What if i told you that you could make homemade laundry detergent, that actually works, saves you money, and takes less than 3 minutes to make? Would you believe me?
I should hope so, I’ve never lied to you before ;)
You may be asking why anyone would want to make their own laundry detergent. Well, there are a few benefits. The most important one to me, is that I know what is going into my laundry detergent, and will be making contact with our skin day in and day out. Second, it really does save us quite a bit of money, and you know I’m all about that! Last, there is just a neat sense of accomplishment when you make something like laundry detergent…. It makes you feel like you might actually have been related to those fabulous strong, self-reliant pioneer women of our nation’s past!
Now I have tried many detergent recipes in the past, and have promptly returned to store bought detergent. Especially that one time I found ants eating Mr. OverKill’s work clothes, right in his drawer! No, that detergent didn’t work. This recipe is one that I have slightly adapted from several different sources. I’m sure if you look around online, you’d find that someone else has the exact same recipe. Hey, great minds think alike.
So, here is what you need, and I promise, once you have mixed it up a few times, it will take you less than 3 minutes a bottle to make. Of course, I am somewhat of a laundry detergent ninja now ;)
Borax, this stuff is great! You should be able to find it at most grocery stores or the big WM. It will be on the laundry aisle. It should run you about $6.00.
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, again readily available and in the laundry aisle. Average cost, $3.25.
And last, Dawn, plain old blue Dawn. Isn’t the duck cute???? Average cost, $3.97.
To make your detergent, take a quart size mason jar, or other jar with a lid. Fill it about halfway with the hottest water you can get from your tap. Add to the hot water 4 tablespoons of Borax and 4 tablespoons of Washing Soda. Add a little more hot water if needed, then put the lid on and shake until the powders have dissolved…for the most part. Let that sit while you fill up your empty, never paying that price again, old laundry detergent bottle with cool tap water. Only fill it about 2/3 of the way full. Now give your soap mixture in the mason jar one last shake and pour it into the detergent bottle. I often find that some of the powder clings to the sides on the jar, so I add more water, swirl and pour it into the bigger bottle. Once, all your powder mixture is in the big bottle, top off the big bottle with cool tap water leaving a smidge of space. Last add 4 tablespoons of Dawn to your big bottle, put the lid on and shake. If you’d like you can add scent to your detergent by adding essential oils or other fragrances. I use a soap fragrance called “Garden Dirt.” It’s truly lovely ;)
That’s all there is to it!
Trust me, put the Dawn in last or you will end up with suds everywhere. This mix has worked very well on the kids’ clothes, but I was hesitant to try it on Mr. OverKill’s grease stained work clothes. For the longest time I just kept buying detergent just for him. Then one day, I ran out of HIS detergent, so I tried mine. I simply took my bottle of Dawn and added 2 swirls of Dawn to the washer, then 3 capfuls of homemade detergent, and added his clothes. They came out great! Now, this is all we use.
Using the figures above, it costs me about $.64 per 150 oz. bottle to make my detergent. Compared to roughly $6.00- $17.00 for our other favorite brands for the same amount, I‘d say that’s a pretty good savings.
Yearly for my favorite brand I was spending $884.00 a year. For my bargain brand I was spending $312.00 a year. With my homemade detergent I am spending $33.28 per year.
WooHoo!!!
Is this safe to use in a he machine?
I’m not sure, I have a top loader. I believe that the issue with he machines are the soap suds. This detergent doesn’t have much suds, so it I would imagine it would be fine, but I can’t say for certain. Sorry I am not more helpful :(
Yes, I think it’s the suds. So if it dsnt sud much then it should b ok :) Thx!!!!
I’d be interested to know how it works for you :)
I was excited to try this new recipe for laundry soap after making a recipe for the dry soap for a couple of years now. I love that this recipe only takes a few minutes to make, when you have 4 kids under 7 that is a huge plus. I tried it out yesterday on a load of light colored clothes, one outfit in particular had a sweet potato spit up stain from my youngest son who is 6 months. I was happy to see that it had been removed after the wash. I love anything that takes up less of my time and is cost effective. I will definitely stick to this recipe for now on. Thanks for sharing :)
Awesome! Glad to know it works well on baby stains. ;)