I've been making homemade laundry detergent for roughly three years now using the Duggar family recipe, which can be found here. This detergent has worked great for our family, and at less than $10 per year, it is a no-brainer for us.
Like many homemade detergents, it uses these ingredients:
Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent
4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar*
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax**
1. Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
2. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. (When it is thickened, it may look sort of "chunky" like egg drop soup. :-) That is normal - it will not look that way once you follow the next step.)
3. Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
4. Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil. (You cannot smell essential oils on your clean clothes so I skip this step.)
Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)...I just fill up my laundry soap dispenser cap, which might be slightly less but works great for me.
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)
*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" and Fels Naptha soap bar can both be found at Smith’s (Kroger grocery stores), sometimes Walmart, and a variety of other grocery stores in the laundry/cleaning aisle. It is important not to substitute baking soda for the washing soda because it will not work as well - It must be sodium carbonate!!
**Borax (20 Mule Team Borax) can also be found in the laundry/cleaning aisle at Smith’s, or at Walmart and other local grocery stores.
The entire batch lasts me for about 6 months w/ two adults, two kids, and using cloth diapers, and it costs me less than $5 for the whole batch.
6 comments:
I was wondering how homemade detergent worked with cloth diapers. Good to know, as soon as my coupon stockpile of All free and clear runs out I am planning on making our own laundry detergent and I'll definitely try this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Oh good! FYI, I use 1 - 2 Tablespoons for a load of diapers.
I seriously need to try this soon!
I made my own too, until I bought the HE washer/dryer when we moved here, and nobody can tell me if it will work with it, and since we spent so much on a nice washer/dryer, I don't dare try it! I do have half of a 5 gallon bucket full of detergent if you want it. I was just going to throw it out!
The idea behind the HE washing machine is that since it uses far less water than a regular washer, you need to use a soap that doesn't create a lot of suds for the clothes to tumble and rinse well. That is one of the first observations people have about using the homemade detergent - it doesn't suds up. People seem to think that using the "wrong detergent" will break their washing machine. I guess if I was worried about it, I would put the soap in the machine, directly on the clothes, rather than in the dispenser. Everything I have read says it's fine to use in an HE machine, but I understand your wanting to be cautious and careful not to void a warranty or something.
Anyway, thanks for offering me the rest of yours. I JUST made a fresh batch, and since we'll be moving in a couple months, I need to be getting rid of things rather than collecting more. :-) Very sweet of you to offer!
I too have an HE front loader and was wondering if it would work fine...my guess is, it will. I have been wanting to make my own laundry detergent for awhile now. Craziness in life happens and then making my own got put on the back burner. I use Borax in my loads anyway as I have lots of cow manure stains and grass stains to deal with! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. I have got to get with it...and make some soap!
Thanks again!
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