Homemade Laundry Detergent

Karen deserves all the credit for this one. She started making her own laundry detergent quite a while back. Then she got my dad hooked, and her brother-in-law, and now so am I. It only took me this long because it can be somewhat difficult to track down a few of the ingredients. A few weeks ago my Dad sent me 3 bars of Fels-Naptha, a box of Borax, a box of washing soda, and Oxyclean.

I made up a triple batch right away. It is incredible! It is so concentrated that you only need a heaping two tablespoons per full load. It also removes stains better than the expensive Tide I usually use. It is 100% cleaners, with no filler. It smells great when you are washing clothes, it just smells clean- no perfumes.

I am not known for my math skills, but I do know that this is MUCH cheaper than purchased product...for a superior product. Once I fell in love with this, I immediately started tracking down sources. Through a tip with my sister's brother-in-law, I found that my local Ace Hardware (on Desiard, for you locals.) would order a case of 24 bars of Fels-Naptha for me for $1.29 a bar. The washing soda required me to go online. I ended up placing an order for a full case of Arm and Hammer Washing soda from buythecase.com. For $60 including shipping, I got 12 boxes of washing soda. That will make 66 batches of laundry detergent. So you are looking at less than $1 a batch for the washing soda.

Borax and Oxyclean are easy to find in most laundry aisles.

Now the original recipe calls for Oxyclean, which works wonderfully. However, Karen received a container of Eco Store's Pure Oxygen Whitener from a Nonnie Bear giveaway. It contains natural citrus oils in addition to the natural whiteners. This gives the laundry detergent a really nice clean smell. Now at $12 a container for 35.3 ounces plus shipping, it might up the total price a bit, or perhaps not. I really did not feel like figuring it out. :) However, you can easily just substitute the Oxyclean if you do not want to bother with finding the other. (The Pure Oxygen Whitener may be available at Whole Foods, unfortunately I do not have one nearby.)

* A food processor is extremely useful in the making of this recipe. I shred the Fels-Naptha with the shredder disk, than I dump out the shredded soap and put in the metal blade. I add half the soap (I do 3-bar batches) along with a cup or so of the other dry ingredients. The dry ingredients help it to process much finer. I process it until it is the texture of sand. It helps the mixture blend more smoothly, allowing for the ratios to stay correct. However, if you do not have a food processor you can hand grate the soap on a box grater, and then just mix together the detergent. I believe my dad hand grates the soap and then processes it in his mini-pro. They are only about $30-40.

 

Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe
(Karen and I usually make up 3 batches at a time. They fit perfectly in our cracker jar)


1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap
1 cup Arm and Hammer washing soda
1 cup Borax
1/2 cup Oxyclean or 1/3 cup Pure Oxygen Whitener


* (Please see the above paragraph if you do not have a food processor.)

1. In a large bowl mix together the washing soda, Borax, and the Oxyclean/Pure Oxygen Whitener.

2. Place your shredder disk in your food processor. Shred the bar of Fels-Naptha in the food processor. Remove the shredding disk. Place the metal blade in the fp bowl.

3. Add about 1/2 cup of the dry mixture into the fp bowl with the shredded soap. Process until it is the texture of sand.

4. Dump the soap mixture into the remaining dry mixture and combine thoroughly.

5. Use about 1 heaping 2-tablespoon scoop per full laundry load. ( I use a scoop that comes in the small Oxyclean container. Coffee scoops are also 2-tablespoons.) I make sure to put in the detergent first when the water is first filling. That way it can begin to dissolve.

Comments

[Tina]

Looks interesting. I wonder if you could use it an a front loading HE machine?

[Chefcin]

Heh... I was wondering the same thing. It would be very cool to make my own soap for my front loader.

I very happy to hear about your big news Becca! I know you will have lots of fun making your own baby food.

[Becca]

That I don't know, I do not know much about them.

Thanks Chefcin!

[Becca]

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/07/07jan01a.cfm

According to this, I think it might work well. I do not believe this detergent suds up, which is the consideration for a front load washer... I will look during my next wash cycle.

