How to make homemade laundry detergent

One way to save some money around the house is to make your own laundry detergent.  I tried this once before with a powdered variety and wasn’t that happy with the results.  My whites didn’t seem to be as white.  But recently I came across a recipe from A Sonoma Garden for liquid detergent so I decided to give it a try again.

Here’s what you need to make about 2 Gallons of detergent.

1. Bring 4 cups water to boil in a large saucepan. Once boiling, add the grated soap.
2. Stir until the soap is dissolved.  Add the Borax and the washing soda.  Stir until dissolved and then remove from the heat.
3. Add an additional 4 cups of hot water.
4. Pour 11 cups of water into each gallon container
5. Add half of the soap mixture.
6. Add 20-30 drops of essential oil to each container if desired.  Next time I plan on using lavender essential oil but I was all out.

Let sit for 24 hours, stirring now and then to break up the solids.  The mixture is not smooth, don’t worry; it should still work fine.

Use 1/2 c in each load of laundry.  I have an old detergent scoop that I am going to use to pour the homemade detergent into.

I was able to find all the ingredients at my usual Kroger store and it cost less than $9 for everything needed.

Next time I also might use Dr Bronner Castile soap instead of the Fels Naptha to make it a more ‘green’ product.  I have seen Dr Bronner’s at my Trader Joes.

This was very simple to make and took less than 15 minutes.  I plan on doing a stain test using this versus the Method detergent I have now.  I will let you know the results!