Homemade Laundry Detergent
Posted by: TammyHomemade laundry detergent is a relatively new frugal effort for me. In the past, I’ve purchased my laundry detergent from a store, pre-made and on sale with a coupon. I was always happy with the cost of my detergent although not always happy with the effectiveness of the products. I even went as far as to buy one of the most expensive detergents on the market with the hopes that more money would yield a more effective product. I continued to have issues with grass stains in knees and body odor on shirts.
A fair number of my forum members make their own laundry detergent. Some make a powder version and others, a liquid version. I hadn’t considered the option simply because from a money standpoint, I was buying my detergent for a good price considering I didn’t have to put in time to make the product. Then I started buying Fels Naptha soap to help me get the grass stains off of my work jeans and the boy’s baseball pants. The grass and dirt always came off with the Fels Naptha which made me wonder if homemade detergent would just be easier and more effective. I also had concerns about some of the ingredients that were in the store-bought brands and relished the idea of keeping the basic 3 ingredients on hand to do multiple jobs around the house (fels naptha, borax and washing soda).
A favorite company of mine sells a “homemade laundry detergent kit” for almost $50! I love this company but you do NOT need to spend this much! Their kit includes a large, lidded bucket, a hand-grater, 5 bars of fels naptha soap, a box of borax and a box of washing soda, along with a wooden spoon and measuring cup.
My homemade “kit” consists of a recycled frosting bucket from the local grocery store. Cost: free. I use the grater attachment to my Kitchen Aid to finely grind my soap but a hand-grater can be had at your local dollar store for a dollar if you prefer or need to use that. Wooden spoons can be found at the dollar store as well. I regularly get a 3-pack of spoons for $1. Cost of one spoon: 33 cents. I’m up to $1.33 for my kit. I have found my fels naptha soap at my local hardware store for $1.29/bar. I only use 3 bars to make my batch of detergent but I’ll figure the cost based on their 5 bar kit. Cost of 5 bars of my soap: $6.45. I use one box of borax which I can generally find for $4.79. I also use one box of washing soda (NOT baking soda) which I just found online for $2.50/box!
Total for my homemade kit is $15.07. A far cry from my favorite company’s $49.99 and you can easily assemble a kit for yourself!
My basic homemade laundry detergent recipe for powdered detergent:
-3 bars of finely grated Fels Naptha soap (finely grated dissolves more easily than thickly grated so don’t rush this process by grating the bars with too big a grind)
-1 box of borax
-1 box of washing soda
Variations:
To the basic recipe you can add a box of powdered bleach for colors, if desired. I have added a container of Oxiclean to batches that were made for summer months (when our camping clothes can get beyond grungy!). I read about one person who added a handful of water softening salt to her basic recipe because of her hard water. I have hard water and the basic recipe seems to work fine. Some of my forum members also add some baking soda to their batches to help combat odors and soften the clothes but again, that hasn’t been an issue for me.
I thoroughly mix the grated soap, the borax and washing soda in my bucket. I make a point of making my detergent on days when I can pour and mix the ingredients OUTSIDE because I don’t want to inhale the dust from pouring and mixing.
This recipe is low-sudsing and I use it in a HE-type machine with no issues. I have noticed that the body odor that lingered with commercial detergents is now gone with the homemade detergent. I’ve used all water temps (except hot) with no problems although I’ve heard members say that they didn’t grind it fine enough and it didn’t dissolve well (thus my stressing that you grate the soap fine).
I use 2 tablespoons of detergent for a full load. A full batch of homemade detergent costs me $11.16 to make. I haven’t figured out how many loads I can get from a full batch. I should weigh out my 2 tablespoons and get a rough estimate of how many loads I’m getting so I can’t honestly tell you how much each load is, but I do know that it’s cheaper than store-bought detergent AND is more effective.