Homemade Laundry Detergent: Liquid & Powder

Homemade Laundry Detergent: Liquid & Powder Recipes

Why do I make home-made laundry detergent? Cause it saves me money (costing only pennies per load) without compromising on the cleaning power! It's way better than the bargain priced laundry detergent I've tried. I like it's cleaning ability even better than the Tide brand.

Don't worry, it doesn't cost an arm 'n leg and you don't need a bunch of crap to mix it up. The first time I made a batch, I only spent a lil over $7.00 on the ingredients and I'm on my 3rd five gallon batch already! But I really won't know the exact figure until I run out of ingredients. And I've got enough supplies to make much much more if I just buy a few more sticks of soap!

Here's my simple homemade laundry detergent recipe for a liquid batch (dry powder recipe found at bottom). And remember, for the liquid version, most recipes will come out goopy and clumpy and my first time it was runny. This is normal. You can just give it a stir if it's still in the large bucket. Or if you've put it in a smaller, used laundry bottle, just give it a shake each time before using.

Cleaning supplies needed (All found at Wal-Mart):

1. 1 cup of Borax, cost around $3.00
2. 1 cup of Washing Soda (not baking soda), also costs around $3.00
3. 1 bar of soap called fels-naptha, $0.97, (found right beside the other two ingredients in the laundry section) or you can experiment with using other kinds if you wish. I also use a bar of Oil of Olay from time to time. But I've heard that heavily perfumed soaps are not great. Although I haven't had a problem yet with my experiments.

Okay now onto the mixing part. For the mixing, please note that you will need

• a 5 gallon bucket
• a grater
• a whisk
• a regular cooking pot
• measuring cup

First off, you will need to grate your bar of soap.

Then place that in a cooking pot with approximately 2 cups of water and boil it until it dilutes and turns to a smooth, soapy soup mixture. Then take off from heat.

Next step is to pour your diluted soap into your 5 gallon bucket, along with 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda. Mix it all up good with your whisk. Then fill the rest of your bucket with warm water. Mix again to make sure all is smooth and runny with no clumps. That's it! Just stick the lid on (if you don't have a lid, use plastic wrap!) and set aside for 24 hours. Then it's ready to use. Simply scoop out 1 cup per load of laundry and enjoy~

For a simple dry powder mix of homemade laundry detergent here's what you need:

1. 1 box of Borax
2. 1 box of Washing Soda (not baking soda)
3. 1 bar of soap called fels-naptha, (found right beside the other two ingredients in the laundry section) or you can experiment with using other kinds if you wish. I also use a bar of Oil of Olay from time to time. But I've heard that heavily perfumed soaps are not great. Although I haven't had a problem yet with my experiments.
4. 2 cups of powder oxy-clean (totally optional) but I love it as extra fighter power on my husbands work clothes

You mix the entire box of Borax, the entire box of Washing Soda and the optional oxy-clean with the bar of grated soap. Yep, that's it! As you see here, the hardest part of this recipe is grating the bar of soap. Easy as pie. And the mix is so strong that you only need to use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry! It will go forever. Well, maybe not forever but a lot farther for your money. And that's what I'm after. Saving Money without compromising on the cleaning power.


~Please note: For the liquid mix, I've been experimenting again and have been now pouring around 3 cups of fabric softener to my liquid mix (before putting the lid on the bucket.)But keep in mind, this raises the cost of each batch a little. But it adds softness and a wonderful smell~ I got this idea from seeing that some detergent in stores says "with fabric softener." And so far it's been good, although I've noticed that the mix doesn't set up as thick. It kinda stays runny, but I don't mind because it's easy to transfer the mix through the use of a funnel to my smaller, used laundry containers.


And also, if your mix doesn't seem to set up, don't worry, you can still use it. There's nothing wrong with it. Sometimes, I didn't whisk mine enough and it stayed runny and once it came out clumpy.All types of water are different such as hard-water and such. Basically, it's your mix, make it as you will. As long as it is cleaning my clothes and saving me money, I love it.
I also read somewhere that if your clothes have a stench you can always add a a dash of baking soda, yes baking soda this time, to your water and that will take care of that. Hey~ I just might add a cup of baking soda to the mix also next time... who knows? Guess I will see what happens.