Sunday, January 17, 2010

Homemade Laundry Detergent

One of the things I like to do for us is to make my own laundry detergent. It's really simple, economical, and environmentally friendly. The recipe is easy and the ingredients are few.

1 bar of natural soap, grated, 4 oz.
1 cup of Washing Soda
1 1/2 cups of Borax powder
1 two gallon or larger bucket for storing the detergent


Here are the ingredients, all natural and cheap. You can use unscented or scented natural soap, or you can make your own essential oils from herbs and flowers, (that's another post). The unscented detergent can be hypoallergenic.


Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan with 6 cups of water. Heat until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.


Here is the final mixture, before it has gelled. I made this batch while cooking breakfast this morning, it's that easy and quick. A two gallon batch of laundry detergent costs less than $3.00. We buy our bars of soap for $2.50. The boxes of Borax and Washing Soda each cost less than $3.00 and are enough for many batches of detergent.

2 comments:

  1. I make the same basic detergent. I haven't made it in a while because the ingredients are not readily available around here and I haven't made out an order. But it is funny you posted this because this morning I just told Shannon, I think I need to go ahead and make an online order for the ingredients. :)
    It is so satisfying to be able to do things yourself and save so much in the process.
    Great post! :)
    Blessings,
    Chas

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  2. One of our housekeepers, Brandy, passed on this detergent recipe to us. Ken loves it, and I like know what ingredients were used to clean the clothes that I put on our bodies. I think Ken gets our ingredients at Kroger grocery store. Take care.

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