making my own laundry detergent

I have made my own laundry detergent. It was easy and fun. I was paying around 25 cents per load and the cost of my home made detergent is about 4 cents per load. On a large bottle (96 loads) I am saving $20.16!

Here is what you do. This is a full recipe, but I only add half the water to make a concentrate.

1) Grate a bar of soap in to a sauce pan. You can choose any bar of soap. I used Ivory because that is what we had in the house. But your bar of soap is what will give you a smell.


2) Stir the grated soap into the water (about 2 cups) until it is dissolved.

3) Mix in 1 cup of washing soda into the pan. I could not find Washing Soda at Wal-Mart. I did find it at Kroger. Washing Soda is made by Arm & Hammer. It is not baking soda - WASHING SODA. This box will made many batches of laundry detergent.

4) Mix in 1/2 cup of Borax. I did find Borax at Wal-Mart. This box will last you a long time too.

5) Let the water cool down some before you pour into your container if it is a softer plastic. I used an old Tide bottle that I had rinsed out (the 96 load size). This container was about 1.5 gallons. Use a funnel to pour into your container. Put the lid on a give it a few good shakes. Fill the bottle up with tap water. Put the lid back on again and shake some more.

6) Let it sit over night. It will be "chunky". This is your concentrate. I have a smaller Tide bottle (16 loads). I will mix equal parts water and concentrate into this bottle. Always shake before pouring into the washing machine because it will settle.

This detergent will not bubble up like normal commercial detergent. It has done a great job of cleaning our clothes! The full recipe so you don't have to do any more mixing is to add 3 gallons of tap water. But I don't have a five gallon bucket to mix it in and I don't have a place to store 5 gallons.

I would love to know if you give this a try!