[Stephanie]

Becca,
Thank you for posting the instructions for making hm laundry det. I'm trying to be more cost efficient and this sounds like a good alternative to paying big bucks for detergent. I did make a tripple batch and tested it on a set of sheets that my son used at college. Did you know that colleges don't have laundrymats????!!!!! Hey it worked ! I can send the sheet set back to sch. with him instead of throwing the sheets out! Surprizingly my local gro. store carried all the ingredients needed for the det. Thanks again! and I really like your blog.

[Becca]

Stephanie, you are so lucky to have all the ingredients so readily available. I'm glad you like it, it's great.

[Beth]

Hi-- I'm trying to contact you to get permission to feature this great recipe on our site but I can't find your email address on the blog. Could you email me for details? Thanks so much!

[Carla]

You don't even need the Oxyclean/Whitener in it for it to work just as well. The washing soda and Borax are already quite strong. I also don't use more than a tablespoon usually, even in full full loads.

[jeanf]

Becca, I can't find that soap. I can find "Linda" which is a yellow laundry soap, the ingredient list simply says "30% soap". What about Fels?

[Becca]

Arn't you in Canada, Jean? I like this site: http://www.buythecase.net/product/14099/felsnaptha_heavy_duty_laundry_bar_soap/

if you can order from there without a hassle. The ingredients on the Fels-Naptha says: cleaners, soil and stain removers, chelating agents, colorants, perfume.

I am betting though that the Linda bar would work too, several other people have used it online. Try it.

I just made my third large batch (of 3 batches at a time) yesterday since this post. It lasts so long, works so good, and is so inexpensive!

[Vicki Schmidt]

You can get all the ingredients on Amazon.com. I've started making my own detergent, and didn't know where to find Fels Naptha either, but Amazon has borax, fels naptha, and washing soda all on their site.

I have a top-loader HE machine and it works just fine!

[Becca]

Vicki, be careful though. I only order Amazon Prime off Amazon, and the only Fels Naptha that's Prime is $4.99 a bar! Instead of the $1.29 a bar I pay.

It looked like there was one that wasn't Prime for $1.50 a bar. Buying it by the case saves me a bit of money.

[jeanf]

thanks Becca. I will try the Linda soap, that site wouldn't let me set up an account with a Canadian address, not sure why. I tried to choose the right "state" from the drop-down but it still didn't work. I'll check hardware stores too, just in case!

[Anne LPorte]

Our families use this product and it works great in my front loader and for HE machines but you need less then 1 tblsp of dry product. OR you can add liquid to make ten gallons of soap, we mix it in the plastic tubs you can get at Lowe's, Home Depot or similar places, then pour into gallon jugs, to make it easir to use. Shake it well before each use, it becomes slushy, again use only about 1tblsp., it comes out to about 10cents a load for the liquid version. thats without using the Oxy or whitening stuff.

[Jo Ann M]

If you can't find the Fels Naptha you can use Zote. It is also a bar soap and is located with the other laundry products. I found it to be about 40 cents cheaper than the Fels Naptha.

[Amy]

I love the idea of using your food processor. This may be a silly question, but I am wondering if it is okay to use the processor for food and for this? Would the chemicals somehow "get into" the plastic parts?

[Beckyagne]

Hi Becca. i use your recipe but have more borax and washing soap. I think I'll try yours. Have using it for 2 years now and love it. No more running to the store because I'm out of laundry soap , and makes nice housewarming gift. I do add tea tree oil for the ainibacterial effect if I'm clean really dirty clothes. I add 6-12 drops. some people don't like the smell but I think it smells clean. I also add 6-12 drops of my7 favorite ess oils, now I'm using rose. Yum summer time. Thanks for the info and have a good day

[Jyll Richburg]

I shaved the Fels-Naptha with a vegetable peeler prior to processing it in the food processor (MUCH easier than grating it.) I put it in the bowl of the processor and pulsed for 20 seconds. Then, I added the Borax/washing soda to the soap pieces and pulsed again. This really helped to break down the Fels-Naptha into tiny particles. I love this detergent and won't go back to anything else. Thanks, Becca. I sure wish you would come back and blog again. I love reading your posts.

[Rae4fb]

can you wash with cold water, or do you need to use hot to dissolve the soap? I try to wash in the coolest water possible to prevent fading and to save on the utility bill.

[Becca Porter]

I use it in cold water for certain loads, although I assume it does work better in warm/hot water.

I never see undissolved detergent though.