More homemade laundry detergent

After making my own liquid laundry detergent a few weeks ago, my neighbor found another recipe- that's a powder- that uses Castile soap instead of Fels Naptha. I've made a couple batches and I think I like it even more than the liquid.

I would put pictures, but my brother gave me a hard time for the last round of detergent pictures-- he said it looked a little too much like a meth lab...

1 bar Castile soap- $2.99 for 3 pk at Meijer- finely shredded (I use my Parmesean cheese grater)
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- $2.79 at Meijer (found in laundry aisle by stain removers)
1 cup Borax- $2.99 at Target (also at Meijer in the laundry aisle by stain remover)

Mix all 3 together- I've put them all in a blender to get more of a fine powder (really hard on the blender), but found that putting it in a ziploc bag and mashing it with a rolling pin works just as well!

Use 1-2 tablespoons per load. I use one heaping tablespoon and it works great!

This does cost a bit more than the liquid detergent-- it's $1.71 per batch- which makes 48 loads (conservative estimate)- making each load around $.03! Still cheaper than buying regular detergent at the store and much easier than making liquid.

An experiment-- my own laundry detergent

I've seen several different recipes for making your own laundry detergent and figured I'd finally give it a try. It ends up being a LOT cheaper than buying detergent (even with coupons and sales) and is pretty easy to make. I took lots of pictures and listed the recipe at the bottom.

What you will need:
Fels-Naptha soap- $1.39 for a bar at Meijer (found in the laundry/hand soap aisle- in my store it was under the hand soaps)
Arm and Hammer Washing soda- $2.79 at Meijer (found in laundry aisle by stain removers)
Borax- $2.99 at Target (also at Meijer in the laundry aisle by stain remover)
Water
Cheese grater
Big pot for stove
Big bucket for detergent (preferably w/lid)
Empty laundry detergent bottles or big containers to hold detergent in

You can replace Fels-Naptha soap with Zote soap (which I hear is around $1 at Walmart) or even Ivory soap- I tried this recipe with Fels-Naptha but will experiment with the others in future batches.

















I used:
1/2 bar Fels-Naptha soap (shredded)
3/4 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
3/4 cup Borax

Heat 6 cups water on stove. Add grated Fels-Naptha soap to water and stir until soap melts. Once melted, washing soda and Borax- stir until everything is dissolved (it will foam up so make sure you use a big pot!).

Heat 4 cups of water in microwave while mixture is on stove. Put heated water in bucket (I used 5 gallon bucket), then add soap mixture and stif. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of tap water and stir. Let sit- stir often as the consistency will change some. It will be liquid- but kind of a gel-gooey. After it sits overnight, put in clean reused detergent containers or other plastic containers.

For each load, you use 1/2 cup detergent. If you have a front loading machine, you'll want to use a bit less. I have read that this laundry detergent is safe for front-loaders- because it doesn't suds up, but use at your own discretion. I filled 4 empty laundry containers with detergent- so this single batch will last quite a while.

Total cost per batch: around $1.24!

The batch I made used a total of 32 cups of water, so at 1/2 cup per load- this makes enough for 64 loads- so $.019 per load! Not too bad considering I bought my last Method laundry refill for $13.98 for 85 loads- or $.16 per load!

So far I've been happy with the detergent-- I even gave some to my neighbor who has a front-loading machine and she's also impressed- it works the same as any other detergent for a fraction of the price. I'll probably experiment with the different soaps and add some essential oils to the next batch.