina.

  2. I use this same recipe to make my laundry detergent. I started using it last year and I love it! It cleans better than the name brand plus it is so much cheaper. It does take some time to grate the bars, but it is so worth it!

  3. wanted to give a quick update. I do a lot of laundry in our house so I am already making a second batch. went to walmart for all the ingredients and picked a farberware rotary grater for under $6.00 and it took less than 10 min to grate all the fels naptha. well worth the money . i will never buy pre made laundry soap again.

    1. Is this ok for people with sensitivity to a lot of detergents? I can not use anything except GAIN..no tide no arm and hammer detergent etc…would this be likely to cause break outs? Im not quite sure what it is in the soaps that causes the break outs..thats not in GAIN?

  4. I think the ratio for the “smaller batch” is wrong – it should be 3 cups & 3 cups –

    shown as:

    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.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Smaller Batch Recipe
    ■2 Cups Laundry Soap Shavings (you can get this easily from one bar)
    ■1 Cup Borax
    ■1 Cup Washing Soda

    1. The amounts previously shown are correct. You use twice the number of cups (not bars) of the soap shavings as you do the Borax and washing soda. If you use 4 cups of soap shavings, you use two cups of the Borax and washing soda.

  5. I have never used a “homemade” laundry detergent before. bought ingredients yesterday at Wal-mart. Tried it for the first time on my husbands work clothes.Could not believe how well it got all the dirt and smell out. Save us money and like the fact it does not suds up. Put white vinager in the rinse water.Thanks for the great idea. Love your website and tweets. 🙂

    1. Ok, you’ve talked me into trying it now! Thanks for the vinegar tip! I have a spray bottle full of it that I use for everything, including killing weeds that keep growing between the bricks in the walkway! LOVE that it’s not toxic to all my pets and children!

  6. I use the same detergent in liquid form. I make a 5 gallon bucket full and it last us about 6 months. I find all ingredients at Krogers. We’ve used it for about 2 or 3 years and love it! Saves a bunch of money! It’s about a nickel a load! I doesn’t suds so it can be used in energy efficient machines.

  7. Here’s recipe I’ve use for several years, a little bit different from yours:

    1 bar = 1 1/3 cup grated soap
    Powdered Laundry Detergent 1 1/3 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap, slightly less than3/4 cup washing soda, slightly less than 3/4 cup 20 mule team borax Mix and store in airtight container or bag. For light loads use 1 tablespoon. For normal loads, use 2 tablespoons. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons. Cost per “normal” load .15

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