Homemade Laundry Detergent

Here are some of the benefits of making your own laundry detergent:

1. Save Money: The cost of making the below recipe is $0.71 cents. With this 2 gallon size recipe you will have enough to do 64 loads of laundry. That translates to about $0.01 cent a load.

2. Better for the Environment: Where do I start?! A homemade detergent uses far fewer scary chemicals. Store bought detergent comes in thick plastic bottles which never biodegrade. Transporting store bought from the factory to the store to your home uses a lot of fuel. Store bought detergent can have dangerous fragrances.

3. It works: I’ve been using this for a few weeks now, and our clothes are clean!

4. Its fun: Admit it -- its kinda cool to know how to make something like this. And in times like this its nice to do something to save a little money and be kinder to the environment.

5. Its easy: total active time for me was about 8 minutes!

The Recipe

1 bar Ivory Soap

½ cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda*

½ cup 20 Mule Team Borax**

A small bucket (about 2 gallon size) – I found a good one with a lid in the painting department at Home Depot

-Grate or very finely chop the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and, stirring often, heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat.

-Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket. Now add the hot soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. Stir well. The consistency of this soap is different from store-bought detergent. It is a liquidy gel. Use ½ cup per load.

-Note that this is a low sudsing formula, so don't expect to see a lot of bubbles. But, suds are not what clean the clothes so don't worry!

*Arm & Hammer Washing Soda: This is not to be confused with baking soda. They are not the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate or soda ash (baking soda is sodium bicarbonate). It is a white powder. Its purpose is to help remove dirt and orders. I’ve heard that it can be found in the laundry section of a grocery store, but I bought mine from drugstore.com (I think it is also available on Amazon.com)

**20 Mule Team Borax: Borax is a naturally occurring mineral: Sodium Borate. It is a white powder. Its purpose is as a laundry whitener and deodorizer. You should be able to locate this in the laundry detergent aisle, but I bought it from drugstore.com.