Do you make your own Homemade Laundry Detergent?
I am always washing clothes. I think that’s just how it’s going to be with six people in our family. And even more so during the winter months. Wow, I miss summer for so many reasons and one of those reasons is definitely my laundry. Yikes.
Winter means heavier clothes and multiple layers. And with bulkier clothes, not as much fits in the machines so I’m doing that many more loads. Aye Aye Aye.
Washing that much means a lot of laundry Detergent. Thankfully I started making my own Homemade Laundry Detergent. This is a very easy DIY. My mom made me a couple jars of liquid laundry detergent. That works really well but I found that you can just use it dry and save a lot of time making it up. When I ran out of the liquid, I made this dry batch. It’s very easy.
I also had a friend tell me that she uses a fabric refresher, like Gain scent booster. It really adds to the detergent and gives the clothes a nice fresh scent. It’s great!
Here’s the ingredients and instructions on how I made my Homemade Laundry Detergent.
Homemade Laundry Detergent
Ingredients
1 C Borax
1 C Super Washing Soda
1 Bar Fels-Naptha (grated)
1 Cap full Gain scent booster (cup that comes with the product – use more or less to your preference)
Instructions
Grate up the Fels-Naptha bar. Using a cheese grater is very easy. You can have your kids help, just make sure that they stop when the bar gets low so they don’t scrape their fingers.
Add all ingredients into a container – ice cream pail for example. I made up a bigger batch and used x4 for all ingredients.
Mix up well.
Use 1 Tbsp per load of laundry. If you have a giant size washing machine, you may want to use more. My washer holds 3x the loads so I use 3 Tbsp per load.
I try to make sure I have all ingredients on my spoon when I scoop it in. So far doing it this way has worked out great. The laundry gets nice and clean and smells great! This is so much cheaper than buying laundry detergent.
All ingredients can be found close to each other in the laundry detergent aisle. I picked up everything at our local Walmart. You can also find everything on Amazon:
Although make sure to check prices because I was able to buy it cheaper in store.
I love Borax and the Fels Naptha bar, but have only used them individually, have never made my own detergent. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks we will have to give this a try next time I make homemade detergent. I have some of the ingredients already the Borax and Fels Naptha bars.
This looks so easy! I’m going to try it, thank you!
If you spin the soap in a food processor with the cutting blade after grating, you get a nice even consistency. I love this laundry soap, although I use kirk’s cocoa castille soap instead of the he fels naptha. This is the best laundry soap.
Great tips! Thanks, Beth!
Where do you find the cocoa castille soap at?
I’m not sure…I used Fels napa and that’s right in the laundry detergent aisle.
I have been buying it locally at Fred Meyer (northwest retailer) but I know some people buy it online.
I am so going to try this! We do so much laundry, it is not even funny. This would save me a lo of moola.
I’ve have been wanting to try making my own laundry detergent for sometime. This looks likea great easy recipe. Thanks for sharing. I can’t wait to try it.
I have never ever heard of Fels-Napa? I wonder where I can find that and if it’s even available in Canada at all.
I use to make our own laundry detergent. I’m not sure why I ever stopped, it did save us a lot of money.
I have never tried to make my own detergent, but this seems easy enough I will have to try it.
I have been on a homemade kick lately. It started with cleaning products, then soap. I was skeptical about making my own laundry detergent. I didn’t want to give up good smelling gain scent. I just came from Walmart and picked up the ingredients. I can’t wait to give this a try. I am finally out of my commercial detergent. The most expensive of the ingredients was the Gain. Thanks for sharing.
I just wanted to follow up with a post. I was so excited to give this a try. I went home and made it the same day. Of course I had to wash 2 loads of the clothes the same night. I got zote soap b/c its pink and per previous post alot easier to grate by hand. It turned out great. I will add more gain fresh scent boosters to the laundry soap, just to suit my taste. Overall I love it my clothes came out fresh, clean and soft. I also made the fabric softener to add to my downy ball. I am really satisfied with results.
I add a small box of oxyclean “free” and a box of baking soda to this. Whites are super bright and colors don’t fade. It is truly a blessing!
Thanks, Anna for the great additions. I’ll have to try those as well.
I do the same thing! I also add baking soda and BIZ stain remover! Awesome stuff 🙂
Great additions!!