Home Made Laundry Detergent

It really is this easy.  Today, I figured out what the cost of making my own laundry detergent vs. buying it at the store...I am saving $.12 per load...yes, per load.  Store bought detergent costs about $.13 on average to wash one load of laundry.  With the batch of detergent I made today, I will be washing our clothes for $.015 per load.  Worth my 25 minutes of time, all day long!  I was slightly skeptical of trying this project because I have two of three kids with skin irritations.  Logan and Sophie both have eczema, plus Sophie's skin is super sensitive to everything.  About 2 weeks ago, I made a sample (smaller) batch of this and fell in love.  The scent is wonderful, the cleaning power is fantastic and it does not irritate my kids skin AT ALL!!  Hooray!  Here's the step by step.  All of the ingredients needed can be found in the laundry department of your shopping center.   

Ingredients:
 
1/3 bar of Fels-Naptha (grated)
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Washing Soda (do not use baking soda!!)
bucket (has to hold at least 2 gallons)
empty containers with lids for storage (washed out milk jugs, old laundry soap bottles, old fabric softener bottles, anything!)

Directions:

In a large pan, combine 6 cups water and Fels-Naptha soap.  Over medium heat, cook until all of the soap is melted.  Add Borax and Washing Soda and stir slowly until both have dissolved.  The consistency should be slightly like gel.  


 



Pour 4 cups of hot water and the mixture into a bucket.  Add 1 gallon (16 cups) and 6 cups (total 22 cups) of water.  Stir.

Pour detergent into sealed containers and let sit for 24 hours.   The consistency may be different, depending on what type of water you have, watery and lumpy is fine, it still works great!  Stir or shake the container before each use, because the detergent will continue to gel.  This is a very low sudsing soap and works great in HE washers.  For top load washers, use 1/2 cup per load.  For extra dirty laundry, you can add up to another 1/4 cup.  For HE machines, use 1/4 cup per load.  Here's the break down on price:


Fels-Naptha $1.00/bar at Wal-Mart
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda $2.89 at Wal-Mart
Borax $2.98 at Wal-Mart


Using the small amount of the soda and Borax, you will only be spending about $1.02 on this entire batch of detergent.  The above recipe will make a little more than 2 gallons of detergent.  That is 64 loads of laundry (in a top load).  


Other positive aspects of this detergent are:

Fels-Naptha is a natural pretreater.  I have not pretreated anything since I started using this.  It also removes the oils from poison ivy from your clothes.  It also has a clean, fresh scent that I personally love.  If you are not big on the scent, you can add essential oils to this recipe to change the scent to your preference.  


And you are done.  I couldn't believe this was it.  It works.  Try it out and let me know what you think!  :)