Homemade Laundry Detergent

Many folks have asked me if I make homemade laundry detergent and my answer is, "Yes!" I love my all natural homemade laundry detergent. It is easy to make and works great. Sometimes it is hard to find the ingredients, but I have found that Meijer usually has it and many times Kroger does. Wal-Mart  has never had it, so don't bother looking.  So, if you want all natural laundry detergent that is cheap to make, here is my recipe and notes.

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT

1 Bar homemade soap, about 3-4 oz, grated[My Ole Pioneer works fabulously for this. If you want me to pre-grate this, let me know and I will be glad to send you a grated bar for the same price]

1/2 C Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (dry in a box with laundry additives.)   

1/2 C Twenty Mule Team Borax (also in a box in laundry aisle)

Water, about 1gallon

Bucket for mixing and a big sauce pan

Grate the soap. [If you microwave soap for 30 seconds, it softens it up making it easier to grate]

In a large pan, put in 4 cups of water and the grated soap and heat until dissolved.  Stir in washing soda and borax.  Mix and heat until all ingredients are dissolved.  Cook for 15 minutes; it will look similar to thin  honey.  Remove  from heat. In a  large bucket add cooked mixture and enough cold water to make 1 gallon.

Mix until well blended.  Set aside for 24 hours to a week.  It will have a gel-like consistency (and may separate. I usually blend well again at this point. If you have a immersion or stick blender it works great for this, but just beating with a wooden spoon would work OK.]  Use 2T per load [top loader] or 1 T in a high efficiency machine. I just put the detergent in with the clothes. If you have a HE machine I find that the detergent is too thick to put in the liquid dispenser and too thin for the dry, so just put it in with the clothes.]
I store in old ice cream bucket. It may look weird, but it works well. You may want to add a little essential oil for scent or use scented soap.

To keep clothes from getting dingy,  add ¼ to ½ C vinegar to the rinse water . I put it in the fabric softener dispenser.This is essential. In order to get all the soap out, you need the vinegar. Also, vinegar acts as a natural fabric softener and once your clothes are dry you won't smell it at all.

As a note, many recipes call for Fels Naptha Soap for making laundry detergent. I discourage this because it has a petroleum base and why make your own natural detergent from a highly processed, petroleum based soap. Just look at the ingredients and you won't want to use it. If use use my Ole Pioneer your detergent will have the following ingredients:

Lard, water, lye, washing soda [all natural product] and borax [all natural product]. That is it. If you use the Ole Pioneer Lavender it will also have lavender essential oil. I don't recommend highly moisturizing soap because there will be added fats in your soap and you don't want to moisturize your laundry, you just want it to be clean. :)

You can order my soap at http://prairiekari.com

Feel free to ask me if you have further questions.

Take care,

Jill