Homemade Laundry Detergent



I made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent back in December. I've been using it for over 3 months now. There are various recipes, but this is the only one I've tried. I LOVE it. I absolutely love it. For the soap, I used 1 bar of Zote and 1 bar of Fels Naptha. But you can also use Ivory apparently. Any soap that isn't too perfumey. Total cost to make 2 batches was less than $10. I have about 1/4 of a box left, so I'd say that lasted me 4 months for a family of 4. So roughly $2.00-2.50 a box or for me about $2 a month (I do a good amount of laundry). This isn't a scientific recipe, you can add a little more or less and experiment. I also think this is good for sensitive skin. It's very mild, has a light scent of the soap you choose.

I use this in my HE machine with no residue or issues. You only use 2 TBS of product, a little goes a long way! Keep an bar of Fels Naptha on hand for pretreating stains too, it's great stuff.

Powdered Laundry Detergent Recipe

• 1 bar Fels Naptha Soap or Zote Soap (finely grated) (I have used both Zote and Fels Naptha with great results).  To grate the soap, you can use a cheese grater or a food processor, in tiny portions because it's very hard.
• 1 cup Washing Soda (I found this at Fry's (a Kroger store) only, it was hard to find, but Ace Hardware might have it. It's super cheap, like $3 a box. 
• 1 cup Borax

1. Mix well and store in an old powdered detergent box or airtight container.
2. Use 2 tablespoons per full load.

For different recipes, check out this website, they have liquid versions:

http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/

Recycle an old soap box and scoop